Research and the Lab Bench: analyse, react, unlock.

Analysing samples

Put one unknown sample in the Lab Bench's single slot. Each stage takes 5 seconds, and there are three stages. When the third is done the material is identified: you can read all its properties in the Codex, and you can give it a name of your own.

• Real-world materials such as Iron, Copper and Coal are always identified. Only invented ones need analysis.
• Until then the sample shows as Unidentified ore, metal, crystal, organic or anomaly.
• Names can be up to 32 letters, numbers, spaces, apostrophes and hyphens.
• The Codex (K) counts how many you have found and identified.

Pyrrhonite, Stellarite, Nova Alloy, Voidsalt and the other-world elements are all in this class: see Rare and exotic materials.

Reactions

Reactions are made at the Lab Bench from a list. Each needs set ingredients, and some need heat: you must supply a fuel that burns at least that hot, and one unit of fuel is used per batch. You can run up to 16 batches at once. A cold reaction takes about a second, a heated one about 2.2 seconds, plus 0.3 seconds per extra batch, never more than 5.

Reaction	Ingredients	Makes	Heat (degrees)	Notes
Gunpowder	3 Niter, 1 Charcoal, 1 Sulfur	4 Gunpowder	none	Oxidizer, fuel and sulfur, 75 : 15 : 10.
Frag Grenade	2 Iron, 2 Gunpowder	2 Frag Grenades	none	Thrown from the hand; bursts a few seconds later.
Sulfuric acid	1 Sulfur, 1 Niter	1 Sulfuric Acid	300
Salicylic acid (medicine)	2 Willow Bark	1 Salicylic Acid	150	Heals.
Potassium iodide (medicine)	3 Kelp, 1 Potash	1 Potassium Iodide	200	Clears radiation.
Potash	2 Charcoal	1 Potash	500	Leached wood ash.
Lye	1 Quicklime, 1 Potash	1 Lye	none	A strong base.
Compost	4 Leaves, 1 Loam	4 Compost	none	Fertiliser for crops.
Bone meal	1 Bone	2 Bone Meal	none	Fertiliser.
Brick	3 Clay, 1 Sand	4 Brick	900	Fired clay: builds hotter furnaces.
Cement	3 Quicklime, 1 Clay	4 Cement	none	Lime and clay, ground.
Concrete	1 Cement, 2 Sand, 3 Gravel	6 Concrete	none
Gasbag	2 Wool, 1 Resin	4 Gasbag	none	Every block built onto a vessel lifts her 300 kg. Cover a gondola with a helm in them and she flies.

Quicklime comes from smelting Limestone, and Charcoal from smelting wood: see Smelting and fuel.

Hull plating and ship parts

The same list rolls metal into starship hull plating and lit panels. Hull plating is four panels from one metal.

Makes	Ingredients	Heat (degrees)
4 Hull Plating	1 Titanium Alloy	1200
4 Sand Hull Plating	1 Titanium Alloy, 1 Ceramic	1200
4 Dark Hull Plating	1 Titanium Alloy, 1 Carbon Fibre	1200
4 Hazard Trim	1 Titanium Alloy, 1 Red Ochre	800
6 Deck Grating	1 Steel, 1 Titanium Alloy	1200
3 Viewport Panel	2 Glass, 1 Fluorite	900
2 Thruster Glow	1 Glass, 1 Fluorite, 1 Titanium Alloy	1400
4 Nova Hull Plating	1 Nova Alloy	3000
4 Sand Nova Hull Plating	1 Nova Alloy, 1 Ceramic	3000
4 Dark Nova Hull Plating	1 Nova Alloy, 1 Carbon Fibre	3000
4 Star-Iron Hull Plating	1 Star-Iron	1800
4 Vitalmetal Hull Plating	1 Vitalmetal	1500
3 Voidglass Viewport	1 Voidglass, 1 Glass	1800
3 Runesteel	1 Star-Iron, 1 Gold, 1 Graviton Crystal	2000

See Ships and fighters for what to do with them.

Your own compounds

Choose two or three different non-metal materials, up to 32 units in all, and the Lab Bench blends a new compound. It takes about 2 seconds. If your ingredients match a listed reaction you are told to pick it from the list instead. Metals go to the Forge Bench for alloys: Alloys and the Forge.

Research points and the research tree

You earn research points by discovering things: a first find in the Collection, a material you name at the Lab, a buried chest, a scroll, a goal done. Spend them at a Lab Bench. A node either unlocks a blueprint or gives a small lasting upgrade, and some need another node first.

Nothing the first hours need is behind a node. The kept-back blueprints are the mid-game extras. A recipe scroll found in the world teaches the same blueprint without spending points. Blueprints also still wait for the right age: see The eight ages.

Making

Node	Cost	Needs	Effect
Steady Hands	1		Crafts take 6% less time.
Fine Tolerances	3	Steady Hands	Everything you make is a little better made.
Efficient Tools	3	Steady Hands	10% of swings cost the tool no wear.
Masterwork Methods	6	Fine Tolerances	Finer work again: better quality, more masterworks.

Field and Ground

Node	Cost	Needs	Effect
Seed Lore	1		4% more chance of an extra harvest.
Rich Soil	3	Seed Lore	6% more chance of an extra harvest.
Keen Eyes	2		Buried things are felt from much further off, and you are told which way.
Prospector	4	Keen Eyes	3% more ore from every vein.

Works (blueprints)

Node	Cost	Needs	Opens
Wind and Sun	3		Solar Panel and Wind Turbine.
Storage Cells	3	Wind and Sun	Battery.
Belts and Gears	4	Wind and Sun	Conveyor (and its Hopper and Harvester looks), Sorting Chest and Refinery.
Electric Foundry	5	Belts and Gears	Electric Smelter.
Fire Control Optics	5	Electric Foundry	Fire Control Director and Grav Lift.
Weatherproofing	3	Wind and Sun	Storms no longer tear the thatch and wooden roofs of your base.
Mason's Eye	3	Wind and Sun	5% more chance a block you place comes back.

Wandering

Node	Cost	Needs	Effect
Whetted Edges	2		Blows hit 4% harder.
Field Notes	4		10% more skill experience from everything you do.
Ancient Lore	5	Field Notes	Every find gives an extra research point.
Wanderer's Luck	4	Whetted Edges	Small surprises come a fifth sooner.

Tips

• Take unknown ores straight to a Lab Bench: naming a material is itself a discovery.
• Buy Steady Hands first (1 point) and Ancient Lore early, as it pays back in more points.
• If you find a recipe scroll in a chest or a ruin, read it: it saves you the points.
• Your Crafting skill also speeds crafts and raises quality: see Tools and tiers.

← Back to the wiki · Last updated 25 October 2026. Mantlenaut is in alpha, so things change.