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-{{stub}} Researching technologies allows you to unlock more components, more buildings, and upgrades for your mecha and workers.
+{{stub}} Researching technologies allows you to unlock more components, more buildings, and upgrades for your mecha, your mecha's drones, and the [[Logistics Drone|Logistics Drones]] and [[Logistics Vessel|Logistics Vessels]].
-There are two primary methods of research. In the early game, Research is done manually, by having the required items in your mecha's inventory after selecting a technology to research. This is ok at first, but the amount of materials needed for technologies quickly becomes burdensome to carry around.
+==Technology vs Upgrade==
+Research (accessible via the {{kbd|T}} key or by clicking the large icon in the bottom right) is broken into two categories: [[Technologies]] and [[Upgrades]]. The primary difference between them is that Technologies almost always unlock new components, buildings or abilities, while Upgrades focus more on improving your existing abilities. There are a few cases where the line is not quite clear, such as requiring [[Drive_Engine_(Upgrade)|Drive Engine Level 4]] (an Upgrade) in order to use [[Space Warper|Space Warpers]] in your mecha, but the Space Warpers themselves are unlocked via [[Gravitational_Wave_Refreaction_(Tech)|Gravitational Wave Refraction]], a Technology.
-The second method of research is automating it with [[Matrix Lab|Matrix Labs]].
+==Automation==
-After placing a [[Matrix Lab]], you must select which mode it will operate in:
+At the start of the game, research can only be accomplished by hand - that is, directly from the inventory of your mecha. Many of the earliest technologies require regular materials to research them, such as [[Iron Ingot]] or [[Copper Ingot]]. After researching [[Electromagnetic_Matrix_(Tech)|Electromagnetic Matrix]], you will gain access to [[Matrix Lab|Matrix Labs]]. You will also require [[Automatic Metallurgy_(Tech)|Automatic Metallurgy]] to make the Glass that is a component of these buildings.
-* If you select a matrix type on the left, it puts the Lab into manufacturing mode, creating the specified type of science matrix.
-* If you select Research, on the right, it puts the Lab into Research mode, consuming matrixes to research technologies.
-In Production mode, like with other production buildings, be sure to automate the removal of the created matrices, via sorters and conveyors.
+After placing a Matrix Lab, you must select which mode it will operate in:
+* If you select a Matrix type on the left, it puts the Lab into production mode, creating the specified type of science matrix so long as you provide the requisite materials.
+** In production mode, like with other production buildings, be sure to automate the removal of the created matrices, via sorters and conveyors.
+* If you select Research, on the right, it puts the Lab into Research mode, consuming matrixes to research the technologies that you have queued up.
+** In Research mode, the Matrix Lab must be supplied with matrix cubes from an external source (often, other matrix labs in Manufacturing mode). A lab cannot both create and consume matrices at the same time.
-In Research mode, the Matrix Lab must be supplied with matrix cubes from an external source (often, other matrix labs in Manufacturing mode). A lab cannot both create and consume matrices at the same time.
+The choice is not final - you can switch between the two freely. Doing so, however, will eject all materials that were stored in the lab into your inventory.
-Note that you can stack Matrix Labs! At first, you can stack them up to 2 labs tall. More levels are unlocked with the Vertical Construction upgrade. Stacked Matrix Labs can be fed from the bottom, and when the bottom one fills it will push inputs up to the next one, and so on. For manufacturing mode labs, you only need to extract from the bottom level.
+Note: the Matrix Labs can only consume Matrix cubes when in Research mode - they cannot be used to research Technologies or Upgrades that do not require Matrix cubes.
+==Concurrence==
+Regardless of how many Matrix Labs you have set up for Research mode, they will all work toward the current technology or upgrade in your queue. Additionally, if you have Matrix Labs researching technologies and you try to research a technology by hand, you must also contribute only to the current technology in the queue. There is no method that the game provides to research multiple technologies or upgrades simultaenously.
+This restriction does not apply to the manufacture of matrix cubes, for research labs in Manufacturing mode. Different Matrix Labs (or different stacks of them, see "Stacking" below), can work manufacture different types of Matrix cubes at the same time.
+==Stacking==
+It is possible to stack multiple Matrix Labs on top of one another. Initially, the game permits up to 3 matrix labs to be stacked. This can be further increased to a maximum of 15, through the [[Vertical Construction (Upgrade)|Vertical Construction]] Upgrade.
-=== <big>Production of Matrices</big> ===
+Stacked Matrix labs automatically share the same task - manufacturing or researching, as the other labs that they are vertically stacked with. This permits the player to set the task on only one lab in the stack, and know that all others will help work toward the same goal, and it even permits adding a new lab to the stack while they are active, the newly added lab will inherit its task immediately.
+Stacked Matrix Labs can be fed from the bottom, after the internal inventory of the bottom-most lab fills up, it will send additional resources to the next lab up, and so on. Similarly, when extracting from a stack of Matrix Labs in Production mode, you need only extract from the bottom - upper labs will move their product down to fill the open slots lower in the stack.
+==Use Inventory Item==
+The Use Inventory Item checkbox, seen on the Manual Research information box in the top left of the screen (when present), is the player's method by which to specify whether items in the player's inventory that are needed for the current research, should be allocated to it. If you have <em>any</em> materials that are needed for the current research, they are immediately removed from your inventory and held in an inaccessible reserve for the purpose of research. This can be very misleading to the unaware player, as it is frequently interpreted as materials merely vanishing from your inventory without warning.
+Cancelling the active research, or disabling Use Inventory Items, will return all reserved items to your inventory. It is advised, if you do not intend to manually research a technology, to disable Use Inventory Item so that you do not run into this confusion.
+To re-enable this feature, you will find it on the {{kbd|T}}echnologies screen.
+=== Production of Matrices ===
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