Relay Research
Relay Research unlocks permanent improvements for your whole Relay Network. A Research node applies to every Bay you own, unlike Bay Upgrades, which improve one Bay.
Each node costs Salvage plus a basket of items. Many nodes need other nodes first; the Research screen shows the tree, prerequisites and exact costs. Nodes that change numbers can be switched off again later. Nodes that unlock a feature stay on.
Research and Bay Upgrades
Some Research nodes do nothing by themselves except make a Bay Upgrade available to buy. For example, Work Coupling unlocks the Mint's Work Amplifier and Work Cooldown Destroyer upgrades, and Capacity Foundations unlocks the buffer size upgrades. Check both steps and both costs before saving up.
Branches
| Branch | Notable nodes |
|---|---|
| Thermal | Thermal Reserve, Passive Dissipation, Thermal Buffer (less heat while Overclocked), Thermal Routing (weight Cooling toward chosen Bays) |
| Economy | Mint Baseline Trickle, Raw, Crafted and Consumable Efficiency for the Refinery, Capacity Foundations, Refinery Output Scaling, Work Coupling, Mint Fuel Efficiency, Grid Resonance, Vault Routing (send Mint BC to a Vault), Overdrive |
| Operations | Bay Telemetry (exact numbers on screen), Batch Operations (bulk claim, pause and level), Overflow Cutoff (stop wasting items when the Refinery buffer is full), Auto-Deposit |
| Recovery | Recovery Targeting, Recovery Fuel Efficiency, Quest Banking, Quest Bank Control, Quest Bank Auto-focus, Cross-System Recovery. See Recovery |
| Transmutation | Transmutation, Transmutation Queue. See Transmutation |
Good early choices: Bay Telemetry, Overflow Cutoff and Batch Operations.
Apex titles
Finishing a branch unlocks a title for it: Thermal Master, Economic Engineer, Status Watchdog, Relay Architect and Auxiliary Overseer. Beyond those:
- Network Sovereign needs all five titles, every Bay family and every upgrade at maximum.
- Stellar Ascendant needs Network Sovereign plus every Bay full and maxed.
Both grant exclusive profile cosmetics.