In Starfield you must first research new crafting recipes to unlock new items for crafting. This is needed for all crafting categories: Pharmacology, Food and Drink, Outpost Development, Equipment, Weaponry.
This can be done at so called “Research Labs”. You can find Research Labs in the following places:
- On your Spaceship is a computer monitor called Research Lab. The starting ship has this (it may vary on other ships).
- One is inside the “Lodge”, which is the base of operations for The Constellation faction that you join at the start of the game. Fast travel to the lodge, after entering the lodge turn right and go down the stairs to the basement. There you find crafting machines of all types.
Here is what a Research Lab looks like:
To research new crafting recipes and items, you will need to invest some resources into the Research Project. Some projects complete instantly, others will take a while.
The required Resources can be bought from merchants. For example, go to System: Alpha Centauri > Planet: Jemison > Landing Site: New Atlantis > from the landing pad walk straight ahead until you reach the open area with the train station, turn left and enter the shop “Jemison Mercantile”, talk to the shopkeeper, check the Resources category.
Buying the required resources is fairly cheap and much faster than mining them from planets.
To unlock higher levels of research projects you will need to buy their respective skills from the Science skill tree. Crafting higher quality Outpost components requires the “Outpost Engineering” skill. Then you must use the Research Lab to research the new parts, then they are available for crafting at Outposts. For Equipment you need the “Spacesuit Design” skill, for Weapons the “Weapon Engineering” skill, for Chems the “Chemistry skill” and for Food the “Gastronomy” skill (from Social skill tree).
If a research project shows the red text “blocked” it will say which skill is required to unlock it.
For more Starfield guides check out Starfield Wiki & Strategy Guide.
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