Flotsam Research Tree

Points, the station, and the lock

Drifters hand you research points when they level. The station that spends them is 4 by 4 and costs 8 floaters plus 6 planks in the building codex. Two independent guides, the Steam specialists write-up and a Korean specialist walkthrough, agree that roughly half the technologies stay locked until the matching specialist is simply present in town. That person does not have to sit at the station.

A full node list with costs and prerequisites is not public. Competitor tools sketch a route and still hide the prices. I will not draw a complete tree from memory. What I can line up from three guides is a priority, offered as a reading rather than the only legal order.

A priority I will actually sign

Rope Making, then Basic Tools, then Scouting, because Scouting unlocks boats and the ocean is the map. After you can leave home, Desalinator, the chopping block and food preservation stop the town from stalling. Food Truck and Large Desalinator come once headcount makes hand-feeding silly. The electric branch waits for the Electrician. The space programme is the alternate ending, not an early hobby. Radio Signals, added in 1.0, let you pick which specialist quest to chase. Trashcended, the achievement, wants every technology researched.

Radio DJ is the first specialist because the Radio Station is how later contacts start. Two specialist quests can run at once, so do not queue a third and wonder why the radio is quiet.

Questions