Research Desk: upgrade blueprints step by step

Store, research and buy

Research upgrades blueprints, not purchased appliances. You need an Upgradable blueprint and a Blueprint Cabinet next to a Research Desk.

1. During preparation, place the Cabinet in any of the Desk’s eight adjacent tiles, including diagonals. They must be in the same room.
2. Grab the upgradable blueprint and put it in the Cabinet. Check the research indicator above the Cabinet. If it is absent, check adjacency, room boundaries and blueprint eligibility.
3. During service, hold Interact at the Desk until the progress finishes. With multiple eligible Cabinets, continue until the remaining progress indicators disappear.
4. Next preparation, take out the upgraded blueprint to buy it, or leave it stored for a later research cycle.

Each Cabinet can receive one effect of each desk type per day. Placing a purchased appliance nearby does not upgrade it.

Upgrade the desks themselves

The upgraded desk cycle is Blueprint Desk → Discount Desk → Copying Desk → Blueprint Desk. A stored Research Desk blueprint needs another working Research Desk to research it.

You can store the first Research Desk blueprint and buy a later one: before purchasing, Research Desk remains a conditional staple. This helps the purchasing route but does not guarantee a second blueprint on a particular day.

Most cyclic appliance branches choose a random variant first, then follow their fixed cycle on further research.

Discounting, copying and selecting supply

Discount and Copying Desks use the same Cabinet positioning, but accept any blueprint, not only Upgradable ones. Each discount halves the price, rounded up, to a minimum of one coin.

A copy cannot be copied again. From 1.5, a copied blueprint can be put back into its original Cabinet or an empty Cabinet; it can still be researched or discounted. Older research text saying a removed copy cannot be replaced is outdated.

A Blueprint Desk locks in next-day supply during service and does not need an adjacent Cabinet. With Simplicity, each desk can apply its effect only once that day, rather than processing several Cabinets. If no progress appears, check the phase, eligible blueprint, room, Cabinet position and whether today’s effect has already been used.