The five tabs
Reading a cost card
Every card in the lab shows up to three costs along the bottom. On stream they looked like this:
| Example on the card | What it means |
|---|---|
| 16 / 7 (yellow) | You have 16 Research Points; this costs 7 |
| 1,168 / 500 (material icon) | You have 1,168 of the material; this costs 500. Turrets use Titanium or Electrium |
| 1 / 1 (purple) | Blueprints: you have the 1 needed. Turrets can’t be unlocked without their blueprint |
| Biomass | Mod upgrades (level 2 and up) need Biomass on top of RP, per the developer’s dev log |
The red line above the button tells you which one you’re missing: Insufficient research points, Insufficient Titanium, Insufficient Electrium, or Research more to unlock this (a node earlier in the tree comes first).
How to earn Research Points
- Finish expeditions. Completing one pays more than bailing out.
- Time played adds a steady trickle.
- Milestones (below) pay out as your lifetime stats climb.
Octopus Panic reworked RP before the demo: “More RP at the start, steady earnings from stat milestones, and larger payouts from expedition completion and time played.”
Training (per Gravhound)
Training is tied to the selected hound. It shows that hound’s XP bar (Finn was at 4,333 / 10,000 XP in one stream) and five stats:
| Stat | In-game description (paraphrased) |
|---|---|
| Health | Raises survivability during high-risk operations |
| Movement Speed | Moves faster, “fewer excuses for being late” |
| Boosters | Better booster capacity and recharge for longer time in the air |
| Mods | Reduces cooldowns on Showstopper mods (“More fireworks. More often.”) |
| Mining | Better mining efficiency and more yield from resource deposits |
Training points come from the hound levelling up. When you don’t have one, the button reads Not enough points. Level up!
Milestones
The Milestones tab tracks lifetime stats in tiers (I, II, III…). The ones we saw:
| Milestone | What counts |
|---|---|
| Expeditions | Expeditions completed |
| Service Hours | Time played |
| Damage | Total damage dealt (e.g. 19,881 / 25,000) |
| Kills | Enemies killed (e.g. 11 / 500 at tier II) |
| Rewards Earned | Reward pods opened |
| Credits | Credits earned (e.g. 14,575 / 50,000) |
| Miles of Pipeline | Pipeline built |
| Infrastructure | Structures built |
| Turrets Upgraded | Turret upgrades (e.g. 3 / 15) |
| Repairs | Repair work (e.g. 700 / 2,500) |
| Rescues | Teammates revived |
| Pack Survival | Expeditions where the whole pack survives |
What to unlock first
- A second turret type in the Turrets tab as soon as you find a blueprint. The free Gunner turret won’t hold later waves alone. See turrets.
- Cheap mods in the branch that fits your role: Worker mods like Hazard Pay (credits per kill) and Safety Protocols (less damage while repairing) help every run. See mods.
- Health in Training for the hound you play most.
- A second weapon once your RP income is steady.
This is our suggestion from how the costs scale, not an official guide. Costs and the tree layout may change in Early Access patches.