Starcom: Nexus: Research and where to get it
General Info
This guide was first published on Steam, but I'm the author.
Starcom Nexus has plenty of research techs that are locked at first and have to be found in the world to be utilized.
This guide aims to provide the knowledge of where to look for those.
The order is very loosely based on when you'd usually find them, except for the quest ones which are at the end. Because Starcom is an open world game, you could get them in nearly any order.
As most people are probably curious about one specific research they're missing, refer to the following image. The number corresponds to the chapter in this guide.
1 - Missiles
Probably the first tech many unlock.
What they do:
Gives you an additional weapon, missiles.
How to get them:
You have to find 3 parts of missile launchers. Those get dropped by any ship that fires missiles at you, first of them probably being Chitik Frigates or the larger Battlecruisers of the same race.
2 - Additional deep space speed
What they do:
Give you a speed boost as long as you're not near a star system.
How to get them:
Quite soon during your travels, you will see a flash and your officer will note that "warp geometrics went off the scale". A small, damaged warp vessel arrived. Investigating it gives you the quest "Primitive Vessel": To find the planet that launched it (no quest target marker). Finding the planet (anomaly called "Pre-Spacefarers") and then landing on it will give you three points of additional tech research for void travel speed. The location of this planet is random, see last section of this guide.
3 - Less turret energy consumption (Bose-Einstein-Condensate)
What it does:
Decreases the energy consumption of turrets by 10%
How to get it:
Visit the Entarq's Citadel. It's slightly off the beaten path at 15.65 X 7.51 (Easiest reached through the portal sequence starting at 10.50 X 0.48 if you've never been there). They will ignore you if you initially land there.
Search out an Ulooquo trader, there usually is one in the same system or the one a wormhole down. Purchase "The Story of Entarq's Citadel" for 35 platinum from them, which will give you the password needed for the Citadel. Upon revisit, purchase "A Progent Turret Mount" for 225 Titanium. This will give you the ability to research this tech.
4 - Energy increase when near star (Solar Converter)
What it does:
Provides a modest amount of extra energy generation when close to a star.
How to get it:
Unlock/Visit Entarq's Citadel. How to do that is detailed under "Less turret energy consumption"
Purchase "Unusual crystal shard" for 187 Titanium to unlock this tech.
5 - Havoc
What they do:
Automated defenses against small objects like asteroids, rockets and drones.
How to get them:
Somewhere is a Planet with an anomaly titled "Excavation". It's description is of a massive downed starship that is already partly plundered. One area is still fine thanks to automated sentry turrets. Have your team try to destroy those turrets to access the area. There your team will acquire a small turret device that lets you research this tech.
The location of this planet is random, see last section of this guide.
6 - Warp Hopper
What they do:
Gives you a hopper drive that enables you to make small ultrafast jumps for plenty of energy.
How to get them:
At 6.40 X -25.49, next to the Pulsar, you'll find the remnants of a drive system. After you found it, return to Kite Station and talk to Pilman. Exit Kite Station, wait a bit or just exit the system and come back and talk to Pilman again and he'll unlock the research for you.
7 - Comet Detection
What it does:
It gives you a message when you're within a certain distance of a comet. No indication where that comet is, but comets usually fly in elypses around the sun in the system were you've got the message.
How to get it:
At 10.55 X -0.47 is a planet with the anomaly titled "Frozen Observatory". Surveying this planet will give you the quest "Lost Probe" which includes a map marker. Find the probe at the given location (which is random) to get this research project.
8 - Laser Weapons
What they do:
Gives you an additional weapon, lasers, possibly the most useful one in the game.
How to get them:
Like Missiles, "part of a beam weapon" gets dropped by enemies that use lasers. Three of them give you the research possibility.
Examples of enemies that drop them are Sentinel Cutters and Sentinel Cutter Scouts.
9 - Drones
What they do:
Gives you the ability to build drone modules, which allow you to send miniature attack craft against the enemy. Like missiles, only reusable and less strong.
How to get them:
Like missiles and lasers, you got to collect 3 drone components from enemies. There are only a few enemies that carry drones, one but not the only one of them is the Chitik Carrier.
A good way to quickly get all three parts is to invade the isolated system at -19.50 X -27.55. Judging by the number, size and frequency of Chitik spawns, this is probably their home system. Be prepared for heavy Chitik resistance.
10 - Axial Ultragun
What they do:
Long charge time, high damage type weapon. Reminds me of the main laser of the death star.
How to get them:
As with all the other extra weapons, you're required to collect 3 parts of this weapon to build it. As far as I can tell, there is only one enemy that drops its parts: The so-called Sentinel Super Stations.
There are more than the needed 3 Super Stations around, but their position seems to be static, so have a list of locations: 41.53 X 11.40, 33.44 X 20.56, -21.33 X 30.22, -40.10 X -3.83, 21.40 X -53.39
After it, talk to Pilman
11 - Shields
What they do:
Provides you with your normal scifi energy shield. Running the shield needs no energy, charging it does. Must-have in my opinion.
How to get them:
There is a desert-looking planet with an anomaly called "The Bubble". It's a single city preserved in a force field bubble on an otherwise dead planet. Help them fix it for 55 Adamantine and they share the shield tech with you.
The location of this planet is random, see last section of this guide.
12 - Debye Sheaths
What it does:
Plasma Bolts that have not yet used up all their damage (eg you have 15 damage/bolt but the enemy had only 10 hp) the plasma bold continues to fly.
How to get it:
Destroy Uloquoo ships. Thankfully, other than missiles etc, you only need a single drop. If they are of friendly disposition (probably achieved by bringing them the egg from the citadel), you might even manage it without them turning hostile. If you can't seem to target them with lasers or hit them with plasma, ram into them. Targeting worked fine afterwards for me.
13 - Swarm Probe Suppressor
What it does:
Helps you capture swarm probes easier.
How to get it:
At one point when visiting Kite Station, Lt. John Chiang tells you he saw a swarm probe zipping around the system. He couldn't catch it but noticed it signaling somewhere. This gives you a quest with a quest marker pointing to -40.14 X -3.93 (might be random, quest log does not save location). If you investigate the control station there, it will give you the research.
14 - Side Quest Researches - Kolnar Treatment
What it does:
It heals your team from a specific disease. No use outside that specific side mission.
How to get it:
At a random locations you'll find the anomaly "Strange Jungle", one of those where your option is "Send in a team on foot". This is a repeating anomaly, you can find it a total of four times. If you send your team in, there's a chance they get spore'd by a fungus. (if you're determined to get this research, reload an older save if you weren't "treated to a spray of sticky red spores". you can quicksave right before landing on the planet, the scene that plays is random each time you land). Shortly afterwards you notice your people getting sick.
Ask Pilman back on Kite Station about it and He'll be the usual jerk but tell you to ask other races. Do just that and ask your old pals the Saurids and you learn about a treatment using the leaves of a kolnar tree. Off to the citadel you go (if you haven't been there yet, refer to "Less turret energy consumption"), to purchase a "Potted Shrub with Silver Leaves" for 325 Titanium. Talking to Pilman afterwards unlocks the research.
The location of those planets is random, see last section of this guide.
15 - Side Quest Researches - Phage counter molecule
What it does:
Counters the Phage, duh.
How to get it:
Visit a phage system to the north-west of kite station, like the one at -2.52 X 6.42. After encountering them, return to home base and talk to Pilman. Return and visit the forbidden planet, Red Ooze Prime, at -9.58 X 3.58. Land repeatedly until you got the research data, run. Go back to Pilman to unlock this research. Bring it back to the forbidden planet to complete the quest.
16 - Main Quest Researches
CMB Signal, Sentinel Key, Lunae Communication
Those three are revealed just by doing the main quest. Look up a walkthrough.
Finding the pesky random anomalies
This is cheating a bit, but so is using guides :) You can find the anomalies marked at random in your world.
This is by looking inside your save file. Even if not discovered yet, the location of those planets should be fixed as soon as a game is started.
Go to your savegame directory, which is at C:\users\(your username)\AppData\LocalLow\Wx3 Labs, LLC\Starcom Nexus\saves
Find a save of your current playthrough, doesn't have to be the most recent one. Finding the correct file is not that easy if you started multiple plays already, so it's easiest to just make a new one in game and then sort by date.
Each save consists of two files, QUICKSAVE_(timestamp)_info.json and QUICKSAVE_(timestamp).json. Open the one without "info" in a text editor.
Near to the top, you should see your playerName and shipName to confirm it's from the playthrough you want.
Then just hit search (ctrl-f) and look for the name of the anomalies mentioned in the guide. Make sure to search case insensitive.
You should find an object ({ to }) with type being set to "PlanetData". Scroll just a bit down to the coordinates section. uX and uZ is the approximate position of where you'll find that planet in 'your' universe. That location is not perfectly accurate, it seems it can differ by as much as 0.5 more or less in both dmensions, but it should be easy to find the planets then.
