Research is one of the most important things you must do to progress in Raft. While it’s pretty straightforward to research an item, many people may get confused and don’t know exactly how researching works in Raft.
In this guide, we’ll show you a step-by-step how to search, as well as highlight how research works and what you need to pay attention to when researching in Raft.
Recommended Read: How to Use the Research Table in Raft
To research in Raft, place any researchable item in a Research Table and click the “Research” button. Before you can start researching, you need to build a Research Table using 14 Planks and 2 Scraps. Once you’ve researched enough items that are part of a specific recipe, you’ll permanently unlock the new recipe.
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How to Research in Raft
First of all, you need to know that the main purpose of researching in Raft is to unlock new recipes. A new recipe is unlocked when all of its ingredients are researched.
Here are the 3 steps on how to research in Raft.
1. Make the Research Table
To make the Research Table, you’ll need 14 Planks and 2 Scraps.
The required materials aren’t too hard to obtain, but it can be too much in the game’s early stage, especially if you’re trying to expand your raft or use Planks for cooking purposes.
So, it’s advisable to first make the Research Table when you have gathered sufficient materials to keep everything going comfortably. You’ll also need extra resources for the actual researching.
Once you’re ready, press “Tab” to open the crafting menu. Next, click the Other tab (the second tab with a chest icon) and find the Research Table recipe. Then, click “Craft” to make the Research Table.
The table will be transferred to your inventory. Next, put it in the hot bar and place it on your raft.
2. Research Resources
Once you have a Research Table and some researchable items in your inventory, it’s time to do research.
First, open the research panel by standing close to the Research Table and pressing “E”.
In the research panel, you’ll find a single slot at the top and a lot of locked recipes at the bottom.
To research an item, put it in the top slot and click the “Research” button. For more information, check out our guide on how to use the Research Table.
If you find new material or simply can’t progress in the game, the best thing to do is to keep finding researchable items and put them in the Research Table.
But what are researchable items, you may ask? They are the items you can place in the Research Table’s top slot to research and learn new recipes.
The list below shows all the researchable items in Raft, grouped by the primary location they’re found:
- Picking from the ocean/barrels:
- Palm Leaf
- Plank
- Plastic
- Scrap
- Stone
- Crafting:
- Bolt
- Circuit Board
- Dry Brick
- Empty Bottle
- Hinge
- Nail
- Rope
- Paint
- Foraging from islands:
- Bee Jar
- Clay
- Dirt
- Flowers
- Giant Clam
- Honeycomb
- Seaweed
- Smelting:
- Copper Ingot
- Explosive Powder
- Glass
- Metal Ingot
- Vine Goo
- Titanium Ingot
- Getting from animals:
- Egg
- Feather
- Leather
- Wool
Remember that the researched item will be consumed once you hit the “Research” button. You only need to research each item once to unlock all recipes.
For example, Leather Helmet, Leather Body Armor, and Leather Greaves all require Leather and Wool as their ingredient, and you only need to spend 1 Leather and 1 Wool to unlock all those 3 recipes.
3. Learn Recipes
Once you’ve researched enough items for a specific recipe, you’ll see a new “Learn” button on the right.
To finish the research, click on it to learn the recipe and permanently unlock it in your crafting tab.
Besides researching resources, you’ll sometimes also get new recipes from blueprints.
There is no difference between recipes unlocked from research and recipes from blueprints.
That’s how to research in Raft!
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