Research Table and TraderBot Unlock Requirements

If your first Solarpunk island has become a sweet little sky cottage with three chests full of almost-useful stuff, and the Research Table is asking for the one crop you just ate, you are in the normal progression tangle. The fix is to treat new materials like keys first and supplies second. Save the first few crops, bars, eggs, and strange shiny bits until you know whether the Research Table or TraderBot wants them.

The Research Table is your base recipe hub. It unlocks survival items, the Map, the Airship Dock, animal systems, cooking, growboxes, and decoration packs. TraderBot is the robot trader you reach by restoring your first airship route and flying out from your dock. Its Blueprint system unlocks power, automation, transport, wind power, and later tools. These two systems run side by side, so a cozy self-powered homestead needs both.

Version note: these costs are scoped to the June 2026 launch-window build. Recipe costs can change in patches, so if your in-game Research Table shows a different number, follow the in-game number and keep the same priority order.

Research Table Tier Gates and Key Costs

Tier	Unlock requirement	Important unlocks and Research Table costs	Best first move
Tier 1	Available from the start	Rain Collector: 2 Wood. Well: 3 Stone, 2 Wood, 2 Sticks. Chest: 2 Wood. Beehive: 2 Wood. Bed: 2 Wood, 2 Sticks, 1 Cloth.	Research Rain Collector, Chest, Beehive, then Bed. This gives water, storage, Beeswax, and sleep control before you decorate.
Tier 2	1 Build-Hammer, 1 Beeswax	Furnace: 3 Stone. Map: 2 Cloth. Bottle: 2 Glass. Deco Tables & Chairs: 5 Wood, 2 Sticks. Deco Plants Pack (Medium): 3 Leaf, 2 Brick.	Unlock the Map and Furnace first. Cotton becomes a real bottleneck here because Cloth is needed for the Map, Bed, Airship Dock, and later trades.
Tier 3	1 Iron Bar	Airship Dock: 5 Wood, 5 Iron, 5 Cloth. Storage Shelves: 3 Wood, 2 Sticks. Signs & Map Markers: 5 Wood. Magnetic Fishing Rod: 1 Cloth, 1 Iron, 1 Stick. Deco Couches & Carpets: 2 Cloth, 4 Cotton, 2 Wood. Deco Plants Pack (Small): 1 Brick, 2 Leaf. Wax Briquette: 2 Beeswax, 2 Cloth.	Research Airship Dock first, then gather the Crashed Airship Component from your starter island wreck before you try to build the first airship. The 5 Wood, 5 Iron, and 5 Cloth line is the research cost; the dock and airship have their own build costs after that.
Tier 4	1 Copper	Glass Materials: 5 Glass, 16 Wood. Iron Tools: 5 Iron Bars, 1 Pickaxe. Basic Home Decor: 2 Wood, 2 Cloth. Farming & Animal Decoration: 5 Wood, 2 Wheat. Deco Shelves & Dressers: 5 Wood. Deco Outdoor Bushes & Plants: 16 Leaf.	Take Iron Tools and Glass Materials when you are ready to support longer trips and better building. Leave most decor until the airship and power route are stable.
Tier 5	1 Wheat	Animals Basic Pack: 5 Wheat. Decorative Books: 5 Cloth. Deco Plants Pack (Large): 5 Brick, 10 Leaf. Trashcan: 1 Wood, 1 Stick. Foodbasket: 1 Egg, 1 Sheep's Milk, 1 Truffle.	Do not spend your first Wheat. Save 1 Wheat for the tier gate, 5 Wheat for Animals Basic Pack, and more Wheat for TraderBot and Bread.
Tier 6	1 Sunflower	Growbox: 2 Wood. Cooking: 5 Brick, 2 Iron, 2 Sticks. Decorative Plates, Pots, and Pans: 2 Iron, 1 Brick, 1 Stick. Deco Outdoor Furniture: 5 Cloth, 5 Wood. Seedspack: 1 Raspberry, 1 Cotton, 1 Wheat, 1 Carrot, 1 Sunflower. Pig Shelter: 5 Carrot, 5 Wood. Better Animal Feed: 1 Animal Feed, 2 Sunflower.	Unlock Growbox and Seedspack if crops are your blocker. Unlock Cooking after you have protected the eggs, Wheat, Carrots, and Sunflowers needed for gates.
Tier 7	1 Corn	Brick Materials: 5 Brick, 16 Stone. Decorative Haybales: 5 Wheat. Decorative Barrel & Crate: 5 Wood. Rockingchair: 3 Wood, 3 Sticks. Picnic Table & Tablecloth: 3 Wood, 2 Cloth. Additional Cooking Recipes: 2 Corn, 2 Truffle, 2 Raspberry. Sheep Shelter: 5 Corn, 5 Wood.	Use this tier to support later animal and cooking loops. Corn is a gate, so grow extra before turning it into recipes.
Tier 8	1 Paprika	Diamond Tools: 5 Diamond, 1 Pickaxe (Metal). Music Pack (Deco): 3 Wood, 2 Iron, 2 Cloth. Decorative Curtain: 5 Cloth, 1 Iron. Deco Cacti & Succulents: 3 Brick, 5 Leaf. Bath Decoration Pack: 5 Wood, 5 Brick, 3 Cloth. Washtub & Trunk: 3 Wood, 3 Sticks, 3 Cloth, 1 Iron. Additional Cooking Recipes: 5 Paprika, 1 Vegetable Stir-Fry, 1 Berry Cake.	Push Diamond Tools if you are still gathering hard materials. Save the decoration packs for when your farm and airship loops are already calm.
Diamond gate	1 Diamond, shown in game as another Tier 8 gate	Decorative Fairy Lights: 2 Iron, 2 Copper. Toilet House: 3 Wood, 3 Sticks. Deco Fireplaces: 5 Stone, 3 Wood. Decorative Logs: 3 Wood.	This is mostly comfort and decoration. It is safe to wait until your late resource loop is settled.

TraderBot Blueprint Tiers

Blueprints are research tickets earned through TraderBot deliveries. Spend them at the blueprint station near TraderBot. Each listed blueprint research costs 1 Blueprint after its tier is open, but tier gates need their own material. Not every TraderBot delivery gives a Blueprint; airship upgrade deliveries pay out upgrade progress instead.

Blueprint tier	Tier gate	Blueprint unlocks
Tier 1	Open the route with the first TraderBot delivery: 4 Watermelon	Energy Workbench, Solar Panel, Weather Station & Switch
Tier 2	1 Silicon after the 5 Silicon trade. Bring 6 Silicon if you want to trade and unlock the tier right away.	Battery, Energy Furnace, Animal Transport, Advanced Dock, Sensor & Logic Block
Tier 3	1 Cobalt	Lights Pack, Postbox, Transport Drone, Windmill
Tier 4	1 Algae (Circuitboard) from the Algae electronics route	Algae Drone, Sky Turbine, Automatic Water Trough & Feed Dispenser, Forester Bot, Recycler
Tier 5	1 Diamond	Wooden Mill, Detector

TraderBot Trade Chain

Order	Delivery	Result or reason to care
1	4 Watermelon	Opens Blueprint Tier 1 and starts the Energy Workbench route.
2	12 Cotton	Blueprint delivery. Keep cotton replanted so this does not stall Cloth, Map, and Dock progress.
3	20 Beeswax	Blueprint delivery. More Beehives make this much less annoying.
4	10 Watermelon	Blueprint delivery. Replant before you hand over the stack.
5	32 Copper	Airship upgrade to Level 2. This does not give a Blueprint.
6	5 Silicon	Trade gate before Blueprint Tier 2. Smelt Quartz into Silicon, then keep 1 extra Silicon for the tier unlock.
7	10 Wheat	Blueprint delivery. Wheat also gates Tier 5 and Animal Basics, so grow a surplus.
8	20 Cloth	Blueprint delivery. This is why cotton is not just a cute early crop.
9	10 Bread	Blueprint delivery. Do not cook away Wheat until this route is planned.
10	6 Eggs	Airship upgrade to Level 3. This does not give a Blueprint. Save the first 6 eggs instead of cooking them.
11	20 Carrot	Blueprint delivery and later animal/farm gate.
12	20 Sunflower	Blueprint delivery. Sunflower also opens Research Table Tier 6.
13	20 Cobalt	Blueprint delivery and the key material for Blueprint Tier 3.
14	32 Glass	Blueprint delivery. Plan sand and furnace fuel before you start.
15	2 Raspberry Muffins	Blueprint delivery from the cooking route.
16	10 Truffle	Airship upgrade to Level 4. This does not give a Blueprint.
17	12 Tomato	Later farm delivery.
18	30 Brick	Later crafting delivery. Start clay and brick production early if you are decorating too.
19	20 Corn	Later crop delivery and Research Table Tier 7 gate material.
20	3 Berry Cake	Later cooking delivery.
21	10 Sheep's Milk	Later animal delivery.
22	30 Algae	Airship upgrade to Level 5. This does not give a Blueprint.
23	20 Paprika	Late crop delivery and Research Table Tier 8 gate material.
24	4 Vegetable Pizza	Late cooking delivery.
25	20 Diamond	Late material delivery and Blueprint Tier 5 planning material.

Best Unlock Order for a Practical First Base

Start with Rain Collector, Chest, Beehive, and Bed. This makes the first island livable instead of just pretty.
Unlock Tier 2 with 1 Build-Hammer and 1 Beeswax, then research Map and Furnace. Craft the Map with 2 Cloth so airship planning stops being cliff-edge guesswork.
Unlock Tier 3 with 1 Iron Bar, then research Airship Dock for 5 Wood, 5 Iron, and 5 Cloth. After research, build and place the dock with 40 Wood, 20 Iron, and 3 Cloth, then craft the first airship from the dock panel with 10 Iron, 3 Cloth, and 1 Crashed Airship Component.
Reach TraderBot, deliver 4 Watermelon, then spend your first Blueprint on Energy Workbench. After that, take Solar Panel so your base can move toward renewable power.
Build from the Energy Workbench route, then add cables, Network Display, Drill, and Sprinkler as your power can support them. A Drill and several Sprinklers can strain a small grid, so do not wire every shiny machine at once and act surprised when the lights sulk.
Trade 32 Copper for the first airship upgrade. If your range does not grow, fly home, dock the ship, open the dock panel, and apply the upgrade there.
After the first range upgrade, look for Quartz and Wheat. Smelt Quartz into Silicon, complete the 5 Silicon trade, and keep 1 extra Silicon to open Blueprint Tier 2.
At Blueprint Tier 2, pick Battery before Animal Transport if your base already uses solar panels, drills, sprinklers, or the Advanced Dock. Pick Animal Transport first only if moving animals is the clear blocker.
Save Wheat for Tier 5, Animals Basic Pack, the 10 Wheat trade, and Bread. In a host-based co-op save, keep one shared gate chest by the Research Table so nobody turns the next unlock into dinner by accident.
At Blueprint Tier 3, prioritize Windmill if your power dips often, then choose Transport Drone, Postbox, or Lights Pack based on your base needs. Automation is more useful once the farm, airship, and battery loop can keep up.

The main recovery rule is simple: when progression feels stuck, name the missing gate. If you need 1 Wheat, 1 Silicon, 6 Eggs, or 32 Copper, stop doing general chores and route the next trip around that one item. Solarpunk is calmer when each flight brings home a clear piece of the next system.

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