Research (Thaumcraft 4)

Research is a core mechanic in Thaumcraft 4. It allows the player to advance in Thaumcraft and create items featured in the Thaumonomicon&mdash;any player that does not have the appropriate research learned will not be able to craft or infuse the item even when all the necessary components and vis are gathered.

Required materials
In order to do research, the player will need:
 * a Thaumonomicon
 * Note: research is linked to the player and not the Thaumonomicon; giving the book to another player will not allow them to use the first player's research topics.


 * Paper
 * Scribing Tools
 * Ink (e.g., Ink Sacs)
 * Research points
 * a Thaumometer
 * a Research Table

Research points
Research points are required in order to progress through Thaumcraft and are tied to aspects. There are 2 main methods of acquiring points: scanning objects with a Thaumometer or combining two aspects at a Research Table into their compound aspect. Compound aspects cannot be scanned until their constitutive aspects are known; if an item or block cannot be scanned in this event a tooltip will appear on the lower-right corner of the screen informing the player in a roundabout way about a certain aspect that they need to know of before the item can be scanned. Because of the way that aspects are sorted, has to be combined from a Research Table (this combination is also noted in the Thaumonomicon). If a new aspect is discovered via scanning, the player will gain 3 times the amount they would normally acquire. When scanning Aura Nodes the number of points gained is roughly a 1/10th of each aspect in the node. Once the player collects around 100 points in an aspect gaining additional points generally decreases to a 1-point gain per scan.

Research points can also be gained by consuming Knowledge Fragments or Mana Beans and incurring the Warp event "Strange whispers reveal secrets to you," though these methods are unreliable or potentially harmful to the player. If Forbidden Magic is installed right-clicking with a fully depleted Crystal Scribing Tools in hand will give 4-9 research points in each primal aspect.

Combining a compound aspect at a Research Table requires the player to click on the two constitutive aspects on the left-hand side of the GUI then clicking the purple combine button on the lower-left corner. This will consume a point apiece from the constitutive aspects and generate 1 point of the compound aspect. If the topic "Research Mastery" is known, shift-clicking on the desired compound aspect will do the same thing.