Research Points

(THIS IS A COPY FROM MH WIKI) --

## Overview

Research Points, commonly acronymized as RP, are crucial currencies in the game that allow you to use previously-locked items. RP has been in the game since its initial release on June 12, 2015. Overtime, this mechanic has gone through multiple usage changes.

During the Combat Update, if you kill a user, you steal 1% of their total RP. However, this mechanic has been removed during the first part of the Winter Event 2015.

The Xbox Update released late March of 2016 completely removed the RP shop and weapons in the game in an attempt to make Miner's Haven more kid-friendly, but this was followed by debate and controversy because research points were given much less importance. Some weapons and other shop items did return again during the Christmas 2019 Event, but were not bought with RP.

However, the use of research points were given a lot of focus during the Reincarnation Update on 5 April, 2020. It introduced a new crafting system that required RP to unlock blueprints for different Reborn Fusions and Evolved Reborns.

## Mechanic

### Sources

Research Points can be obtained in two primary methods:

* **Research Crates** which can drop anywhere around the map. The following are the six main types of crates that drop randomly from the sky, along with their RP yields:
	+ Basic Crate: 500 RP
	+ Unobtainium Crystal Crate: 500 RP
	+ Shadow Crate: 1k RP; only drops at night
	+ Wooden Crate: 2.5k RP
	+ Lucky Crate: 3k RP
	+ Diamond Crate: 10k RP
* **Research Point farming** which the user may do if he/she is AFK. Refer to Section 3. Efficient Research Point Farming to learn more.

### Uses

Research Points have a variety of uses. The following are the primary usages of RP:

* **Unlocking Shop items**. Higher tiers of shop items require more RP to unlock. The Almighty-tier currently requires the most RP to unlock in the Shop at 400k RP.
* **Buying items from The Masked Man**. A portion of MM items can be bought with RP, usually costing tens or hundreds of thousands.
* **Obtaining blueprints from The Craftsman**. All Fusing and Evolving of Reborn items are to be done at The Craftsman, but you will have to obtain an item's blueprint first before being able to craft it.

## Efficient Research Point Farming

### Choosing a furnace

The Reincarnation Update made it so that (almost) every furnace yields a set amount of RP. Choosing the best RP furnace is essential for an effective RP farm.

**For lower lives**, they can rely on the Fusion Reactor, a shop research furnace that costs only nonillions. Its RP rate is 100 RP/25 ores or simply 4 RP/ore. However, this might be tedious to do as it requires ores with an upgrade counter of 21 or more. For reference, the Overlord Device and the True Overlord Device both have 20 upgrade counter, and the Tropical Breeze does 6.

While nonillions is very easily achievable, even earlier lives won't be able to purchase the Fusion Reactor. While totally inferior to the Fusion Reactor, the Research Center that can be bought for $5B is a viable low-life alternative. It requires ores to be worth over $1k and yields 45 RP/85 ores which translates to approximately 0.53 RP/ore. Most Reborn-tier furnaces have similar RP rates of around 0.5 RP/ore. As a bonus, the Thingamajig, a Vintage-tier cell furnace, is a low-lifer's best bet as it gives 10 RP/8 ores or 1.25 RP/ore, but it is found only in boxes and it is rare.

**For higher lives**, probably those in S+10k or higher, they will be able to craft the Eternal Limbo, which only requires 20 Eternal Journeys. The Eternal Limbo is the best consistent furnace for RP in the game at 500 RP/100 ores or 5 RP/ore.

With the exception of the Eternal Limbo, the better RP givers are mostly cell furnaces and/or Reborn Fusion-tier furnaces.

**BONUS FURNACES**: The Innovator's Research Center gives 100 RP/10 ore (10 RP/ore), but requires a lot of Ice Mines, Fire Mines, and Lightning Mines to make it efficient at all as it only counts ores from those mines. The Pandora's Box yields a random value 1-1000 RP/100 ores, but, theoretically, it is roughly equal to the Eternal Limbo's rate as these values average at around 500 RP/100 ores. It also only opens when there are 5 or less ores in the base. (Pandora's Box stats are yet to be confirmed.)

Click here for a list of (almost) all furnaces, ranked by RP yield.

### Choosing mines

In general, the drop rate of mines do not matter in terms of efficient RP farming. However, faster mines can reach the ore limit at greater speeds, thus requires less space.

The following are some fast-dropping common mines as compared to others (in descending [fast to slow] order):

* Wubium Mine
* Santa's Rage
* Palladium Drill (blue ores are spewed in random directions)
* Diamond Breech Loader / Breech Loader
* Yuttrium Mine (spews ores in random directions)
* Atomium Mine
* Newtonium Mine

Again, as aforementioned, RP farming does not exactly require fast-dropping mines. This is done to save space.

### Strategy

* It is highly recommended to centralize all ores into a single furnace. This can be done by letting all ores drop directly into teleporter senders, then placing a receiver right before the desired furnace. This method is very efficient in both space and speed.
* **For higher lives**: Tall mines, such as the Diamond Breech Loader, take ores longer to reach the surface, which may decrease the efficiency of your RP farm. To counter this, use teleporter senders on platforms to catch ores at higher altitudes. This will save plenty of time.
* A good RP farm with the Eternal Limbo, assuming full use of strategies, can give 750 RP/second (more than 10k RP/15 seconds). Try to look for parts of your RP farm you can still improve on to maximize your efficiency.
* Another RP farm works with the Eternal Journey. Using a lot of mines and teleporters of any color, as well as duplicators, you can get roughly 400 RP in 1 second, and that means 1000 RP in 2 1/2 seconds.