Weapons Research

What does the quest Weapons Research give? Weapon blueprints: the Positron Ejector, the Infra-Knife Accelerator, and the Cyclotron Ballista for your starship, and the Advanced Mining Laser for your multitool. They come in the last of its 7 parts, each one you do not know yet; on the way the armourer also hands over a Starshield Battery and Unstable Plasma.

How it starts

The quest opens once you have hired an armourer at the Weapons Terminal, which Expanding the Base gives.

The steps

Each part is one entry of the log, and the next opens when it ends: you shut down a weapons factory, hunt and interrogate pirates, raid depots, collect Vy'keen daggers, and fight the Sentinels, returning to the armourer each time. The table gives every step as the log names it, with the hint the game shows under it, and on a part's last step everything that part gives along the way.

Part	Step	Hint	Gives
1	Build a Weapons Terminal	Use to access the Build Menu. Structural components can be built only within the bounds of a base. General technology parts maybe be constructed further afield.
1	Hire a base Armourer	The Armourer will help upgrade your Multi-Tool.
1	Return to the Armourer	The Armourer awaits at their terminal
2	Return to the Armourer	The Armourer awaits at their terminal
2	Shut down the Weapons Factory	The factory may be protected by Sentinel forces.
3	Return to the Armourer	The Armourer awaits at their terminal
3	Hunt and destroy the Pirates	Locate the pirate vessels in space
4	Return to the Armourer	The Armourer awaits at their terminal
4	Find and interrogate the Pirate	Locate the pirate and press them for information	Starshield Battery, Unstable Plasma
5	Return to the Armourer	The Armourer awaits at their terminal
5	Destroy Planetary Depots	Destroy Depots with Multi-Tool weapons.
6	Return to the Armourer	The Armourer awaits at their terminal
6	Collect Vy'keen Daggers	Acquire daggers from the Vy'keen traders at outposts, or find them in planetary containers
7	Return to the Armourer	The Armourer awaits at their terminal
7	Engage and destroy Sentinels	Prepare for battle...	Cyclotron Ballista, Advanced Mining Laser, Positron Ejector, Infra-Knife Accelerator

Every step in the order the log shows it, with the hint under it; what a part gives stands on its last step.

What the items do

Everything the quest hands over, with the description the game gives it.

Item	What it does
Starshield Battery	A power storage unit optimised for use in starship defensive systems.
Unstable Plasma	Densely-packed fuel capsule for use in the Plasma Launcher.
Cyclotron Ballista	A powerful ship-to-ship weapon, flinging plasmatic balls of ionising radiation towards the selected target. These projectiles can disable starship engines, leaving the target vulnerable to attack from other weapons.
Advanced Mining Laser	Replaces standard Mining Beam optics with high-grade Living Glass, allowing the beam to be effective against large and/or rare resource deposits.
Positron Ejector	A powerful starship weapon, capable of delivering extreme destruction at close range.
Infra-Knife Accelerator	A rapid fire starship weapon that launches superheated globes of liquid metal at hostile targets. These projectiles are extremely effective against unshielded starship hulls.

Every item the quest gives, in the order it comes, with the game's own description.

The weapons are also blueprints of the Space Anomaly. What each adds is in the starship modules and multitool modules guides; the other base quests start from Expanding the Base.