ROB RUN - Laboratory Guide: Production Stages, Cycle Data and Selling Decisions

[Diamond]

ROB RUN Laboratory Guide
Equipment • Production Stages • Cycle Data • Sales

A Chemical Laboratory is a production chain. Reagents become concentrate, concentrate becomes crystals, and crystals can be processed into powder. Understanding each stage helps you avoid buying equipment that your operation cannot yet use.

Community illustration showing laboratory equipment and output. Credit: MetaForge.

1. Basic Equipment Budget

Equipment	Research	Purchase
Chemical Laboratory	$160,000	$110,000
Uncommon Chemical Reactor	$20,000	$40,000
Uncommon Industrial Freezer	$15,000	$20,000
Lab Table	$10,000	$15,000
Combined	$205,000	$185,000

Reference total: $390,000, excluding property, reagents, protection, transport, and upgrades.

If you intend to sell crystals without making powder, evaluate whether you need the final processing stage immediately.

2. The Production Chain

Stage	Input	Equipment	Output
1	Compatible reagents	Chemical Reactor	Crystalline Concentrate
2	Concentrate	Industrial Freezer	Hard Crystals
3	Hard Crystals	Lab Table	Crystalline Powder

• Bring compatible reagent cargo to the laboratory.
• Use the reactor's input interaction and inspect the active job.
• Move the resulting concentrate to the freezer.
• Collect the crystals when ready.
• Choose direct crystal sale or further processing.

Important: a complete recipe needs the input quantity, output quantity, timing, and equipment conditions. Do not assume every reagent or rarity produces the same result.

3. Reactor Cycle Data

Current community item records list:

Reactor	Cycle length	Listed cycles
Uncommon	900 seconds — 15 minutes	4
Epic	530 seconds — 8 minutes 50 seconds	6
Legendary	337 seconds — 5 minutes 37 seconds	8

These are database fields, not a verified statement that one reagent cargo creates a particular number of saleable units.

Check the live job before projecting output per hour.

4. Sale Values by Rarity

Listed base values before applicable bonuses:

Rarity	Concentrate	Hard Crystals	Powder per item
Uncommon	$10,000	$30,000	$1,000
Epic	$15,000	$45,000	$2,000
Legendary	$25,000	$75,000	$4,000

Concentrate and crystals are cargo sold through the relevant Smuggler interaction. Powder is sold to the Fence.

5. Should You Crush the Crystals?

The answer depends on the number of powder items produced.

At the listed base prices:

• Uncommon crystals need more than 30 $1,000 powder items to exceed a $30,000 direct sale.
• Epic crystals need at least 23 $2,000 powder items to exceed $45,000.
• Legendary crystals need at least 19 $4,000 powder items to exceed $75,000.

These are comparison calculations, not claimed production yields. Different sale bonuses, costs, and timing change the comparison.

Record the actual output before committing your entire stock to the final stage.

6. Upgrade the Bottleneck

Reactor upgrades: increase production capability and improve the chance of higher-quality output through the relevant modules.

Freezer upgrades: expand capacity. The documented tiers hold 4, 6, and 8 concentrates.

Improved Evaporator and Quality Refrigerant: improve freezer processing.

Laboratory Scales: belong to the Lab Table setup.

A faster reactor offers limited benefit if the freezer is always full. Likewise, extra freezing capacity is wasted if you rarely supply the reactor.

7. Protect the Operation

A running laboratory produces visible smoke, making the activity easier to notice.

Interrupting production can lose input or drop cargo. Read the cancellation prompt before stopping a job.

Business rule: include security and collection time in the budget. Production sitting uncollected at a vulnerable base is exposed stock, not secured profit.

Reviewed 9 November 2026. Live job requirements take precedence over database snapshots.
Laboratory reference | Community guide and image credit