Material efficiency research
Material Research
Material research is the process by which an original blueprint is modified to require fewer resources to manufacture an item. The process modifies the blueprint by increasing its material level. A blueprint with higher material level consumes less waste and therefore requires fewer materials overall.
There is a limit to the savings provided by material research, however. Material research will only reduce material quantities if the blueprint still produces waste. Most original blueprints start off with a waste amount of 10%. Through material research, this percentage of waste will be reduced, and at some point the waste will equate to less than a single unit. From then on, material research will no longer reduce the waste or affect the blueprint in any functional way.
Blueprints
Almost all blueprint originals start off with a material level of zero. This corresponds to a waste factor of ten percent, and is usually undesirable. Copies may have a wide range of material levels. However they may not be the beneficiary of material research, and therefore their material level is unmodifiable. With originals, however, the material level may be increased through material research.
Each level of material research increases the blueprint's material level by one and reduces the amount of waste to ( 10.0 / (ML + 1)).
| Material Level | Waste Percentage |
| -5 | 60% |
| -4 | 50% |
| -3 | 40% |
| -2 | 30% |
| -1 | 20% |
| 0 | 10% |
| 1 | 5% |
| 2 | 3.33% |
| 3 | 2.5% |
| 4 | 2.0% |
| 5 | 1.67% |
| 9 | 1.0% |
| 49 | 0.20% |
| 99 | 0.1% |
Benefits
For most blueprint originals, it is generally worth the time to do material research. Any un-researched blueprint that requires more than ten units of a single material component will produce some waste. Therefore it is useful to increase the blueprint's material level to the point that the waste is eliminated or at least greatly reduced.
This can be especially important on blueprints that require only moderate numbers of very expensive material components. For example, a Capital ship maintenance array blueprint requires:
| Material Requirement | Original | Minimum | Wasted |
| Broadcast nodes | 50 | 45 | 5 |
| Integrity response drones | 35 | 31 | 4 |
| Nano-factory | 75 | 68 | 7 |
| Organic Mortar Applicators | 75 | 68 | 7 |
| Recursive Computing Module | 50 | 45 | 5 |
| Self Harmonizing Power Core | 50 | 45 | 5 |
| Sterile Conduits | 75 | 68 | 7 |
| Wetware Mainframe | 35 | 31 | 4 |
| Capital Construction Parts | 22 | 20 | 2 |
Diminishing Returns
For blueprints that require a large quantity of low value material components, increasing the material level past a certain point may not be worthwhile. A material level of nine will reduce the waste by a factor of ten. To reduce the waste by another factor of ten, a blueprint would hav to be researched to a material level of 99. After that, another factor of ten would require a material level of 999. Since each level of material research requires time, space, money, and potentially additional resources, researching to such levels in inadvisable.
Determining Research Amount
It is often easy to determine the appropriate amount of material research to complete for a blueprint with low quantity requirements. The material level necessary to eliminate all waste on blueprint is equal to the largest number of units wasted for any one material component.
For example, if a blueprint requires 110 units of a material (100 + 10 units or 10% waste), the necessary material level to reduce the waste to zero units is 10. This will reduce the total waste to 1/11th its original amount, or .90909.. units. EVE conveniently rounds this value down to zero wasted units.
| Material Quantity | Waste | "Perfect ML" |
| 10 | 0 | 0 |
| 11 | 1 | 1 |
| 22 | 2 | 2 |
| 45 | 4 | 4 |
| 99 | 9 | 9 |
| 110 | 10 | 10 |
| 2000 | 181 | 181 |
| 8000 | 727 | 727 |
| 25000 | 2272 | 2272 |
Once the quantities exceed a certain amount, though, material research becomes a huge investment with minimal benefit. Once the cost of researching a blueprint one additional material level exceeds the savings provided by that improved efficiency, the research becomes counter-productive unless the blueprint is utilized multiple times.
Installations
Material research may be completed in a number of different locations within EVE Online. Primarily among these are stations, outposts, and starbases.
NPC Stations
NPC stations provides easy access to material research installations. Throughout high and low security space, station installations are available in moderate to large quantities. This accessibility means that they are often in high use. Finding a currently available installation slot is often impossible. In fact, most stations will have queue timers in excess of a week.
Many players utilize NPC stations for the security they provide high-value blueprints and materials. NPC stations cannot be destroyed. Characters will always have permission to dock at the station. Other characters can never have permission to remove items from a personal hangar.
The distribution of NPC stations providing material research is fairly well balanced between regions. Between factions, however, a larger number of Caldari and Gallente corporations provide material research installations than Amarr and Minmatar corporations. Corporations that provide material research installations within some of their stations include:
Amarr
- 24th Imperial Crusade
- Amarr Navy
- Carthum Conglomerate
- Inherent Implants
- Ministry of Internal Order
- Sarum Family
Caldari
- Caldari Navy
- Caldari Tech
- Corporate Police Force
- Home Guard
- Ishukone
- Kaalakiota
- Lai Dai Corporation
- Peace and Order Unit
- Propel Dynamics
- Spacelane Patrol
- Wiyrkomi Peace Corps
- Zero-G Research Firm
Gallente
- Chemal Tech
- CreoDron
- Duvolle Laboratories
- Federation Intelligence Office
- Federation Customs
- Federation Navy
- Poteque Pharmaceuticals
- Zainou
Minmatar
- Republic Fleet
- Republic Security Services
- Tribal Liberation Force
Ammatar Mandate
- Ammatar Fleet
Khanid Kingdom
- Khanid Innovation
- Royal Khanid Navy
Thukker Tribe
- Thukker Mix
Jove
- Impro
- Genolution
- X-Sense
CONCORD
- CONCORD
- DED
Starbase Structures
There are three starbase structures that facilitate material efficiency research activities. Each has a different number of slots available to do the research. Each structure also has a bonus which reduces the duration of the research activities
| Name | Slots | Duration |
| Mobile Lab | 3 Slots | 0.75 |
| Advanced Mobile Lab | 2 Slots | 0.75 |
| Hyasoda Mobile Lab | 4 Slots | 0.75 |
Mobile Lab
The mobile lab is the standard lab array for doing industry activities. It contains three material efficiency research slots in addition to three productivity research, one copy, and five invention slots. It requires the least amount of powergrid and cpu of the three starbase labs. The mobile lab reduces the duration of material research activities to .75 of that in an NPC station.
Advanced Mobile Lab
The advanced mobile lab is the specialized lab array for doing industry activities. It contains only two material efficiency research slots in addition to three copy slots and two invention slots. The advanced mobile lab reduces the duration of material research activities to .75 of that in an NPC station
Hyasoda Mobile Lab
The Hyasoda mobile lab is the faction lab array for doing industry activities. It contains four material efficiency research slots in addition to four productivity research slots and six invention slots. The Hyasoda mobile lab reduces the duration of material research activities to .75 of that in an NPC station.
Outpost Components
Player constructed outposts have research and manufacturing facilities just like NPC stations. Unlike stations, however, outposts may also have additional installations or additional bonuses to improve certain activities. Of these bonuses and installation variations, a few impact material research.
Amarr Factory Outpost
| Improvement Platform | Additional Slots | Research Duration |
| Basic Outpost Laboratory Platform | +2 Slots | 1.0 |
| Outpost Laboratory Platform | +3 Slots | 1.0 |
| Advanced Outpost Laboratory Platform | +4 Slots | 1.0 |
Caldari Research Outpost
| Improvement Platform | Additional Slots | Research Duration |
| Basic Outpost Laboratory Platform | +5 Slots | 1.0 |
| Outpost Laboratory Platform | +5 Slots | 0.6 |
| Advanced Outpost Laboratory Platform | +9 Slots | 0.5 |
Gallente Administrative Outpost
| Improvement Platform | Additional Slots | Research Duration |
| Basic Outpost Laboratory Platform | +2 Slots | 1.0 |
| Outpost Laboratory Platform | +3 Slots | 1.0 |
| Advanced Outpost Laboratory Platform | +4 Slots | 1.0 |
Minmatar Service Outpost
| Improvement Platform | Additional Slots | Research Duration |
| Basic Outpost Laboratory Platform | +2 Slots | 0.8 |
| Outpost Laboratory Platform | +3 Slots | 0.6 |
| Advanced Outpost Laboratory Platform | +4 Slots | 0.4 |
Advanced options for ME research
There are a number of advanced options for ME research.
For players wanting to save time and money, the contract market contains sale contracts for blueprint originals. These original will often have some levels of material research. Purchasing a pre-researched blueprint original saves time, money, and may eliminate any chance of loss during that time.
For players looking for installations to utilize, low security NPC stations often have available material research slots. Although access to low security NPC stations can be difficult and dangerous, the ability to complete research jobs in the time it might take waiting for a opening at a high-security station makes low-security stations a common option.