diff --git a/controllers/BuildController.gd b/controllers/BuildController.gd
index f2b0dea..f4ef654 100644
--- a/controllers/BuildController.gd
+++ b/controllers/BuildController.gd
@@ -36,6 +36,10 @@ const HUD_ROW_GAP := 16.0
 @onready var station_menu: Control = get_node("../UI/StationMenu")
 # #220: what the fleet costs to keep, and the arithmetic behind it.
 @onready var upkeep_menu: Control = get_node("../UI/FleetUpkeepMenu")
+# Where research data comes from, shown when a player finds out they have
+# none - the tree used to refuse in silence and the lab used to blame the
+# queue.
+@onready var research_points_menu: Control = get_node("../UI/ResearchPointsMenu")
 @onready var scanner_menu: Control = get_node("../UI/ScannerMenu")
 
 var pending_build_type: String = ""
@@ -116,7 +120,7 @@ func _seat_hud_columns() -> void:
 func _menu_is_open() -> bool:
 	for menu in [build_menu, craft_menu, lab_menu, transfer_menu, hangar_menu,
 			formation_menu, skill_menu, planning_menu, garrison_menu, scanner_menu,
-			station_menu, upkeep_menu]:
+			station_menu, upkeep_menu, research_points_menu]:
 		if menu.visible:
 			return true
 	return false
@@ -491,6 +495,14 @@ func _on_unlock_requested(id: String) -> void:
 		return
 	var payment_position: Variant = research_building.get("position", null)
 	if not GameState.unlock(id, payment_position):
+		# A doctrine can be refused for several reasons, but only one of them
+		# is invisible on the node itself: the price in ORE is written there,
+		# the prerequisite is drawn as an unlit link, and research data is
+		# just a number the player has never been told how to get.
+		var points_short: int = GameState.skill_research_point_cost(id)
+		if GameState.research_points < points_short:
+			research_points_menu.open_for_shortfall(points_short,
+				String(GameState.skill_node(id).get("name", "This doctrine")))
 		skill_menu.refresh(id)
 		return
 	if int(GameState.skill_node(id).get("fleet_bonus", 0)) > 0:
@@ -616,6 +628,12 @@ func _on_lab_buy() -> void:
 		return
 	var selected: Dictionary = options[lab_choice]
 	var id: String = String(selected.id)
+	var lab_points: int = GameState.research_point_cost(id)
+	if GameState.research_points < lab_points:
+		# Checked BEFORE the queue call, which would otherwise refuse this
+		# and report it as "already queued or complete" - which it is not.
+		research_points_menu.open_for_shortfall(lab_points, String(selected.name))
+		return
 	if not GameState.queue_lab_research(lab_building_id, id):
 		lab_menu.set_status("Research is already queued or complete")
 		return
diff --git a/core/GameState.gd b/core/GameState.gd
index 790b933..8ce6917 100644
--- a/core/GameState.gd
+++ b/core/GameState.gd
@@ -3052,6 +3052,12 @@ func register_planet_garrison(planet_key: String, enemy_count: int,
 		# re-registered on a second visit must not become payable again.
 		"research_point_reward": point_reward,
 		"research_awarded": bool(existing.get("research_awarded", false)),
+		# Which kind of world this was. A quest can then ask for a research
+		# lab specifically - "any planet" and "the one worth research data"
+		# are different lessons - and the record is the only place that
+		# survives leaving the surface.
+		"definition_id": definition_id if definition_id != "" \
+			else String(existing.get("definition_id", "")),
 	}
 
 
@@ -3985,10 +3991,18 @@ func quest_progress(quest: Dictionary) -> Vector2i:
 			return Vector2i(mini(visited_planet_kinds.size(), kinds), kinds)
 		QUESTS.GOAL_CONQUERED:
 			var wanted: int = int(goal.get("count", 1))
+			# An optional kind: "take a planet" and "take a research lab" are
+			# different asks, and the second is how a player learns where
+			# research data comes from in quantity.
+			var of_kind: String = String(goal.get("definition", ""))
 			var held: int = 0
 			for key in planet_capture:
-				if bool(planet_capture[key].get("conquered", false)):
-					held += 1
+				var record: Dictionary = planet_capture[key]
+				if not bool(record.get("conquered", false)):
+					continue
+				if of_kind != "" and String(record.get("definition_id", "")) != of_kind:
+					continue
+				held += 1
 			return Vector2i(mini(held, wanted), wanted)
 	# An unknown goal kind must not be quietly "already done" - that would
 	# run the whole chain off in one frame.
diff --git a/core/Quests.gd b/core/Quests.gd
index b3d8e13..ad8c449 100644
--- a/core/Quests.gd
+++ b/core/Quests.gd
@@ -264,14 +264,6 @@ const CHAIN: Array = [
 		"done": "The hub is working. That transporter will wear out after a run of trips, and the hub will not replace it - watch its condition and build another before it goes.",
 		"important": true,
 	},
-	{
-		"id": "burner",
-		"title": "POWER",
-		"objective": "Build a gas burner",
-		"goal": {"kind": GOAL_BUILDING, "building": "gas_burner"},
-		"brief": "Research Power Systems and build a gas burner. Gas in, energy out. The better weapons run on energy.",
-		"done": "The burner is lit. This fleet has power again for the first time since the breach.",
-	},
 	{
 		"id": "lab",
 		"title": "SHIP SCIENCE",
@@ -280,6 +272,55 @@ const CHAIN: Array = [
 		"brief": "Research Vessel Science and build a ship lab. It makes the ships we fly better, and it opens designs we have never built.",
 		"done": "The lab is open.",
 	},
+	{
+		# Bombers hang off the transporter pair because they are the first
+		# thing the player builds for a REASON rather than because the chain
+		# said so - and the ship lab above is where a vessel is unlocked, so
+		# it has to come first.
+		"id": "bomber_research",
+		"title": "ORDNANCE",
+		"objective": "Unlock the Gas Bomber",
+		"goal": {"kind": GOAL_VESSEL_UNLOCKED, "vessel": "gas_bomber"},
+		"brief": "Interceptor fire is one hull at a time. Unlock the Gas Bomber at the ship lab - it costs gas and research data - and we can clear a whole camp at once.",
+		"done": "The bomber is on the crafter's list. It throws a charge that blooms where it lands.",
+	},
+	{
+		"id": "bomber_built",
+		"title": "A HEAVY HAND",
+		"objective": "Fly a Gas Bomber",
+		"goal": {"kind": GOAL_FLEET_VESSEL, "vessel": "gas_bomber", "count": 1},
+		"brief": "Order one at a crafter and crew it. Aim it by dragging from its button; the further you drag, the further it throws.",
+		"done": "We are carrying ordnance now. Ground that took a long fight before takes one throw.",
+	},
+	{
+		"id": "planet_scanner",
+		"title": "LISTENING POST",
+		"objective": "Build a planet scanner",
+		"goal": {"kind": GOAL_BUILDING, "building": "planet_scanner"},
+		"brief": "Blind searching is wasting our reach. Research Deep-Space Scanning at the mothership, then build a planet scanner. Give it a world signature and it will put the nearest match on our map.",
+		"done": "The scanner is listening. Now we can choose where the search goes next.",
+	},
+	{
+		# The scanner earns its place here: it is the only way to FIND a
+		# research lab world, and a lab world is the only thing that pays
+		# research data in quantity. Before the burner, because everything
+		# past it wants data the player has no reliable way to get yet.
+		"id": "lab_world",
+		"title": "SOMETHING WORTH TAKING",
+		"objective": "Find and take a research lab world",
+		"goal": {"kind": GOAL_CONQUERED, "definition": "research_lab", "count": 1},
+		"brief": "Scan for a research lab. Whatever was working there left its data behind, and taking one pays far better than an ordinary world - every doctrine worth having is waiting on it.",
+		"done": "Their lab is ours, and so is what they were working on. That is where research data comes from: take the worlds that have it.",
+		"important": true,
+	},
+	{
+		"id": "burner",
+		"title": "POWER",
+		"objective": "Build a gas burner",
+		"goal": {"kind": GOAL_BUILDING, "building": "gas_burner"},
+		"brief": "Research Power Systems and build a gas burner. Gas in, energy out. The better weapons run on energy.",
+		"done": "The burner is lit. This fleet has power again for the first time since the breach.",
+	},
 	{
 		"id": "shield",
 		"title": "A NEW HULL",
@@ -304,14 +345,6 @@ const CHAIN: Array = [
 		"brief": "An empty outpost is only a building. Open its hangar and station a ship there. It will hold that ground whether we are there or not.",
 		"done": "The outpost has a crew. It watches that approach now, so we do not have to.",
 	},
-	{
-		"id": "planet_scanner",
-		"title": "LISTENING POST",
-		"objective": "Build a planet scanner",
-		"goal": {"kind": GOAL_BUILDING, "building": "planet_scanner"},
-		"brief": "Blind searching is wasting our reach. Research Deep-Space Scanning at the mothership, then build a planet scanner. Give it a world signature and it will put the nearest match on our map.",
-		"done": "The scanner is listening. Now we can choose where the search goes next.",
-	},
 	{
 		"id": "worlds",
 		"title": "THE SURVEY",
diff --git a/tests/test_planet_scanner.gd b/tests/test_planet_scanner.gd
index 2ec08ba..2ee00b2 100644
--- a/tests/test_planet_scanner.gd
+++ b/tests/test_planet_scanner.gd
@@ -109,16 +109,28 @@ func _run() -> void:
 	map_content.free()
 	print("researched scanner reveals generated destinations; the fifth option waits for 4/4")
 
-	# #192: the scanner is taught immediately before the widened survey.
+	# #192: the scanner is taught immediately before the quest that needs it,
+	# and before every later one that does.
+	#
+	# That used to mean the world survey, which was the only thing it served.
+	# The scanner now also finds research lab worlds - the only reliable
+	# source of research data - and THAT is taught first, so the adjacency
+	# moved with it. The rule is unchanged in substance: a tool is taught
+	# where it is first wanted, not filed away several quests early.
 	var scanner_quest_at: int = -1
+	var lab_world_at: int = -1
 	var worlds_at: int = -1
 	for i in range(QUESTS.count()):
-		if String(QUESTS.at(i).id) == "planet_scanner":
-			scanner_quest_at = i
-		if String(QUESTS.at(i).id) == "worlds":
-			worlds_at = i
-	if scanner_quest_at < 0 or worlds_at != scanner_quest_at + 1:
-		return _fail("scanner quest is not directly before the world survey")
+		match String(QUESTS.at(i).id):
+			"planet_scanner": scanner_quest_at = i
+			"lab_world": lab_world_at = i
+			"worlds": worlds_at = i
+	if scanner_quest_at < 0:
+		return _fail("nothing in the chain teaches the scanner")
+	if lab_world_at != scanner_quest_at + 1:
+		return _fail("the scanner is not taught directly before the lab-world hunt that needs it")
+	if worlds_at < scanner_quest_at:
+		return _fail("the world survey comes before the scanner that serves it")
 	if int(QUESTS.at(worlds_at).goal.count) != 4:
 		return _fail("world survey does not require four planet types")
 	print("the quest chain teaches the scanner immediately before the four-world survey")
diff --git a/tests/test_research_points_explainer.gd b/tests/test_research_points_explainer.gd
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..aaef71a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_research_points_explainer.gd
@@ -0,0 +1,132 @@
+extends SceneTree
+
+# A player who is short of research data is told where it comes from.
+#
+# It is the one currency with a non-obvious source: ore and gas are visibly
+# mined, but data comes off conquered worlds and nothing said so at the point
+# it mattered. The skill tree refused the node in SILENCE, and the ship lab
+# refused with "Research is already queued or complete" - which is not why it
+# refused, and sends the player looking at the wrong thing.
+#
+# Covers:
+#   A. a doctrine that costs data the player has not got opens the explainer,
+#      naming what was wanted and what they hold
+#   B. the same from the ship lab, instead of blaming the queue
+#   C. with the data in hand, the research goes through and no popup appears
+
+var game_state: Node
+var scene: Node
+var controller: Node
+var popup: Control
+var elapsed: float = 0.0
+var stage: int = 0
+
+
+func _initialize() -> void:
+	game_state = root.get_node("GameState")
+	game_state.buildings.clear()
+	game_state.extractors.clear()
+	game_state.reset_progression()
+	game_state.reset_new_game()
+	game_state.intro_active = false
+	game_state.reset_quests()
+	game_state.rocks = 5000
+	game_state.bank_inventory.set_amount(GameState.RESOURCE_GAS, 5000)
+	game_state.bank_inventory.set_amount(GameState.RESOURCE_ENERGY, 5000)
+	game_state.research_points = 0
+	game_state.unlocked = ["shipyards"]
+	scene = load("res://world/Main.tscn").instantiate()
+	root.add_child(scene)
+	current_scene = scene
+	controller = scene.get_node("BuildController")
+	popup = scene.get_node("UI/ResearchPointsMenu")
+
+
+func _costly_doctrine() -> String:
+	for node in GameState.SKILL_TREE:
+		if int(node.get("research_points", 0)) > 0:
+			return String(node.id)
+	return ""
+
+
+func _process(delta: float) -> bool:
+	elapsed += delta
+	if elapsed < 0.4:
+		return false
+	match stage:
+		0:
+			var doctrine: String = _costly_doctrine()
+			if doctrine == "":
+				return _fail("no doctrine costs research data, so this proves nothing")
+			# Everything but the data: the prerequisite met and the ore paid,
+			# so data is unambiguously the thing that is missing.
+			game_state.unlocked = ["shipyards"]
+			var requires: String = String(game_state.skill_node(doctrine).get("requires", ""))
+			if requires != "" and not game_state.is_unlocked(requires):
+				game_state.unlocked.append(requires)
+			game_state.research_points = 0
+
+			var mothership_id: int = game_state.add_building(
+				GameState.BUILDING_MOTHERSHIP, Vector2.ZERO)
+			controller.skill_menu.building_id = mothership_id
+			if popup.visible:
+				return _fail("the explainer was open before anything was refused")
+			controller._on_unlock_requested(doctrine)
+			if not popup.visible:
+				return _fail("a doctrine costing data was refused with no explanation")
+			if game_state.is_unlocked(doctrine):
+				return _fail("the doctrine was researched with no data at all")
+			var said: String = popup.have_label.text
+			if not said.contains("YOU HAVE 0"):
+				return _fail("the explainer does not say what the player holds: '%s'" % said)
+			if not popup.detail_label.text.to_lower().contains("scanner"):
+				return _fail("the explainer never mentions how to find a lab world")
+			print("skill tree: refused and explained - '%s'" % said)
+			popup.close_menu()
+
+			# --- C. with the data, it goes through, quietly ---------------
+			game_state.research_points = 20
+			controller._on_unlock_requested(doctrine)
+			if not game_state.is_unlocked(doctrine):
+				return _fail("the doctrine was refused with data in hand")
+			if popup.visible:
+				return _fail("the explainer opened on a research that succeeded")
+			print("with data in hand it goes through, and says nothing")
+			elapsed = 0.0
+			stage = 1
+			return false
+		1:
+			# --- B. the lab explains too, rather than blaming the queue ---
+			game_state.research_points = 0
+			var lab_id: int = game_state.add_building(GameState.BUILDING_SHIP_LAB,
+				Vector2(600.0, 0.0))
+			controller.lab_building_id = lab_id
+			controller.lab_vessel = GameState.VESSEL_INTERCEPTOR
+			controller.lab_choice = 0
+			var options: Array = controller._lab_options()
+			if options.is_empty():
+				return _fail("the lab offers nothing, so this proves nothing")
+			# Pick an option that actually costs data.
+			for i in range(options.size()):
+				if game_state.research_point_cost(String(options[i].id)) > 0:
+					controller.lab_choice = i
+					break
+			if game_state.research_point_cost(String(options[controller.lab_choice].id)) <= 0:
+				return _fail("no lab option costs research data, so this proves nothing")
+			controller._on_lab_buy()
+			if not popup.visible:
+				return _fail("the lab refused for want of data with no explanation")
+			if controller.lab_menu.status.text.contains("already queued"):
+				return _fail("the lab still blames the queue: '%s'" % controller.lab_menu.status.text)
+			print("ship lab: refused and explained, not blamed on the queue")
+
+			print("TEST_RESEARCH_POINTS_EXPLAINER: PASS")
+			quit(0)
+			return true
+	return false
+
+
+func _fail(message: String) -> bool:
+	print("TEST_RESEARCH_POINTS_EXPLAINER: FAIL (%s)" % message)
+	quit(1)
+	return true
diff --git a/ui/menus/ResearchPointsMenu.gd b/ui/menus/ResearchPointsMenu.gd
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..de3d1c9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ui/menus/ResearchPointsMenu.gd
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+extends "res://ui/menus/ModalMenu.gd"
+
+# Where research data comes from, said at the moment the player finds out they
+# have none.
+#
+# Both research screens used to answer a shortfall badly: the skill tree
+# refused the node and said nothing at all, and the ship lab said "already
+# queued or complete", which is not why it refused. Research data is the one
+# currency in the game with a single non-obvious source - you take it off
+# planets, and lab worlds carry most of it - so a player short of it needs
+# telling where to go, not a silent button.
+
+@onready var have_label: Label = $HaveLabel
+@onready var detail_label: Label = $DetailLabel
+
+
+func open_for_shortfall(needed: int, subject: String) -> void:
+	open_menu()
+	have_label.text = "%s NEEDS %d - YOU HAVE %d" % [
+		subject.to_upper(), needed, GameState.research_points]
+	detail_label.text = ("Research data is not mined and not built. It comes off worlds "
+		+ "you take from whatever is holding them, and a research lab world pays "
+		+ "several times what an ordinary one does.\n\n"
+		+ "Build a planet scanner to find the nearest lab world, fly there, and "
+		+ "destroy its garrison. What they were working on becomes yours.")
diff --git a/ui/menus/ResearchPointsMenu.tscn b/ui/menus/ResearchPointsMenu.tscn
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6bc985d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ui/menus/ResearchPointsMenu.tscn
@@ -0,0 +1,64 @@
+[gd_scene load_steps=3 format=3]
+
+[ext_resource type="Script" path="res://ui/IconButton.gd" id="icon"]
+[ext_resource type="Script" path="res://ui/menus/ResearchPointsMenu.gd" id="menu"]
+
+[node name="ResearchPointsMenu" type="Control" groups=["modal_menus"]]
+visible = false
+mouse_filter = 2
+anchor_right = 1.0
+anchor_bottom = 1.0
+script = ExtResource("menu")
+
+[node name="Backdrop" type="ColorRect" parent="."]
+mouse_filter = 2
+anchor_right = 1.0
+anchor_bottom = 1.0
+color = Color(0.03, 0.03, 0.08, 0.97)
+
+[node name="TitleLabel" type="Label" parent="."]
+mouse_filter = 2
+anchor_right = 1.0
+offset_left = 24.0
+offset_top = 24.0
+offset_right = -180.0
+offset_bottom = 100.0
+theme_override_font_sizes/font_size = 40
+text = "NO RESEARCH DATA"
+horizontal_alignment = 1
+
+[node name="CloseButton" type="Control" parent="."]
+anchor_left = 1.0
+anchor_right = 1.0
+offset_left = -140.0
+offset_top = 24.0
+offset_right = -24.0
+offset_bottom = 140.0
+script = ExtResource("icon")
+icon = 1
+glow_color = Color(0.55, 0.6, 1, 1)
+
+[node name="HaveLabel" type="Label" parent="."]
+mouse_filter = 2
+anchor_right = 1.0
+offset_left = 32.0
+offset_top = 160.0
+offset_right = -32.0
+offset_bottom = 230.0
+theme_override_font_sizes/font_size = 32
+theme_override_colors/font_color = Color(1, 0.85, 0.35, 1)
+text = ""
+horizontal_alignment = 1
+
+[node name="DetailLabel" type="Label" parent="."]
+mouse_filter = 2
+anchor_right = 1.0
+offset_left = 48.0
+offset_top = 280.0
+offset_right = -48.0
+offset_bottom = 900.0
+theme_override_font_sizes/font_size = 30
+theme_override_colors/font_color = Color(0.72, 0.88, 0.96, 1)
+text = ""
+horizontal_alignment = 1
+autowrap_mode = 2
diff --git a/world/Main.tscn b/world/Main.tscn
index 66e6780..31147f7 100644
--- a/world/Main.tscn
+++ b/world/Main.tscn
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@
 [ext_resource type="PackedScene" path="res://ui/menus/ScannerMenu.tscn" id="menu_scanner"]
 [ext_resource type="PackedScene" path="res://ui/menus/StationMenu.tscn" id="menu_station"]
 [ext_resource type="PackedScene" path="res://ui/menus/FleetUpkeepMenu.tscn" id="menu_upkeep"]
+[ext_resource type="PackedScene" path="res://ui/menus/ResearchPointsMenu.tscn" id="menu_points"]
 [ext_resource type="PackedScene" path="res://ui/ScannerGuidance.tscn" id="scanner_guidance"]
 
 
@@ -533,6 +534,8 @@ icon = 1
 [node name="StationMenu" parent="UI" instance=ExtResource("menu_station")]
 
 [node name="FleetUpkeepMenu" parent="UI" instance=ExtResource("menu_upkeep")]
+
+[node name="ResearchPointsMenu" parent="UI" instance=ExtResource("menu_points")]
 [node name="QuestPanel" type="Control" parent="UI" groups=["modal_menus"]]
 visible = false
 mouse_filter = 2