How does the Lab work?

[ibol]

Hi, I'd just like to pop in and respond to this:

So, it seems the Lab is a crap-shoot. There is apparently no rhyme or reason to the results.

You can't learn a recipe you already know, because doing so would waste your time and resources. meaning, if you put all the components for something that you know the recipe for, you still won't "discover" that, because you already know it.

The recipes are set at the start of your game, and are constant within each game.

Also of note:
There are 13 types of "components" (away team weapons, spaceship shields, etc.) , and they include a vast variety of subtypes.
you can not learn the recipe of both a shotgun and a pistol, because they fall under the same category. There is some randomness to that aspect (ie crapshoot, as you put it)