The Monster Research Lab is where you go to unlock Targeted Fighting, also known as Puzzle Fighting. This costs 100 req.
Earliest reference to this in the wiki appears to be the following What's New, ported from the old wiki. Link.
Please note that this page is mostly a placeholder, and meant to store some information on Targeted Fighting, so it can later be prettied up into a proper Wiki entry. This information is only viewable the first time you go to the Monster Lab however (as in you unlock it once and retain the skill on future drive kills), so it requires a new character to see.
Copy-pasted from learning the Targeted Fighting/Puzzle Fighting skill.
“You will notice I'm in a semidefensive stance,” says Training Robot, with infuriating calmness. “We will both heal automatically between rounds, so don't bother trying to knock me down. Instead, pay attention to my guarded and vulnerable areas. Targeting a vulnerable area will cause it to go into guarded status, and will cause one other area to change state too. Try striking a vulnerable area now.”
“Excellent,” says Training Robot. “You'll note that hitting a guarded body part swapped both the body part you targeted, and one other body part, to vulnerable status. To put me into stun mode, continue striking guarded areas so as to turn all of my body parts vulnerable.”
“Very good,” says Training Robot. “Now that all of my body parts are in vulnerable status, I am stunned. Notice that I cannot attack or defend. Obviously this is a mere simulation and I could slice you out of existence before you could blink if I really had to, but please play along with this farce for the sake of your education. You now have the opportunity to strike at any of my vulnerable points, and there would be nothing I can do about it. But before you do so, know that striking a particular one of my body parts will extend the stun and allow you to strike again with double attack power - whereas striking one of the other three will end the stun and allow me to attack once again. When you are fighting creatures in the real world, they will not tell you which of their body parts to strike in what order, but here in this simulation I will advise you to strike my left arm.”
“Carry on,” says Training Robot. “The objective is to turn all of my body parts vulnerable by striking the guarded areas. Striking a body part will flip both its status and the status of one more body part.”
“Outstanding,” says Training Robot. “You strike this time with quintuple attack power. There are a maximum of five targets in a stun sequence. The last one is my left leg.”
“Very good,” says Training Robot. “You have successfully carried a stun combo sequence all the way through to its natural conclusion - a strike of octuple attack power. Since we have reached the end of the combo sequence, the next attack you land will knock me out of stun mode, but will still be delivered at eight times your normal attack power. This concludes the first lesson, and I will deactivate on the next round of combat.”
“Let's review briefly,” says Training Robot, standing immobile and dignified while you sweat and pant. Behind you, Dave has been writing on a whiteboard while you were fighting:
* Most monsters, at least ones that have corporeal forms, have distinct body parts.
* Attacking a body part will change its state between guarded and vulnerable. Guarded body parts have higher defence - vulnerable body parts have lower defence.
* Most attacks will also flip the status of at least one other body part.
* Making all of a monster's body parts vulnerable will stun the monster, and make it unable to attack or defend. A stun can be extended by striking a specific body part. You won't know what that body part is until you discover it, either by trial and error or through other means.
* Each time you strike the correct body part in the Secret Stun Combo Sequence, your attack power will increase significantly.
* Using an inventory item, flailing about randomly, or using an Implant skill or other special thing will cause you to attack a randomly-chosen body part. A great time to use these skills or items is during a stun where you don't know the next step in the combo sequence.
“Are you ready for the next lesson?” asks Training Robot.
“Each body part has what Corporal Punishment might call a “Health bar,” or in this case a shock bar,” says Training Robot. “Filling the shock bar all the way to 100% by repeatedly attacking the same body part will disable that body part. I have set my various body parts to be rather weak in this bout, for the purposes of illustration - the body part you target will increase in shock regardless of how much damage you do to me. In a real fight, body parts will increase in shock proportionately to how much damage you deal. When a body part is disabled, it will always be vulnerable, so it becomes easier to stun a creature. Put me into stun mode by disabling body parts.”
“Remarkable,” says Training Robot. “You have successfully brute-forced your way into a stun. If you're wondering what happens when every one of a monster's body parts are disabled, here's the answer: they will remain stunned until the monster is knocked out, giving you multiple opportunities to try to determine the monster's stun combo sequence. This concludes the second lesson, and I will deactivate on the next round of combat.”
“Let us review,” says Training Robot. Again, Dave has written some stuff on the whiteboard while you were fighting:
* Doing damage to a monster increases shock in the body part you target, proportionately to how much damage you deal to the monster. Filling the shock bar all the way to the top will disable a body part.
* Disabled body parts are always treated as vulnerable. They will always have a lower defence rating than guarded body parts, and cannot change to any other state.
* If you disable all of a monster's body parts, then it will remain stunned for the rest of the fight no matter what. If all targets are disabled, then hitting an incorrect body part in the Secret Stun Combo Sequence will reset the stun sequence to the beginning, but will not break the stun.
* Shock will reduce in body parts that aren't being targeted.
* If you target a body part but fail to do any damage, the targeted body part will still gain some small amount of shock as it is used to fend off your attack.
* Some body parts are tougher than others. Experiment to find out which. The monster's intro text might also have some clues.
* If you continually target vulnerable areas outside of a stun, then the monster may pick up on what you're doing and put all of its body parts into guarded positions. In circumstances like this, depending on the monster, it may become impossible to get the monster into a stun without disabling some body parts.
“In the final lesson we'll cover the other possible body part states,” says Training Robot. “Are you ready?”
“I will now perform the sort of amateur-hour attack that would probably do a lot of damage were it to ever connect,” says Training Robot, “but which is telegraphed quite plainly, giving you plenty of time to consider how to handle it. This time, I'd like you to attack the body part that I'm using to perform this Strong Attack - namely, my left arm.”
“Good. By targeting the attacking body part, you negate the Strong Attack, and I attack and defend in my usual way. I will now get ready to perform another Strong Attack. This time note the body part that is Exposed. This body part is exceptionally vulnerable while I'm performing the Strong Attack. If you target this Exposed body part, then I will attack in the next round with double attack power, but zero defence. Target my exposed left leg now.”
“Very good. Generally during a Strong Attack it is preferable to target either the attacking body part or the exposed body part, but sometimes you will want to target a different body part if it's clear that it's more advantageous to do so. In that situation, your attacker will strike at double attack power and will have the usual defence rating. Disabled body parts cannot perform Strong Attacks. This concludes the lesson on Strong Attacks, and I will now hide the Vulnerable or Guarded status of one of my body parts, because that is also a thing that can happen on higher-level monsters. Strike my hidden right leg now, to force it to show its state.”
“As you can see, hitting a body part whose status is Hidden will cause it to reveal its status. A body part cannot be hidden if its shock value is greater than zero. That concludes our standard training course, and I will deactivate on the next round of combat.”
“Let us review what we've learned in this lesson,” says Training Robot. You turn around to find that Dave has once again filled up the whiteboard.
STRONG ATTACKS
* A Strong Attack will be telegraphed in the round before it lands, and the body part used to perform the Strong Attack will be indicated. An imminent Strong Attack will always be complemented by an Exposed body part.
* Striking the attacking body part will negate the Strong Attack, and the creature will attack and defend as normal.
* Striking the Exposed body part will bypass the creature's defence entirely, and often do a great deal of damage.
* Striking anything other than the attacking body part will cause the creature to strike with double attack power. For this reason, it's often best to target either the exposed body part or the attacking body part. However, there are some reasons why sometimes it might be best not to:
*> Putting a creature into stun mode will negate the Strong Attack;
*> Most creatures will favour one or two particular body parts with which to perform their Strong Attacks;
*> Disabled body parts cannot perform Strong Attacks.
* Paying attention to the monster's description and intro text can give you clues about what body parts are likely to perform Strong Attacks. Disabling these body parts quickly can be advantageous.
HIDDEN BODY PARTS
* Higher-level, weirder or sneakier creatures may hide the Guarded or Vulnerable status of their body parts during combat. This makes it harder to figure out how to put the monster into stun mode.
* Striking a hidden body part will cause it to reveal its guarded/vulnerable status (and change it if appropriate).
* Body parts that have any Shock at all will not be able to hide their status.
* Body parts cannot hide their status while the monster is preparing for a Strong Attack - however, any body parts that were hidden before a Strong Attack will be hidden again after the Strong Attack is resolved.
“I now pronounce you educated,” says Training Robot. “Go out into the world and strike monsters directly in their body parts.”
“Thanks, mate,” you say, “I'll do that.” You turn to leave.
“Unless,” says Training Robot, “you wish to pursue the Extra Credit portion of the course.”
“Do tell.”
“If you manage to defeat me outside of this training simulation, without the between-rounds healing, and with all of my body parts in play, then you'll gain access to the Monster Information Exchange, where you can buy and sell information about monsters' body parts and attributes. Or you could walk out the door right now, fight monsters, and wonder about what could have been.”
“Or you can come back and smack him around later,” says Dave, helpfully. “No need to decide right now.”
“Congratulations,” says Training Robot. “You have now won the right to buy and sell information about monsters. Head back into the other room, and Dave will open up some filing cabinets.”