BioShock

BioShock

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Research PhD

Research PhD

The player has maxed out all possible research.

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How to unlock the Research PhD achievement in BioShock - Definitive Guide

The categories for research are:

Thuggish Splicer (splicers with melee weapons)
Leadhead Splicer (Splicers with guns)
Nitro Splicer (Splicers with Grenades)
Houdini Splicer (Splicers with fire that teleport)
Spider Splicer (Crawls on the ceiling & has claws)
Rosie (Big Daddy with the rivet gun)
Bouncer (Big Daddy with the drill)
Little Sister
Turret
Security Bot (the flying guys)
Security Camera

General tips:
1) Have the freezing or electrobolt plasmid equipped with the camera selected as your weapon. Freeze or electrocute the enemy, then take a picture to minimize the amount of damage.
2) There are tonics you can equip to increase your research score on each of these and they will cut down on the number of photos you have to take a lot.
3) There are two Houdini Splicers who dance in Cohen's apartment - this is a great place to max out your research
4) You get diminishing returns if you photo the same subject several times, but with the Little Sisters and Big Daddies you won't have a choice
5) Once you max research on the security bots and turrets, you get an insta hack on them - which is awesome
6) Once you hack a turret, bot, or camera, you can no longer take pictures for research since friendly units don't count
7) You get a bonus if you shoot the Big Daddy and get the Little Sister in the same frame or vice versa.
8) You get a bonus for multiple subjects in the same shot.
9) At the end of the game, before going to take the final boss down, save your game, go back and try for a picture of everything to see what you haven't maxed your research on.

This achievement will pop as soon as you 100% research all items. You do not have to wait until the end of the game.
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10 Aug 2009 20:04

20 Comments
Nice guide. Very detailed.

Only thing I would add is where you say "type of big daddy" put "big daddy with drill" or "big daddy with rivet gun"

Positive vote
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By Quarantane on 29 Oct 2009 15:22
Agreed with previous comment, but would like to add that theres no worries for the lower grade on repeated photos of the same subject. You get so much film in this game just keep snapping photos of the same subject and you'll get this quick. Also you can take photos of the splicers when they're dead too, get as much as you can out of each one.
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By Greggie Smallzz on 01 Jan 2010 16:44
I liked this guide, and the comments helped (didn't know about the dead splicers, thanx Greggie), but I would add also that up until late in the game you can still travel back to previous places.
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By Mickey Kin on 21 Jun 2010 18:02
Do enemies respawn? I don't see how it would be possible to go back to photograph more if they don't. If they do, does that include Big Daddies and Little Sisters? Thanks!
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By Angel ManFreddy on 07 Nov 2010 18:33
The common enemies respawn and you will occasionally come across a Big Daddy without a Little Sister, but the number of Little Sisters is absolute - once you harvest or save one, she's gone.
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By Resident Vegan on 07 Nov 2010 19:12
Yeah I ran out of little sisters but there is a glitch where you can repeatedly get them in the proving grounds.
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By Orlesian Bard on 19 Feb 2011 14:18
Wow...very nice guide. Definite thumbs up!
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By Solario32 on 20 Sep 2011 18:20
Also, Rosie are BD with rivet and Bouncer are those with drill...
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By JungleWookiee on 27 Nov 2011 22:53
Corrected the info on the Big Daddies. The achievement pops the moment you 100% your last research subject.
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By Resident Vegan on 20 Aug 2012 03:22
Is there a way to get the security cameras to respawn, didn't realise you needed these untill it was to late.
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By rocky1bomb on 20 Aug 2012 16:19
Unfortunately once they're down they're gone for good. :(
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By Resident Vegan on 23 Sep 2012 06:28
Missed this chieve on my first run. Check the top right corner of the screen when you take a photo that doesn't work. I thought they all said poor quality or no subject so I stopped reading them. Had no idea when a subject was complete until my 2nd run through. DUH
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By JOKERMAN50 on 11 Jan 2013 12:21
Anyone knows why I can´t take a picture of the dead? It always says I don´t have enough points?!
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By Rental 360 on 03 Feb 2013 12:38
Crap...... figured out i'm missing either Turret, Security Bot, or Security Camera..... I don't know which one but my game is pretty maxed so I'm sure they're all dead or hacked. Ugh.

to get the "maxed out all research" I'd have to play the entire game over again right? And take photos of everything all over.
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By Shadow XBL on 05 Mar 2013 06:31
Yes - to max it out you would have to start all over again. Do you have an earlier save you can backtrack to?
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By Resident Vegan on 05 Mar 2013 19:11
I'll check, but I don't think so. Blah.
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By Shadow XBL on 05 Mar 2013 19:36
FYI on the last level where you walk with the little sisters, you can let them kill her and take pics of all of the security systems while they're shooting and working - this gives high quality photos and worked for me if you're missing those pics.
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By Shadow XBL on 08 Sep 2014 16:40
Awesome guide. You should cut and paste to the other 3 versions of this game. To make this cheeve easier I would unequip the plasmid that shocks people when they hit you. On easy this kills a lot of enemies just by them hitting you one time. Then you are screwed out of 3 photos per enemy that you accidently kill.
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By troyoy on 27 Oct 2015 15:43
Does anybody know if you can get this achievement if you max out missing research on a new game or do I have to fully research them all again to get this achievement?
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By Kyotowalled on 02 Feb 2017 02:20
Wookie is right, the BDs are backwards. Rosie is the rivet gun BD and the Bouncer is the one with the drill.

Does this pop the moment you complete it? Or do I have to wait until the game is complete?
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By xMARCx on 19 Aug 2012 18:58
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Kudos to GnomishNinja, just wanted to throw up some details:

As mentioned, you need to get 5 research upgrades from the following NPC types:

Thuggish Splicer (splicers with melee weapons)
Leadhead Splicer (Splicers with guns)
Nitro Splicer (Splicers with Grenandes)
Houdini Splicer (Splicers with fire that teleport)
Spider Splicer (Crawls on the ceiling & has claws)
Rosie (type of Big Daddy)
Bouncer (type of Big Daddy)
Little Sister
Turret
Security Bot (the flying guys)
Security Camera

*They each get their own achievement, with the exceptions of the Turret, Security Bot, Security Camera.
*The Elite Big Daddies count as normal.
*Bosses don't count for anything

When you take a shot, you either get an A, B, or C rating, for the following reasons:

Distance - closer is better

Full-frame - the more of the subject within the frame the better (even if they're too big - back up till they're fully within the frame)

Multiple Targets - Bigger boost for more people, i.e. 4 in a shot is better than 2.

Action shot - When the NPC is 'doing' something, such as attacking, climbing a ceiling, gearing up to alarm (camera), sucking ADAM juice, teleporting, etc.

Photographic Eye tonics - 1 and 2 stack to boost 25%. Little vague on the numbers, but it definitely helps.

You get a reduction if the subject is already dead - honestly, you should have burned out (see below) well before they are dead.

Your score is then halved for each photo of the same MAIN subject. This means you get your score halved for the second shot of a Daddy with a Sister, but if you then aim at the Sister, it's like you haven't taken any yet (for her). If you snap away at the pair, you'll notice the 'main' subject swaps back and forth. The 'main' subject is the one with the highest score, or closest to the crosshair if it's the same. Once you get below a C, the picture won't be taken, I call this burning out the subject.

Once you take the photo, you see the progress bar. This is capped, i.e. if you take an A with a small way to go, you lose the rest :-(

An important note is 15 shots from a hacked Circus vendor with the cheap vendor tonic is $11. Buy heaps, and just snap away. If you get an A photo, you can literally just keep pulling RT each time the game restarts, and 10 shots takes about 1 second of real game time.

A good way to go is just wander around with the camera, and try to get as close as possible, then shoot, go through the progress/award screens, shoot again, until they burn out. Then kill it. With Daddies and Sisters, try and get close enough that the Daddy starts waving stuff, this counts as an action shot. For the Sisters, wait until they are draining someone (or drinking it :-( )
You can get new Sisters by waiting until they go back into their Hidey Holes, but this is boring and unnecessary.

A last important note is that a burned-out (below C) photo, empty photo, or researched complete photo, won't use any film. So just keep shooting until it does nothing! Seriously, a 1.72 ratio on this one is BS! Peeps just aren't trying.
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23 Jun 2010 13:07

2 Comments
I just wanted to echo what was said here.
I got as far as entering prometheus point and realised I'd not maxed out the turret, security camera and the flying bot guys. So I've just spent the time wandering round snapping as soon as I've seen any of them. Easily done just by doing what's said ^^ up there xx
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By Truly Jaded on 13 Jan 2014 22:19
All I have left is the security camera and a couple shots on the turret. I'm at Point Prometheus with the little sisters. What's nice is there are a ton of them around - only problem is they are finite and I'm not sure I'm going to be able to get them all. I tried before and ran out of things to shoot. I'll try again with the Photographer's Eye 2 tonic if I can.
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By Shadow XBL on 22 Apr 2014 15:04
Take pictures of enemies when they are fighting, on fire, multiple enemies on-screen etc. for bonuses.
Use the photo bonus tonics when attempting this achievement.
Taking a picture of the same enemy contributes less to the research level each time.
Have as many save files as possible so that if you run out of enemies/security cameras to photograph it is possible to go back to an earlier point before you killed them.
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21 Aug 2008 10:52

Okay I know there are already some fantastic guides for this already, but I wrote out a guide on this for another site that apparently is gone now. So I figured I would contribute to TA by posting it here in case it might help someone, because more guides are always better than less. So on we go.
(Possible Spoilers)

-Research Groups-

• Thuggish Splicer - The people that use melee weapons. (ie machete, flashlight, shovel)

• Leadhead Splicer - The people that use firearms. (ie pistols, machine gun)

• Nitro Splicer - The people who carry small grenade boxes and toss explosives.

• Spider Splicer - The people who use hooks to crawl on the ceiling and occasionally tosses them at you.

• Houdini Splicer - The people who can teleport from place to place and toss flaming or frozen projectiles towards you.

• Bouncer (Big Daddy) - The Big Daddy with a drill attached to it's arm and has a bit more of a bulky appearance. (Note: Both the normal and elite Bouncers count as the same research group.)

• Rosie (Big Daddy) - The Big Daddy that carries a rivet gun and wears a divers suit. (Note: Both the normal and elite Rosie count as the same research group.)

• Little Sister - The little girls who drain the Adam from corpses. (Note: Research can be done on both saved and not-saved Little Sisters.)

• Turrets - The stationary security drones that are equipped with a machine gun, rocket launcher, or flame thrower. (Note: All types of turrets fall under the same research group and cannot be researched while hacked.)

• Security Bot - The hovering security drones that are equipped with machine guns. [Note: Are only able to be researched while hostile (red), neutral (yellow), or deactivated while not hacked (no lights).]

• Camera - The security cameras that are attached to the walls and scan the area in front of them. (Note: cannot be researched while hacked.)


In order to max out research for these subjects you need the research camera, which can be obtained in the third area (including Welcome to Rapture) Neptune's Bounty. Maxing out research is done by taking pictures of your target, which adds to the completion of a series of progress bars that requires more and more pictures as you continue. These pictures get graded with scores that range from A-C. Of course an A is the best and is harder to get once you photograph an individual target, though not impossible. Think of the first picture as a starting point in where the score starts to drop with every consecutive picture. You cannot max out research with just one or two subjects, you'll need around ten or more for each group so take pictures frequently!

Here are some general tips that may help with getting better grades and filling the bars faster.

• Multiple Subjects - This is a score bonus for having multiple subjects, friendly or not, so long as one is a hostile and needs further research. The bonus stacks with every enemy, whether or not some are exempt from research such as hacked bots or other fully researched subjects.

•Action Shot - An Action Shot can be considered as many things, such as a melee move being executed, a firearm being shot, damage being taken, a Big Daddy in a defensive position, a Little Sister harvesting/drinking Adam, Spider Splicers crawling on the ceiling, a frozen enemy, and sometimes even a splicer noticing you.

• Also there are two tonics that help, Photographer's Eye and Photographer's Eye 2. These also stack giving a better result than just having one of them.

As well as bonuses there also some negative consequences, which I will list.

• Subject is dead - Surprisingly this is a score reduction for photographing dead targets. Don't let this stop you from taking pictures though as every bit helps.

• Subject Already Photographed - For taking a picture of a subject more than once. This shouldn't be worried about, just keep snapping pictures until you can't possibly take and more. Remember, if the score is too low you can lure them into an area with more enemies or a hacked camera. This will help with a Multiple Subject score boost which might help.

Here are some notes that may be useful.

• Little sisters, turrets, and cameras are at a set amount, so take as many pictures as you can of these when you have the chance. A good idea would not to hack any turrets or cameras/ harvest little sisters in the Neptune's Bounty level until you have the research camera and take some pictures of them first. Also sometimes when a Little Sister enters a vent a new one will take it's place, but not all the time. I recommend rescuing the Little Sisters, because this allows you to take some extra pictures if you forgot beforehand and allows you to take some of the ones that delivers Tenenbaum's gifts.

• Security bots can take awhile to fill up the research for, and I recommend taking advantage of moments when the alarm is on to take some pictures. Some moments for this includes accidental camera trips, enemy camera trips, when you exit the farmers market to administer the Lazarus Vector Andrew Ryan sets an alarm on you, after the last Andrew Ryan moment an alarm is set on you, and finally when you break glass in Fort Frolic.

• If you run out of ways to find security bots try staying around Arcadia and Point Prometheus as splicers will sometimes walk around with hacked bots.

• Nitro Splicers aren't as common as the rest, but some good areas to find them are the Medical Pavilion, Apollo Square, Olympus Heights, and sometimes in Hephaestus.

• Houdini Splicers might give you some troubles, the best area to find them is of course Arcadia, particularly in the beginning. If you're careful not to knock over the phonograph on the piano or otherwise be intrusive, you can take multiple pictures of the dancing Houdini splicers in Cohen's Olympus Heights suite. Speaking of which Cohen is also a Houdini splicer that seemed to give me a slight extra more than the others.

• If you killed all of the cameras and broke all of the glass in Fort Frolic, there are a bunch of deactivated security bots in a room in Point Prometheus. They give a tiny bit but they respawn so you can try there if you're out of options.

• Be sure to look out for some dead splicers and what not that you haven't killed, a few pictures can be salvaged from them.

• And finally I would obviously recommend this on easy, and make a final save somewhere before fighting the end boss, in case you hit a snare.
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19 Mar 2012 06:29

8 Comments
Where is the best place to research Big daddies. This is the last part of the research that I need to complete to gain the fully research the big daddy (bouncer)/research phd achievements. This is driving me crazy now.
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By Grotesque Fiend on 12 Aug 2012 20:46
The bouncer big daddies can be found in the Medical Pavilion (area 1), Fort Frolic (area 4), Hephaestus (area 5), and there is one in Point Prometheus (last area) after you get the suit. You can always travel back to these areas via bathysphere .
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By AwakeDeadeye on 13 Aug 2012 01:02
how about the security bots as thats all i need? any ideas the best place to find them also just fyi i already have become the bd
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By Combaticus024 on 13 Aug 2012 20:20
please send me a message on here if you have a solution to this as all i need is this for this achievement
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By Combaticus024 on 13 Aug 2012 20:24
alright my last two are cameras and turrets. I've found one of each but after awhile it stops giving you research for them.
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By Shadow XBL on 05 Mar 2013 14:39
You can't get all of your research from one subject, you probably need around ten of them to fully research them. I guess I didn't explain that too clearly in the solution, I'll add it in.
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By AwakeDeadeye on 05 Mar 2013 18:39
no I know that. I just think I'm screwed since I may not have enough turrets/camera left. That is the only one that will make you do the entire achievement over again, so that sucks.
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By Shadow XBL on 05 Mar 2013 18:48
Well maybe you can look for a list of locations for turrets and cameras to see if you missed any, other than that there's a good chance you'll need to start over.
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By AwakeDeadeye on 05 Mar 2013 18:57
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hi I add one point, to advance a maximum in the searches and to save to point prometheus before leaving with the little sister.

That way you only have to take the metro to get back to old levels and find the enemies you need.

For the little sisters, you can take pictures with their protectors until you can't take it anymore.

But do not kill her or her protector, but go see another and do the same.

Do this to the final search level.

Combine the 2 tonics which increases the search during the photos if I remember well it is "eye of the expert" the normal and improve it.
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16 Oct 2019 00:01

Much like "Prolific Photoghrapher" except you need to max the research on all those types. Once you fill the bar four times on all of the listed things you will get this. Action shots make the bar fill faster and you are able to take multiple photos of the same subject, so just keep snapping until it tells you the quality is too low.

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Much like "Prolific Photoghrapher" except you need to max the research on all those types. Once you fill the bar four times on all of the listed things you will get this. Action shots make the bar fill faster and you are able to take multiple photos of the same subject, so just keep snapping until it tells you the quality is too low.

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This achievement is highly missable!

During the Neptune’s Bounty level, you will be tasked with locating a Research Camera for Peach Wilkins. From this point on you will be able to take photos of enemies that will grant you research bonuses such as increased damage and unique Tonics. This achievement is highly missable due to the fact that some enemies become increasingly rare as you progress further into the game. It's best to photograph any enemy that you can multiple times until the research on that enemy type is complete.

Each enemy type requires you to fill their research bar four times. You can check if all research for a specific enemy has been completed by trying to photograph said enemy; if research is complete, a message will appear at the top of the screen and no photo will be taken. Make sure to purchase Film from vending machines to ensure that you are always stocked up.

It's also very helpful to apply the Photographer’s Eye and Photographer’s Eye 2 Combat Tonics. The first one is located in the cellar of Worley’s Winery in the Farmer’s Market level. The second is given to you as a reward for completing the second research level for the Rosie version of the Big Daddy. It's also helpful to engage the enemy in combat in order to get bonus points for ‘Action Shots.' The enemies that are needed for this achievement are as follows:

  • Thuggish Splicer (Melee)
  • Nitro Splicer (Grenade)
  • Spider Splicer (Meat Hooks)
  • Leadhead Splicer (Gun)
  • Houdini Splicer (Fireballs)
  • Rosie Big Daddy (Rivet Gun) [This includes the Elite version]
  • Bouncer Big Daddy (Drill) [This includes the Elite version]
  • Little Sister
  • Turret (Machine Gun or Rocket)
  • Security Bot
  • Security Camera

NOTE: Research progress will carry over on a New Game+ playthrough. If you could not complete all research during your first playthrough, you can continue from where you left off on a New Game+ playthrough.

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