Fish Lab How to Allocate Tool Power

Power allocation is Fish Lab’s quiet skill ceiling. Unlocking tools is easy; feeding them enough energy to matter is the real decision. This guide shows practical splits, when to reshuffle, and how power interacts with upgrades and grants.

The golden rule

Concentration beats fairness. Equal power across five tools often yields five mediocre gadgets. A heavy primary plus a light support usually yields more fish — and more fun — because you can feel the primary working on the beat.

Know your budget

Treat power like a stamina bar shared by active tools. Before changing unlocks:

1. List tools you actually use in the last song-length of play
2. Mark one Primary and one Optional
3. Assign the majority of power to Primary
4. Give Optional a minority
5. Park everything else at near-zero until needed

Role help: Collection Tools and Tools Tier List.

Suggested split templates

Template A — Early lab (two tools)

• 70–80% Primary coverage or precision (whichever matches density)
• 20–30% Support
• 0% curiosities

Template B — Mid lab (grant era)

• 60–70% S-tier role
• 20–30% grant-synergy or drone-style helper
• ≤10% experimental slot

Template C — Swarm / Endless

• 50–70% swarm specialist
• 20–40% coverage cleaner
• Tiny residual only if surplus exists

These percentages are heuristics, not hidden code. Adjust until the weakest powered tool still feels intentional.

When to reallocate

Reallocate immediately after:

• A grant / big equipment unlock
• A major density jump
• Unlocking a tool that outranks your Primary on the tier list
• Swapping from main path into Endless or Sandbox experiments
• Noticing processing can handle more catch (raise offensive power) or cannot (temporarily ease catch tools and buy processing — Upgrades Priority)

Power versus upgrades

Power is the volume knob; tech-tree efficiency is the instrument quality. A max-powered bad tool can lose to a mid-powered upgraded tool. If results disappoint, buy relevant efficiency nodes before dumping the entire reactor into a weak gadget. Context: Grants and Tech Tree.

Common anti-patterns

• Equality bias — splitting 20% five ways
• Hoarding unlocks — ten tools, power for two
• Nostalgia primary — refusing to demote the tutorial favorite
• Menu blindness — never revisiting allocation after early game
• Blame shifting — calling tools broken when the beat is ignored (How to Collect Fish)

Testing a new split

Use a fair trial:

1. Play one fixed-length segment with the old split
2. Change power only (no new unlocks mid-test)
3. Play the same length
4. Compare catch, processing backlog, and how “on-beat” the run felt

Sandbox mode is perfect for this. If numbers confuse you because of counters or tanks, read Tips and Tricks.

Controllers and UI comfort

Full controller support means you can reallocate without returning to mouse, but it is easy to mis-click distributions. Double-check totals after edits. Steam Cloud will keep settings across machines once synced — verify after long Endless sessions.

Achievement angle

Milestones like Drone Fleet reward taking helpers seriously. That usually means dedicated power, not a symbolic 5%. Track the ten Steam achievements on Achievements & Rewards so allocation supports goals you still need.

Quick reference

Situation	Move power toward
Sparse fish	Precision / early coverage
Rising density	Coverage → swarm specialists
Post-grant	Whatever new equipment amplifies
Processing backlog	Pause catch greed; fund process tech
Performance hitching	Fewer active tools; see Updates

Summary

Allocate like a producer mixing a track: one lead loud, one harmony, mute the rest until the arrangement needs them. Revisit after every grant and density leap. For tool behaviors return to Collection Tools; for the hub index see Tools Hub.