Research Crates

Research Crates are objects that usually fall from the sky and are most plentiful at night. There are 6 kinds of crates, 5 that appear naturally.

Basic Crate
The lowest tier of crate, they normally give 200-1k RP with a chance to give a Mystery Box.

Golden Crate
Less common than basic crates and larger, they can give 1k-10k RP but mostly staying in the 2k-5k RP range. They can also give Mystery Boxes, with much higher chances to yield them.

Shadow Crate
They spawn at night. Around about as common as Golden crates but they are much smaller, half transparent and black which makes them hard to see at night. They usually grant about 1k RP, and give out Mystery Boxes quite often. This crate used to have only 4 spawn points! Introduced in the 2015 Halloween Event. Instead of getting a Regular Box from these, you get an Inferno Box.

Diamond Crate
Diamond crates are rare and massive. They usually give 10k-15k but can give up to 30k RP. There is a guaranteed chance to obtain a Mystery Box from these crates, which is occasionally Unreal or (despite being extremely rare) Inferno. This is also rare but you can also get a Lucky Clover only in a diamond crate for the same rarity as Inferno.

Crystal Crate
There are also rare Crystal Crates. They are about the same size as Shadow Crates, but they are purple and grant Unobtanium Crystals instead. You usually get 1-3 uC from this crate but there is a chance to get four and possibly even five. Whilst rare, you can get Mystery Boxes from these crates. Also the first crate made after the Combat Update.

Executive Crate
When an Executive Mining member opens their daily gift they receive an Executive Crate. It grants RP and Mystery Boxes much like a normal crate, but also grants extra speed and a random weapon which might be admin only. It has a much higher chance to yield Infernos than a normal Diamond Crate. Unlike all other crates, it cannot drop naturally. Introduced in stage 2 of the Holiday Event.

Trivia

 * After stage 2 of the Holiday Event, there was a server-wide announcement for a 'Rainbow Crate' dropping. However, it was a prank set up by Berezaa and it was met with severe backlash.