Research and the tech tree

Research turns colony output into long-term power. Every project belongs to a faction, a tier, and one of five branches. Shared foundations open the common ship and building catalogue; each civilisation then follows its own early-to-endgame paths.

How research works

You have one active project. Available research points flow into it during turn resolution until the project reaches its cost. Its unlock or production bonus then applies immediately. Established colonies use a new production bonus in that turn’s economy step; a colony founded that turn begins earning income on the following turn.

Open Research to see your faction’s tree. The branch tabs keep a full campaign’s projects manageable, and every entry shows its tier, actual cost, effect, status, and named prerequisites. A faction discount is already included in the displayed cost.

You can change the active project at any time. Half-finished research becomes Paused, not lost. Its progress survives later switches and saved games, so you can answer an urgent threat and return to the old project.

Until Applied Sciences is complete, enough research points to finish it stay protected in your stockpile. Other opening projects can use points above that reserve, and switching to Applied Sciences spends the protected points normally. This keeps the Research Laboratory route open without erasing any progress you pause elsewhere.

Locked projects name what is still missing. A project becomes selectable only after all of its prerequisites are complete.

Shared foundations

All four factions can research the same opening foundation:

• Warp Theory opens the Scout Corvette, Patrol Frigate, and Founders’ Beacon.
• Applied Sciences opens the Research Laboratory, your first renewable source of research.
• Orbital Industry opens the Orbital Foundry, Orbital Shipyard, and Fusion Reactor.
• Deep Space Sensors increases research production.
• Xenolinguistics increases influence production by 50%, enough for each Founders’ Beacon to produce one additional Influence each turn. Every later diplomacy project adds another 50% step and another Influence per Beacon.

The shared middle and late tiers add mining and research buildings, the Assault Destroyer, capital ships, the Fleet Carrier, and Mobile Habitat Architecture. That late Exploration project combines Fleet Carrier doctrine with Quantum Research Arrays and unlocks the City-Ship. These projects give every faction a common toolbox without replacing its distinct research arc.

The five branches

Military

Opens the shared warship ladder and strengthens the resource base that pays for fleets. Orion leans hardest into mineral output, while Terran, Nyx, and Vanguard support different military economies.

Best for: Orion pressure, or any empire preparing to build capital ships.

Economy

Opens industrial and energy infrastructure, then improves mineral or energy production through faction projects.

Best for: Terran Directorate and players funding several colonies.

Exploration

Starts with Deep Space Sensors, then turns exploration knowledge into stronger research or energy production. The Nyx Collective receives a cost discount in this branch.

Best for: Nyx discovery routes and Vanguard pathfinder routes.

Diplomacy

Starts with Xenolinguistics and develops faction-specific influence production. Vanguard begins with Xenolinguistics already complete.

Best for: Vanguard Nomads and future diplomatic-victory preparation.

Special

Connects two or more branches, opens advanced research infrastructure, and contains each faction’s endgame capstone.

Best for: Committing to a faction’s defining late-game plan.

Faction paths

• Terran Directorate: build Planned Economy and Systems Doctrine into Megaforge Networks and Integrated Command, or open a secure-frontier route through Frontier Bureaus and Sector Cartography.
• Nyx Collective: compound Living Cartography and Adaptive Cognition into Quantum Senses and Recursive Minds, or use Distributed Fabrication to fund the research engine.
• Orion Hegemony: press early with Shock Doctrine and Command Calculus, or build War Economy into Forge Worlds before pursuing fleet supremacy.
• Vanguard Nomads: follow Nomad Starpaths into Fleetbound Archives and Horizon Routes, or combine Caravan Industry with Open-Hand Accords and the Grand Exchange.

These are openings, not rails. Shared technologies let every faction pivot into ships, industry, research, or influence when the map demands it.

Capstones and scientific supremacy

Each faction has one endgame capstone. Completing it grants a large production bonus and unlocks that faction’s supremacy megaproject, but it does not end the campaign by itself.

The capstone is one of two final gates: you also need the shared Quantum Research Arrays technology and a Quantum Research Array in the colony that will build the project. Once both are ready, open that colony’s Production → Wonders list. Only your faction’s project appears there, with every requirement, resource cost, and build time shown. Once queued, its progress and projected completion turn appear in the production queue.

Research therefore creates the opportunity; colony production completes the victory. A rival can still conquer the project colony, interrupt its queue, or finish a competing megaproject first.

Faction modifiers

• Nyx Collective: 15% lower costs for Exploration projects.
• Terran Directorate, Orion Hegemony, and Vanguard Nomads: standard project costs in every branch.

Switching mid-game

Don’t be afraid to pause a half-researched project for a more urgent one. If a war begins during an economy project, switch to the ship path you need. The old entry shows its saved progress and a Resume research action when you return.

What you should avoid is switching so often that nothing completes. Pick a near-term unlock, finish it, then reassess the map.