Research and the tech tree

Research turns time into power. Every turn you accumulate research points; every project you complete unlocks new ships, new buildings, or stat bonuses on what you already have.

How research works

You always have one active project. Research points pour into it each turn until you reach the project’s cost; the project completes and the unlock applies immediately.

You can change the active project at any time. Half-finished research is not lost — its progress carries forward — so it’s safe to switch when priorities change mid-game.

Some projects have prerequisites (you can’t research Advanced Weapons before Warp Theory) and some are gated by exploration (Singularity-tier research requires you to have visited an anomaly). The tech tree shows both.

The five branches

Military

Better ships, better weapons, better defenders. Unlocks the Heavy Cruiser, Battleship Dreadnought, Shield Harmonics, and the planetary shield building.

Best for: Orion Hegemony openings, anyone expecting a fight.

Economy

Bigger colonies, cheaper buildings, faster ship production. Unlocks the Orbital Foundry, Automated Mining, Trade Networks, and the second production slot per colony.

Best for: Terran Directorate, players who survive the early game by out-producing.

Exploration

Stronger sensors, faster scouts, longer-range jumps. Unlocks Deep Space Sensors, Subspace Cartography, the wormhole-detection building, and exotic-matter harvesting.

Best for: Nyx Collective, Vanguard Nomads, anyone running a wide empire.

Diplomacy

Cheaper treaties, stronger trade agreements, wider influence reach. Unlocks Xenolinguistics (already starts on Vanguard), Galactic Charter, and the council-vote unlocks.

Best for: Vanguard Nomads, late-game pivots toward diplomatic victory.

Special (partially aspirational)

The capstone branch. Combines exotic matter, dark energy, and biological samples into late-game super-techs. The Singularity path here is the route to a scientific victory when that path ships.

Best for: Nyx Collective, anyone who’s secured rare-resource mining early.

Picking a path

Three example builds:

Tall economy

Orbital Foundry → Automated Mining → Trade Networks → Stellar Logistics. Fast colonies, deep stockpiles, treaties with everyone. Win by outlasting.

Aggressive military

Warp Theory → Advanced Weapons → Shield Harmonics → Battleship Dreadnoughts. Fleet superiority by turn 50, conquest by turn 80.

Wide exploration

Deep Space Sensors → Subspace Cartography → Anomaly Studies → Singularity. Reveals the map, finds the rare resources, opens the late-game tech that nobody else has.

Most factions can run any of these, but each is naturally easier for a specific civilisation thanks to its bonuses.

Faction modifiers

Some factions have research-cost discounts on specific branches:

• Nyx Collective: -15% on Exploration techs.
• (Future factions will have other branch discounts.)

A discount is small per project but compounds across a campaign. By turn 50, a -15% Exploration-cost faction has typically completed three more techs than a flat-rate faction in the same branch.

Switching mid-game

Don’t be afraid to abandon a half-researched project for a more urgent one. The points carry forward. If you started researching Trade Networks but a war broke out, switch to Advanced Weapons immediately — you’ll come back to Trade Networks once the war is settled.

What you should avoid: the “always one tech behind” trap, where you bounce between branches every five turns and never complete any of them. Pick a branch, stick with it for at least three projects, then re-evaluate.