Research
Fourteen projects across four branches. You run one at a time — or two, if you rent a Field Research Post — so the tree is less about what to take and more about what order to take it in, and something should always be running.
The rules
- One project at a time, unless you are renting a second line. Starting a project is refused while every line you have is busy — the panel says "Every research line is busy", or names the count once you have more than one.
- You pay up front. Cancelling in progress refunds 50%.
- Effects apply the moment it completes and are permanent.
- Bonuses in the same channel add up — two 15% build-time cuts make 30%, not 27.75%.
- Level gates as well as prerequisites. A project can be unlocked by its prerequisites and still be out of reach because of your level.
- Research times compress during the tutorial like everything else, so a project started before you join a sector finishes in five seconds.
- "Training time" includes vehicle assembly. As far as the game is concerned a Factory order is a training order, so Rapid Deployment and Drone Workcrews cut a tank's build time exactly as they cut a Barracks batch. See vehicles.
Economy
Tables scroll sideways on a narrow screen.
| Project | Lvl | Needs | Cost | Time | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Deep Core Drilling | 2 | — | 300 gold · 150 materials | 5m | Gold output +10% |
| Fusion Regulators | 2 | — | 250 gold · 100 materials · 50 energy | 5m | Energy output +10% |
| Automated Refining | 3 | Deep Core Drilling | 600 gold · 250 materials · 100 energy | 15m | Material output +15% |
| Logistics Network | 5 | Automated Refining, Fusion Regulators | 1,500 gold · 600 materials · 300 energy | 45m | All production +15% |
Construction
| Project | Lvl | Needs | Cost | Time | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Modular Scaffolding | 2 | — | 250 gold · 200 materials | 5m | Build time −10% |
| Prefabricated Alloys | 3 | Modular Scaffolding | 700 gold · 450 materials · 100 energy | 20m | Build time −15% |
| Drone Workcrews | 5 | Prefabricated Alloys, Automated Refining | 1,800 gold · 900 materials · 400 energy | 1h | Build time −15%, training time −15% |
Military
| Project | Lvl | Needs | Cost | Time | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Combat Stimulants | 3 | — | 400 gold · 150 materials | 10m | Unit attack +10% |
| Rapid Deployment | 4 | Combat Stimulants | 800 gold · 300 materials · 200 energy | 25m | Training time −20% |
| Composite Plating | 4 | Combat Stimulants | 900 gold · 500 materials · 150 energy | 30m | Unit health +15% |
| Targeting Uplink | 6 | Composite Plating | 2,000 gold · 800 materials · 600 energy | 1h 30m | Unit attack +15% |
Survival
| Project | Lvl | Needs | Cost | Time | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Metabolic Dampeners | 2 | — | 350 gold · 150 materials · 100 energy | 7m 30s | Life depletion −10% |
| Cryogenic Cycling | 4 | Metabolic Dampeners | 1,000 gold · 400 materials · 350 energy | 40m | Life depletion −15% |
| Overseer's Favour | 6 | Cryogenic Cycling, Logistics Network | 3,000 gold · 1,200 materials · 900 energy | 2h | Life depletion −25% |
All three survival projects together cut life depletion by 50% — turning the standard −2% per hour into −1%, or 48 points a day into 24. Nothing else in the tree comes close. It is also the most expensive and the slowest chain to reach, and its capstone needs Logistics Network from the economy branch, so you cannot rush straight down it.
This is not a luxury upgrade. The game starts hard on purpose — at −48 a day only a proper day's play breaks even — and this branch is the way that eases. Two projects in, the drain is −36 a day and a moderate session is enough. All three, and it is −24: you can miss a day. You are buying a gentler schedule, not a bigger number.
Fully researched
| Channel | Total | From |
|---|---|---|
| Gold output | +25% | Deep Core Drilling, Logistics Network |
| Energy output | +25% | Fusion Regulators, Logistics Network |
| Material output | +30% | Automated Refining, Logistics Network |
| Build time | −40% | Modular Scaffolding, Prefabricated Alloys, Drone Workcrews |
| Training time | −35% | Rapid Deployment, Drone Workcrews |
| Life depletion | −50% | Metabolic Dampeners, Cryogenic Cycling, Overseer's Favour |
| Unit attack | +25% | Combat Stimulants, Targeting Uplink |
| Unit health | +15% | Composite Plating |
A second research line
One project at a time is the default, and the only way past it is the Field Research Post — a rented canvas laboratory that grants one more line for as long as it is paid for. It needs level 3, costs 150 War Bonds a day, and you may have one at a time. If it lapses you can rent another, but you can never stand two — so there is no third research line at any price.
While it stands you can run two projects side by side, and the panel says so — "2 of 2 research lines running". The offer to rent one appears on the research panel when every line you have is busy, labelled RENT LAB.
| Term | Bonds | Price | Per day | Saving |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 day | 150 | $1.50 | 150 | — |
| 1 week | 750 | $7.50 | 107 | 29% |
| 2 weeks | 1,200 | $12.00 | 86 | 43% |
| 4 weeks | 2,100 | $21.00 | 75 | 50% |
This is the one rule the Post brings with it, and it is checked when you start a project rather than when the canvas comes down. If what you are ordering would still be running after the term ends, it is refused — "Overseer's Favour would finish 1.2 hours after the rental ends. Extend by 24 hours first." Nothing is spent and nothing is half-built; you are told before you commit.
In practice this only bites near the end of a term, because the longest project in the tree is two hours and the shortest rental is a day. Extend first and it goes away.
If a Post does lapse while a project is running, the project is not taken from you — it finishes. What you lose is the line: you cannot start anything on it again until you rent another.
It is the only purchase in the game that buys progress down the tree rather than more of one thing, which is why it is priced above the housing tents. The honest case for it is the top of the tree: the tier-3 projects run 45 minutes to two hours each, and the survival branch has to be finished before the life drain eases. A second line roughly halves the wall-clock time to get there. The honest case against it is that research is the one thing in this game that runs while you are not playing, so the cost of a single line is time you were not using anyway.
A recommended order
Cheap and fast first, so the queue is never idle, and take the two things that compound — build speed and gold — before anything that only matters later.
- Modular Scaffolding 250 gold, five minutes, and every build and upgrade after it is 10% faster. Take it first because it makes everything else cheaper in time.
- Deep Core Drilling Gold is the bottleneck resource and this is a permanent 10% on it, for five minutes' wait. It also opens Automated Refining.
- Metabolic Dampeners Cheap, and it starts the survival chain — which is long, and which you want finished before your life bar becomes a problem.
- Fusion Regulators, then Automated Refining Both are prerequisites for Logistics Network, and Automated Refining fixes the material shortage that upgrades cause.
- Prefabricated Alloys Another 15% off every build, while you save for the tier-3 projects.
- Cryogenic Cycling Needs level 4. A further 15% off the clock, and the milestone that matters most: with Metabolic Dampeners already done that is −25%, taking the drain to −1.5% an hour — 36 a day instead of 48. It is the point at which an ordinary session covers the day.
- Logistics Network Needs level 5. +15% on all three resources at once, and the gate to Overseer's Favour.
- Overseer's Favour Needs level 6. Two hours and 3,000 gold, and it halves the countdown — 24 a day, which is the first point at which you can miss a day and still hold. The endpoint.
- Everything else Drone Workcrews, Rapid Deployment, and the combat projects when you have nothing better running.
There is no way to bank progress. Every hour with a line standing idle is an hour of the tree you will never get back — start the next project before you close the game, and if you are renting a second line, fill that one too. An empty rented line is the most expensive thing on this page.