Research

Research

Research is the progression system that unlocks new buildings and repeatable global bonuses. Research is performed globally for your kingdom and costs Science, so a completed research applies across all of your villages. Researches are organised into tiers (1 through 8), and almost every research has a prerequisite that must be completed first.

Overview

Each research has four defining properties:

• Tier: the research tier, from 1 to 8. Higher tiers cost more Science.
• Building village tier: the minimum village tier required to construct the unlocked building. The research itself is global and is not gated by village tier. Tier 8 researches unlock no building, so this property does not apply.
• Requirement: the prerequisite research. A research becomes available only once its prerequisite has been completed.
• Unlock: what completion grants. Tiers 1 to 7 unlock a specific building; tier 8 researches grant repeatable global bonuses instead.

The Science cost of a research is not fixed. It is computed dynamically from the research's tier, the player's level, and the server's elapsed time, so the cost a player sees in-game will differ from server to server and over the lifetime of a single server.

Research tree

Research dependency tree. Purple nodes have downstream dependencies; teal nodes are terminal (unlock a building but nothing else requires them); amber nodes are tier 8 global bonuses.

The tree branches from two tier-1 entry points, Town Defenses (the military / defensive line) and Apprenticeship (the economic / labour line), and fans out from there.

Tiers 1 through 7 each unlock buildings that cannot be constructed by any other means. Tier 8 does not unlock buildings; it contains repeatable global projects intended for the late game.

Tier	Building village tier	Theme
1	Village	Starter buildings (defence, crafting)
2	Village	Cavalry and organised labour
3	Town	Military, religious and administrative institutions
4	Town	Mechanised industry
5	Town	Advanced production
6	Town / City	Agriculture, deep industry, professional army
7	City	Sustainability and scholarship
8	N/A (no building unlocked)	Repeatable endgame bonuses

Tier 1

Research	Requires	Unlocks
Town Defenses	-	Walls
Apprenticeship	-	Workshop

Tier 2

Research	Requires	Unlocks
Riding Training	Town Defenses	Stables
Organised Labour	Apprenticeship	Workers Guild

Tier 3

Research	Requires	Unlocks
Smithing	Riding Training	Armory
Divine Inspiration	Riding Training	Temple
Bureaucracy	Organised Labour	Shift Office
Celestial Charting	Organised Labour	Observatory

Tier 4

All three tier-4 researches depend on Smithing.

Research	Requires	Unlocks
Mechanical Saw	Smithing	Sawmill
Water-powered Mining	Smithing	Rolling Mill
Stirrups	Smithing	Saddlemaker

Tier 5

Research	Requires	Unlocks
Precision Mining	Mechanical Saw	Mining Guild
Literary Craft	Water-powered Mining	Bookbinder
Craftsmanship	Stirrups	Siege Academy

Tier 6

Research	Requires	Unlocks	Building village tier
Professional Soldiers	Literary Craft	Military Academy	City
Crop Rotations	Craftsmanship	Seedvault	Town
Deep Excavation	Craftsmanship	Draining Engines	City
Blast Furnace	Craftsmanship	Blast Furnace	City

Tier 7

Research	Requires	Unlocks
Forestry	Crop Rotations	Sustainability Office
Theological Scholarship	Crop Rotations	Monastery
Pedal-driven Loom	Deep Excavation	Wool Factory
Food Preservation	Blast Furnace	Preservary

Tier 8: repeatable global research

Tier 8 researches do not unlock buildings. They grant global, repeatable bonuses, and each one can be completed multiple times, with the cost scaling on subsequent completions.

Research	Requires	Effect
Aether Survey	Forestry	Grants 1,000 Aether per completion.
Cultural Grants	Theological Scholarship	Grants a global production bonus of [amount to be confirmed] per completion.
Engineering Studies	Pedal-driven Loom	Grants a global production bonus of [amount to be confirmed] per completion.

See also

• Science
• Village
• Buildings
• Aether