Technologies
96 technologies in six branches across seven eras, plus 6 repeatable lines for the endgame. Each era opens after a set number of completed technologies, and only the Propulsion branch extends your reach into the system.
Branches
Life SciencesFood, water, population ceilings. Neglect it and Research stops growing with it.
MaterialsMining, refining, Alloy. No Alloy means no hull of any class, ever.
EnergyPower output and the fissiles. Power is flowing: a shortfall sleeps buildings.
PropulsionRockets and reach. Every reach era in the game is granted here and nowhere else.
StatecraftCredits, Influence, administration. Skip it and every planet keeps its own treasury.
DoctrineWeapons, armour, sensors. Raiders escalate on a schedule whether you kept pace or not.
The tree
Repeatable lines
Era 7 research that can be taken again and again. Each rank costs more and repeats its effect; some ranks offer a fork.
Applied Genomics+1 Food per city centre
Are you feeding cities you already have, or still founding them?
Metallurgical Theory+3% Alloy output across the empire
Is your bottleneck the smelters or the ore that feeds them?
Reactor Tuning+4 Power per power-class building
A Ring builder wants Output on four worlds; a thirty-city empire wants Efficiency everywhere.
Drive Refinement-3% ship Credits upkeep
A standing navy, or a navy that can be somewhere else.
Civic Doctrine+2 Influence/turn
Holding what you took, or buying what you have not.
Weapons Refit+5% ATK on every unit you own
Are you attacking into defended orbits, or holding yours?