Source of: Research: unreleased, nodes and branches

← Research: unreleased, nodes and branches

**Research** happens in the [[building-research-lab|Research Lab]] and grants percentages that
work permanently and are never lost with an army. The tree grows with the level of the lab and
holds 348 nodes across eighteen categories, from economy to troops and heroes. Part of the tree
is not released yet, and a few nodes act as locks that open content nothing else can.

## What to know before investing

- Every node has a cap on its effect and a maximum level, and the cap matters more than the name.
  Caps vary a lot: the most generous node tops out at 64%, about fifteen sit at 50%,
  and the familiar 25% appears only in part of the tree.
- A node opens after its predecessor, and the tree allows no jumps across branches.
- Research buys Might about fifteen hundred times more expensively than hiring troops,
  though that Might does not die in battle, see [[power|Might]].

## Unreleased

69 of the 348 nodes are fully filled with numbers yet have no names in any language. All of them
sit in three faction-tied categories. Those categories are not in the game yet, so planning
around them makes little sense.

## Nodes that unlock rather than boost

Most nodes hand out percentages, but a few act as locks, and without them an item stays out of
reach.

- **Soldier Lv. 10** unlocks tier ten troops: Training Ground 30 alone is not enough, and the node
  costs 973,834,000 resources in one indivisible step, see [[troops|Troops]].
- **Super Reward** and **Best Reward** in the [[alliance-duel-tech|Alliance Duel]] branch unlock reward
  tiers 4-6 and 7-9 for 100 and 450 Study Scrolls, pocket change next to neighboring nodes,
  yet without them the top rewards are never handed out.

Locks like these deserve priority over percentage nodes, because a percentage can be topped up
later while a missed event reward does not come back.

## Combat versus economy branches

Combat technologies give percentages to the entire army at once, which almost always beats
climbing to the next troop tier per unit spent. Economic ones pay back slower, yet they work
around the clock and are never lost in battle.

## Related pages

- [[troops|Troops]]
- [[power|Might]]
- [[buildings|All buildings]]