Research

The ten disciplines, the four branches of the tech tree, and the Apex lines bought with Dark Matter.

Research runs on two tracks. The ten disciplines are the continuous ones: every level makes ships faster, tougher or cheaper, up to level 24 — and past it, a percent at a time, with no cap (see Overdrive below). The tech tree is the discrete one: nodes that unlock a hull, a building or a rule change, gated by tier and by the level of your Laboratory.

A Laboratory is not wasted while nothing is queued. With no research running, every Laboratory at level 15 or higher yields Data into its own colony — 100 Data/h at level 15, rising to 1,600 at level 30 — up to 150 × (1 + 0.3 × your Laboratory network level) Data/h across the empire, so a lone level-30 Laboratory is held to 1,500. It is flat, stops at the colony's Data storage, and stops the moment research starts: running research always pays more.

Disciplines

Discipline	Laboratory	Level 1	Growth
Propulsion	1	200 Ferrolite · 400 Xenogas · 150 Data	×1.7
Energy Weapons	2	400 Ferrolite · 150 Xenogas · 200 Data	×1.7
Armor Plating	2	500 Ferrolite · 100 Xenogas · 150 Data	×1.7
Shields	3	300 Ferrolite · 300 Xenogas · 200 Data	×1.7
Espionage	2	150 Ferrolite · 250 Xenogas · 300 Data	×1.65
Colonization	3	800 Ferrolite · 600 Xenogas · 400 Data	×1.8
Logistics	1	300 Ferrolite · 200 Xenogas · 150 Data	×1.65
Astrometrics	1	200 Ferrolite · 200 Xenogas · 250 Data	×1.65
Cybernetics	2	350 Ferrolite · 350 Xenogas · 300 Data	×1.7
Galactic Economy	2	600 Ferrolite · 400 Xenogas · 300 Data	×1.75

Overdrive: past level 24

A Discipline at 24 keeps going: its Overdrive levels each add +1% to its effect (Espionage works differently, see below), on top of everything else you have, with no cap. Each level is researched like any other order — it takes a lane, waits in the queue, and is timed by your Laboratory — and costs resources AND Dark Matter: 100 for level 25, 100 more for each level after it. The resource price keeps climbing on the Discipline's own curve until every resource reaches its ceiling (the level in the last column); from there only the Dark Matter still grows.

Cybernetics speeds up builds even once your build discounts have hit their floor. Espionage takes 0.5 points per level off the chance a target notices your probe, even against a defence already at 95% detection; the Cipher, if you hold it, multiplies what is left. A probe is still caught at least 5% of the time, so against a target that already cannot see your probes it adds nothing (the report arrives either way). Colonization raises every colony's native planet specialty.

Discipline	Each level adds	Level 25 costs	Resources stop rising at
Propulsion	+1% fleet speed	67.88M Fe · 135.77M Xe · 50.91M Dt + 100 DM	39
Energy Weapons	+1% fleet attack	135.77M Fe · 50.91M Xe · 67.88M Dt + 100 DM	39
Armor Plating	+1% hull strength	169.72M Fe · 33.94M Xe · 50.91M Dt + 100 DM	40
Shields	+1% shield power	101.83M Fe · 101.83M Xe · 67.88M Dt + 100 DM	39
Espionage	−0.5 points to the chance a target notices your probe	24.87M Fe · 41.45M Xe · 49.74M Dt + 100 DM	42
Colonization	+1% native planet specialty, on every colony	1.07G Fe · 802.95M Xe · 535.3M Dt + 100 DM	33
Logistics	+1% cargo capacity	49.74M Fe · 33.16M Xe · 24.87M Dt + 100 DM	41
Astrometrics	+1% sensor network	33.16M Fe · 33.16M Xe · 41.45M Dt + 100 DM	42
Cybernetics	+1% build speed (buildings & ships)	118.8M Fe · 118.8M Xe · 101.83M Dt + 100 DM	38
Galactic Economy	+1% resource production	408.37M Fe · 272.25M Xe · 204.18M Dt + 100 DM	35

The tech tree

Four branches, each with its own character. A node is bought once; a repeatable node keeps taking levels.

The Laboratory column is the level your Laboratory network must reach — but it is only one of the gates. A node can also require other nodes and a minimum level in one or two disciplines, so reaching the Laboratory level is necessary and not always sufficient. The tech tree in the game shows you which gate is the one still holding a node shut.

War

Node	Tier	Laboratory	Effect
Piercing Calibers	1	1	+1.5%/lvl fleet attack
Piercing Warheads	1	1	bomber vs cruisers 1.5→2.0, battleship vs cruisers 2.0→2.5
Composite Plating	2	2	+1.5%/lvl hull strength
Monitor Frigate	2	2	SHIP Monitor (anti-corvette/anti-interceptor/anti-bomber screen)
Active Deflectors	3	4	+2%/lvl shield power
Orbital Scythe	3	4	SHIP Scythe (capital killer)
Splinter Lance	4	6	SHIP Splinter (mass light anti-capital)
Fusion Calibers	5	8	+2%/lvl fleet attack
Orbital Fortress	5	8	Heavy planetary defense: +1 platform per Fortress level. Each starts with 4500 hull and 400 full-power attack; levels 16–30 multiply both by 1.30 per upgrade. Power shortages reduce attack only. Destroyed platforms rebuild free, one every 2 hours.
Adaptive Armor	6	10	+2%/lvl hull strength
Doctrine of Annihilation	7	12	+1.5%/lvl fleet attack, multiplying what your Disciplines and Calibers already give instead of adding to it, with no cap on the bonus. The price stops rising one resource at a time, and once all three are flat, every further level costs 100 more Dark Matter than the last
Titan Dreadnought	7	12	SHIP Titan (apex; held back only by cost and by scythe/splinter counters)
Admiralty	8	15	battle stances, each with a cost: Assault, Rampart or Pursuit when you fly at the enemy, Assault alone where a fleet defends the ground it stands on
War Crucible	9	18	+10% attack on every fleet, multiplying everything your Disciplines, Calibers and Annihilation already give
Doctrine of Escalation	10	22	total war: your fleets' counters above 1x gain +0.5 (cap 3.5, naval only), and your Batteries and Fortresses fire and shield at ten times strength (hull unchanged)

Frontier

Node	Tier	Laboratory	Effect
Colonial Outpost	1	1	budget colony hub; halves the trait malus of any world that has one (a higher Terraformer relief supersedes it), and every level adds +2% to that colony's production of all three resources
Solar Sails	1	1	+3%/lvl fleet speed
Hypergate	2	2	your own hypergate NETWORK: a gate makes its whole system a network endpoint — one gated end = −2%/lvl (cap −30%) on logistics launched from its system toward your own or empty worlds (never toward allies or enemies); gates at BOTH ends collapse the route to a single hop, shortened by the weaker effective gate (−5%/lvl past 1, floor 50% through level 15; commissioned cores at levels 16–30 cut the remaining hop by 6% each); advanced cores cost resources and Dark Matter in addition to physical construction; every gate is also a guild jump-gate endpoint — and that guild network runs WITHOUT this node: a guildmate's gate at each end already bridges your routes, so this buys your OWN network
Modular Holds	2	2	+3%/lvl cargo capacity
Deep Computing	3	4	+4%/lvl Data production
Terraformer	3	4	relieves a planet malus, where there is one, through level 10; every level through 30 adds 1% to native specialty output: Ferrolite on Rocky worlds, Xenogas on Gaseous worlds, Data on Ice worlds, energy on Lava worlds
Deep Observatory	4	6	per-colony DETAIL on inbound attacks — origin, attacker, size, composition, one more piece per level from L2 to L8 — plus counter-espionage up to its detection cap; every building level through 30 cuts Spy and Explore travel from this colony by one percentage point; the bare alert is free for everyone
Quantum Computers	4	6	−2.5%/lvl research time on Tech Tree nodes — never on Disciplines
Colonial Ark	5	8	SHIP Ark (14,000 hold, 10,000 hull) — FOUNDS COLONIES like a Colony Ship, and is dismantled into the new world as a level 3 Warehouse, raising the new colony’s ceiling from 5,000 to 20,480 per resource
Warp Drives	5	8	+3%/lvl fleet speed
Dimensional Holds	6	10	+4%/lvl cargo capacity
Hyperspace Relay	6	10	Cuts travel time from its colony: 50% at level 1, deeper with each level, competing with Hypergate routes. Also removes 1% of logistics travel time per level through 30, including when a Hypergate route wins; applies to new supplies, transfers, pickups, harvests, colonization, reinforcements and supply lanes.
Beyond the Horizon	7	12	+0.5%/lvl fleet speed, with no cap on the bonus. The price stops rising one resource at a time, and once all three are flat, every further level costs 100 more Dark Matter than the last
Sentinel Relay	7	12	SHIP Sentinel Relay (unarmed) — stationed as a garrison at a site your guild holds (contested world, relic, Guild Hall), it reads that site’s incoming attacks with YOUR best Observatory, for the whole guild — with none built, where and when only; the best stationed relay reads, they do not stack. It never fights: it survives any battle the defence holds or draws, and dies whenever an attacker wins a battle there
Starmerchant Guilds	7	12	+3%/lvl on what your Trade Portals send down supply lanes — never on what a colony can receive, so it pays only on lanes whose receiving end could take in more than it is sent — with no cap on the bonus. The price stops rising one resource at a time, and once all three are flat, every further level costs 100 more Dark Matter than the last
Planetary Mandates	8	15	each colony adopts one mandate: Industrial, Scientific or Transit, changeable every 72h
Resource Concord	9	18	links every colony into one research treasury: research pays from the summed stockpiles of your whole empire, capital first
Boundless Reserve	10	22	empire-wide Warehouse capacity x1.5, and unlocks the Requisition Surge: x3 total storage ceiling for 24 hours, once every 5 days

Forge

Node	Tier	Laboratory	Effect
Deep Drills	1	1	+4%/lvl Ferrolite production
Mining Automation	1	1	+20% Ferrolite and Xenogas production
Superconducting Grid	1	1	+8%/lvl energy production on every colony. Power yield is capped at 100%, so it is only felt while a colony is short of power: where power already covers the draw it buys room to build rather than more output
Catalysts	2	2	+4%/lvl Xenogas production
Nanoforge	2	2	Shorter ship build time on that colony, scaled by hull mass: heavy hulls (Battleship and up) gain −2% per level through 20, then −1.5 percentage points per level to −55% at level 30. Lighter hulls gain a smaller reduction. Every level improves assembly.
Recycler	3	4	Unlocks harvest missions and local defensive auto-salvage. Each building level after 1 adds one percentage point of wreck recovery through level 30; harvest uses your best Recycler, local auto-salvage uses the defending colony’s plant.
Robotic Shipyards	3	4	−3%/lvl ship build time
Prefabs	4	6	−3%/lvl building build time
Shielded Silo	4	6	Unlocks the Shielded Silo: protects 20% of local resources at building level 1, rising every level to about 43.7% at 30. Each upgrade adds at least 0.3 percentage points of protection.
Active Salvage	5	8	+4 percentage points per level to debris recovery; 30% base, up to 99% with Recycler level 30 and Active Salvage level 10. This is a share of available wreck material, not the destroyed ship’s full price.
Compressed Depots	5	8	+8%/lvl warehouse capacity
Autonomous Factory	6	10	Unlocks the Autonomous Factory: a second shipyard slot at building level 1, then 0.5 percentage points less ship resource cost per effective level through 30. Levels 16–30 require paid industrial cores; the saving applies only to new orders on that colony.
Particle Accelerator	6	10	unlocks the Particle Accelerator: 0.75 Dark Matter/day per level at full power, with +10% compounding confinement efficiency per level from 16 through 30; high energy demand
Synergistic Extraction	6	10	+5%/lvl Ferrolite and Xenogas production
Orbital Arsenal	7	12	Unlocks the Orbital Arsenal: an extra shipyard slot at level 1, then 1 percentage point less military build time per effective level through 30, including the Aegis Bastion. Levels 16–30 require paid arsenal cores. Upgrades accelerate remaining military work; civilian ships and legendary repairs are excluded.
Production Singularity	7	12	+0.5%/lvl to ALL production, with no cap on the bonus. The price stops rising one resource at a time, and once all three are flat, every further level costs 100 more Dark Matter than the last
Deep Vaults	8	15	x2 storage capacity on every colony, stacking with the Compressed Depots bonus
Industrial Edicts	8	15	one empire-wide edict: Construction, Shipbuilding or Throughput, changeable every 72h
Industrial Confluence	9	18	+10% production of all three resources on every colony, Data included
Accretion Engine	10	22	Particle Accelerator Dark Matter output x3; every Accelerator's energy draw x2, throttling the whole colony until the grid catches up

Specter

Node	Tier	Laboratory	Effect
Orbital Obfuscation	1	1	−2.5%/lvl loot suffered
Planetary Shield II	1	1	raises the Shield max level and grants +15% shield power on defense, but not in the Crucible
Data Networks	2	2	+4%/lvl Data production
Shroudrunner	2	2	SHIP Shroudrunner (stealth light, economy raider)
Deep Sensor Grid	3	4	sees through the enemy Veil (sensor strength 10/lvl), reveals cloaked hulls inside the inbound warning, and unmasks spy probes — the warning itself is free for everyone, and its detail is the Observatory
Raider Protocols	3	4	+2.5%/lvl loot inflicted
Orbital Cannon	4	6	each Cannon level fires 0.25% of the attacking fleet’s hull, up to 100,000 hull a level (both up to 40% more with the Gunnery Rampart), and adds 1 percentage point of shield penetration and 0.5 points of battle-long shield suppression at full energy, through level 30; no salvo takes more than 25% of attacking hull, and a Breachhead halves the shot and both shield effects; the Gunnery Rampart’s Ranging Shot (L5) raises the penetration to 1.5 points a level, up to 30%, its Second Volley (L10) fires again before round 3 at half the shot, a share of the hull then left, its Counter-Battery (L15) voids the Breachhead’s halving, and its Broadside (L20) lands each salvo under the cap rear row first without adding damage
Active Camouflage	5	8	−2%/lvl loot suffered
Spectral Corsair	5	8	SHIP Corsair (stealth combat medium)
Eschaton Veil	6	10	cloaks a colony from enemy eyes: hidden from anyone whose Sensors are below your Veil; +3 flight concealment per level through 30 for all-stealth fleets, reduced by mass and return exposure; a successful active spy mission still gets through, and any fleet you send out can carry the colony's coordinates with it — an attack can show its origin to the defender from launch, and everyone who fights in a battle sees where every fleet came from, garrisons included
Abyss	7	12	−0.3%/lvl loot suffered, down to the floor, with no cap on the levels. The price stops rising one resource at a time, and once all three are flat, every further level costs 100 more Dark Matter than the last
Veilsight	9	18	+10% shields when defending, but not in the Crucible, and your spy reports reveal the target's empire-wide summed stockpiles
Nightfall Protocol	10	22	your attacks reach the defender's screens only minutes before impact (never fewer than three); a Deep Sensor Grid at level 20 anywhere in their empire sees them from launch, or a lower Grid the Watch lifts to the same reading (a Grid 19 with the Watch at level 3)

Bought with Dark Matter: the Apex

These lines are not research. They never enter the research queue, the Laboratory plays no part in them, and they do not appear in the tech tree: each level is bought instantly, with Dark Matter, on the Apex tab (it appears while you hold at least one Dark Matter, or once you have researched the Particle Accelerator). A Doctrine or an Ascendancy or a Rampart is a line of 20 levels priced in bands of five; a Relic is a single purchase.

Line	Kind	Price	Needs	Effect
Dark Matter Lances	Doctrine	8 / 20 / 45 / 90 DM per level; 815 DM to level 20	Particle Accelerator (tech tree)	+1.5%/lvl SHIELD PENETRATION
Dark Matter Aegis	Doctrine	8 / 20 / 45 / 90 DM per level; 815 DM to level 20	Particle Accelerator (tech tree)	+3%/lvl shield power
Dark Matter Forge	Doctrine	8 / 20 / 45 / 90 DM per level; 815 DM to level 20	Particle Accelerator (tech tree)	+2%/lvl to ALL production
Dark Matter Veil	Doctrine	8 / 20 / 45 / 90 DM per level; 815 DM to level 20	Particle Accelerator (tech tree)	−1.5%/lvl travel time on every mission
The Loom	Ascendancy	12 / 30 / 70 / 140 DM per level; 1,260 DM to level 20	Dark Matter Forge 10	−1%/lvl research time on Disciplines AND Tech Tree orders
The Breach	Ascendancy	12 / 30 / 70 / 140 DM per level; 1,260 DM to level 20	Dark Matter Lances 10	+2%/lvl damage from your ships against a colony’s Emplacements and its Fortress
The Vanguard	Ascendancy	12 / 30 / 70 / 140 DM per level; 1,260 DM to level 20	Dark Matter Lances 10	+2%/lvl damage from your ships in the first two rounds of a battle
The Phalanx	Ascendancy	12 / 30 / 70 / 140 DM per level; 1,260 DM to level 20	Dark Matter Aegis 10	+2%/lvl hull on your ships while they are defending a colony
The Ward	Ascendancy	12 / 30 / 70 / 140 DM per level; 1,260 DM to level 20	Dark Matter Aegis 10	+2%/lvl shields
The Cipher	Ascendancy	12 / 30 / 70 / 140 DM per level; 1,260 DM to level 20	Dark Matter Veil 10	+2%/lvl on the chance your spy probe goes unnoticed — a 15% chance becomes 21% at L20. The Cipher Ascendancy scales the odds, it never removes the roll: a probe is still caught at least 5% of the time
The Dynamo	Ascendancy	12 / 30 / 70 / 140 DM per level; 1,260 DM to level 20	Dark Matter Forge 10	+2%/lvl to energy PRODUCTION on every colony
The Fold	Ascendancy	12 / 30 / 70 / 140 DM per level; 1,260 DM to level 20	Dark Matter Veil 10	−2%/lvl on the distance a warp jump is priced on
The Watch	Rampart	12 / 30 / 70 / 140 DM per level; 1,260 DM to level 20	Particle Accelerator (tech tree); Deep Sensor Grid 10 on any colony	+2%/lvl to your empire's sensor network, the best Deep Sensor Grid among your colonies
The Mantle	Rampart	12 / 30 / 70 / 140 DM per level; 1,260 DM to level 20	Particle Accelerator (tech tree); Planetary Shield 10 on any colony	+2%/lvl to the Bubble of every Planetary Shield you hold
The Battery	Rampart	12 / 30 / 70 / 140 DM per level; 1,260 DM to level 20	Particle Accelerator (tech tree); Defense Batteries 10 on any colony	+2%/lvl to the attack of every Defense Batteries emplacement you hold
The Keep	Rampart	12 / 30 / 70 / 140 DM per level; 1,260 DM to level 20	Particle Accelerator (tech tree); Orbital Fortress 10 on any colony	+2%/lvl to the attack of every Orbital Fortress platform you hold
The Gunnery	Rampart	12 / 30 / 70 / 140 DM per level; 1,260 DM to level 20	Particle Accelerator (tech tree); Orbital Cannon 10 on any colony	+2%/lvl to the opening damage of every Orbital Cannon you hold
The Siphon	Rampart	12 / 30 / 70 / 140 DM per level; 1,260 DM to level 20	Particle Accelerator (tech tree); Particle Accelerator 10 on any colony	+0.5%/lvl Dark Matter from every Particle Accelerator you run
Precursor Schematics	Relic	150 DM, once	Particle Accelerator (tech tree); Production Singularity 3 (tech tree)	unlocks the Precursor district — Zero-Point Reactor, Singularity Vault, Trinity Forge — in ONE 150 DM purchase
The Sigil	Relic	250 DM, once; naming another complete Doctrine later, 100 DM	Particle Accelerator (tech tree); any one of Dark Matter Lances 20, Dark Matter Aegis 20, Dark Matter Forge 20, Dark Matter Veil 20	name one complete Doctrine as yours: its scaling effect reads level 22 instead of 20
The Bastion Codex	Relic	200 DM, once	Particle Accelerator (tech tree); a repelled sortie on your record	faction sorties against you leave 6 hours later, so you get 6 more hours of notice before they land; a repelled sortie pays the next step of the defence ladder