Guide:Starting Research

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After reaching level 8 research is one of the best things to help you advance quickly. This guide will walk you through the available research and advise on the best options.

As you may already know, this is an Isolinear Chip. These chips (commonly referred to as Isos) are required to research anything so now you probably have two questions - "How do I make them?" and "Where do I make them?".

Research Centre
This is a research centre, these can only be built on grass and cost just 60 Plasteel and 5 Duranium to build. It is probably best if you build this on either your M class planet or your moderate class planet. Each tick this will require 5 Workers and consumes 6 Energy, 5 Plasteel, 2 Iridium Ore, 2 Duranium and 2 Deuterium, but will make 1 valuable Isolinear Chip!

Each research centre can also support 5 scientists, each of these scientists will make 0.1 Isos each tick, meaning every 2 ticks the centre will produce 3 Isolinear Chips. To assign scientists go to the colony, click on settings, type 5 into the scientists box and then click assign - you will of course need 5 unemployed people to assign as scientists.

Contents 1 What to research first 2 What should I research after Jupiter Stations? 2.1 Section 1 - Economic Advancement 2.1.1 Colonies 2.1.1.1 Optional Steps 2.1.2 Ships 2.2 Section 2 - Military Advancement 2.2.1 Ships 2.2.2 Weapons

What to research first

When your Research Centre is complete, enter the building and select the 'Research' option from the list they give you. Click on the Research Centre and then on "Research" this is shown in the image below.

You will then be presented with what might be a daunting list of research items; most of them will be Grey which means that you have yet to unlock them. Some will be in Yellow meaning that they are unlocked, but you have yet to start them.

We recommend that the first item you research is Orbital Construction, this costs 40 Isolinear Chips and will take 2 days to research. This will cause Jupiter Station Construction to be unlocked and you should research this for 60 Isolinear Chips. That will take 3 days to complete.

Jupiter Stations
Now that Jupiter Station Research is complete you can build jupiter stations, when 10 scientists are assigned, these produce 2 isolinear chips each tick for 20 energy. Jupiter stations are the most popular type of research building and the plans shown below give some options for building a research planet using them, generally water and desert planets are popular for this.

None of these plans require research* (excluding jupiter station research) or terraforming (excluding woods to grass) and don't need lots of internal reputation to run. The first plan produces 6 isolinear chips self sufficiently on a water planet - it also has some nature preserves and environmentalists which will help boost your internal reputation. The second of the plans also is on a water planet and produces 8 isos but imports 2 food each tick. The final plan is on a desert planet, this also produces 8 isos at the cost of 19 deuterium each tick, however its main benefit is its extensive storage capacity.

* The subsurface storage facilities on the desert require global blasting research but tunnel systems would work in the short term

What should I research after Jupiter Stations?

There are many options open to you, but this guide will be split into three sections for ease of explaining it.

• Economic Advancement
  Very useful to make sure you can build a lot of the bigger colony plans and so you can produce more building types on your colonies.
• Offensive/Defensive Military Advancement
  Military ships/fleets and torpedoes which are essential for defence or attacks.
• General Research Items
  Stations and other areas which do not fall neatly into one of the two other categories.

Firstly we will focus on Economic Advancement lines of research. Research can accurately be described as a tangled web which many can find confusing. Therefore, we will lay this out in a step by step approach so you can hopefully easily follow along.

Section 1 - Economic Advancement

Our primary aim for economic advancement is to complete Global Blasting research, this allows a number of new terraforming techniques which are essential for many colony plans such as creating more craters on your asteroids. Unfortunately Global Blasting has a number of prerequisite technologies which must be research first for it to be unlocked:

Colonies

• Warp Field Theory
  This is a good starting point for 60 Isolinear Chips taking 10 ticks. It is a basic requirement for many ships, but also Torpedo Construction which is needed for important terraforming which is the end point of this research sequence.

• Adv. Antimatter Technologies
  This costs 80 Isolinear Chips and needs 10 ticks to be completed. M/AM Annihilation and Double Accelerator Construction become unlocked.

• M/AM Annihilation
  This costs 80 Isolinear Chips and after 7 ticks will enable Torpedo Construction.

• Torpedo Construction
  Costing 100 Isolinear Chips and taking 10 ticks to complete Torpedo Construction allows you to build Photon Torpedoes from Torpedo Factories () . These will be needed for terraforming later on so you should set up at least one torpedo factory producing them. Now you can build Photon Torpedoes you have completed half of the research required for the main type of terraforming: Global Blasting.

• Terraforming Technologies
  This costs 100 Isolinear Chips taking 10 ticks. It unlocks Global Blasting and Cascade Melting which is something you may never need.
  

From	To	Requires
		5 Ticks 200 Food
		5 Ticks 200 Food
Note: Desert can only be converted to grassland on M class planets.
		21 Ticks 2000 Deuterium

• Global Blasting
  We have finally reached the end goal of this research chain, global blasting a vital piece of research for numerous colony plans. Research this for 200 Isolinear Chips taking 15 ticks and you will be able to do lots of new terraforming techniques which all cost 10 Photon Torpedoes to do, it also allows upgrading tunnel systems to subsurface storage facilities:

From	To	Requires
		3 Ticks 10 Photon Torpedoes
		2 Ticks 10 Photon Torpedoes
		1 Tick 10 Photon Torpedoes
		3 Ticks 50 Reputation 10 Photon Torpedoes
		20 Plasteel 50 Duranium 5 Photon Torpedoes

Optional Steps

While we have completed the most important research to enable most colony plans there are a number of other technologies which could be useful for you

• Tectonics
  This might be useful in some situations, but probably shouldn't be a priority for research. Generally it is only used when creating an additional volcano on a lava planet or if converting an M class to a storage planet. For 400 Isolinear Chips taking 30 ticks it enables you to undo most methods of Global Blasting except Rock to Crater which needs Cascade Melting.

From	To	Requires
		14 Ticks 50 Antimatter 40 Photon Torpedoes
		16 Ticks 50 Antimatter 40 Photon Torpedoes
		4 Ticks 50 Antimatter 40 Photon Torpedoes

• Cascade Melting
  The last remaining terraforming research is cascade melting, this costs a further 800 Isolinear Chips and takes 50 ticks. This should NOT be necessary for you to do and therefore we strongly recommend you don't waste your Isolinear Chips! Generally the only viable reason for using Cascade melting is if you want to reposition volcanos, coregap or craters on a colony, this would only be necessary if you want to do something like cover them all with a single shield tower.

From	To	Requires
		10 Ticks 20 Antimatter 10 Dilithium
		18 Ticks 50 Antimatter 80 Sorium
		13 Ticks 400 Deuterium 10 Photon Torpedoes 150 Plasma

• Plasma Converter Construction
  This costs 180 Isolinear Chips and allows the construction of Plasma Converters which each produce 4 plasma each tick, from an economic point of view this is only required if you wish to produce plasma. However it is a prerequisite for disruptor weapon development so once you start military research it will probably become a priority.
  
  

• Dual Accelerator Construction
  This can be researched for 60 Isolinear Chips in 10 ticks and allows particle accelerators to be upgraded to dual particle accelerators. On antimatter production colonies this allows the same amount of antimatter to be produced with half the workers and half the colony fields used (but still 10 energy per antimatter), this slightly increases the efficiency of these colonies. However if you're not looking at producing large quantities of antimatter its not a priority.
  
  

• Sorium Mining
  Sorium Mining will let you build Sorium Mines needed for Ice Planet and Ice Asteroid plans I showed you. This costs 790 Isolinear Chips and takes a long 85 ticks. While Sorium is a valuable resource to trade there is very little use for it in the early stages of the game so this really isn't essential and therefore you might want to leave it until later!

On planets and asteroids you might find yourself short of room on the colony surface to accommodate all your key buildings. One solution might be converting Open Space to Dyson Segments ( --> ) at the cost of 50 Plasteel, 100 Duranium and 100 Deuterium above your colony which act as platforms to build a variety of colony buildings on e.g. Hydroponic Dome ().

To achieve this you will have to research:

• Adv. Orbital Construction
  This needs 120 Isolinear Chips and requires 15 ticks.
• Orbital Complex Structures
  This needs 260 Isolinear Chips requiring 20 ticks.
• Space Elevator Construction
  This needs 240 Isolinear Chips and requires 20 ticks. To use Dyson sphere segments you must have an active Workbee SpacePort and Space Elevator.
• Dyson Sphere Construction
  This costs 200 Isolinear Chips and will finish in 20 cycles.

This research chain is NOT essential research in the short term and should be considered as something to research only when you really need it which might not be for a while! It is generally useful for increasing production on asteroid fields by making full use of the space.

Ships

Need to add Whorfin, Kale, Andorra, Sydney, Extraction Ship etc.

Section 2 - Military Advancement

This section is for research which allows your military fleet to expand and grow which is useful for all colonists whether defensive traders or most aggressive pirates. This will focus purely on military ships and research needed to get them. Remember, you do not have to complete all of this research, but instead pick the Option(s) you need to make the ships you want. It is normally a good idea to start with a couple of smaller military ships and wait until you are much more advanced before tackling Flagships!

Ships

Help: Armour is something which reduces the damage taken to the hull by each weapon which fires at it by the armour amount. E.g. Weapon of strength 10 hits hull with armour 6. Damage taken is 10 - 6 = 4.

Help: References to "evasion" or "dodge" mean the likelihood of the weapon missing the ship. A high evasion increases the chances it misses.

Help: References to "ship slots" means how many of your maximum of ship slots (100 unless upgraded) are filled by having that ship.

• First research Warp Field Theory - if you have not already done so. This was covered in the last section and costs 60 Isolinear Chips. It takes 10 ticks to research.

• Then research Warp Field Stabilization for 300 Isolinear Chips which needs 10 cycles to be completed. This unlocks nearly every starship you might want to research or build so it is essential. Now you have a lot of choices to make about which military ships you want to research. Now we will look at the different choices you have and how to research them:
  • Option 1 - Corvette Construction
    This needs 60 Isolinear Chips and then 10 ticks for completion. This is needed for the two military ships which have Phasers as weapons: Kazons and Anachroms. These are great at killing Fighters which have a high dodge rate which is negated to a large extent by the accurate Phaser weapons. They are, however, less powerful in general than Disruptor weaponed starships which will be covered later. You may now research Kazon Fighters for 70 Isolinear Chips which takes 5 ticks. This then unlocks Anachrom Construction which is slightly more expensive at 300 Isolinear Chips taking 15 ticks.
    • Kazon Fighter
      1 ship slot- weak hull (55) and shields (30), 2 armour, good flight range (55), a single strong phaser weapon (10 damage) which is best used to neutralise fighters which will be covered later.
    • Anachrom
      2 ship slots - fairly weak hull (80) and shields (80), 3 armour, average flight range (40), two strong phaser weapons (12 damage each) again best used to neutralise fighters.

• To build more powerful ships with Disruptors, you will need to have that weapon type researched. To do this, research Plasma Converter Construction which as mentioned last section needs 180 Isolinear Chips and 7 ticks to complete. Then you can research Disruptor Weapon Development for 300 Isolinear Chips also taking 7 ticks. This is required for a great number of ships so it is quite important.
  • Option 2 - Frigate Construction
    This needs 80 Isolinear Chips and then 10 ticks for completion. This is needed for the two basic military ships which have Disruptors as weapons: Darinayas and Adrecs. These are most effective in large numbers as support for larger and stronger ships in a defensive role or as reasonably cheap disposable ships in an attack. You may now research Darinaya Construction for 80 Isolinear Chips which takes 7 ticks. This then unlocks Adrec Construction which is much more expensive at 500 Isolinear Chips taking 20 cycles.
    • Darinaya
      1 ship slot- weak hull (70) and shields (50), 4 armour, good flight range (55), a single strong Disruptor weapon (22 damage) although it does fire any torpedo type too.
    • Adrec
      2 ship slots - good hull (140) and shields (100), 5 armour, average flight range (40), two strong Disruptor weapons (22 damage each) although it does have two torpedo tubes which fire any type.
  • Option 3 - Cruiser Construction
    This is a relatively new option and it requires you to have Corvette Construction and Frigate Construction completed. Only then can you research Cruiser Construction for 700 Isolinear Chips taking 25 cycles. It is expensive, but allows you to build the Bandari class which is a great escort for Flagships and Carriers (covered later on) and could accurately be described as a master of all trades as its weapons are quite effective against fighters, but can also be used effectively against frigates, carriers and flagships. However, it isn't exceptional against any of these.
    • Bandari
      4 ship slots- good hull (260) and shields (230), 4 armour, average flight range (40), four Ion Cannons (20 hull damage each or 23 shield damage). They are not that expensive to build for a reasonably strong economy.
  • Option 4 - Destroyer Construction
    Once you have completed cruiser research you unlock Destroyer Construction which you can complete for 900 Isolinear Chips taking 25 ticks to build the Cloverfield Class. They are often dubbed "Flagship killers" as their weapons are only useful against poorly maneuverable ships such as stations and flagships.
    • Cloverfield
      6 ship slots - very good hull (600) and shields (300), 2 armour, average flight range (40), three strong Antiproton cannons (155 hull damage each or 135 shield damage). With comparison to the Bandari they are far more expensive and highly specialised in what they are good at.
  • Option 5 (i) - Carrier Construction
    This needs 120 Isolinear Chips and then 10 ticks for completion. This is needed for the two main carrier ships: Aithers and Amaterasus. These should always be accompanied by a full fitting of Fighters which they can carry in their hangars between sectors. You may now research Aither Construction for 200 Isolinear Chips which takes 10 cycles. This then unlocks Amaterasu Construction which is noticeably more expensive at 1200 Isolinear Chips taking 25 cycles.
    • Aither Construction
      7 ship slots- fairly strong hull (700) and shields (700), 4 armour, good flight range (55), two weak Phaser weapons (8 damage each) or two torpedo tubes (Try to stock it with powerful torpedoes!). Most importantly it can carry 14 Fighters in its hangars.
    • Amaterasu Construction
      15 ship slots - reasonably strong hull (1200) and shields (1400), 5 armour, average flight range (40), eight reasonably strong Phaser weapons (8 damage each) or eight torpedo tubes (Try to stock it with powerful torpedoes!). Most importantly it can carry 28 Fighters in its hangars.
  • Option 5 (ii) - Fighter Construction
    This needs only 60 Isolinear Chips and then 10 ticks for completion. This is needed for the two main types of Fighters: Ju'days and Klaestrons. These are needed to defend the carriers and also can be used as a tool of attack as they have a very high dodge rate and against purely Disruptor weaponed ships they can be very deadly. You may now research Ju'day Construction for just 40 Isolinear Chips which takes 5 ticks and Klaestron Construction which is a little more expensive at 120 Isolinear Chips taking 5 ticks.
    • Ju'day
      0.5 ship slots- flimsy hull (10) and no shields, 1 armour not very useful 3 flight range, one weak Phaser weapon (5 damage) or one torpedo tube which can fire Photon Torpedoes. This is very cheap to build.
    • Klaestron
      0.5 ship slots - flimsy hull (10) and no shields, no armour, no flight range, one strong Disruptor weapon (20 damage) or one torpedo tube which can fire Plasma Torpedoes. This is also very cheap to build.
  • Option 6 - Flagship Construction
    This is the most expensive ship class research at 2500 Isolinear Chips which takes 35 cycles for completion. This is needed to build the biggest looking starships of them all which naturally are the most costly. You can now research any of the following for a further 1500 Isolinear Chips which takes another 35 cycles: Iowa Construction, Atria Construction and Elstar Construction.
    • Atria
      25 ship slots- reasonably strong hull (1200), weaker shields (500) and 4 armour. Good flight range (55), large cargo bay (16000), beams 50 goods for 1 energy, very big Bussard and Ore Collectors and has a large deflector (4000) useful for trading. It has weak weaponry: eight 8-strength Phasers or eight 18-strength Disruptors or alternatively 10 torpedo tubes for Plasma Torpedoes. This is the civilian flagship and isn't best suited for combat.
    • Elstar
      25 ship slots- fairly strong hull (800), stronger shields (1200) and 5 armour. Very good flight range (70), large cargo bay (8500), beams 30 goods for 1 energy, can track ships and has a modest deflector (1750). It has good weaponry: fifteen 22 strength Disruptors or six Electomagnetic Canons which deal 175 shield damage or 10 Quantum torpedo tubes or fifteen 9 strength phasers. This is mainly used as a high speed "hit and run" Flagship due to its large flight range and goods cargo and weapons.
    • Iowa
      25 ship slots- fairly strong hull (1550), stronger shields (2450) and 6 armour. Average flight range (40), modest cargo bay (1500). It has very good weaponry: sixteen disruptors which can deal 39 shield or 45 hull damage, or 4 Antiproton Canons dealing 260 shield or 210 hull damage, or eight Disruptor Beams (slightly less accurate than Phasers) dealing 12 shield or 17 hull damage or finally four Quantum Torpedo Salvos each dealing 120 shield or 135 hull damage. This is a pure battleship.

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Before I end I would like to quickly cover two additional military vessels which are now rarely used as they are not as effective as the standard military ships:

• Grodts () and Nausicaan () vessels are mainly used by small scale pirates due to their reasonably large cargo holds. However, the downside is that they are fairly weak and their weapons not quite as strong as standard military vessels.

First you must have completed Warp Field Theory, Plasma Converter Construction to enable Disruptor Waepon Development. To recap on the costs please refer to my previous lessons. After this, you will need to research Civilian Vessel Construction which costs 40 Isolinear Chips and takes 10 cycles. Due to the cargo holds it is plausible that they could be used as strong short range cargo vessels hence the Civilian research required.

Now you have covered that research, you can now research either Grodt Construction or Nausicaan Construction which have the same research costs at 150 Isolinear Chips taking 15 cycles. It would be advisable I would suggest to have a mixture of the two if you are sure you want to use them due to the fact that Grodts have decent weapons against hull, but terrible against shield and Nausicaans have decent weapons against shield, but weak against hull. Each of their fire power is weaker than 1 Adrec as is their hull and shields. The redeeming feature is the 500 (Nausicaan) and 800 (Grodt) cargo holds designed to hold the pillaged goods.

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I understand that this has been a long section, but I hope you have been able to understand the basic principle that you must research the ship category (corvettes, frigates etc) before the ship classes (e.g. Adrec, Bandari etc).

Weapons

The two most common weapon types are Phasers and Disruptors. Phasers are more accurate against small evasive ships where are Disruptors are better to attack bigger and less evasive ships.

If you have followed the advice given in "Section 1 - Economic Advancement" then you should already have Torpedo Construction researched. If not, you should research Warp Field Theory, then M/AM Annihilation and then Torpedo Construction. For details about the cost in Isolinear Chips and time taken please refer to the previous Help Guide.

Just having Torpedo Construction researched, you can unlock and complete the research (each needing 400 Isolinear Chips and takes 20 cycles) for:

   EMP Torpedo Construction () Deals either 28 damage to shields or 28 units of energy loss on the enemy ship) - Making two costs: 8 Energy, 4 Tritanium and 8 Antimatter
   Nemesis Torpedo Construction () Deals either 30 damage only to shields. Cannot damage hull) - Making two costs: 8 Energy, 2 Photon Torpedoes and 4 Antimatter
   Polaron Torpedo Construction () Passes through shields dealing a max of 10 damage to hull) - Making two costs: 3 Energy, 2 Photon Torpedoes and 1 Dilithium
   Remember, you can already build Photon Torpedoes () Deals a max of 10 damage to hull or shields). - Making two costs: 4 Energy, 2 Duranium, 2 Deuterium and 2 Antimatter.

More popular are Plasma Torpedoes. To make Plasma Torpedoes you will also need Plasma Converter Construction mentioned in my previous two research lessons. Then you can research (requiring 400 Isolinear Chips and taking 20 cycles) Plasma Torpedo Construction () Deals a max of 24 damage to hull or shields). - Making two costs: 4 Energy, 4 Tritanium and 4 Plasma

The strongest torpedoes are Quantum Torpedoes. To make Quantum Torpedoes you will also need Sorium Mining research mentioned in my second research lesson. Then you can research (requiring 1000 Isolinear Chips and taking 50 cycles) Quantum Torpedo Construction () Deals a max of 28 damage to hull or shields). - Making two costs: 8 Energy, 4 Sorium and 6 Tritanium

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So, now you should be able to decide which torpedo types you want to research. Most common are Plasma Torpedoes as they are cheaper than Quantum Torpedoes. I suggest for now you only research Plasma Torpedoes and then when your other key research items are complete you can come back and add more types to your completed list. Let's now look at Probes, LRS Buoys, EMP Mines and Weapons of Mass Destruction which the Federation condemns the use of.

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First research Missile Construction for just 50 Isolinear Chips taking 10 cycles. This unlocks Probe Construction costing 40 Isolinear Chips to research, completed in 10 cycles. Probes () are small remotely controlled ships which are used to explore or spy on enemy sectors. They do not cause a battle on entry to a sector because they are so small meaning that they are not detected. They do not even leave logs so not a single ship will register your probe passing through the sector! They do register a 0,5 energy signature on Long Range Sensors and can be seen from Short Range Sensors if the ships in the sector actively scan the surrounding area. If you do not yet have a Subspace Telescope these are ideal replacements! I.e. if the other person(s) are online and are looking out from their ship in your probe's sector they will see it and likely destroy your probe for espionage which could cause conflict.

Next you can research any of the following two items of research:

   For 120 Isolinear Chips and after 3 days you can complete LRS Buoy Construction. LRS Buoys () are small stationary vessels 0.5 slots which give a commanding view of your local area. Their long range sensors extend 5 sectors out in each direction allowing you to spot passing ships such as Vadwaur Probes (which drop Credits), dangerous Vidiians and The Syndicat cruiser vessels which can drop items. Remember, do not risk a confrontation until you know you can destroy the enemy without bad losses!
   For 400 Isolinear Chips and after 3 days you can complete EMP Mine Construction. EMP Mines () are small stationary mines 1 slot which deal 4 EMP Pulses each reducing the enemy shields by 56 strength or the enemy's energy by 56 units. The mines do not destroy themselves once fired and they can only fire these 4 pulses of EMP waves once per cycle and a maximum of twice in two consecutive sectors before it must recharge. However, it is likely that they will be one of your first casualties when the enemy returns fire as they are very weak (just 10 hull). Even so, they can prove to be an effective defence en masse. They can only disable ships so you will still need a strong supporting fleet (see lesson 3 for the research lines for this and speak to Instructor Karson for advice on fleet composition).

Weapons of Mass Destruction () require you to be able to research Sorium Mining. The United Federation of Planets strongly condemns the building of these ruthless and uncivilised weapons of war.