Research
Research is a decisive factor in the battle between Man and Alien. X-COM forces start out badly outclassed by their alien foes, but as they master alien technology, the battle swings to the Humans' favor.
Through research, X-COM forces gain access to vastly improved weapons technology, armor, base facilities, interception and transport craft, and a variety of other useful technologies. Researching captive live aliens provides information about the aliens' methods and traits, and is ultimately the only path toward winning the game.
Research allocations
You start the game with one Laboratory and 10 Scientists. You will want to add 40 additional Scientists when space and money permit, so as to unlock new technology as soon as possible. This is expensive: 40 Scientists have a hiring cost of $2.4 million (and a monthly salary of $1.2 million), and require the addition of a new Living Quarters, at a cost of $400,000.
An additional Laboratory, Living Quarters, and 50 Scientists (for a total of 100) is recommended when you can cobble together an additional $4.2 million, so as to unlock all useful alien technologies within the first few months of the game.
Many of the game's most important research topics require the capture of certain specific live aliens, so it is recommended you start building an Alien Containment at the very beginning of the game. As few as three aliens need to be captured and researched to ultimately unlock all the critical research topics which are dependent on alien captives. See The Minimum Three for more details.
Alien artifacts from the battlefield cannot be manufactured or used (or even thrown!) by your soldiers until they have been fully researched. In fact, you start the game unable to manufacture any items until you have completed your first research topics.
Initial research projects
You are given Laser Weapons, Medi-Kits, and Motion Scanners as research topics at the beginning of the game. Every subsequent research topic becomes available by completing a previous research topic, or by capturing new technology found on the battlefield.
Different X-COM commanders differ on which technologies are best researched first, although the initial three topics are all good choices. Laser Rifles are an enormous improvement over standard armaments, particularly against Cyberdiscs, the toughest early foe. Laser weapons are reasonably powerful and do not require ammunition, making them useful for the duration of the game.
Medi-Kits are rapidily researched and of great utility, especially once your soldiers are outfitted with armor. Armor technology is also a high priority, although it is relatively time-consuming to research and subsequently manufacture.
Motion Scanners can help you pinpoint the location of your foes, and are the most profitable item that can be manufactured in the early game. (See Manufacturing Profitability.)
After your first combats, advanced alien weapons become available for research. Heavy Plasma, Small Launcher, and Blaster Launcher are all popular early research choices.
Commanders who wish to supplement their incomes by manufacturing profitable items should research Laser Cannons early on, as they are the most profitable production item in the entire game.
Once you manage to capture an alien Navigator, you should research it as soon as possible, as the Hyper-Wave Decoder it unlocks is an invaluable technology. Researching a psionically-enabled alien (Sectoid Leader/Commander or any Ethereal) should also be a top priority, as psionics becomes an enormous factor as the game progresses.
Research trees
Here are sequences of research topics needed to unlock all the technologies in the game.
Laser Weapons
Laser Weapons (tech breakthrough) | Laser Pistol | Laser Rifle | Heavy Laser | Laser Cannon (Laser Tank) | Laser Defense
Plasma Weapons
Heavy Plasma Plasma Rifle | Heavy Plasma Clip | Plasma Rifle Clip |___________| |__________| | | | | |__________OR___________| | Plasma Cannon (Hovertank/Plasma)* | Plasma Defense
* New Fighter Craft must also be researched before you can build hovertanks
Fusion Weapons
Blaster Launcher Blaster Bomb |___________| | Fusion Ball (Hovertank/Launcher)* | Fusion Ball Defense
* New Fighter Craft must also be researched before you can build hovertanks
Armor
Alien Alloys | Elerium-115 Personal Armor UFO Power Source |_____________|_________________| | | Power Suit UFO Navigation |_________________| | Flying Suit
Craft
Alien Elerium UFO UFO
Alloys 115 Power Source Navigation
|___________|___________|______________|
|
UFO Construction
|
|
New Fighter Craft*
(Firestorm)
|
New Fighter-Transporter
(Lightning)
__________|____________
| |
Grav Shield Ultimate Craft (Avenger)
* New Fighter Craft must be researched before you can build hovertanks
Psionics
Any Live Psionic Alien | Psi Lab |_______ | | Psi-Amp Mind Shield
Hyper-Wave Decoder
Any Live Alien Navigator | Hyper-Wave Decoder
Individual topics
Researching these topics will not unlock any technologies beyond themselves.
There are also four UFO Components which can be researched but which have no practical value:
A fifth component, Alien Reproduction, cannot normally be found in the game, although it can be researched if you add it to your General Stores using an editor.
Researching aliens
Researching live aliens will provide a variety of information. The type of information revealed is usually dependent on the alien's rank (or type).
Here is an overview of the research each alien type can produce:
- Any Live Alien: Alien Origins and information on its own species
- Alien Soldier or Terrorist: Nothing, beyond information on its own species
- Alien Medic: information on other alien species
- Alien Navigator: Alien missions and Hyper-Wave Decoder
- Alien Engineer: Alien ships
- Alien Leader (or Commander): The Martian Solution
- Alien Commander: Cydonia or Bust
- Sectoid Leader or Commander, or any Ethereal: Psionic Laboratory
Researching a live alien will produce a "live alien" entry and can sometimes produce other UFOPaedia entries or even unlock new research topics, as detailed above. The first live alien of any type you study will unlock the Alien Origins topic. Often researching an alien will produce no new UFOPaedia entries, if everything that could be learned from that alien type has already been discovered.
Most of the UFOPaedia entries generated by studying live aliens are of no intrisic value, although sometimes they will provide insight into in-game alien behavior or characteristics. Sometimes the information provided is misleading. If nothing else, though, they are fun to read.
Each alien species (including autopsies), alien mission, or alien ship entry added to the UFOpaedia will earn the player 50 points.
Alien types
There are 29 different alien race/rank combos in the game:
- Sectoid Soldier, Medic, Navigator, Engineer, Leader, or Commander
- Snakeman Soldier, Navigator, Engineer, Leader, or Commander
- Ethereal Soldier, Leader, or Commander
- Muton Soldier, Navigator, or Engineer
- Floater Soldier, Medic, Navigator, Engineer, Leader, or Commander
- Celatid Terrorist
- Silacoid Terrorist
- Chryssalid Terrorist
- Reaper Terrorist
- Sectopod Terrorist
- Cyberdisc Terrorist
One does not need to capture all of the alien-rank combinations to produce every possible UFOPaedia entry in the game. Enough Medics, Navigators, and Engineers of any sort will eventually fill out your UFOPaedia completely (although you must study at least one Leader and Commander, as detailed below).
Alien missions
These UFOPaedia entries will be generated by researching alien Navigators. Captured Navigators may give information on mission types other than the type they were engaged in when captured.
- Alien Research
- Alien Harvest
- Alien Abduction
- Alien Infiltration
- Alien Base
- Alien Terror
- Alien Retaliation
- Alien Supply
Alien ships
These UFOPaedia entries will be generated by researching alien Engineers. They do not unlock any technologies, but they do give detailed information about the performance characteristics of each ship, which can help players tailor their interception strategies. Captured Engineers may give information on ship types other than the type they were found on.
Alien species
Studying any captive alien will produce a "live alien" UFOPaedia entry on that species, unless that entry already exists. Researching an alien corpse will produce an "Alien Autopsy" UFOPaedia entry on its species.
Researching alien Medics can produce "live alien" and Autopsy entries on species other than their own. (However, if the entry on live Ethereals is produced in this manner it will not unlock the Psionic Laboratory research topic -- you must still study a psionic alien directly.)
There are 11 different alien species in the game, and 11 different Live and Autopsy entries can be generated. (Zombies can be thought of as a 12th alien species, although neither a corpse nor live specimen can ever be collected, and a UFOPedia entry can never be generated on them.)
The two robotic units (Sectopods and Cyberdiscs) cannot be captured alive or studied directly. To generate a live alien UFOPaedia entry on them, you must research alien Medics of any other species.
Endgame
These research topics must be completed in order to travel to Cydonia and finish the game.
Any Live Alien | Alien Origins | | Any Live Alien Leader | / The Martian Solution | | Any Live Alien Commander | / Cydonia or Bust | | Avenger | / Cydonia (mission)
Alien Commanders can be found on Battleships, or in alien bases. An alien Commander will also always accompany a base invasion force. The Unofficial Strategy Guide incorrectly states that only a Commander from an alien base can be used to give access to "Cydonia or Bust". In practice, any Commander will do -- so long as The Martian Solution has already been researched. Should you research a Commander prior to this, you'll have to capture another.
The Minimum Three
You only need to capture three live aliens to unlock the research topics that will allow you complete the game. These three aliens are, in the following order:
- Any random alien, Any Leader or Commander, and finally Any Commander
By studying these three aliens, you can unlock the end-game mission Cydonia or Bust. These same three aliens can be used to unlock all additional research dependent on alien captives, by altering the list as follows:
- substitute "Any Navigator" for "Any random alien"
- make sure your captured Leader or Commander is Sectoid or Ethereal
Thus, to unlock all technology that matters (not counting window-dressing fluff, like Autopsies, UFO types, and Mission types), you only need to research three aliens:
- Any Navigator, Any Sectoid or Ethereal, Leader or Commander, and finally Any Commander
Capturing live aliens
Capturing the above three aliens, especially early on in the game, can be difficult. However, Mind Probes make it much easier to single out specific aliens, and once you get Small Launchers, things are pretty easy.
If you spot an alien with a Small Launcher, you can often get him to knock himself out by walking up to him point-blank and letting him shoot you next turn.
Using Stun Rods is tricky, except when you can sneak up on an alien from behind. However, sending a swarm of rookies with Stun Rods into a UFO can be worth it in order to capture that first Navigator. Don't attempt this if there are multiple aliens facing your soldiers.
Occasionally you will simply get lucky -- conventional weapons can deal a small amount of stun along with a lot of conventional damage, and aliens may go unconscious due to smoke inhalation.
Be sure to build an Alien Containment at the beginning of the game, and don't attempt to capture any aliens alive until it's built.
Research time
The following is a list of all research topics in the game.
Values taken from RESEARCH.DAT
Sorted alphabetically
Days One Lab Research Project 400 8.0 Alien Alloys 180 3.6 Alien Corpses (each -- 11 different types) 150 3.0 Alien Entertainment 150 3.0 Alien Food 200 4.0 Alien Grenade 300 6.0 Alien Origins 150 3.0 Alien Reproduction* 150 3.0 Alien Surgery 300 6.0 Blaster Bomb 900 18.0 Blaster Launcher 600 12.0 Cydonia or Bust 450 9.0 Elerium-115 150 3.0 Examination Room 330 6.6 Flying Suit 800 16.0 Fusion Defenses 880 17.6 Fusion Missile (Fusion Ball & Launcher) 930 18.6 Grav Shield 460 9.2 Heavy Laser 800 16.0 Heavy Plasma 400 8.0 Heavy Plasma Clip 670 13.4 Hyper-Wave Decoder 420 8.4 Laser Cannon 510 10.2 Laser Defenses 100 2.0 Laser Pistol 300 6.0 Laser Rifle 50 1.0 Laser Weapons 192 3.84 Live Aliens (except Terrorists and Sectoid Commander) (22 types) 190 3.8 Live Sectoid Commander (go figure) 170 3.4 Live Terrorists (4 types -- Reaper, Chryssalid, Silacoid, Celatid) 210 4.2 Medi-Kit 600 12.0 Mind Probe 360 7.2 Mind Shield 180 3.6 Motion Scanner 600 12.0 New Fighter Craft (Firestorm) 700 14.0 New Fighter-Transporter (Lightning) 180 3.6 Personal Armor 660 13.2 Plasma Beam 620 12.4 Plasma Defenses 600 12.0 Plasma Pistol 400 8.0 Plasma Pistol Clip 700 14.0 Plasma Rifle 400 8.0 Plasma Rifle Clip 205 4.1 Power Suit 500 10.0 Psi-Amp 420 8.4 Psi-Lab 550 11.0 Small Launcher 180 3.6 Stun Bomb 500 10.0 The Martian Solution 450 9.0 UFO Construction 450 9.0 UFO Navigation 450 9.0 UFO Power Source 900 18.0 Ultimate Craft (Avenger)
* Alien Reproduction is not ordinarily researchable unless you use an editor to add one your General Stores.
Sorted by days needed
Days One Lab Research Project 50 1.0 Laser Weapons 100 2.0 Laser Pistol 150 3.0 Alien Entertainment 150 3.0 Alien Food 150 3.0 Alien Reproduction 150 3.0 Alien Surgery 150 3.0 Examination Room 170 3.4 Live Terrorists (4 types -- Reaper, Chryssalid, Silacoid, Celatid) 180 3.6 Alien Corpses (each -- 11 different types) 180 3.6 Motion Scanner 180 3.6 Personal Armor 180 3.6 Stun Bomb 190 3.8 Live Sectoid Commander (go figure) 192 3.84 Live Aliens (except Terrorists and Sectoid Commander) (22 types) 200 4.0 Alien Grenade 205 4.1 Power Suit 210 4.2 Medi-Kit 300 6.0 Alien Origins 300 6.0 Blaster Bomb 300 6.0 Laser Rifle 330 6.6 Flying Suit 360 7.2 Mind Shield 400 8.0 Alien Alloys 400 8.0 Heavy Plasma Clip 400 8.0 Plasma Pistol Clip 400 8.0 Plasma Rifle Clip 420 8.4 Laser Cannon 420 8.4 Psi-Lab 450 9.0 Elerium-115 450 9.0 UFO Construction 450 9.0 UFO Navigation 450 9.0 UFO Power Source 460 9.2 Heavy Laser 500 10.0 Psi-Amp 500 10.0 The Martian Solution 510 10.2 Laser Defenses 550 11.0 Small Launcher 600 12.0 Cydonia or Bust 600 12.0 Mind Probe 600 12.0 New Fighter Craft (Firestorm) 600 12.0 Plasma Pistol 620 12.4 Plasma Defenses 660 13.2 Craft Plasma Beam 670 13.4 Hyper-Wave Decoder 700 14.0 New Fighter-Transporter (Lightning) 700 14.0 Plasma Rifle 800 16.0 Fusion Defenses 800 16.0 Heavy Plasma 880 17.6 Fusion Missile (Fusion Ball & Launcher) 900 18.0 Blaster Launcher 900 18.0 Ultimate Craft (Avenger) 930 18.6 Grav Shield
Research time: notes
- One Lab is the number of Days divided by 50. This shows how quickly one lab full of 50 scientists needs to complete the Project, on average. Two labs full of scientists would need half this time on average, etc.
- Projects only complete at midnight, which also means they will take a minimum of one day. Decimals are still shown for the One Lab column, however, so you can project to multiple labs and/or see where time is lost or gained by truncation (read on).
- The numbers shown in the tables are averages. In actuality, projects with an initial status of "Unknown" will take from INT(Average/2) to INT(Average*3/2) days. Example:
The "Laser Weapons" project requires an average of 50 scientist days. If 10 scientists are assigned, 50/10 = an expected average of 5 days. INT(5/2) = a minimum of 2 days, and INT(5*3/2) = a maximum of 7 days. Actual range seen for completion of Laser Weapons: 2 to 7 days.
- Note that integer truncation works in favor of the player. Without integer rounding, the above numbers would've been 2.5 to 7.5 days which, if you had to wait for the next midnight, would've meant 3 to 8 days.
- Integer truncation also works in favor of having more labs - to a point:
- Example: Several projects require 150 research days, which takes 3 days on average with one lab (INT(150/50)). But with two labs, these would only take 1 day on average (INT(150/100)).
- Overall, projects might be completed up to 8% faster, with 1 to 5 labs (see Total Research Time, next section).
- However, as the number of labs grows high, increasingly more projects would have finished in less than one day (scientists are standing around doing nothing). By the time one reaches 6 labs, the integer-truncation effect is counterbalanced (little or no speed gain) by these "wasted" scientists.
- At 8 labs, productivity sinks to 90%. At this point, 32 out of the 46 projects are finished in one day. Productivity falls more and more, with 9+ labs.
- Despite this "much discussion", remember that the actual time is a random roll between the min and max. That is, there won't always be neat, magical breakpoints versus the number of labs in a real game. Still, integer truncation will be working in your favor.
- Testing on the random-roll functionality has only been done on projects with an initial status of "Unknown". Better ratings (Poor to Excellent) cause the project to complete more quickly - possibly very quickly, at the highest ratings, including instant result in the extreme case. However, these other ratings have not been quantified. Furthermore, Unknown seems to be the most common initial status. The upshot is that you get a little lucky sometimes.
- Also keep in mind that you can assign more than one project at a time. You could attempt to pinpoint breakpoints, if you wanted (although it would be haphazard). You could also assign short projects to a fraction of your science crew, if you have a big operation. Use 1.5 times the average time as an important cut-off if you're doing this - no project will last longer than this. But keep truncation in mind, too, and use it in your favor.
Total research time
The total time needed to research all technologies is 21,215 days, plus another 576 to research The Minimum Three, plus another 6,500 or so to add every alien species, ship type, and mission type entry to the UFOPaedia (about 28,300 hours total).
This can be compared against the total time needed for 1 Scientist, 50 Scientists (1 lab), 100 (2 labs), and so on. Numbers were composed by taking the average of the integer-truncated min and max for each project, then summing these together for all projects:
Note: the following figures are based on an earlier (incomplete) list of research topics. The specific numbers are no longer correct, although the "efficiency" figures are likely to be similar.
Scientists
1 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500
Days 20215 391 190 125 94 75 67 58 56 52 49
Months 663 12.82 6.23 4.10 3.08 2.46 2.20 1.89 1.84 1.69 1.61
Efficiency -- +3% +6% +8% +8% +8% +1% +0% -10% -13% -17%
"Months" are considered to be 30.5 days long.
Efficiency shows how much time is gained or lost versus a pure case with absolutely no integer truncation or 1-day minima (see Notes). As can be seen, it is maximal around 3-5 labs, then starts dropping and keeps dropping.
Note that going from 3 labs to 4 only saves you about a month -- which is about how long it takes to set up the lab! In practice, 2-3 labs are quite sufficient to acquire all alien technologies in a reasonable timeframe.
Popular research sequences
To be done: total time needed for Laser Rifle, Avenger, Cydonia, Psi-Amp, etc.