Research
Research is a decisive factor in the contest of Man versus 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 costs
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.
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.
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.
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 (a psionic Sectoid, which means either a Leader or Commander or any Ethereal) should also be a top priority, as psionics becomes an enormous factor as the game progresses.
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 technologies dependent on alien captives, by altering the list as follows:
- substitute "any random alien" with "any Navigator"
Thus, to unlock all technology that matters, you only need to research:
- Any Navigator, any Sectoid or Ethereal, Leader or Commander, and finally any Commander
Studying any alien (including the above three) can also produce a variety of UFOpaedia entries, such as alien species information, UFO stats, and alien mission types, which also adds to your score. See Researching Aliens for more details.
How to capture live aliens
Capturing the above three aliens, especially early on in the game, can be difficult. However, Mind Probes can 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 -- you will get shot to pieces.
Occasionally you will simply get lucky -- conventional weapons can deal a small amount of stun along with a lot of conventional damage. Aliens may also go unconscious due to smoke inhalation.
Be sure to build an Alien Containment at the beginning of the game, and don't bother to capture any aliens alive until it's built.
Popular research sequences
Research time is given in total Scientist days and average days needed for one Laboratory (50 Scientists). Two Laboratories (100 Scientists) will take approximately half as long. The listed times are averages: actual research times will take between 0.5 and 1.5 times as long (see Research time: notes for more details).
A -> before an entry signifies the total time required to complete that project. For example, Laser Pistol requires Laser Weapons (50 hours) + Laser Pistol (100 hours); ->Laser Pistol is 150 hours.
Laser Pistol
An option which should not be overlooked. Researched extremely quickly, 53% more damaging than than a basic Rifle, one-handed, fastest rate of fire of any weapon (good for scouts), can be manufactured for profit. Good for covering the span before you get Laser Rifles or Plasma weapons.
Laser Weapons 50 1.0 day Laser Pistol 100 2.0 days Total: 150 3.0 days
Laser Rifle
Respectable damage, no ammo required. A good alternative to Heavy Plasma for some of your troops.
->Laser Pistol 150 3.0 days Laser Rifle 300 6.0 days Total: 450 9.0 days or Laser Pistol + 6.0 days
Laser Cannon
A poor Craft weapon, but the most profitable item in the game. Completing this research topic also permits you to build Tank/Laser Cannons, which have a much more powerful weapon than Cannon and Rocket tanks, and are effective against several dangerous units, particularly Sectopods.
->Laser Rifle 450 9.0 days Heavy Laser 460 9.2 days Laser Cannon 420 8.4 days Total: 1330 26.6 days or Laser Rifle + 17.6 days
Small Launcher
Small Launchers make capturing aliens a snap, and have surprisingly broad tactical use. One stun bomb can knock out several weak aliens at once, and unlike explosives, they are safe to use in confined quarters. Furthermore, stun bombs do not damage equipment, making for potentially higher UFO Recovery Values. Stun bombs are also quite effective against 4-space terror units (Reapers, Cyberdiscs, and Sectopods) due to each square taking partial damage from the stun blast.
Small Launcher 550 11.0 days Stun Bomb 180 3.6 days Total: 730 14.6 days
Heavy Plasma
Just about the best weapon in the game. There's a reason why every alien eventually carries one of these.
Heavy Plasma 800 16.0 days Heavy Plasma Clip 400 8.0 days Total: 1200 24.0 days
Plasma Beam
The best Craft weapon, 100% effective against everything except Battleships.
->Heavy Plasma 1200 24.0 days Plasma Beam 660 13.2 days Total: 1860 37.2 days or Heavy Plasma + 13.2 days
Blaster Launcher
When you absolutely, positively, have to kill every alien in the room. Accept no substitute.
Blaster Launcher 900 18.0 days Blaster Bomb 300 6.0 days Total: 1200 24.0 days
Fusion Ball Launcher
Useful against Battleships when using multiple crafts; use Plasma Beam otherwise.
->Blaster Launcher 1200 24.0 days Fusion Ball Launcher 880 17.6 days Total: 2080 41.6 days or Blaster Launcher + 17.6 days
Fusion Ball Defences
The best base defense besides the Mind Shield -- although a proper base layout strategy is probably better still.
->Fusion Ball Launcher 2080 41.6 days Fusion Defence 800 16.0 days Total: 2880 57.6 days or Fusion Ball Launcher + 16.0 days
Personal Armor
Wearing this, you might actually survive a shot or two. But don't press your luck.
Alien Alloys 400 8.0 days Personal Armor 180 3.6 days Total: 580 11.6 days
Power Suit
You might survive a shot or three.
->Personal Armor 580 11.6 days Elerium-115 450 9.0 days UFO Power Source 450 9.0 days Power Suit 205 4.1 days Total: 1685 33.7 days or Personal Armor + 22.1 days
Flying Suit
A shot or three plus much greater visibility and mobility.
->Power Suit 1685 33.7 days UFO Navigation 450 9.0 days Flying Suit 330 6.6 days Total: 2465 49.3 days or Power Suit + 15.6 days
Firestorm
Your first UFO. Unfortunately, a standard Interceptor armed with Plasma Beams can often do just as well. This technology may be most desirable as part of the path to unlock Hovertanks.
Alien Alloys 400 8.0 days Elerium-115 450 9.0 days UFO Power Source 450 9.0 days UFO Navigation 450 9.0 days UFO Construction 450 9.0 days New Fighter Craft 600 12.0 days Total: 2800 56.0 days
However, there is high overlap between UFO technology and armor technology. Commanders will almost always research Power Suits or Flying Suits before embarking on UFO construction:
->Flying Suit 2465 49.3 days UFO Construction 450 9.0 days New Fighter Craft 600 12.0 days Total: 3515 70.3 days or Flying Suit + 21.0 days
Lightning
A craft with unique properties -- but your efforts are best focused on getting an Avenger.
->Firestorm (via Flying Suit) 3515 70.3 days New Fighter-Transporter 700 14.0 days Total: 4215 84.3 days or Firestorm + 14.0 days
Avenger
They don't call it the Ultimate Craft for nothing. Two or three Avengers plus a handful of Interceptors can give you complete air superiority over Terra. It also allows you to bring twice the manpower into battle than you could before. What's not to like?
->Lighting 4215 84.3 days Ultimate Craft 900 18.0 days Total: 5115 102.3 days or Lightning + 18.0 days or Flying Suit + 32.0 days
Grav Shield
Combined with several Fusion Ball Defences, a Grav Shield will make your base impervious to alien invasion. However, a Mind Shield plus a secure base layout is a quite viable alternative. Immediately shooting down scout UFOs on Alien Retaliation missions will also prevent most attacks.
->Lightning 4215 84.3 days Grav Shield 930 18.6 days Total: 5145 102.9 days or Lightning + 18.6 days
Hovertank/Plasma
A popular (and expendable) scout. Immune to Psi attacks, like all tanks. Produceable immediately after the completion of Firestorm and Plasma Beam research topics.
->Firestorm 3515 70.3 days ->Plasma Beam 1860 37.2 days Total: 5375 107.5 days
Hovertank/Launcher
Less popular than the Plasma Hovertank due to the expense of its ammunition, which also does less damage than the man-portable Blaster Launcher. Produceable immediately after the completion of Firestorm and Fusion Ball Launcher research topics.
->Firestorm 3515 70.3 days ->Fusion Ball Launcher 2080 41.6 days Total: 5595 111.9 days
Psionic Laboratory
Once you get psionics, the aliens' days are numbered. It's tricky catching a Sectoid Leader or Ethereal, but the sooner you can, the better. With a psi lab you can separate the wheat from the chaff.
Any live psionic alien 192 3.84 days Psionic Laboratory 420 8.4 days Total: 612 11.24 days
Psi-Amp
Barely useful when Psi Skill is low, but way too useful when it's high. A transport full of Psi soldiers is as scary to the aliens as the Ethereals were at first to you.
->Psionic Laboratory 420 11.24 days Psi-Amp 500 10.0 days Total: 920 21.24 days or Psionic Laboratory + 10.0 days
Mind Shield
With a single Mind Shield at each base, the aliens will keep attempting Alien Retaliation missions, but most of them time, they'll zig-zag around, unable to find your base. Shooting down any Retaliation scout you see in addition will ensure that they almost never mount an attack on your base.
->Psionic Laboratory 420 11.24 days Mind Shield 360 7.2 days Total: 780 18.44 days or Psionic Laboratory + 7.2 days
Hyper-Wave Decoder
One of the most important technologies of the game. Build one at each base you own and you will be able to see just about every alien craft that enters the Earth's atmosphere. Every craft you intercept will please your funding nations, and can be worth millions in salvage value. A Hyper-Wave Decoder is your meal ticket: grab an alien Navigator the first chance you get.
Any live alien Navigator 192 3.86 days Hyper-Wave Decoder 670 13.4 days Total: 862 17.26 days
Cydonia
Your final mission. Win it, and you are a savior; lose it, and humanity dies. You have to perform the research in this particular order, so don't forget to research The Martian Solution before you interrogate your first Commander, or else you'll have to capture another one. The same goes for your first Leader -- but if it's a Sectoid, research it immediately: the Psionic Laboratory is your absolute top priority. Once you get Psi soldiers, you can capture another Leader without much trouble at all.
In addition to completing these research topics, you must have an Avenger built before you can travel to Cydonia. The Avenger can be researched and built at any time, independent of the Cydonia-specific research topics. None of these topics are useful aside from unlocking Cydonia, so you can save most of it until you're ready to complete the game.
Any live alien 192 3.84 days Alien Origins 300 6.0 days Any live Leader 192 3.84 days The Martian Solution 500 10.0 days Any live Commander 192 3.84 days Cydonia or Bust 600 12.0 days Total: 1976 39.52 days plus ->Avenger 5115 102.3 days Total: 7091 141.82 days
Stand-alone technologies
In addition to the above research sequences, there are four useful technologies which have no research "dependencies" and can be studied directly. Medi-kits and Motion Scanners are two of the initially-available research topics (described above). Alien Grenades are a substantial improvement over the standard X-COM grenade, packing almost as much punch as a High Explosive, but far easier to carry and throw. Mind Probes can show alien rank and stats (useful for singling out Leaders and Commanders), although their usefulness is dwarfed by that of the Psi-Amp.
Medi-Kit 210 4.2 days Motion Scanner 180 3.6 days Alien Grenade 200 4.0 days Mind Probe 600 12.0 days
Technical details
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
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.
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 a game 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. Researching an alien will often 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 above).
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 UFOpaedia 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.
Research time
The following is a list of all research topics in the game.
Values taken from RESEARCH.DAT
Sorted alphabetically
| Man Days | One Lab | Research Project |
|---|---|---|
| 400 | 8 | Alien Alloys |
| 180 | 3.6 | Alien Corpses (each -- 11 different types) |
| 150 | 3 | Alien Entertainment |
| 150 | 3 | Alien Food |
| 200 | 4 | Alien Grenade |
| 300 | 6 | Alien Origins |
| 150 | 3 | Alien Reproduction* |
| 150 | 3 | Alien Surgery |
| 300 | 6 | Blaster Bomb |
| 900 | 18 | Blaster Launcher |
| 600 | 12 | Cydonia or Bust |
| 450 | 9 | Elerium-115 |
| 150 | 3 | Examination Room |
| 330 | 6.6 | Flying Suit |
| 800 | 16 | Fusion Defenses |
| 880 | 17.6 | Fusion Missile (Fusion Ball & Launcher) |
| 930 | 18.6 | Grav Shield |
| 460 | 9.2 | Heavy Laser |
| 800 | 16 | Heavy Plasma |
| 400 | 8 | Heavy Plasma Clip |
| 670 | 13.4 | Hyper-Wave Decoder |
| 420 | 8.4 | Laser Cannon |
| 510 | 10.2 | Laser Defenses |
| 100 | 2 | Laser Pistol |
| 300 | 6 | Laser Rifle |
| 50 | 1 | 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 | Mind Probe |
| 360 | 7.2 | Mind Shield |
| 180 | 3.6 | Motion Scanner |
| 600 | 12 | New Fighter Craft (Firestorm) |
| 700 | 14 | New Fighter-Transporter (Lightning) |
| 180 | 3.6 | Personal Armor |
| 660 | 13.2 | Plasma Beam |
| 620 | 12.4 | Plasma Defenses |
| 600 | 12 | Plasma Pistol |
| 400 | 8 | Plasma Pistol Clip |
| 700 | 14 | Plasma Rifle |
| 400 | 8 | Plasma Rifle Clip |
| 205 | 4.1 | Power Suit |
| 500 | 10 | Psi-Amp |
| 420 | 8.4 | Psi-Lab |
| 550 | 11 | Small Launcher |
| 180 | 3.6 | Stun Bomb |
| 500 | 10 | The Martian Solution |
| 450 | 9 | UFO Construction |
| 450 | 9 | UFO Navigation |
| 450 | 9 | UFO Power Source |
| 900 | 18 | Ultimate Craft (Avenger) |
* Alien Reproduction is not ordinarily researchable unless you use an editor to add one your General Stores.
Sorted by days needed
| Man Days | One Lab | Research Project |
|---|---|---|
| 50 | 1 | Laser Weapons |
| 100 | 2 | Laser Pistol |
| 150 | 3 | Alien Entertainment |
| 150 | 3 | Alien Food |
| 150 | 3 | Alien Reproduction |
| 150 | 3 | Alien Surgery |
| 150 | 3 | 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 | Alien Grenade |
| 205 | 4.1 | Power Suit |
| 210 | 4.2 | Medi-Kit |
| 300 | 6 | Alien Origins |
| 300 | 6 | Blaster Bomb |
| 300 | 6 | Laser Rifle |
| 330 | 6.6 | Flying Suit |
| 360 | 7.2 | Mind Shield |
| 400 | 8 | Alien Alloys |
| 400 | 8 | Heavy Plasma Clip |
| 400 | 8 | Plasma Pistol Clip |
| 400 | 8 | Plasma Rifle Clip |
| 420 | 8.4 | Laser Cannon |
| 420 | 8.4 | Psi-Lab |
| 450 | 9 | Elerium-115 |
| 450 | 9 | UFO Construction |
| 450 | 9 | UFO Navigation |
| 450 | 9 | UFO Power Source |
| 460 | 9.2 | Heavy Laser |
| 500 | 10 | Psi-Amp |
| 500 | 10 | The Martian Solution |
| 510 | 10.2 | Laser Defenses |
| 550 | 11 | Small Launcher |
| 600 | 12 | Cydonia or Bust |
| 600 | 12 | Mind Probe |
| 600 | 12 | New Fighter Craft (Firestorm) |
| 600 | 12 | Plasma Pistol |
| 620 | 12.4 | Plasma Defenses |
| 660 | 13.2 | Craft Plasma Beam |
| 670 | 13.4 | Hyper-Wave Decoder |
| 700 | 14 | New Fighter-Transporter (Lightning) |
| 700 | 14 | Plasma Rifle |
| 800 | 16 | Fusion Defenses |
| 800 | 16 | Heavy Plasma |
| 880 | 17.6 | Fusion Missile (Fusion Ball & Launcher) |
| 900 | 18 | Blaster Launcher |
| 900 | 18 | 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 progress and check completion at midnight, so what scientists are doing - whether travelling between bases, on different projects or sitting in the coffee room unassigned - during the entire rest of the day is irrelevant.
- This single check per day also means they will take a minimum of one day, except in special circumstances. 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.
- 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.
Research Progress
The Progress part of the current Research screen will give you an idea of how things are going, but you will have to know how to read the information it is giving you.
Unknown Progress
The first part of understanding the progress report is knowing why a project has an Unknown progress. This happens whenever a project has more than 2/3rds of its average research time left. Examples:
- Laser Weapons average 50 Man Days (MDs), so if you have 34 or more MDs left then it will be listed as Unknown
- Psi Amps average 500 MDs, so if you have 334 or more MDs left then it will be listed as Unknown
Clearly this indicates an immediate fact that can be helpful (especially if you want to do some cheating), that if you create a project and assign even just one scientist to it and don't get Unknown, then you just got a good roll for the time required (more accurately, in the top 16.7% of possible results, or 1 in 6 projects). Let's walk through an example:
- Say a project has an average time of 120 MDs. Thus, it's roll can actually be 60 to 180 MDs.
- If you get the best possible roll - 60 MDs - the project is at 50% relative to the average time of 120 MDs. 50% is greater than a third, so it will not be at Unknown.
- The break-even point for a 120-average-MDs project would be a roll of 80 MDs. At 80, the algorithm thinks, "ok, 80 more MDs are needed; 120-80=40 MDs are gone, which is one third of 120 MDs. So it's not Unknown status any more."
- This range of 60 to 80 MDs is only one-sixth of the possible rolls for a 120 day project (60 to 180 MDs). Thus, you have to get in the top sixth of rolls to not see Unknown.
Known Progress
Okay, so eventually your project gets out of Unknown status due to the industrious sweat of your scientists and the progress of time (or alternately a bit of reloading of saves). Now we get back an actual progress rating of Poor, Average, Good or Excellent, and we need to understand what they mean.
Actual Progress ratings are related again to the average project durations for the item being researched, but this time as we know it is related to the number of scientists on the project. So simply divide the average project research time by the number of scientists and convert to a percentage:
Average ManDays required / Scientists assigned * 100 = Progress Rating
| Named Rating | Progress Rating |
| Excellent | 26+ |
| Good | 14 to <26 |
| Average | 8 to <14 |
| Poor | >0 to <8 |
| None | 0 |
Note the progress rating is equivalent to the percentage progress you would make if you happen to roll exactly average when starting a project, so an average Excellent project will be at most 4 days to complete (26%*4), but you have to factor in the random element - i.e., that you actually have a target of somewhere between 50% and 150%, so the range if you are just inside Excellent is 2-6 days, for example.
So to show against our previous examples, once they are not unknown:
- Laser Weapons have an average project time of 50, so 0 gives None, 1 to 3 gives Poor, 4 to 6 gives Average, 7 to 12 gives Good, and 13 or more gives Excellent
- Psi Amps have an average project time of 500, so 0 gives None, 1 to 39 gives Poor, 40 to 69 gives Average, 70 to 129 gives Good, and 130 or more gives Excellent
Note that the actual time left is not included in this calculation, so once it is out of unknown the progress seen on screen will only change if you change the number of scientists assigned.
We can also deduce the range of maximum times left from the ratings as well, although unknown and poor have too high a range to be meaningful really (although you can divide the values shown by the number of scientists you have assigned, and reduce it proportionality if you have a project shorter than Grav Shield).
| Named Rating | Days Left |
| Excellent | 1 to 3 |
| Good | 1 to 5 |
| Average | 1 to 9 |
| Poor | 1 to 620 |
| Unknown | 1 to 1395 |
| None | Infinite |
Notes: For Unknown 1395 is the worst roll on Grav Shield, and you might only have 1 man doing it, but on the other end for Laser Weapons you could have 34 Man Days left, but easily have that many scientists on it to complete it next midnight. For Poor it covers from a large range like Unknown, but you must have completed 2/3rds of it, so again for the highest average project time Grav Shield we get 930*(2/3), or 620. For long projects like Grav Shield you can be rated poor while having up to 74 scientists assigned due to their average time to complete being so high.
Of course really the only important thing here is that we are not seeing Unknown, at that point you know that you only have 2/3rds or less left, so at that point you can work it out more accurately just by: 66.7%/Progress Rating = Max Days left (round all fractions up). If you just started the project (or have never assigned anyone to it) you also know it is at least 50%, so 50%/Progress Rating = Min Days left at that point.
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.