Research
Research Tree
You are given Laser Weapons, Medi-Kits, and Motion Scanners as research topics at the start of the game. Every subsequent research topic stems from a breakthrough in a previous research topic, or new technology picked up on the battlefield and brought back to your stores. You need scientists and laboratories to do research, 100 scientists and 2 laboratories are recommended if you can afford it. Don't forget to build the Alien Containment area!
Research often opens up other research topics, sometimes more than one. Indeed, only three aliens need to be researched to ultimately unlock all technology that matters, that relies on aliens (see A Streamlined Guide).
Alien artifacts from the battlefield cannot be manufactured or used (or even thrown!) by your soldiers until research is completed.
Tip: You can sell off the item from your stores once research has started, if you need the space. The research will continue (unless you cancel the project!). Also, you get the same amount of cash when selling alien items, whether you've researched them or not.
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) *See Note 1 | Plasma Defense
Fusion Weapons
Blaster Launcher Blaster Bomb |___________| | Fusion Ball (Hovertank/Launcher) *See Note 2 | Fusion Ball Defense
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) *See Note 1 (Required for Hovertank/Plasma)
|
New Fighter-Transporter
(Lightning)
__________|____________
| |
Grav Shield Ultimate Craft (Avenger)
Notes
- "New Fighter Craft" required before you can build the Plasma Hovertank.
- Fusion Ball Launcher required before you can build the Launcher Hovertank.
-- from Kasey Chang's USG
Live Alien Research
Researching live aliens gives different results depending on their rank. It is very important to take certain aliens alive to finish the game. Picking your aliens becomes easier with the Mind Probe and Small Launcher, although a well-applied Stun Rod early in the game can give your tech tree a big boost. Note you not only need to have an unconscious alien when you exit the Battlescape, you also need an Alien Containment module at the base your craft returns to, or they'll die before you get any useful info.
- Any Live Alien -> Alien Origins
- Alien Soldier -> Nothing, beyond information on own species
- Alien Medic -> Species information *See note 1
- Alien Navigator -> Alien missions (harvest, base, etc.) and Hyper-Wave Decoder
- Alien Engineer -> UFO Types (they will show you all UFO types, not just their own)
- Alien Leader (or Commander) -> The Martian Solution
- Alien Commander -> Cydonia or Bust *See note 2
Notes
- Alien medics can give information on species other than their own. This is the only way to gain information about "live" Cyberdiscs. Information gained about Etherals (or Sectoids) in this way will not give you access to Psionics, however.
- Commanders can be found in their Battleships, or their bases (or your bases, should they choose to attack). The USG incorrectly states that only a Commander from an alien base can be used to give access to "Cydonia or Bust", however, in practise 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.
Psionics
Psionic Alien | Psi Lab |_______ | | Psi-Amp Mind Shield
Endgame
Any Live Alien | Alien Origins | | Any Live Alien Leader | / The Martian Solution | | Any Live Alien Commander | / Cydonia or Bust | | Avenger | / Cydonia (mission)
-- from Kasey Chang's USG
Alien Abduction: A Streamlined Guide
You only need three aliens to get the end-game research that will let you complete the game. These are:
- Any random alien, Any Leader or Commander, and finally Any Commander
This is the minimum amount of aliens that you need to capture in order to acquire Cydonia or Bust. In order to kill a few more birds with the same stone, this list can be tailored to allow you to acquire the Hyper-Wave Decoder and Psionics. To get:
- Hyperwave Decoder
- Substitute: Any Navigator for: Any random alien
- Psi Lab
- Same as usual, but make sure one of the leader or commanders is a Sectoid or Ethereal. (There are no Ethereal Navigators.)
Thus, to unlock all technology that matters (not counting window-dressing fluff, like Autopsies and UFO and Mission types), you only need to research three aliens:
- Any Navigator, Any Sectoid or Ethereal, Leader or Commander, and finally Any Commander
Research Time
Research project completion time is based on the average number of scientist days needed to work on a project. Below, find listings alphabetically by Project, or by increasing Days. For important Notes, see the text after the table.
Does anyone know the times for UFO type and End Game projects? (Where are these tables from anyway, the OSG?) ---MikeTheRed
Research Time, Alphabetically by Project
Days One Lab Research Project 150 3.0 Alien Abduction 400 8.0 Alien Alloys 150 3.0 Alien Entertainment 150 3.0 Alien Food 200 4.0 Alien Grenade 150 3.0 Alien Reproduction 150 3.0 Alien Surgery 300 6.0 Blaster Bomb 900 18.0 Blaster Launcher 880 17.6 Craft Fusion Ball Launcher 420 8.4 Craft Laser Cannon 660 13.2 Craft Plasma Beam 450 9.0 Elerium-115 330 6.6 Flying Suit 800 16.0 Fusion Defenses 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 510 10.2 Laser Defenses 100 2.0 Laser Pistol 300 6.0 Laser Rifle 50 1.0 Laser Weapons 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 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 250 5.0 Tank/Laser Cannon 450 9.0 UFO Construction 450 9.0 UFO Navigation 450 9.0 UFO Power Source 900 18.0 Ultimate Craft (Avenger)
Research Time, by Days Needed
Days One Lab Research Project 50 1.0 Laser Weapons 100 2.0 Laser Pistol 150 3.0 Alien Food 150 3.0 Alien Reproduction 150 3.0 Alien Entertainment 150 3.0 Alien Surgery 150 3.0 Alien Abduction 180 3.6 Motion Scanner 180 3.6 Personal Armor 180 3.6 Stun Bomb 200 4.0 Alien Grenade 205 4.1 Power Suit 210 4.2 Medi-Kit 250 5.0 Tank/Laser Cannon 300 6.0 Laser Rifle 300 6.0 Blaster Bomb 330 6.6 Flying Suit 360 7.2 Mind Shield 400 8.0 Heavy Plasma Clip 400 8.0 Plasma Rifle Clip 400 8.0 Plasma Pistol Clip 400 8.0 Alien Alloys 420 8.4 Craft Laser Cannon 420 8.4 Psi-Lab 450 9.0 Elerium-115 450 9.0 UFO Power Source 450 9.0 UFO Navigation 450 9.0 UFO Construction 460 9.2 Heavy Laser 500 10.0 Psi-Amp 510 10.2 Laser Defenses 550 11.0 Small Launcher 600 12.0 Plasma Pistol 600 12.0 Mind Probe 600 12.0 New Fighter Craft (Firestorm) 620 12.4 Plasma Defenses 660 13.2 Craft Plasma Beam 670 13.4 Hyper-Wave Decoder 700 14.0 Plasma Rifle 700 14.0 New Fighter-Transporter (Lightning) 800 16.0 Heavy Plasma 800 16.0 Fusion Defenses 880 17.6 Craft 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 for all 46 research projects is 20,215 days. This can be compared against the total time needed for 1 scientist, 50 (1 lab), 100 (2 labs), etc. Numbers were composed by taking the average of the integer-truncated min and max for each project, then summing these together for all 46 projects:
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 e.g. 3 labs to 4 only saves you about a month - which is about how long it takes to set up the lab! Additional labs result in increasingly less game time saved.