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.

• Medi-Kit
• Motion Scanner
• Alien Grenade
• Mind Probe

There are also four UFO Components which can be researched but which have no practical value:

• Alien Entertainment
• Alien Food
• Alien Surgery
• Examination Room

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.

Research Tree

UFO:EU Research Tree

Explanations

See Also

Research (TFTD)