📜 Technology
The city technology tree, research slots and Twin Lecterns, research time and speed, city defense, and notable technologies including Allied Quarters, Frugal Construction and death reduction.
Technologies unlock new buildings and permanently strengthen everything from production to combat. Research spends science points. You can find out how science is produced on the Economy page.
Structure of the tree
There are two trees on the Technology screen:
- Economy: Production, population, taxes, construction, gathering, carrying and colonies.
- Army: Unlocking military buildings, attack and defense, unit ranks, march capacity and healthcare.
Every technology has prerequisites. The tree progresses like a diamond chain: a single node splits into three branches, and the three branches merge back into a single node. To unlock the next "merge" technology, you usually need all three technologies of the previous layer.
Most technologies have several levels. Each level is more expensive and takes longer than the one before.
Research slots
- At first, only one research at a time can run across the whole kingdom.
- The Twin Lecterns technology (single level) opens a second research slot: you can now research two technologies at the same time. The same technology cannot be researched in both slots at once.
- The technology tree is shared across all your cities. A technology you research in one city applies to all of them. The slots are shared too: a slot that is busy in one city is busy in the other cities as well.
- Science points are also kept in a single pool for all cities.
- Research continues in real time while you are offline.
- When two researches are running and you use a research speedup or the bonus pool, it is applied to the research that will finish soonest. Guild help, on the other hand, goes to the research it was requested for.
Research bonus pool
When your research slot is empty, every 5 seconds add 1 second of bonus to the pool (cap 15 minutes, up to 8 hours with technologies). You can spend the stored time on any research you like. This pool is shared across all your cities.
Research time
The higher a technology's level, the longer the research takes. Approximate times without bonuses:
| Level | Time |
|---|---|
| 1 | 5 minutes |
| 10 | 1 hour |
| 20 | 5 hours |
| 30 | 12 hours |
| 40 | 1 day |
| 60 | 3 days |
Technologies deeper in the tree take longer at the same level: each layer adds 15% to the base time (the deepest technologies in the tree take about 3.5–4.3 times as long). That is why speed bonuses and speedups become even more important as you progress.
Research speed
Everything that shortens research time adds up:
Time = base time ÷ (1 + technology and hero bonuses + building contribution)
The building contribution comes from all your cities:
- Each Library building: +0.5%
- Each level of the Academy: +1%
Example: If each of your three cities has one Library and a Lv10 Academy, the building contribution is 3 × (0.5 + 10) = +31.5%.
Other sources of speed:
- The Scholarship technology: +2% research speed per level
- VIP (from VIP 4), the "Research Speed" global bonus and hero skills
- Ad boost: rises from ×1.05 to ×1.5 the more you watch
- Technology or General speedup items
The time is locked in when the research starts. Bonuses you gain later do not shorten a running research, but a speedup item always works.
Key economy technologies
| Technology | Effect |
|---|---|
| Masonry / Ironworking / Writing | Unlock the Quarry, Mine and Academy |
| Architecture, Tall Buildings | Housing capacity +3% per level |
| Rationing | Reduces your population's food needs |
| Taxation, Coinage, Trade Routes | Tax income +4% / +6% / +4% |
| Guilds | Reduces worker wages |
| Urban Planning | +1 building plot per level |
| Gathering Tools, Scouting Expeditions | Gathering speed increases |
| Exploration | Gathering field capacity +10% per level |
| Colonization | Each level gives the right to found a new city (up to 5) |
| Workers' Guild | Worker capacity of all buildings +5% per level |
| Civil Engineering | Construction speed +5% per level |
| Post Riders | Expedition and march speed +4% per level |
| Frugal Construction | Building, castle, wall and tower costs −1% per level (up to 20 levels, Lv20 ≈ −18%) |
| Manufacturing, Division of Labor | All production increases |
| Site Ledger, Grand Archive | Cap of the idle bonus pool +10 min per level |
| Caravan Trains | Army carry capacity +4% per level |
| Settler Caravans, Campaign Provisions | Reduce travel losses and food needs when moving population between cities |
| Twin Lecterns | Second research slot (single level) |
Unit-specific carry technologies
One branch of the economy tree increases the carry (gathering) capacity of each unit type separately. Each level gives +5% for the matching unit (up to 30 levels):
- Swordsman Saddlebags, Spearman Saddlebags, Archer Saddlebags
- Pack Horses (cavalry)
- Supply Wagons (siege), Knight's Coffers (paladin), Dragon Cages (dragon)
At the end of this branch, after Supply Wagons, Knight's Coffers and Dragon Cages, comes Twin Lecterns (second research slot).
💡 Tip: Invest in the carry technology of whichever unit you send to gather. Siege weapons carry the most.
Key army technologies
| Technology | Effect |
|---|---|
| Art of War | Unlocks the Barracks and Spear Hall, attack +2%/lv |
| Archery, Horsemanship, Siegecraft, Chivalry, Dragonlore | Unlock the Archery Range, Stable, Siege Workshop, Paladin Hall and Dragon Lair respectively |
| Mobilization | Troop training speed |
| Conscription | Cap on troops trained at once +10% per level |
| Quartermaster, Military Budget, War Economy | Reduce your army's food and gold upkeep |
| Steel Body | Health of all units +10% per level |
| Expedition Camp | The number of armies you can send at once rises from 1 to 6 |
| Combined Command | The number of armies usable in a combined attack rises from 2 to 6 |
| Campaign Resolve, Campaign Zeal | Maximum energy (+3/lv) and energy regeneration speed (+5%/lv) |
| Field Hospital, Field Repair Shop | Hospital and repair shop capacity +8% per level |
| Triage Tents | The share of troops killed when attacking drops by 1% per level (up to 25 levels) |
| Battle Surgeons | Troops killed when attacking drop by 0.5% per level; those who do not die are wounded (up to 20 levels) |
| Plunderers | Camp and expedition loot increases |
| Tower Guards, Castle Garrison | Tower archer and garrison capacity increases |
| Espionage | Unlocks the Spy Den, espionage score +5%/lv |
| Fortune | Higher chance of top-tier rewards from Inn chests |
| Paladin Rank, Dragon Rank | Paladin and dragon attack/defense +4%, health +5% (per level) |
March capacity: Drill and War College
The number of troops a hero can take on a march (command capacity) is calculated roughly like this:
(hero level × 100 + contribution of military buildings) × city technology multiplier × guild technology multiplier
- Drill and War College give +5% per level. The two add up to form the city multiplier.
- The guild technology Veterans also gives +5% per level. This multiplier is multiplied with the city multiplier, not added.
Example: With a base capacity of 1,000, +50% from city technologies and +70% from the guild, capacity is 1,000 × 1.5 × 1.7 = 2,550 troops.
United Banner (rally capacity)
The United Banner technology increases the troop limit of guild rallies you start by +5% per level (up to 10 levels). It works together with the Rally Capacity global bonus.
Ranks
The Master Troops technology unlocks the rank technologies. Each unit type has its own rank: Spearman, Archer, Swordsman, Cavalry, Siege, Paladin and Dragon. Each rank level gives that unit:
- Attack +4%
- Defense +4%
- Health +5%
Ranks go up to level 15. Prioritize the rank of the unit that forms the backbone of your army.
City defense technologies
At the end of the Army tree, after Battle Surgeons, comes a block that strengthens your city's walls and towers. These technologies decide how long your walls and towers hold out in a city battle (see How Combat Works).
| Technology | Effect | Max |
|---|---|---|
| 🧱 Stone Walling | Wall health +5% per level (Lv30 → +150%) | 30 levels |
| 🗼 Tower Fortification | Archer tower health +5% per level (Lv30 → +150%) | 30 levels |
| 📐 Wall Engineers | Wall and tower health +3% per level | 30 levels |
| 🌊 Moat | Damage to walls and towers −2% per level (at most −75% in total) | 30 levels |
| ⚒️ Stonemasons | Faster repair of wall and tower damage: 24 hours ÷ (1 + level × 10%) — at least 6 hours | 30 levels |
Order: Battle Surgeons → {Stone Walling, Tower Fortification} → Wall Engineers → {Moat, Stonemasons} → Allied Quarters.
⛺ Allied Quarters (up to 10 levels) increases the reinforcement capacity of the Guild Camp by ×1.1 per level (compounding; Lv10 → ×2.59). The Allied Camps technology in the guild tree adds ×1.1/level in the same way, and the two are multiplied together.
The guild technology tree has a defense block with the same names. Your guild's technologies add up with yours.
Example: A Lv10 wall has 120,000 health. With Stone Walling Lv10 (+50%) and Wall Engineers Lv10 (+30%), wall health becomes 120,000 × 1.8 = 216,000.
💡 Tip: If you get attacked often, prioritize Stonemasons. At Lv10 the repair drops to 12 hours, and at Lv30 to 6 hours; your walls go into the next attack in better shape.
Death reduction
Battle Surgeons and Triage Tents turn some of the troops who would die in attacks into wounded. They stack with the guild technology Guild Surgeons, the global bonus Battle Surgery and the hero skill Battle Physician. Details are on the How Combat Works page.