Research
Description
Research costs nothing to do, and can be cancelled at no cost with the Cancel Research button at the top of the screen. However, doing so will waste all the time that has been spent on researching that technology.
Research takes longer the higher up the branch you are. For example, level 2 travel time takes 32 ticks, whereas the first travel time research takes 16. Research times can be modified by building the appropriate Construction (Research Laboratories), by setting 'research' as a priority for Engineers, or by capturing the Golden Research Asteroid (reduces time by 5%).
The research lab bonus is determined by what percentage of your constructions are research labs. The maximum such bonus is 20%.
The tech Waves will reveal what technology your target has.
Available research areas
Travel
Improve the time it takes for your fleets to travel outside of your galaxy
Constructions
Improve your infrastructure so you can have more constructions
Ships
Improve your ship research , so you can have better ships
Scanning
Improve your waves research, so more types of scans are available.
Core Mining
An additional source of income for your planet
Spying Techniques
Improve your covert operations , so more types of operation are available
Cargo transfers
Improve your asteroid mining management systems, so you can handle the mining of more asteroids
Advantages/Disadvantages
Certain races have an advantage / disadvantage when it comes to research, see the Race page for further information.