Research

Research is done in the Academy and its effect is permanent. A building strengthens only the city it stands in; research applies to your whole empire. You can run one research at a time, so the order matters.

The six branches

• Economy: raises resource output and storage efficiency.
• Weapons: raises the attack of all units.
• Armour: raises the defence of all units.
• Logistics: raises army march speed and carrying capacity.
• Espionage: raises spy success rate and resistance to enemy spies.
• Naval: raises ship production speed, naval combat strength and fleet speed.

In what order

Early on, Economy is almost always first. An output increase compounds: a level taken early keeps paying every hour until the world ends.

After the first Economy levels, your playstyle decides.

• Raid-focused: Logistics. Faster armies and bigger hauls mean twice the yield from the same troops.
• Sitting on defence: Armour. Multiplied by the wall bonus, it does more on defence than Weapons.
• Planning offence: Weapons. The difference in losses shows up in siege and conquest waves.
• On the coast: Naval. Without sea power, half the map is closed to you.
• Espionage gives a small but constant benefit in every style and should not be ignored entirely.

Research speed

Research time depends on the Academy level and the world's research speed multiplier. In fast worlds research takes minutes; in slow worlds it can take days. Leaving the Academy idle in a slow world is one of the costliest habits.

Keep the queue busy

There should always be something running in the Academy. Before you log off, start the longest and most expensive research you can afford; it will be waiting for you the next day.