Technology

Version

This article may contain outdated information that is inaccurate for the current version of the game. It was last updated for 2.2.

This article is for the PC version of Stellaris only.

Technology

Technology

Engineering research

Physics research

Society research

Technology in Stellaris is divided into 3 research areas with each area corresponding with one of the research resources: Engineering, Physics and Society. Additionally, each of the ~300 techs belongs to one of 12 subcategories divided between the areas (most appearing pre-dominantly in one area though not exclusively).

The user interaction aspect utilizes a card shuffle approach rather than a traditional tech tree presentation, thereby introducing an element of semi-randomness into the system.

Research areas & fields

Technology interface. Every slot here can have one research project active at a time and every research area has its own slot.

There are three different main research areas in-game, with each area corresponding with one of the research resources. Additionally, each research area has multiple subcategories, for a total of 12 such subcategories, and every tech belongs to one of these subcategories.

The areas and their subcategories are as follows:

Engineering research

• Industry: Mineral production and storage, robots, building construction.
• Materials: Armor, strategic resources.
• Propulsion: Kinetic and explosive weapons, thrusters.
• Voidcraft: Ship types and hulls, starbases, strike craft.

Physics research

• Computing: Science Labs, research, science ships, ship computers, point-defense, sensors.
• Field Manipulation: Power Plants, shields, some strategic resources.
• Particles: Ship reactors, energy weapons, FTL, some strategic resources.

Society research

• Biology: Food production, leader lifespan and policies, species modification, army types, some strategic resources.
• Military Theory: Fleet command limit, naval capacity, army buildings and statistics, claim cost.
• New Worlds: Tile blocker clearance, terraforming, starbase capacity, administrative capacity.
• Statecraft: Unity, edicts, leader pool and recruitment, planetary and empire capitals.
• Psionics: Exotic mid- to late- game technologies. Unlocked through the Psionic Theory technology.

The card system

The "card" system. Every time a research project is to be initiated, the game will draw a hand of cards like this one from which the player then can pick one technology to research.

Although the underlying technology system is based on the familiar tech tree structure, it does away with its standard interaction/presentation in favor of the card shuffle approach. This injects a semi-random element into research, making it somewhat less predictable as well as more non-linear.

Whenever the player is prompted to initiate a research project, the game gives them a "hand of cards" consisting of a semi-random selection of technologies available for research which are picked randomly from a hidden "deck of cards" consisting of all valid research options that can appear.

Every time the player meets the requirements for a given technology to become obtainable, the technology in question is added into the main "card deck" and will then have a chance of appearing in the "card hand" whenever the game draws a new hand for the player to pick from. There are two basic parameters affecting a tech's chances of appearing in a given card hand:

• Tiers - Technologies are divided into 6 levels (T0 to T5) of advancement. Higher tier technologies require obtaining a certain number of technologies from the preceding tier in the same area of research (set at 6 for all tiers) before they become available as research alternatives.

• Weight - A base value denoting the relative chance (out of all the valid options) of a particular technology to be drawn as an alternative. This may be further modified by an empire's composition (ethics, civics, and etc.) and its current state (scientist's traits, past tech, and etc.).

To further increase variation, a tech which appeared as an alternative in the previous card hand will have its weight set to 0 in the next prompt.

The range of costs for technologies in each tier is as follows:

Tier	Cost	Weight
1	2000 - 3000	90 - 100
2	4000 - 6000	70 - 85
3	8000 - 12000	50 - 65
4	16000 - 24000	35 - 45
5	32000 - 48000	20 - 30
repeatables	50000+	12.5

As a general rule of thumb, the more advanced a technology is, the lower its weight (and the higher its cost).

Example

Let's assume the game draws a card hand of 3 techs: Armored Torpedoes, Autocannons, and Orillium Extraction. Additionally, the lead engineering scientist has a Propulsion field expertise and the previous card hand had Autocannons as an available option.

${\text{Total weight}}={\text{Armored Torpedoes weight}}\,+\,{\text{Autocannons weight}}\,+\,{\text{Orillium Extraction weight}}$

${\text{Total weight}}=70\cdot 1.25\,+\,{\frac {75}{2}}\,+\,180=87.5+\,37.5+\,180=305$

If a tech were to be picked at random, then each tech's chances of being drawn would be 28.7%, 12.3%, and 59% respectively.

Note: Tiers, weights, and what modifiers affecting it are hidden parameters. That being said, an expertise in a tech's field is likely to increase its weight (and therefore appearance).

Research alternatives

Each card hand drawn will contain 3 research alternatives. This may, however, be further increased by 1 for each of the following:

• Scientific Revolution unity ambition
• Natural Neural Network civic
• Static Research Analysis civic
• Self-Evolving Logic technology
• Science Division / Mindlink / Research Path Optimization discovery tradition

Additionally, some research cards may be gained as permanent alternatives. They appear below the regular alternatives and are distinguished from them by a golden border surrounding the tech card's bezel. These alternatives are usually acquired (along with some partial progress) through post-battle debris analysis, from special projects or event chains. These options will always appear as available options when drawing a new card hand and will remain as such until completed.

If need be, it is possible to change an on-going research project at any point - without incurring penalties - in order to continue researching it at a later time. It is important to note, however, that the saved progress does not scale with changes occurring to technology costs (for better or for worse). This tends to lead to the tech's completion percentage getting lower as the empire continues to expand.

As opposed to a permanent alternative, there is no guarantee that the technology in question will appear in the next card hand drawn.

Research output

Each research area employs the use of a different research resource.

Each of these individual resources has a base production of 5 research points a month. This can be further increased by pops working the appropriate Jobs or research stations on the galactic map.

The research production may then be modified by the following:

	Population	Governance	Planet	Technology
+25%	"Pleased" modifier	"Precursor Data Cache" modifier	—	—
+20%	Erudite Synthetic	—	Research Assistance (improved) Magnetic Miracle Spirit of Science	—
+15%	—	"Curator Insight" modifier	—	—
+10%	Intelligent Logic engines Psionic Living standards – Academic privilege	Analytical Intellectual	Research Assistance Uncertain History Observatory	—
+5%	Latent psionic	—	—	—
–10%	Labor Camps Ghost Signal	"AIs Patched" modifier	—	—
–20%	AI – Servitude "Stellar Culture Shock (early space age)" modifier "War Protester" modifier "Withdrawal Symptoms" modifier	—	—	—
–25%	Serviles "Enraged" modifier Ghost Signal (2) Ghost Signal (machine 4)	—	—	—
–40%	Droid AI – Outlawed Ghost Signal (3) Ghost Signal (machine 5) "Stellar Culture Shock (atomic age)" modifier	—	—	—
–50%	Battle Thralls	—	—	—
–55%	Ghost Signal (4)	—	—	—
–60%	Living standards – Chemical Bliss "Stellar Culture Shock (machine age)" modifier	—	—	—
–70%	Ghost Signal (5)	—	—	—
–75%	Nerve Stapled Chattel Slavery Domestic Servitude	—	—	—
–80%	Robot "Stellar Culture Shock (industrial age)" modifier	—	—	—
–100%	"Stellar Culture Shock" modifier	—	—	—

Additionally, each of the resources may also have the following modifiers affecting them (these apply only to a single resource rather than to all of them):

	Population	Governance	Planet	Technology
+20%	—	—	Unstable Tectonics	—
+15%	Natural Engineers	—	—	—
–30%	—	"Subterranean Tech Provision" modifier	—	—

	Population	Governance	Planet	Technology
+20%	—	Dark Matter	Wild Storms	—
+15%	Natural Physicists	—	—	—
+10%	—	"Prismatic Lenses" modifier	—	—
+5%	—	—	Strong Magnetic Field	—

	Population	Governance	Planet	Technology
+25%	—	—	Odd Animal Life Titanic Life	—
+20%	—	"Pharmaceutical Innovation" modifier	Hostile Fauna	—
+15%	Natural Sociologists	—	—	—
+10%	—	"Well Rested Scientists" modifier	Atmospheric Hallucinogen Filtered Atmospheric Hallucinogen Subterranean Civilization	—
–10%	—	"Loss of Personnel" modifier	AI Failure	—
–20%	—	—	Unproductive Without Experiments	—

Stored research

Research output which is not being used for research at the time is being accumulated as stored research. Alternatively, it may also include research resources gained from other avenues such as debris analysis, anomalies, events, and etc.

This method allows for a more "relaxed" research by eliminating the loss of research points due to forgetting to pick a research project while, at the same time, also simulating accelerated periods of research (as opposed to sudden "jumps") caused by newfound knowledge sources. The current storage levels can be seen by hovering over the appropriate resources.

The expenditure rate of stored research can be expressed as follows:

${\text{Stored research expenditure length}}={\frac {\text{Research resource stored}}{\text{Research resource produced}}}$

Example

An empire produces +24 Engineering research a month and has just finished debris analysis granting it +1000 Engineering research (stored research).

${\text{Stored research expenditure length}}={\frac {\text{1000}}{\text{24}}}=\,{\text{41.67 months}}$

The empire will supplement its Engineering research by an additional +24 research points for the first 41 months and by another +16 research points in the following month, after which the Engineering stored research bank will completely deplete.

Research speed

Research speed represents a given expertise in a particular research area or field leading to shortened research time of related technologies.

Research speed boosts the perceived research production in the following manner:

${\text{Perceived research production}}={\text{Research resource produced}}\,\cdot \,\sum {\text{Research speed modifiers}}$

The most immediate sources of research speed modifiers are the 3 lead scientists. As the applied bonus depends on a scientist's skill level and overall traits, it is recommended to assign newly recruited scientists to command a science ship. Scientists on exploration duty tend to gain experience faster and, if one is in luck, they may also gain a new trait beneficial to research while leveling up.

The following table details the all-encompassing research speed modifiers while the one below lists limited scope modifiers:

	Population	Governance	Planet	Technology
+100%	—	"Covenant: End of the Cycle" modifier	—	—
+20%	—	Chosen One "Boon of the Shroud" modifier	—	—
+15%	—	Curator "Covenant: Whisperers in the Void" modifier "Extra Dimensional Insights" modifier	—	—
+10%	Fanatic Materialist	Scientific Leap Discovery tree completion Technological Ascendancy Psychic Sentient AI Assistant Spark of Genius "Neural Bank" modifier "The Mirror of Knowledge" modifier	—	—
+5%	Materialist	Custom AI Assistant Cyborg Maniacal Synthetic "Computational Overclocking" modifier "The Singularity Processor" modifier	Research Institute Singularity Core	Administrative AI Positronic AI
+3%	—	"The Singularity Processor (hacked)" modifier	—	—
+2%	—	Scientist skill (per level)	—	—
–5%	—	Paranoid	—	—
–20%	—	"Curse of the Shroud" modifier	—	—
–25%	—	No acting lead scientist	—	—
–50%	—	"Energy Shortage" modifier "Mineral Shortage" modifier	—	—

	Limited scope modifiers	Scope
+30%	Domination tree completion (technology sharing with vassals)	Situation specific
+25%	Research agreement (towards unknown tech already researched by the other party)	Situation specific
+20%	Devouring Swarm Introspective Engineering Research Grants Physics Research Grants Society Research Grants	Biology Engineering Engineering Physics Society
+15%	Field expertise traits (one trait per corresponding field)	Field specific
+10%	Improved Energy Initiative Improved Working Environment Master's Teachings: Philosophical Mindset	fields fields Society
+5%	"Spectral Residue Studies" modifier	Physics

Example

An empire is a Materialist and produces +24 Engineering research a month. It has a lead engineering scientist with a Propulsion field expertise while researching Armored Torpedoes.

${\text{Perceived research production}}=24\,\cdot \,(1\,+\,0.05\,+\,0.15)\,=28.8$

Note: A research area without an acting lead scientist receives a penalty to research speed.

Technology cost

As a game progresses, research option choices will begin to include progressively more advanced and correspondingly more expensive technologies.

Each technology has a base cost that applies as long as an empire does not exceed its Administrative Capacity. Once that happens the research cost will be increased by 0.3% for each point of exceeded Administrative Capacity.

This means that while overall an empire's research capabilities will increase with additional planets and systems, it will do so with increasingly diminishing returns for every new addition; Meaning, a larger empire will have to invest more resources than a smaller one to gain the same tech. This allows for empires of a somewhat differing size to keep a "relative" technological parity.

Research progress

In general, research time can be summarized as the following formula:

${\text{Research time}}=\sum {\frac {{\text{Research cost}}-\,{\text{Partial research done}}}{\text{Monthly research progress}}}$

Research progress is one of the key elements affecting the time it takes to discover new technologies. It is formulated as follows:

${\text{Monthly research progress}}={\text{Research resource produced}}\,\cdot \,\sum {\text{Research speed modifiers}}\,+\,{\text{min}}[{\text{Research resource stored}},{\text{Research resource produced}}]$

While it is possible for the monthly research progress to remain constant during the course of researching a certain technology, it is more than likely to fluctuate - for better or for worse - due to consequences of various actions (such as exploration, empire development, expansion, etc.). This, in turn, may increase or decrease the total research time of a given tech.

Example

The empire from the previous examples (same setup) has just finished debris analysis granting it +10% research progress in Armored Torpedoes along with +1000 Engineering research (stored research).

This setup will generate the following monthly research progress:

${\text{Monthly research progress}}=24\,\cdot \,(1\,+\,0.05\,+\,0.15)\,+\,{\text{min}}[1000,24]=52.8$

Assuming no further changes will impact the above setup, the total research time of the tech would be:

${\text{Research time}}={\frac {1862\,-\,1862\cdot \,0.1}{52.8}}={\text{31.74 months}}$

Note: Partial research can refer to debris analysis, previous research, event rewards and etc.

References

Game concepts