Mechanics

Research and the tech tree

Research does not run on a resource or a queue: it runs on Science Points. Points build up every turn on their own; the moment you have enough, you pick a node from the tree and the node becomes yours immediately. Research takes up no slot in any city's queue, does not compete with units and buildings for production, and is not in the city panel either — the node belongs to the player, not to a city.

How Science Points build up

Science Points are a point score, not a resource: they do not count as an income item like food, production and gold, and they are not tied to event-card rewards or to ruin rewards. They are added at the same time as income, at the start of every turn, and consist of three parts:

• Base — 0.5 points every turn, regardless of what you own.
• Cities — 0.2 points for every city not in revolt.
• Madrasa — 0.8 points for every Madrasa in a city not in revolt. A city builds one of each building; so the Madrasa share equals the number of cities that have a Madrasa (and are not in revolt).

The gain is read from the state at the start of the turn: a city you found or a Madrasa you complete during a turn is counted for the first time at the start of the next turn. A city in revolt and the Madrasa inside it do not count (Victory conditions): a city you took over through a capital's fall produces no science until the revolt ends.

Points belong to you, not to a city. Losing a city does not take your points away, and taking a city does not bring points; it only changes the gain of later turns. Points cannot be bought with gold, and research cannot be rushed with gold.

You see your balance and your gain per turn in the Science indicator in the header; tapping it opens the breakdown of the gain into base / cities / Madrasa. The indicator is the very total the engine will apply at the start of the turn.

Where to buy it

The Research button among the panel buttons opens the tree. When you press a node and your points are enough, the node is bought immediately; there is no separate confirmation or target-city choice. If your points are not enough, the node stays inactive and shows "in N turns" underneath: it is the shortfall divided by the gain per turn and rounded up, so it tells you how many turn starts it takes to afford it if your gain stays constant. Every cell also shows its state: Known, Available, Needs previous tier, Doctrine taken elsewhere or Mastery closed.

Buying is not automatic: you decide when and on which node to spend your points. So that you do not forget, on every turn in which your points are enough for at least one research, pressing "End turn" adds the line "Your science points are enough for a research" to the box; pressing the line opens the panel, and skip silences that line for this turn only (The turn cycle). The line counts Wisdom too.

The shape of the tree

The tree is made up of branches and the tiers of each branch:

• Doctrine branches: harp, muhafaza, imar. On top of these there is a doctrine-free common branch: iskan.
• Tier 4 is each doctrine branch's doctrine node, and it is exclusive — you can pick the doctrine of only one doctrine branch, and the moment you do, the others lock.
• Tier 5 is the mastery node, and it unlocks only in the branch of the doctrine you chose; you can never reach the mastery of the other doctrine branches.
• The iskan branch has no doctrine and no mastery: all of its tiers are open to everyone whatever your doctrine, and none of them binds your doctrine choice.
• Tiers open in order: researching a node requires already knowing the previous tier on the same branch.

The branch × tier nodes are called grid nodes, and all of them together the grid; the repeatable node stands outside it. Every node in the grid carries content — none is an empty tier. imar's nodes: Scholarship, Commerce, Endowment, Order (doctrine), Law (mastery). muhafaza's nodes: Banners, Healing, Fieldworks, The Hearth (doctrine), Household Troops (mastery — reached only by a player who chooses ocak). harp's nodes: Archery, Cavalry, Gunnery, Ghaza (doctrine), Mobilization (mastery — reached only by a player who chooses gaza). iskan's nodes: Agriculture, Exploration, Mining, Land Title, Prosperity (unlocks the Observatory) — doctrine-free, open to everyone.

The research screen

On the web version, the tree is drawn as a horizontal roadmap in a full-screen layer opened with the Research button among the panel buttons (or with the "Your science points are enough for a research" line in the end-of-turn box). The layer is not a separate page: the game stays where it is, and the Close button or Esc takes you back to the board.

• Each branch is a row: the branch's image and name sit on the left.
• Each tier is a column: the T1, T2 … headers at the top count the tiers from left to right.
• The connector line shows the prerequisite. The line entering a node from the left on the same branch tells the state of its prerequisite: a solid line means the prerequisite is known, a dashed line means it is still pending, and a dotted line means the node is closed by the doctrine or mastery rule. The legend strip at the top of the screen names these three states ("Prerequisite met", "Prerequisite pending", "Closed"). The first tier has no prerequisite, so no line enters it from the left.
• The doctrine zone shows the single choice. Above the doctrine and mastery tiers sits a "Doctrine zone · only one" strip; the zone encloses these tiers of the doctrine branches. Doctrine and mastery nodes have a double border. The tiers of the doctrine-free common branch (iskan) stay outside the zone and the double border.
• Each node states its own status. Under the node's name it reads "Known", "Available", "Needs previous tier", "Doctrine taken elsewhere" or "Mastery closed"; besides colour, the status relies on the border pattern and the text. A node you can buy shows "Research — N points", and a node your points do not cover shows "in N turns"; the units and buildings the node unlocks are listed as well. Only pressing an available node does the research.
• The top has status lines: your science point balance and per-turn gain, the doctrine you chose ("No doctrine chosen yet" or "Doctrine: …") and a short note on the doctrine rule.
• The repeatable node is outside the map: Wisdom stands apart below the map, with its own button.
• On a narrow screen the map scrolls horizontally inside its own container; the page does not scroll, and the branch name stays fixed on the left while you scroll.

The mobile app does not have this roadmap: its research panel keeps the earlier layout, with branches as columns and tiers as rows. The tree's rules, costs and constraints are the same on both platforms.

The info icon

On the web version, a small "i" icon sits in the corner of every tree node (and of the repeatable node). The icon is separate from the button: pressing it does not do the research.

• On hover or keyboard focus a short summary of the node opens: its name, effects, the units and buildings it unlocks, and its requirement. The requirement is the prerequisite node; a doctrine node also has a rule line saying it can be taken in only one of the doctrine branches, and on a mastery node the prerequisite line points to the doctrine of the same branch. Esc closes the open summary (not the panel).
• On click (a tap on touch screens) the in-game guide opens on that node's page. The guide opens in place of the screen, not inside it; when you close it you return to the Research screen.
• The numbers in the summary are read from the same place as the numbers in the guide, the game's balance data.

The same icon is also on the unit and building cards in the city panel (The production queue).

The repeatable node

There is one more node outside the grid (on screen it stands apart below the map): Wisdom. It has no branch, no tier and no prerequisite; at any point in the match, it can be bought whenever your points allow, and bought again and again. The first purchase costs 17 points, and the cost rises by 10 points after each completion; each completion grants a one-time 10 gold. It does not count toward your known nodes, and the cost brake below does not apply to it — its own increase takes the brake's place. It is the outlet for the points of a player who has finished the tree.

Cost

The cost is paid in science points. A grid node's price is its own base plus the number of known grid nodes × the brake; the base is written in each node's spec (the Cost line). The brake is 0.5 points: every grid node you know makes the next one you open that much more expensive. The brake is a small tax on a player who widens across the tree; the tree's shape (doctrine exclusivity) already limits how much of it you can open.

Because research is bought instantly, the price is read at the moment of purchase: the price of a waiting item cannot change, because there is no waiting item. The price you see in the panel is the price you will pay the moment you say "Research".

Constraints

• The same node cannot be researched twice. The one exception is Wisdom: it exists to be repeated.
• The prerequisite is measured against a known node: to buy a node you must know the previous one on the same branch.
• The doctrine is a one-time choice: once you know a doctrine node, a second branch's doctrine cannot be bought.
• Mastery unlocks only in the branch of the chosen doctrine; the other branches' mastery stays locked forever.
• If your points are not enough, the purchase is rejected ("Not enough science points for this research"); points never go negative, and there is no partial payment.

Conquest and research

A known node stays with the player, it does not travel with the city: it is the city that changes hands, not the tree itself. Because research does not run in a city queue, capturing or losing a city does not destroy a half-finished research either; the only thing that changes is your gain in the following turns (the city share and the Madrasa inside it).

Visibility

You see your own tree and your science points in full. Of a rival you see only their doctrine: a "Doctrine: …" badge sits next to their name on the score strip. The badge appears the moment the rival has bought the doctrine node; if they have not chosen one, you see nothing at all. The rest of their research and their point balance stay a secret.

One limit only: a node that affects a fight becomes visible in that fight. A rival knowing Fieldworks shows up as a line in the preview and outcome of their fortified defense, and knowing The Hearth shows up as their infantry's discipline line — the node itself stays hidden unless it is their doctrine, but that does not extend to its share of that fight. The preview is the engine's own calculation (Combat) and no number that enters it is hidden from the screen.

The numbers on this page are read from the game’s balance tables.