Corporate R&D & Tech Trees
Corporations invest in research through two linked systems: a Tech tab with decade-gated tech trees, and a background R&D Score that still drives periodic innovation breakthroughs. Both spend from the same daily R&D budget and share the overhead cap.
Tech trees overview#
Every corporation has a Tech tab listing research nodes organized by decade tier. The world's current calendar year (derived from the active era preset plus elapsed game years) determines which decades are researchable: earlier decades are hidden, and future decades appear locked until the clock reaches them.
Each decade forks into two lanes:
| Lane | Scope | Contents |
|---|---|---|
| Corporate | Shared across all sector types | Business functions: automation, analytics, marketing, logistics, etc. |
| Sector | Unique to your corporation's primary type | Specialist methods for energy, manufacturing, technology, extraction, and so on |
You commit to one lane per decade on first unlock. The other lane locks until you abandon that decade's progress (forfeiting lane-specific nodes).
Completing either lane opens a final specialization tier for that decade:
| Specialization | Focus |
|---|---|
| Scale | Lower input, wage, and expansion costs |
| Premium | Higher realized prices and stronger brand effects |
| Resilience | Protection from dominance penalties and tariffs, plus cheaper expansion |
You may complete exactly one specialization per decade. Choosing one locks the other two. Switching requires abandoning that decade and giving up its lane-specific and specialization progress. Specializations cost twice the decade's base research cost, and their capstones cost three times the base cost.
Unlocking nodes#
Each node has a dual cost:
- R&D Score: spent from the corporation's accumulated score (see below).
- Cash: a fraction of daily gross revenue (varies by node; heavier nodes cost more).
Additional gates:
- Decade reached: the world clock must have entered the node's decade.
- Prerequisites: earlier slots in the same lane must be owned.
- Method unlocks: some sector nodes unlock new operating strategies that stay locked until researched.
Unlocks are atomic: insufficient R&D or cash rejects the purchase, and lane commitment is enforced so you cannot buy both Corporate and Sector tracks in the same decade without abandoning first.
Node effects#
Tech nodes grant persistent bonuses, including:
- Profit margin bumps
- Marketing or logistics strength grants
- Growth cost reductions
- Input-cost, wage, output, and realized-price changes
- Protection from tariff and dominance penalties
- Strategy unlocks: gates advanced operating strategies behind research
Effects stack with normal sector modifiers and apply for the life of the corporation (until a reset removes the corp).
R&D score and daily budget#
Set a daily R&D budget from the CEO Budget tab. Each turn:
baseGain = 1.0 (if any R&D budget is set)
scaledGain = 0.65 × ln(1 + budget / 100,000)
decay = 3% of current score
newScore = max(0, (1 − 0.03) × oldScore + (baseGain + scaledGain) × diminishing(oldScore))
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Starting score | 0 |
| Decay per turn | 3% of current score |
| Diminishing returns above | Score 100 |
R&D spending counts toward the 150% overhead cap alongside marketing, logistics, and CEO salary.
Tech-tree unlocks spend down the score immediately; the budget keeps refilling it for the next node.
Innovation breakthroughs (legacy loop)#
Every 6 turns, the game rolls for a breakthrough independent of tech-tree purchases:
probability = min(1, rdScore / 200)
| R&D Score | Chance per 6-turn window |
|---|---|
| 100 | 50% |
| 200 | 100% |
On success, one random sector receives a revenue boost (2-10% for regular corps, 1-10% for extraction). Extraction corps also gain permanent state resource capacity. Breakthroughs notify the CEO in-game.
Tech trees and breakthroughs complement each other: trees give targeted permanent power, and breakthroughs add random sector growth on top.
Strategic notes#
- Lane and specialization choices matter: Corporate lane bonuses help every sector; Sector lane unlocks methods and margins specific to your industry; the final specialization decides whether that decade favors scale, premium output, or resilience.
- Decade timing: a 2019-start world only researches the final tiers; a 1979-start world walks the full tree over decades.
- Cash + score planning: nodes near the top of a decade cost more R&D and a larger cash slice of daily revenue; fund R&D before a unlock push.
- NPP corporations: autonomous CEOs (NPP autonomy v1+) can unlock affordable nodes when the feature is enabled.
Related#
- Corporations: CEO tools, operating strategies, overhead cap
- Commodities: Price realization and margin modifiers
- Corporate Bonds: Financing R&D-heavy expansion