Research

Engine research

The basic research for all engines: it does not make any ship faster by itself, but it unlocks the rocket, diffusion and warp engines.

Role

Engine research is purely a requirement. You need level 2 for the Rocket engine, level 6 for the Diffusion engine and level 8 for the Warp engine (plus a Research lab at level 8). Your ships only get faster through their engine research, not through Engine research itself.

You need level 2 right at the start for the Rocket engine and therefore for your first ships. Level 6 becomes interesting with recyclers and starcruisers, level 8 with the big warp ships such as Battleship and Destroyer.

Plan Engine research together with your Research lab: for the Warp engine, both have to reach level 8.

Background

Engine research is used for the further development of engines. The greater the level of engine research, the more efficient the engines will be. There are three types of engines: rocket engines for small ships, diffusion engines for fast ships and warp engines for larger ships.

Levels at a glance

Research labUniverse

Level	Metal	Spice	Research time
1	800	250	1 min 40 s
2	1,600	500	3 min 20 s
3	3,200	1,000	6 min 40 s
4	6,400	2,000	13 min 20 s
5	12,800	4,000	26 min 40 s
6	25,600	8,000	53 min 20 s
7	51,200	16,000	1 h 46 min
8	102,400	32,000	3 h 33 min
9	204,800	64,000	7 h 6 min
10	409,600	128,000	14 h 13 min
11	819,200	256,000	1 d 4 h 26 min
12	1,638,400	512,000	2 d 8 h 53 min
13	3,276,800	1,024,000	4 d 17 h 46 min
14	6,553,600	2,048,000	9 d 11 h 33 min
15	13,107,200	4,096,000	18 d 23 h
16	26,214,400	8,192,000	37 d 22 h
17	52,428,800	16,384,000	75 d 20 h
18	104,857,600	32,768,000	151 d 16 h
19	209,715,200	65,536,000	303 d 9 h
20	419,430,400	131,072,000	606 d 19 h
21	838,860,800	262,144,000	1,213 d 15 h
22	1.68 B	524,288,000	2,427 d 6 h
23	3.36 B	1.05 B	4,854 d 12 h
24	6.71 B	2.10 B	9,709 d
25	13.42 B	4.19 B	19,418 d 1 h
26	26.84 B	8.39 B	38,836 d 3 h
27	53.69 B	16.78 B	77,672 d 7 h
28	107.37 B	33.55 B	155,344 d 14 h
29	214.75 B	67.11 B	310,689 d 4 h
30	429.50 B	134.22 B	621,378 d 8 h
31	858.99 B	268.44 B	1,242,756 d 17 h
32	1.72 T	536.87 B	2,485,513 d 11 h
33	3.44 T	1.07 T	4,971,026 d 23 h
34	6.87 T	2.15 T	9,942,053 d 22 h
35	13.74 T	4.29 T	19,884,107 d 20 h

Values without premium, Synth or specialization bonuses. Set your research lab level and universe above and the research times adjust.

Engine research

Role

Levels at a glance

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