Research

Information
Research is an action nations can perform in order to unlock or upgrade mechanics or Missiles. Different Superpowers start off with different research progress, but the research tree is the same for all nations (except Superweapons).

Research is almost essential to win but not absolutely necessary under certain Modifiers. Enemy Superpowers are also capable of research, and the game displays a warning when they are researching a particular Superweapon. Time flows in the research menu at the same rate as in the actions menu.

A nation takes 1 minute to complete a research task, but it can be sped up by involving multiple nations. This also prevents loss in research progress when a nation is destroyed. For this reason, expansion is important, as it allows for faster research.

Research Tree
All research in the game is divided into four branches:


 * Efficiency (depicted as a gear);
 * Recon (depicted as an eye);
 * Missile (depicted as three ICBMs);
 * Nation (depicted as a country).

Each branch focuses on specific field, and all of them are relevant in the war scenario. Each has 5 irreversible upgrades, with the sixth being a Superweapon. The Efficiency and Recon branches end in the first Superweapon slot, and the Missile and Nation branches end in the second one.

Efficiency
The Efficiency branch focuses in reducing both missile building and cooldown time.

Recon
The Recon branch focuses in providing information to the player.

Missile
The Missile branch focuses in unlocking and upgrading the weapons the player have.

Nation
The nation branch focuses in expanding your influence across the different nations throughout the world.

Trivia

 * Superior Diplomacy does not reduce the time for diplomatic talks. It instead reduces expansion time.
 * Kazakhstan is the Superpower which starts off with the most technology.
 * South Africa, China, Iran and North Korea start off with no research.
 * Of these Superpowers, Iran and North Korea start off with only one territory.