Research

This article contains information relevant to both the C# and VB6 versions of Aurora. Where differences exist, they are noted in the appropriate sections.

Overview

Research is the backbone of every trans‑Newtonian empire. It determines how quickly your civilization advances from basic industrial capability to deep‑space exploration, advanced weaponry, and efficient logistics. Nearly every meaningful improvement in Aurora—faster engines, stronger armor, better sensors, improved mining, advanced terraforming, and more—depends on scientific progress.

A strong research program not only unlocks new technologies but also accelerates your ability to design components, prototype systems, and field competitive fleets. Whether you begin in the Conventional Era or with full Trans‑Newtonian infrastructure, research is the engine that drives long‑term growth, military strength, and strategic flexibility.

This page provides an overview of how research works, how Research Points (RP) are generated, how scientists influence progress, and how new technologies become usable components. It concludes with a step‑by‑step example showing how a simple technology—such as the Ion Drive—moves from theory to a fully deployable ship engine.

Research Points

Each technology requires a specific number of Research Points (RP) to complete. RP are generated by active research projects based on your scientist’s bonus and the number of labs assigned. RP can also be gained through ruins and through the disassembly of alien components.

More advanced technologies require more RP, and therefore more time, unless you improve your RP generation through labs, bonuses, or special modifiers.

Gaining RP with Research Facilities

Assigning more labs increases RP output. Each lab contributes the base RP rate shown at the top of the Research tab. You begin with 20 labs by default (configurable at game start), and additional labs can be built in the Industry tab. Each lab costs 1200 Duranium and 1200 Mercassium.

You can also increase the RP output of each lab by researching “Research Rate ### RP” technologies under Construction/Production. These upgrades significantly accelerate late‑game research, where individual technologies may require hundreds of thousands of RP.

Gaining RP through Researcher Bonuses

Scientists have three important attributes: specialization, bonus percentage, and maximum labs.

The **bonus** increases RP output.
If the project matches the scientist’s **specialization**, the bonus is **quadrupled**.
A scientist’s **max labs** determines how many labs they can effectively manage.

Scientists can improve over time, gaining higher bonuses or increased max labs. You can also change a scientist’s specialization, though this reduces their bonus by 75% until they improve in the new field.

Gaining RP through ruins

Ruins discovered during gravitational surveys may provide a research bonus (10%–100%) for a specific field when research is conducted on that world. This bonus stacks multiplicatively with scientist bonuses. Ruins also provide a smaller empire‑wide bonus equal to one‑tenth of their listed value.

Gaining RP through conquest

Alien ship components recovered from ruins or salvage can be reverse‑engineered at any colony with research facilities. Each component provides 1%–5% of the RP needed for the next tech level in its field.

Researching Technology

File:Research tab.png

Research tab

Research in Aurora is divided into eight major fields. Each field contains multiple technology lines, and each empire begins with different starting levels depending on whether it is a Conventional or Trans‑Newtonian start. Conventional empires begin with almost no space‑age capability, while Trans‑Newtonian empires begin with a broad foundation of early TN technologies.

Researching a technology gives you the theoretical understanding of how something works—such as Ion Engines, Active Sensors, or Gauss Cannons—but does **not** give you a usable component. After researching the theory, you must design and prototype the actual component.

To create a research project, open the Research tab in the Population and Production window F2. Select a project on the left, choose a scientist on the right, and assign labs. Existing projects appear at the top of the window.

You can cancel a project at any time without losing progress; accumulated RP remains until the project is resumed.

You can also queue projects so that a scientist automatically begins the next task when the current one finishes.

ABR	Field	Description
BG	Biology and Genetics	Population growth, terraforming rate, genetic modification, and colonization‑cost biology.
CP	Construction and Production	Industrial capacity, mining efficiency, factory output, shipyard expansion, and economic infrastructure.
DS	Defensive Systems	Armor materials and shield technology that improve ship durability and defensive energy absorption.
EW	Direct Fire Weapons	Lasers, particle beams, mesons, railguns, gauss cannons, and all beam‑weapon improvements.
GC	Ground Combat	Ground unit weapons, armor, mobility, training, and planetary invasion technologies.
LG	Logistics	Fuel efficiency, maintenance systems, engineering modules, jump point stabilization, and long‑range fleet support.
MK	Missiles	Missile engines, warheads, agility, fuel efficiency, and ECCM‑related missile subsystem technologies.
PP	Power and Propulsion	Ship engines, reactors, power plants, thermal efficiency, and technologies determining speed and energy output.
SF	Sensors and Control Systems	Active/passive sensors, fire control systems, tracking speed, detection range, and electronic warfare.

To advance your empire, you must develop new technologies within these fields. Any colony with Research Facilities can conduct research projects, generating Research Points (RP) that unlock new technologies and enable the design of new components.

Each successive level of technology costs more RP than the last. For a complete breakdown, see the individual fields above.

Automatic Research

Introduced in v1.1.0.

Some Tech Systems are now flagged as ‘automatic research’. When a tech system is researched, any other tech system with that tech as a pre-requisite that is also flagged as ‘automatic research’ will be researched immediately.

For v1.10 (so far) this will apply to the three types of Troop Transport Bay. When the standard troop transport bay is researched, the other bay sizes will become available automatically (large, small, very small). The same applies to the standard drop bay and the standard boarding bay.

Researching Projects (Component Prototyping)

Once a theoretical technology is researched, you must design the actual component. This is done in the Class Design or Component Design windows, depending on the item. After designing the component, it appears as a new research project that must be completed before the component becomes usable.

This process represents the prototyping and validation phase. (In SM Mode, this can be skipped using “Instant Tech.”)

Example: Developing the Ion Drive

To illustrate the full process:

Research the “Ion Engine” technology. This provides the scientific understanding but not the engine itself.
Design the engine: choose military or commercial, adjust power vs. fuel efficiency, and name it (e.g., “Ion Boar Engine Mk I”).
Research the engine prototype as a new project.
Once complete, the engine becomes available in ship design.
Shipyards can now build ships using the new Ion Drive.

This cycle—research theory → design component → research prototype → use in ship design—is the core loop of technological advancement in Aurora.

Additional Notes

Research and components: Most ship components require research after being designed.
Research and aliens: Technology can be shared through diplomacy, or leaked unintentionally when empires interact.