Editing Research (section)

== Researching Technology ==

[[File:Research_tab.png|thumb|[[Population and Production#Research|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 {{Key|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.

{| class="wikitable"
! 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 Research|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 || [[Missile Research|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 Facility|Research Facilities]] can conduct research projects, generating Research Points (RP) that unlock new technologies and enable the design of new [[component]]s.

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

=== Automatic Research ===
{{VersionIntro|1.1.0}}

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.