Shadow Empire – How to Outtech the Enemy – Science Guide

Guide for Shadow Empire – How to Outtech the Enemy – Science Guide

Research and how to do it – An Introduction

On game settings:

Personally, I like to start with the slowest research speed. That seems counterintuitive, but as the research works the same for you and the majors, and you are a human and not an AI, you can have an edge using this guide. As you progress in the game, you will meet the major regimes on your planet. They had the same start as you and want to rule the planet, too. In most cases, you will fight one or more of them.

To win against them, you need better military tech than they have, better military unit models, better economy, and adjustable Orders of Battle (OOB) to suit your needs.

This is the research tree; click to enlarge.

Every three fully researched techs in a compartment will give you access to research at another, higher level. As you see here, four techs in the Engineering compartment are fully researched, and heavy industry is in progress. Advanced Engineering, Machinery, and Applied Engineering are now open to making discoveries in their fields.

To get things going, you need councils: The research-based Councils are:

Economic Council: This council is about making your own people happier and more productive.

Here you get general discoveries that improve your civilization scores like Hospitals, logistics related ones like Sealed Roads, and discoveries that let you access resources like Metal Soil Filtration.

Military Research Council: This council is about making other people unhappy. Killing their people, destroying infrastructure, and throwing nukes at someone else MAKES them unhappy for sure.

Airforce Research Council: This council is about making other people unhappy, but with machines that fly. It also has a logistical aspect, as you can fly stuff around to provide supplies to make your people happier.

Model Design Council: This council is about putting your military research council’s findings to good use for your people, which is normally bad news for other people. Well, hostile Ai sentinels, arachnids, etc., are not really people.

Staff Council: This council is about making other people unhappy while combining your model design findings into new OOBs; it delivers OOBs. You want to field light tanks, infantry, and RPG troops under one commanding officer? This council develops it.

Applied Science Council: This council is about the effectiveness of your other research councils. You will produce more resources, need less fuel, build better flying aircraft, and many other things that make your people happier and other people unhappier.

Prioritizing Research

If you want to optimize research early on, you should take a look at the Mind Profile!

It comes with research bonuses at 40, 60, and 80% mind.

Personnel – What to focus on when hiring your leaders

I will say that Grognerd’s Guide is unbeaten.

Shadow Empire – Grognerd’s Guide to Human Resources Administration

I want to add that a good interior council director can deliver. You might want to check the artworks, as I put some of my Cabinet up there for inspiration.

Also: Sages. You want them. They are 3 FP national stratagems that roll at cap IV-V and always come with INT skills. This is a Sage:

Optimizing research: Priorities & Research focus & doing math

You now have a research council. You can call the guy/gal in charge and give him orders.

Here I called the economics director as I want to change priorities. I want to get more BP put into prospecting.

In the Decisions tab, a new decision is now available.

Before we decide, we take a look at Reports – Organisations – Economic Council Overview.

I want to put points from Research, which is at 60%, into Prospecting, currently at 25%.

Now comes the fine-tuning. See the invested BP at the start of the turn? It is 207 for Research and 87 BP for Prospecting. See Discovery at 10%? That is 34 BP invested. As you see in the research, there is a hard 100 BP cap after which all other invested BP beyond 100BP become ineffective.

We hate that.

Putting Prospecting to 30 % would increase 17 BP; next turn, it would be 104BP. As Discovery tells us, 10% is 34, so 1% is 3.4 BP.

Going back to Decisions, I decide to change Research to 56% and Prospecting to 29%, press confirms, and have optimized my Prospecting.

Important information: Never put a priority to 0%.

Here’s why: I show you my interior guys’ priorities:

It is from 10-1-40-44%. And now we take a look at his skill log:

You will see that he made four skill rolls. Not 3, if I put the useless tariffs to 0%. That means he rolled four times on his main skill, each training him to get better at it.

Into the Outdoors with Gun and Ca…, I mean Hex perks.

You are not alone with your research endeavors; many things can improve your research.

Depending on the dissolution history, you can find derelict ancient mechs, ships, cargo ships, etc. All add to your research as bonus points as hex perks.

Here is a derelict ancient mech that adds 100 military research:

But you can also produce scientific hex perks: The Scientific Outpost is a 3 Fate Point zone stratagem that produces 200 bonus research points.

Research for free, or almost free

How to get tech advances:
The enemy uses BP, same as you in his councils to generate research points, but you can do these things in addition to that:

Mainframe AI event in a city: Call your governor for 3 PP, let him succeed in a difficult oratory roll vs. the GR AI and get a free random tech discovery, but no research. It can be done multiple times.
You can, of course, put a suiting gov into this place.

Ancient Archives: A 4 FP nation strat card that gives comprehensive research of a random tech. 4FP sounds much, but take a look at the negative national and zone strat cards that generate FP…

Breakthrough Now!: Have mind 80+, a faction with mind++ at least. Can generate BN!, a 5PP national strat card that gives 1 random tech discovery, no research.

Corporate Tech: Have a corporation in your zones, have a good relation. 50PP, get fully researched random tech.

Corporate help: same as above, 20PP get a free random tech discovery.

Scientific cooperation/exchange/joint effort: Be at peace with a major, have a good diplomatic foreign affairs council director, and get free tech from them or give them yours. It helps to view their tech report in Reports – Regimes – XYZ tech report before you do this—needs at least 3 embedded spies.

Buffing and Optimization: Interior stratagems and Artifacts

As we now covered the basics, now the mastering is in process.

Your leaders cannot have too much XP. Your interior director rolls on national admin Stratagems like Grand Convention, Wargames, Governor Convention, Cabinet Retreat all hand out XP and relationship boosts like Santa on speed.

Artifacts: There are personal artifacts for all research directors available, depending on you digging them from archaeological sites. This Dopaminator artifact here for an example:

I hope you enjoy what we shared today about the Shadow Empire – How to Outtech the Enemy – Science Guide. If there is anything you want us to add, please let us know via comment below! See you soon! And thanks!