Technology

This section is in need of revision. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. The reason given is: Still slightly out of date, see: Technology Update

Technology represent information such as manuals and other written information.

All buildings have a quality level, this quality level affects the quality of all products made and other special functions.

Tech Disk

Commodity

Building Technology
Nominal Cost
50.00¢
Weight
0.02kg
Pack Size
1

Technology disks, or tech disks, are a way of storing and moving technology from one place to another. A tech disk is of a specific building type, for example a "University Technology" disk.

If a city has blank media, paper or blank disks, each building in the city has has a small chance to produce a tech disk of its quality level. Alternatively a mass media building will produce extra tech disks for each building type in the city.

At every city report cycle the city will check for tech disks that are higher quality than a building of the tech disk's type. If a building is lower quality than a tech disk, the disk is consumed and the building is upgraded to the quality of the tech disk.

Tech disks can be distributed to any other cities in the same solar system with a broker using the normal city trading.

Technology Bias

Tech disks produced by a mass media building will have a positive or negative bias. A city with an overwhelming amount of positive biased tech disks will get a morale bonus, negatively biased tech will give a morale penalty.

Research

The quality level of buildings automatically increase slowly over time. The first few quality levels going fast, later quality levels taking a long time to finish.

timeToNextQ = currentQ * 1000 seconds

Research Calculation

It is possible to calculate how long it will take to reach a given quality level using this formula:

timeToDesiredQ = 1000 seconds * ( currentQ + desiredQ - 1) * ( desiredQ - currentQ ) / 2

Time to quality level from Q1

Quality Level	2	10	20	50	75	100	150	200	255
Time	16 minutes	12 hours	2 days	14 days	32 days	57 days	129 days	230 days	374 days

Technology Benefits

The general rule is that things are 5% more efficient per tech level beyond the first. For example; a TL6 warehouses have 25% more storage than TL 1 warehouses. A TL11 spacecraft is 50% faster than the same spacecraft at TL1; its weapons and shields are 50% more effective; its sensors have 50% more range, etc. A TL21 pistol with TL21 pistol ammunition will deal 100% more damage than a TL1 pistol with TL1 ammunition.

An industry building which produces commodities will produce materials of that TL, unless the TL of the materials used in the process are of a lower TL, in which case that TL is used instead. "Harvesting" buildings (Mines, wells etc.) instantly produce resources of their own TL if the quality of the resource is high enough, if not it is capped at the quality level's TL. (For example, a TL6 mine harvesting Q40 ore will produce TL5 ore and a TL 4 smelter will produce TL4 metal from any metal TL4 or higher.)

For more information see the Quality page.