Black Hand Research Tree

The **Black Hand Research Tree** is a feature that allows to develop new Black Hand technologies for global conquest in IronClaw's Just Cause Extinction.

## Overview

The Black Hand has 5 major defense contractors at its disposal:

* Bering.
* Eldrith Tech.
* Haswell.
* URGA.
* Kerala GenoTech.

Each of them has a unique set of technologies that will unlock new weapons, vehicles and abilities for regular and Hero units. Some researches interlap (for example, URGA shielded vehicles require Eldrith Tech Bavarium technologies) and other could be developed on their own. All tech requires decent amount of money to be developed and some also require *exotic materials* (such as aforementioned Bavarium).

Apart from the weapon researches, there are "global" projects (marked by a red paw) that will require cooperation between several companies. Those are extremely costly.

Each company can conduct only one research at a time, but that time can be cut dramatically if minor corporations that are available in "contacts" menu on the Strategic map will join your effort. It should be noted that Black Hand is much "weaker" then the Agency at the start of the game and it can be very hard to stay afloat for the first 10 in-game years, but the late technologies make the Consortium much more powerful then a fully developed Agency in the late stages.

## Weapon researches

### Bering

* *Fighter jets* -> VTOL fighter jets (unlocks Bering F39 Lynx) -> Drone fighter-bombers (unlocks Bering AV1 Manta) -> Shielded drone fighters (unlocks Bering I-XF Ironclaw) -> Synth fighter-bombers (unlocks Bering AV-X series).
* *Heavy transport planes* -> Super-heavy cargo planes (unlocks Alexander C230) -> Synth cargo VTOLs (unlocks Alexander C-X series).
* *Modern propulsion systems* -> Advanced jet engines -> Bavarium-powered jets -> Small-scale fusion reactors.
* *Modern missiles* -> Advanced long-range missiles -> Bavarium warheads -> Over-the-Horizon missiles.

### Eldrith Tech

* Bavarium superconductivity (unlocks all the other researches) -> Synthetic Bavarium (unlocks latest technologies of the ET branches).
* Bavarium shielding -> Heavy-duty shields -> Advanced shielding -> Portable infantry shields.
* Gravity repulsion -> Gravitic destructrors (unlocks ET X111) -> Gravity repulsor missile shield (unlocks ET X108) -> Gravity wave annihilators (unlocks OL-28 Olen).
* Anti-gravitic levitation -> Advanced levitation platforms (unlocks Eldrith Tech Tyrant platforms).
* Mech warriors (unlocks ET Legionaire) -> Mech suits (unlocks ET ARM).

### Haswell

* *Advanced assault rifles* -> Individual objective battle rifles (unlocks Haswell Gen3 Decimator) -> Magnetorheological caseless rifles (unlocks Haswell Gen3 Devastator).
* *Modern body armor* -> Advanced body armor -> Exoskeleton-integrated body armor -> Powered exosuits -> Shielded exosuits.
* *Night vision googles* -> Multi-spectrum googles -> Portable scanners -> Over-the-Horizon sensor systems.
* *Combat drugs* -> Advanced combat drugs -> Brain implants -> Synthetic exocortex.

### URGA

* *Soviet era tanks* -> Modernized tanks (unlocks URGA Boxer) -> V Generation tanks (unlocks URGA Goldstein) -> Gravitic tanks (unlocks URGA Buran) -> Main battle synths (unlocks URGA T-X series).
* *Soviet era IFVs* -> Wheeled IFVs (unlocks URGA Nosorog series) -> Light tactcal IFVs (unlocks URGA Shakal) -> Hoversynths (unlocks URGA LS-X series).
* *Soviet assault helicopters* -> Modernized assault helicopters (unlocks URGA/Walker Hammerbolt) -> Shielded assault helicopter (unlocks URGA Mstitel) -> Advanced shielded helicopters (unlocks URGA Mstitel-M) -> Assault synths (unlcoks URGA SV-X series).
* *Soviet artillery systems* -> Modernized artillery systems (unlocks SV-1033 Crusher) -> Super-heavy artillery systems (unlocks URGA Salamandra) -> Artillery support synths (unlocks URGA TA-X series).

### Kerala Genotech

* Tory Island Project (unlocks Shetani Global Research).
* Genetic bio-regenerators -> Nanomachine regenerators -> Biosynthetic regeneration complex.
* Psyonic field research -> Mind reading -> Mind control -> Psyonic shields -> Psyonic wave destructors.
* Neuroprosthetics -> Mechanical augmentations -> Bio-augmentations -> Nano-augmentations -> Full synthetic bodies.
* Man-machine interface -> Cyberspace -> Quantum networks -> Synthetic hives -> Hyperintelligent AIs.

## Global projects

### Economic

* New monopolies -> Globally-integrated enterprises -> Megacorporations -> Quasi-Government Administrative Entities.
* Low corporate taxes -> Free economic zones -> Extraterritorial rights for Corporations -> No corporate taxation.
* National industry privatization -> Social sector privatization -> Private militaries.
* Cryptocurrency -> National currencies deregulation -> Abandoning cash money -> Energy-based currency.
* Indirect market manipulation -> Non-government macroeconomic regulators -> Direct market manipulation.

### Construction and Infrastructure

* City agglomeration sprawls -> Metroplex enclaves -> Arcologies.
* Nuclear fallout shelters -> City-wide vault networks -> Underground industrial complex.
* Advanced construction methods -> Industrial 3D-printing -> Nanoassemblers.
* Maglev lines -> Hyperloop network -> Anti-gravitic transportation.
* Advanced fission reactors -> Fusion reactors -> Anti-matter reactors.

### Global change project

* Weather control -> Air-Ex Network -> Global climate change.
* Bioengineered agriculture -> Synthetic food industry.
* Controlled biomes -> Controlled biosphere.

### Weapons of Mass Destruction

* Cobalt warheads -> Teller-Ulam warheads -> Anti-matter warheads.
* Hypersonic ballistic missiles -> Shielded ballistic missiles -> Orbital-based ballistic missiles.
* Antibiotic-resistant viruses -> Non-organic bioweapons -> Combat nanomachine clusters.
* Microwave weapons -> Radiation fields.

### The Shetani program

* Fomorian Y-DNA decoding -> Phase I warriors (unlocks Speical Ops Shetani units) -> Phase II warriors.
* Dark rituals -> Order 11: Transcend Force (unlocks Shetani Hero Units hiring).
* The seal of Setesh -> Order 31: Total Destruction (unlocks Kali, the main Hero Unit of the Black Hand).

## Trivia

* The entire tech tree is very similar to those present in Hearts of Iron strategy games.