Research Lab

The Research Lab is a building found under the black market. The research lab uses oil to gain minor deploy cost reductions or building upgrade discounts and speedups. The player starts off with one research project and gains more when upgrading the lab. It is advised to upgrade the oil derricks and oil silos as well, as oil prices can be very costly. Upgrading the hangar is required in order to upgrade this building, as the maximum building level of the research lab is the current building level of the hangar.

## Research

If the research lab is sufficiently upgraded and the player has enough oil, the player can perform a research project. When researched, the player can gain boosts in upgrading buildings or deploy cost reductions for a unit type. The player can view information on what they are about to research to make their judgment on what to pour their resources into. Upgrading the research lab unlocks more projects to research and occasionally grants a speed boost in research speed. Projects that are unlocked later will require the completion of at least one previous project as indicated by the lines connecting the projects. Projects in the same column as each other will have the same cost. The projects and their costs are as follows:

Note - Building discounts reduce both construction and upgrade cash costs.

### **Phase 2 *-* Costs ## oil per project**

* Recon deploy discount (1.5%)
* Hangar upgrade discount (6%)

### **Phase 3** **- Costs ## oil per project**

* Air deploy discount (1.75%)
* Artillery deploy discount (1.75%)
* Command center upgrade discount (6.5%)
* Oil derrick upgrade speedup (6.5%)

### **Phase 4 - Costs ## oil per project**

* Bank upgrade discount (1.75%)
* Oil derrick upgrade discount (7%)
* Infantry deploy discount (2%)
* Vault upgrade discount (7%)

### **Phase 5 - Costs 64,000 oil per project**

* Tank deploy discount (2.25%)
* Bank upgrade speedup (7.5%)
* Recon deploy discount (2.25%)

### **Phase 6 - Costs 886,000 oil per project**

* Hangar upgrade speedup (8%)
* Alliance embassy discount (8%)
* Air deploy discount (2.5%)
* Infantry deploy discount (2.5%)

### **Phase 7 - Costs 1,890,000 oil per project**

* Artillery deploy discount (2.75%)
* Defense yard upgrade speedup (8.5%)
* Command center upgrade speedup (8.5%)
* Black market upgrade speedup (8.5%)

### **Phase 8 - Costs 4,215,000 oil per project**

* Infantry deploy discount (3%)
* Vault upgrade speedup (9%)
* Alliance embassy upgrade speedup (9%)

### **Phase 9 - Costs 5,830,000 oil per project**

* Defense yard upgrade speedup (9.5%)
* Machine shop upgrade speedup (9.5%)
* Recon deploy discount (3.25%)
* Machine shop upgrade discount (9.5%)

### **Phase 10 - Costs 9,410,000 oil per project**

* Artillery deploy discount (3.5%)
* Tank deploy discount (3.5%)
* Air deploy discount (3.5%)

## Recycling Plant Projects

Unlike other research projects, the ones related to the recycling plant building are unique in the way that it allows the player to recycle higher tier unit parts. In other words, it upgrades the recycling plant's functionality, which is normally done through upgrading the building itself. Likewise, these projects require the previous project to be researched first. Although they are several columns apart in the research lab, the previous recycling plant project is the only one needed to unlock the next as they are not connected to any of the other projects. These projects cost the same amount of oil as other projects in the same column but take significantly longer time to research.

* Unlock recycling 3-star unit parts: costs 64,000 oil
* Unlock recycling 4-star unit parts: costs 886,000 oil
* Unlock recycling 5-star unit parts: costs 4,125,000 oil
* Unlock recycling 6-star unit parts: costs 9,410,000 oil

## Bugs

* The description of the research lab still states that research boosts unit abilities, which has been migrated to the hangar using thorium and oil.

## Trivia

* When a research project is currently ongoing, the lab will glow with intense blue light.
* The images of buildings for the building-related projects will update to match their current appearance as the player upgrades them.
	+ This property is surprisingly consistent. Due to a bug, the hangar is invisible in the player's base and is subsequently also invisible for any research projects related to the hangar.
* Before unit abilities were upgraded in the hangar, research was used to upgrade them. Because of this, there used to be three tabs labeled offense, defense, and utility. The utility tab is the one that is left today.