Freeciv

Quick Jump: List of Technologies

Technologies[]

During the game all nations will race to discover more powerful advances (technologies.) A few advances provide immediate benefits, such as making new actions available to your units. Many introduce new units or buildings you can construct. Most are gateways to further technology. Beware that some advances also make things obsolete. While obsolete units merely become impossible to make, obsolete buildings are immediately sold, and obsolete wonders lose their effect.

By default, each player starts with no technology (this could be changed with the techlevel server option). You direct your research toward one advance at a time. Research progress is measured in research points which are called "bulbs." You can generate your own bulbs through trade and scientists, or receive them from others through blueprints. Unlike gold, which can be transferred or spent on anything, bulbs are research knowledge tied toward acquiring a specific technology. Each technology has a specific bulb cost.

Researching technologies[]

Each "bulb" or research point you generate is permanently credited toward the technology that was your current research when the bulb was generated. The technology becomes "discovered" and usable when you acquire bulbs equivalent to 100% of its bulb cost. If you switch technology goals, you will start learning the new technology from zero again. You will keep a research bulb credit toward your previous research, which will be there when you come back to your previous research.

Instead of selecting each new advance manually, you can establish a future goal that is several technologies away, and your scientists will work through all the prerequisite advances automatically. (In Freeciv-web, you can do this by 1) clicking a far off tech for which you do not yet have the pre-requisites, 2) middle click, 3) alt-right click.) You can open the Tech tab at the top of the screen to view science progress and set new tech goals. The online hover-help system displays information for every item and technology in the game, allowing you to explore technologies and the capabilities they unlock.

Techleak[]

The more nations who already know a technology, the more the bulb cost will be reduced, due to a phenomenon called techleak. (See /help techleak). Loosely speaking if the techleak setting is 50: if no other nations know a tech, it will be full bulb cost. If all the nations of the world know a tech, it's 50% cost. All gradations in between those two extremes will fit between those proportions. Techleak puts a bit of a premium price on "rushing techs" faster than the rest of the world, though having such tech certainly brings advantages.

Blueprints[]

The only way to learn a technology is to research it. But there are several ways to more easily gain advances from other civilizations. You might discover Blueprints for enemy technology when you capture a city*. You can steal Blueprints with Emissaries, Diplomats and Spies. You can also get Blueprints from another player in a tech trade as part of the terms of a pact.

Tech theft through espionage, city conquest, and tech trade give you Blueprints: a non-transferable bulb credit toward a specific technology advance. The bulb credit reduces the remaining bulb cost for researching the advance. A blueprint fills a technology's bulb account up to but not past the blueprint's value toward that technology. Bulbs are not like "wallet dollars" you can transfer from one research project to another. It is a waste of research effort to acquire partial bulbs into a tech for which you later get blueprints, since the bulb account for a blueprinted tech will not exceed the bulb value of the blueprint.

Use /help blueprints and /show blueprints to learn about the server setting and its configuration in a particular game.

* In older game versions, events such as city conquest and technology theft immediately awarded you a technology. This is no longer the case.

Research Goals[]

If you have no future goal and discover a tech, your current research target will go to an unselected state. You will probably have remaining bulbs. At TC, if your current research is still unselected and you have no future goal, then a current research is randomly set for you.

Whenever a new current research is set, all remaining bulbs are permanently assigned to that current research instantly. The same happens for subsequent techs along the path to your future goal, if there is one.

👉🏻 Blueprints can be obtained by diplomatic treaty, theft, or conquest at any point in time, especially in multiplayer games. It is favorable to leave current research unselected and set new future goals turn-by-turn, so you can weigh your chances of acquiring blueprints before spending your remaining bulbs on techs for which blueprints might give you the bulbs for free.

👉🏻 TIP - If you are unsure how many bulbs are remaining after your last discovery, middle-click an already-researched technology to fetch this information from server.

The Space Race[]

If the server option is enabled, the game may be won peacefully by building a spacecraft and becoming the first civilization to reach Alpha Centauri. To enter the "space race" you must complete the Apollo Program. With the necessary technologies, this allows you to begin building spacecraft parts:

B.space modules Space Module

cost:2000 upkeep:0

requires:Superconductors

B.space structural Space Structural

cost:500 upkeep:0

requires:Space Flight

B.space component Space Component

cost:1000 upkeep:0

requires:Plastics

The skeleton of your spacecraft consists of structural components, each of which can hold in place either a component or module. Components provide fuel and propulsion systems, and decrease the amount of time your craft will require to reach Alpha Centauri; you can install up to sixteen, though they must be installed in pairs. Modules themselves come in three flavors: a habitation module provides living space for ten thousand colonists; a life support module can keep ten thousand colonists alive; and a solar panel provides the power required by any two other modules.

Use the spaceship window to observe your progress as you build your spacecraft. You may manufacture spacecraft elements anywhere with a factory; they will automatically be assembled in your capital city. As you add components you improve the craft's probability of success and travel time; you may launch as soon as you find these satisfactory. If several civilizations are building spacecraft, they are faced with the decision of whether to launch quickly and start their craft on its way, or continue building in the hopes of launching a faster spacecraft later, or one with a higher probability of success.

During construction and after launch, the spaceship is considered a building of your capital city. It will be lost if your capital is taken or destroyed.

List of Technologies[]

Technology
  • requirements
Effects Allows (Units, Buildings, Techs)

Obsoletes (Units, Buildings)

Advanced Flight (5430 bulbs)
Alphabet (22 bulbs)
  • Disables Well-Diggers
Amphibious Warfare (3280 bulbs)
Astronomy (150 bulbs)
Atomic Theory (1080 bulbs)
Automobile (4230 bulbs)
  • +1 move to Light Armor
Avionics (7250 bulbs)
Banking (475 bulbs)
  • Prevents Philosophy from awarding bonus tech
  • Converts upkeep on Infantry from 1 shield to 1 gold
  • Globally expires extra gold bonus for new trade routes from capitals.
Bridge Building (225 bulbs)
  • Allows roads on rivers.
  • Upgrades all roads in cities to Bridges
Bronze Working (20 bulbs)
Ceremonial Burial (22 bulbs)
Chemistry (900 bulbs)
Chivalry (225 bulbs)
Code of Laws (50 bulbs)
Combined Arms (5650 bulbs)
Combustion (7620 bulbs)
  • +1 move for Trains
  • Increases population pollution 25%
Combustion.2 (610 bulbs)
Specialization tech for Combustion
Communism (1650 bulbs)
  • Allows government Communism.
  • pre-req for spawning Partisans
Computers (15650 bulbs)
Conscription (2400 bulbs)
  • Cities can use multi-slot build slots for units...
  • Allows upgrading all foot units to Musketeers for free.
Construction (110 bulbs)
  • Allows building Fortresses
  • Allows mining deserts
Currency (50 bulbs)
Democracy (950 bulbs)
  • Allows Democracy government
  • Instant free upgrade to Workers II
Economics (875 bulbs)
Electricity (2220 bulbs)
  • Increases Amphitheater effect +1
  • +1 move point for Trains
  • Reveals all tiles within one's borders
  • Disallows making Lighthouse
Electronics (3630 bulbs)
Engineering (225 bulbs)
  • Allows building Canals
  • Allows building Naval Base
Environmentalism (8040 bulbs)
  • Reduces population pollution by 50%
Espionage (2900 bulbs)
  • Allows Diplomats and Patriarch to establish embassy...
    • ...vs Courthouse or Homeland Security
Explosives (1560 bulbs)
Disallows free upgrade from Workers to Workers II
Feudalism (150 bulbs)
Flight (4680 bulbs)
Flight.2 (750 bulbs)
Specialization tech for Flight
Fusion Power (8040 bulbs)
  • Hbomb Hydrogen Bomb
  • Doomsdaybomb Doomsday Bomb
  • Tacticalnuke Tactical Nuke
  • Enrichment facility Enrichment Facility
  • The Fusion reactor Fusion Reactor
Guerilla Warfare (3985 bulbs)
  • Globally sets ability to spawn Partisans for Communism, Democracy
  • Globally sets ability to spawn Zealots or Fanatics for Theocracy
Gunpowder (1900 bulbs)
  • pre-req for spawning Partisans
  • prevents building new Castles
Horseback Riding (24 bulbs)
Travelers spread news to the world if discovered before Turn 15 (2600 BC)
Industrialization (2330 bulbs)
  • Increases population pollution 25%
Invention (490 bulbs)
Iron Working (65 bulbs)
Laser (5790 bulbs)
Leadership (1250 bulbs)
Literacy (110 bulbs)
Machine Tools (3985 bulbs)
  • Globally obsoletes Great Wall when discovered
Magnetism (975 bulbs)
Map Making (50 bulbs)
  • +2 moves for Scouts
Masonry (20 bulbs)
  • Allows building Forts
Mass Production (4680 bulbs)
  • Increases population pollution 25%
  • +20% output for Coal and Hydro Plants
Mathematics (80 bulbs)
Mechanization (5430 bulbs)
  • Allows converting Musketeers to Riflemen for free.
Medicine (475 bulbs)
Metallurgy (1340 bulbs)
  • City Walls cost 75 (+10)
  • Fortifications cost 45 (+10)
  • Globally obsoletes all Siege Rams
Microbiology (3150 bulbs)
Miniaturization (4490 bulbs)
Mobile Warfare (5120 bulbs)
Monarchy (110 bulbs)
  • Allows Monarchy government
Monotheism (300 bulbs)
Mysticism (50 bulbs)
  • Doubles the effect of Temples
Nationalism (2775 bulbs)
  • Allows Nationalism government.
Nuclear Fission (5300 bulbs)
Nuclear Power (5650 bulbs)
  • Gives sea units +2 moves
Philosophy (325 bulbs)
Gives a bonus tech blueprint before T85 (1600AD). Tech awarded will be random if you have no future goal. Otherwise, it will be the first undiscovered tech leading up to your selected "Future Goal." No bonus tech is given to nations who already have Banking, Invention, or Physics.
Physics (580 bulbs)
  • Increases unit vision from 1.44x to 2x
  • Prevents Philosophy from awarding bonus tech
Plastics (7860 bulbs)
  • Increases population pollution 25%
Polytheism (80 bulbs)
  • Statue of zeus Statue of Zeus
Pottery (22 bulbs)
  • Allows building Quays
  • Disables Well-Diggers
Radar (6630 bulbs)
  • Allows building Radar installations on Airbases.
Radio (5120 bulbs)
  • Allows building Airbase
  • Allows building Buoy
Radio.2 (820 bulbs)
Specialization tech for Radio
Railroad (1820 bulbs)
  • Allows upgrading Roads to Railroads
  • Less first-time revenue for Trade Routes
Recycling (4460 bulbs)
  • Reduces unit upgrade costs by 20%
Refining (3630 bulbs)
  • Allows Oil Wells on Glaciers
Refrigeration (2775 bulbs)
  • Allows upgrading Irrigation to Farmland
  • Allows laying Fishtraps
Robotics (7250 bulbs)
Leonardo's Workshop only upgrades 1 unit per turn
Rocketry (7040 bulbs)
Leonardo's Workshop only upgrades 1 unit per turn
Sanitation (950 bulbs)
Seafaring (110 bulbs)
Space Flight (7680 bulbs)
  • Increases unit vision
  • Increases city radius vision
Space Flight.2 (1230 bulbs)
  • Specialization tech for Space Flight
  • Mobile SAM built with 1 free Anti-Ballistic Missile
  • AEGIS Cruiser built with 1 free Anti-Ballistic Missile
Stealth (11920 bulbs)
Steam Engine (1340 bulbs)
  • Ends Colossus discount on Commerce units.
Steel (3280 bulbs)
  • Allows building Sea Bridge
  • Allows building Bunker
Superconductors (7750 bulbs)
  • Allows building MagLev super-rails
Tactics (2530 bulbs)
The Corporation (2900 bulbs)
  • +25% Coinage rate for Stock Exchanges. (2.25 gold per shield)
The Republic (150 bulbs)
  • Allows Republic government
The Wheel (50 bulbs)
Theocracy (550 bulbs)
Theology (450 bulbs)
  • Improves Cathedral effect by +1
  • Improves Michelangelo effect by +1
Theory of Gravity (600 bulbs)
Trade (150 bulbs)
University (450 bulbs)
Warrior Code (22 bulbs)
  • Allows building Hideouts
Writing (50 bulbs)
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