(Updated: March 2003.)
This page describes some of the more important technologies, and what they're good for. Please note that there is a more concise, complete and automatically updated technology list in the StarCluster Reference Manual.
This technology allows building `aegis' ships, which help shielding other ships in battles by drawing more fire themselves.
The Krang federation have the `cloaking' technology at the start of the game. Players cannot usually develop this technology (unless they have managed to get hold of the `krang legacy' technology), but they have a chance of discovering it indirectly by analysing cloaking devices at research facilities; but this, of course, requires that the player first finds a cloaking device to analyse.
The cloaking technology is primarily a way of avoiding detection by regular scan equipment; but it will only work at a distance. Ships in the same sector as a cloaked ship are likely to detect the cloaked ship whether they have any special scan equipment or not. (And, of course, ships with cloak scanners will be able to detect cloaked ships within their cloakscan range.)
Possessing this technology increases the population capacity of every system you control by 3.
Allows colonizer ships to carry more initial population (4 more population units) for new colonies. You need to have the Biophysics technoloy to be develop Cryogenics.
This technology represents the higher levels of the technical and scientific heritage from Earth.
This technology represents genetically modified crops, which makes colonies grow slightly faster (roughly one extra population unit of growth per turn). There are no installations associated with this technology; simply possessing the technology makes your colonists use the new crops.
`The physics of solid force fields' - this technology makes a player able to build `deflector' units that increase a ship's defensive rating by 1. This technology is also a portal technology which allows the development of the Interdiction, Quantum Deflection and Aegis technologies.
This portal technology allows for the development of the Cold Fusion technology and the Fusion Weapons technology. It also allows you to build Fusion Plant installations, which raise the population limit of a system by 5, and increase fuel production by 1. You also need a Fusion Plant in a system to be able to build the Fusion Blaster equipment that the Fusion Weapons technology allows you to build.
The `genetics' technology is a portal technology that allows the development of some other technologies, including `fastcrops' and `genetic_engineering' (which then allows the development of `cloning').
The `hydroponics' technology allows building `hydroponic plant' installations, making system able to support 10 more units of population.
This technology allows building hyperdrives, which give a ship speed bonus of +3 rather than the +2 of the regular warpdrive.
This techlevel 6 technology allows the development of the "hyperdrive" technology.
Javelin ships, which can be built once the `javelin' technology is possessed, are fast strikeforce ships strong in offensive power but with weak defenses. They are typically useful when empires lay siege to worlds relatively near worlds they already control.
Jumpgates can greatly reduce fuel consumption and increase the effective travelling speed once an empire has developed this technology. Jumpgates can transfer ships from one friendly system to another at a fuel cost of only a few fuel units for the transferred ship. (One fuel unit for jumps of distances up to 5 sectors, two fuel units for 6--10 sectors, 3 fuel units for up to 11--15 sectors, and so on.)
The maximum jump range depends on a few things. The basic maximum jump range depends on your techlevel, rising gradually from 13 sectors at techlevel 1, incresing one sector per techlevel up to 20 sectors at techlevel 8, then one more sector at techlevel 10, 12, 14 and 16, for a maximum basic jump range of 24. To this, bonuses for special technologies, installations and equipment may be added. At the moment, the only generally available source for such bonus is the `jumpgate tuning' technology, which increases the range by another sector.
For a ship to be able to travel through a jumpgate, there must be a `friendly' jumpgate both where the ship is and where it wants to go. `Friendly' means either that you must own it yourself, or that it must be owned by an nation having declared your a diplomatic status high enough to satisfy that nation's jumpgate policy rating.
The jumpdrive technology allows building jumpdrives. A `jumpdrive' onboard a ship makes the ship able to jump from anywhere to any friendly jumpgate within jump range.
This is the Krang counterpart of the Earth Legacy techology.
This technology allows building "quantum disruptor" equipment. It requires the "quantum physics" technology to be developed.
Portal technology. The direct effect is to allow development of the "quantum disruption" technology, but other techs can follow at higher techlevels (depending on what other techs the player possesses).
A player who possesses the robotics technology can build `equipment factory' installations. Systems that have this installation can build one extra piece of equipment per turn, at about half the standard price.
How to build `scanner array' installations, increasing a system's scan range to 5.
How to build `terraformer' ships. Terraformers allow you to increase the usable size of small systems. This can be done to all systems of size less than 8, but the smaller it is to begin with, the easier it is to terraform. Each successful terraforming increases the useable size by one.
This is the Trialch counterpart of the Earth Legacy technology.
The warpdrive technology makes a player able to build warpdrives, which adds 2 to a ship's speed rating. The warpdrive technology is also a prerequisite for developing the `forcefields' technology.
This is the Wenjee counterpart of the Earth Legacy technology.
This is the Zarth counterpart of the Earth Legacy technology.