The 1st Tech Center opens your first research queue. Construction requires Base level 8. Research improves specific parts of your base and army, such as construction speed, resource gathering and combat stats.
How research works
Each technology has its own levels, effects and requirements. Some unlock another building or feature; others improve an existing stat. Technologies also follow paths, so reaching a later node can require work on earlier ones.
The research trees separate development, military and squad-specific upgrades. A Squad 1 improvement and an all-squad improvement do not describe the same scope. Likewise, gathering speed, march speed and Load Capacity affect different parts of a gathering trip.
The building and the queue
Tech Center upgrades add building power and a research-speed effect. The building's level progression is separate from the technologies researched inside it: upgrading the center does not complete a technology for you.
The 2nd Tech Center opens another queue, with Base level 16 included in its construction requirements. A second queue lets another research project run alongside the first. Both centers have the same published level-by-level construction costs, times and power.
