Technology/Ability Information

You can view information about any of the technologies that your nation may develop or has already developed, by clicking on the name of the technology in the Research/Buy Panel, the Technology Advances panel, or the Technology Weapons panel. In the same way you can view information about any technology or ability that your nation can purchase by clicking on its name in the Research/Buy Panel, or about any temporary ability or effect that may be on your nation, by clicking on its name in the Technology Temporary panel.

Finally, you can view information about the technology or ability granted to your nation if it possesses a particular special area on the landscape such as "Fertile Soil", "Deep Forests", or a "Coal Mine", by selecting the Info action and clicking on the map in the appropriate land area.

Info about the technology 'Journalism'.

The technology description page begins with the name of the technology or ability and a brief description.

On the "Requires:" line are listed any technologies that your nation must already have in order to develop or purchase this technology, or make use of the advantage granted by a special object on the landscape. Your nation must have all of these prerequisite technologies before it can develop, purchase, or take advantage of the technology being described. Also on this line is given the minimum level your nation must have attained before it can develop or use this technology.

On the "Allows:" line are listed any technologies that this technology is a prerequisite for. This technology may not be the only prerequisite for the technologies listed. You can only develop or purchase a technology once you have all of its prerequisites.

Technology names listed on the "allows" line may be followed by a number of icons:
- This asset is purchased rather than researched.
- This asset has a time limit.
- This asset is gained from an object on the landscape.
- This asset provides a new weapon.

You can click on the name of any of the required or allowed technologies to view a description of that technology.

The "Duration:" line specifies how long your nation will keep this technology once it has attained it. If this line reads "Permanent", as in the example above, then once your nation has developed or purchased the technology, it has it forever. Some technologies or abilites that can be purchased, such as powerful leaders and brilliant innovators, last only a matter of minutes or hours. Other abilities, those that are gained by possession of a special land area such as "Deep Forest" or "Coal Mine", are kept only so long as your nation possesses the corresponding landscape area.

The "Acquisition:" line specifies whether the technology or asset is acquired by being researched or purchased, or by capturing an object on the landscape.

Below these is a list of bonuses that are granted to your nation if you possess this technology or ability. In the example above, "Journalism", the development of this technology grants bonuses to your nation's "General", "Innovation" and "Motivation" attributes, as well as taking a penalty (-3) from your "Economic Efficiency" attribute.

Abilities that are gained by possessing special land areas can be gained multiple times, by possession of multiple land areas that grant that ability. For instance, it is easy for a nation to occupy a number of nearby "Fresh Water" areas. In this situation, the bonuses stack. If one "Fresh Water" grants a +1 bonus to both Motivation and Economic Efficiency, then possessing 15 of them will result in a +15 bonus to both Motivation and Economic Efficiency.

Info about the weapon 'Catapult'.

After the list of bonuses granted by possessing the technology is a description of the weapon associated with this technology, if there is one. For instance, the technology "Catapult" grants the nation that develops it the weapon that is also called "Catapult".

The weapon description is comprised of the name and description of the weapon, and a list of bonuses granted to the nation that uses this weapon. This is different from the bonuses granted for simply having the technology; those bonuses are in effect for just having the technology, while the weapon bonuses are only in effect when the nation is attacking (or counter attacking) with this particular weapon.

Most bonuses are in effect at all times, whether your nation is attacking or defending. For instance, the Motivation bonus granted by Journalism is just as useful when on the offensive as it is when defending from an enemy. But some bonuses are only in effect when attacking, or only when defending. For instance, The Personal Combat bonus granted by use of the Catapult weapon (above) is only in effect when attacking, because catapults are quite useless for defense. If a bonus is only in effect when attacking, it is shown in red. If it is only in effect when defending, it is shown in blue. And if it is in effect in either situation, it is shown in black.

•To learn more about bonuses and how they effect your nation, click here.

•To learn more about attributes and how they relate to attack strategies, click here.