Researching new technology and controling and using technology are at the heart of this game. Powers gain victory points for having high technology levels, and gain increased capabilities by having new technologies. In most cases, the technology may not be used unless introduced to the world at which it will be used (or a unit using it will be built), but if another power captures a world with a technology, it may capture that technology as well. Note that a power may have a higher technology than the worlds it controls, and a world may have a higher technology than the power that controls it. I. Each turn, each power gains 2 victory points for each tech level it controls. (Example: if a power has a interplanetary travel tech level of 2 and an interstellar travel tech level of 1, it has three total tech levels and will gain 6 victory points per turn). II. The tech levels and their effects are as follows: A. Interplanetary Travel (Max Level 2): A world with an interplanetary travel tech level of less than 2 may not build any space ships. B. Interstellar Travel (Max Level 2): A world with an interstellar travel tech level of less than 2 may not build any interstellar ships. C. Force Field (Max Level 2): A world with a force field tech level of less than two may not build planetary defense units. Armies with a force field tech level of 2 have defensive bonuses when being attacked by ships. Ships with a force field tech level of 2 always have defensive bonuses. D. Xeno Technology Studies (Max Level 4): A power with a xeno tech level of two or more has a bonus when its population points attempt to learn a new technology from a world (the bonus is increased if the xeno tech level is 4). An army with a xeno tech level of two or more has a bonus when attempting to learn a new technology either from a world or from combat (the bonus is increased if the xeno tech level is 4). E. Damage Control (Max Level 2): A ship with a damage control tech level of two may repair one damage point per turn (even if no refitting facility is available). F. Electronic Counter Measures (ECM) (Max Level 5): A ship will use its ECM tech level as a defensive modifier in battle. G. Electronic Counter-Counter Measures (ECCM) (Max Level 5): A ship may use ECCM to counter the effects of ECM. It has no effect on a ship without ECM, and is only effective up to the level of the enemy ship's ECM. (Example: a defending ship has an ECM level of 2. An attacking ship with an ECCM level of 4 is no more effective than a ship with an ECCM level of 2.) H. Teraforming (Max Level 4): A barren world with a terraforming tech level of 2 or more may be terraformed into a fecund world for a cost of 600 production points (if the terraforming tech level is 4, only 300 production points are required, and the time is therefore reduced as well). A hostile world needs a terraforming tech level of 4 in order to be terraformed into a barren world, which costs 300 production points. I. Surface Warfare (Max Level 5): The difference in surface warfare tech levels between armies is a modifier in suface battles. The number of control points possesed by an army is increased with increasing surface warfare tech levels. J. Assimilation (Max Level 4): If a world has an assimilation tech level of two, it may assimilate one population point from each foreign power on the world in a turn in which the controlling power spends enough treasury points on public works to make the citizens content. If the assimilation tech level is 4, this assimilation is increased by one. K. Scanner Technology (Max Level 5): If a world or ship has a scanner technology level of 2 or more, then extra detail about enemy ships in the system may be visible. Scanners may be defeated to a greater or lesser degree by any ECM technology posessed by the ship to be viewed, but this ECM may be somewhat neutralized by ECCM active on the scanning ship or world. Availability of scanning does not alter the icon displayed for any ships. When a player clicks on the image of a non owened ship, however, scanning technology may alter the information displayed about that ship. III. Each turn, at each world, a power may designate one technology to be introduced at that world. No more than one technology may be introduced at any one world in a turn, and the technology may only be introduced if the power controls a higher tech level than the world. (Example: a world has a surface warfare tech level of two, and the controlling power has a surface warfare tech level of four. The power may introduce surface warfare technology at that world, which will raise the surface warfare tech level at the world to three. It would take another turn to raise the surface warfare tech level at the world to four.) IV. A power may gain control of new tech levels through research. A. A power may research a specific technology. The power may not research a technology if it already has the maximum tech level for that technology. The cost of research increases with each total tech level controled by the power. The research has a one in three chance of success, and if successful, the tech level is raised by one. 1. If a power's reseach of a specific technology is unsuccessful, a +1 modifier will apply to the next research attempt of that same specific technology. a. This modifier is cumulative. Each failed research attempt will raise the modifier by +1. Research attempts do not need to be made on consecutive turns to maintain the modifier, but the same technology must be researched every attempt in order to continue increasing the modifier. b. Once a technology has been successfully researched, the modifier is reduced back to 0. 2. If a power switches to research of a different technology, or if a power conducts general research, then any modifiers applying to specific research are lost. B. A power may instead conduct general research. This is less expensive than specific research, and the chances of success are better, but successful research results in a random technology being raised by one. C. A power may not order research unless it has at least twice as much in its treasury as the anticipated cost of the research. V. A power may gain control of new tech levels by having populations living on worlds with those tech levels. A. If a power controls a world, the chances of that power learning any technologies deployed on the world are increased. B. The chance of a power learning technologies on a world are increased if the power has a high xeno tech studies tech level. C. If the power attempting to learn the technology of a world does not control the world, then the xeno tech study level deployed upon that world will act as a negative modifier to the chances of learning the technologies of the world. VI. A power may gain control of new tech levels by having army corps on a world with those tech levels. The chance of this happening is increased if the corps has a high xeno tech level. VII. A power may gain control of new tech levels through combat. A. When an army corps attacks another corps, there is a chance that the corps will learn a new technology from the other corps. This chance is increased if the corps has a high xeno tech level. If the corps learns a new technology through combat, its controlling power will learn that technology as well (if it does not already have it). B. When a ship attacks another ship, there is a chance that the ship will learn a new technology from the other ship. This does not automatically give the technology to the controling power. VIII. A world may gain control of new tech levels by refitting a ship. Likewise, the tech level of a ship may be increased by a refit. A. If a world refits a ship and the ship has any tech levels higher than the refitting world, then the tech levels of the world are raised. B. If a world refits a ship and the world has any tech levels higher than the refitted ship, then the tech levels of the ship are raised.