Whiteout Survival research costs for the Growth, Economy and Battle trees

Finishing the Battle tree takes 3,915 days of base research time, 78.9% of the time all three Research Center trees need together, against 883 days for Growth and 166 for Economy. In every tree the research that waits on Research Center 26 to 30 carries more than nine tenths of that time: 95.4% of Battle's, 93.5% of Growth's and 90.5% of Economy's.

All times in this guide are base research time, before any Research Speed bonus.

Cost of each tree

Wood is left out of the tables because it matches Meat in every research level of all three trees. Coal runs at about a fifth of the Meat cost and Iron at about a twentieth, so Meat and Wood set the size of the bill and Steel is the smallest line on it.

Battle is the big one on every line: 102 research in 459 levels, 901.4M Meat and Wood each, 180.6M Coal, 45.3M Iron and 16.4M Steel. Growth has 45 research in 129 levels and asks for 212.9M Meat and 3.6M Steel. Economy is the cheapest by far, 44 research in 132 levels for 162.9M Meat, 3.2M Steel and 3.3% of the combined time.

The longest single step is not in Battle. Bandaging VII level 3, in Growth, takes 136 days on its own, while the longest Battle step, Regimental Expansion VI level 6, takes 111 days. In Economy the longest step is Coal Output V level 3 at 12 days.

Power follows the bill less closely than time does. Finishing Battle adds 6.12M power, Growth 1.51M and Economy 244.5K, so Battle gives the most power in total but Growth gives more per day of research.

Growth

Bonuses are percentages for speeds and plain amounts for capacities and the March Queue. Bandaging, the Healing Speed line, is the costliest Growth family at 300 days for 404.8% Healing Speed, followed by Trainer Tools at 257 days for 202.2% Training Speed. Tool Enhancement, the Research Speed line, totals 27.8% at its last level and takes 111 days; Tooling Up gives the same 27.8% to Construction Speed for 86 days. Command Tactics is three single-level research that add 3 March Queues for under a day in all.

Economy

No Economy family takes more than 23 days. Meat Output and Wood Output each reach 119.5% for that time, and the gathering lines reach 242.5% for Meat and Wood and 242% for Coal and Iron. Coal and Iron have one tier fewer than Meat and Wood.

Battle

Every Battle family has six tiers and 27 levels. Regimental Expansion, which adds 32,200 Troops Deployment Capacity, is the costliest at 333 days. The four lines that boost every troop type, Weapons Prep, Special Defensive Training, Survival Techniques and Assault Techniques, take 271 days each for 47.25% Attack, Defense, Health and Lethality.

The troop-type lines all reach 111.75%, but they are not priced alike. Infantry Attack and Infantry Lethality (Reprisal Tactics and Close Combat) take 104 days each, against 250 for the Marksman and Lancer versions. Infantry Defense and Infantry Health (Defensive Formations and Shield Upgrade) go the other way, at 312 days each against 167 for Marksman and Lancer. Infantry offense is the cheap part of the Battle tree, and Infantry defense the dear one. Power follows the price: 156.5K for each Infantry offense family against 391.1K for Marksman and Lancer, and 502.9K for each Infantry defense family against 268.2K. Across all four families each troop type ends with the same total.

What opens each tree

All three trees start at Research Center level 1, and each tier of a family needs a higher Research Center level than the one before. The last tiers wait on level 30: Battle's sixth tier opens from Research Center 28, and Growth's seventh tier from 28, with Bandaging VII, Trainer Tools VII and Tool Enhancement VII needing 30 to start. Economy opens in stages within the first levels; Iron Output I needs Research Center 10.

Inside a tree each tier is a chain. In Battle, Weapons Prep opens the tier and leads to the three troop-type attack lines, then to the matching defense lines; those three together open Special Defensive Training, which opens Survival Techniques and Assault Techniques. Both of those open Regimental Expansion, which leads to the three lethality lines and then the three health lines, and those three open the next tier's Weapons Prep. Growth runs the same way from Tooling Up to Command Tactics, and Economy from Meat Output through the Iron lines.

Where the cost piles up

Up to Research Center 25, Battle needs 181 days, Growth 57 and Economy 16. The band from 26 to 30 then adds 3,734 days to Battle, 826 to Growth and 150 to Economy. Battle puts 192 of its 459 levels in that band.

Resources are less back-loaded than time. The last band holds 83.4% of Battle's Meat, 82.7% of Growth's and 74.6% of Economy's, against 95.4%, 93.5% and 90.5% of the time. Steel leans later than the other resources in Battle, with 86.4% of it in the last band.

Power is the least back-loaded of all. Battle's last band adds 3.61M of its 6.12M power, and Growth's adds 686K of 1.51M, so the early and middle bands give a far larger share of the power than of the time.

Special currencies

None. Every level in the Growth, Economy and Battle trees is priced in the same five resources, Meat, Wood, Coal, Iron and Steel, plus time. Steel is the smallest total in every tree, but it is also the most back-loaded in Battle: 86.4% of Battle's Steel falls in the last Research Center band, so most of it is needed at the very end.

Putting it together

The early levels are cheap in every tree. Through Research Center 20 Battle needs 26 days, Growth 10 and Economy 3, so the order you pick there costs little either way.

Economy is small enough to finish: 166 days for the whole tree, and no single family over 23. Growth carries the two speed lines that shorten other timers, Tool Enhancement for research and Tooling Up for construction, at 27.8% each at max, but its own bill is dominated by Bandaging and Trainer Tools.

Battle is where the calendar goes. 3,734 of its 3,915 days sit in the band from Research Center 26 to 30, so finishing it is a matter of the top band, Research Speed bonuses and time, not of anything earlier. Within it, Infantry offense and Marksman and Lancer defense are the cheaper halves of each troop type's research.