Quick Links
At the start of a new game inKaiserpunk, you’ll have very limited options when it comes to building. That changes quickly, and as the game progresses you unlock more and more structures, resources, and units by progressing along your nation’s Development paths.
While Development in Kaiserpunk is fairly simple compared to the research systems in other strategy games, it can lead to a bottleneck in some areas, and your city needs to be truly massive if you want to unlock everything. This guide has everything you need to know about R&D as you rebuild the world from the ashes of the Great War.
Development Points
Every operational building in your city gives youDevelopment Points.It’s rarely a large number, but when you have hundreds of buildings they add up. Buildings contribute to the Development track that they are associated with; Farms produce Agriculture Development, for example, while Bases produce Military Development, and so on.
Educational buildings like Schools and Universities providea bit of Development to every track.
When a Development track reaches a new tier, it unlocks additional technologies; early on, this will meannew buildings and upgrades, while later tiers provideadvanced manufactured goodsandpowerful bonuses for your city.
1
20
2
160
3
540
4
1280
5
2500
6
4320
7
6860
8
10240
9
14580
10
20000
11
26620
12
34560
13
43940
14
54880
15
67500
16
81920
As you can see, each level of Developmentcosts much more than the last. You need to keep expanding your city and using Science Trades (see below) to ensure that you are able to reach the highest levels in your best tracks.
The final tier of each track is alarge bonusthat enhances your entire city. It takes an enormous amount of Development to reach, but it’s well worth the intense specialization required to unlock.
The eight Development tracks are:Living, Agriculture, Manufacturing, Utilities, Civics, Transport, Morale, andMilitary.Since Roads and Depots provide Transport Development, that track is likely to have an early lead over the others. We recommendusing the excess to trade for improvements to your Military.
Science Deals
Once you meet other nations on the World Map, you canexchange Development points via Science Deals.This is the bottommost of the available trades that you can make from the Diplomacy screen with an individual leader.
In a Science Deal, you canexchange some of your production in one or more Development tracks for another.For example, you could trade30 Utilities Development for 30 Civics Development.For the duration of the contract,you would produce 30 less Utilities Development, as you’d be sending it to your trade partner, butproducing 30 extra Civics Developmentfrom the expertise that you get in return.
Leaders with a neutral opinion of you will accept a one-to-one offer; friendly leaders will be willing to give you more Development than they take, while hostile leaders will demand more from you than they offer.
It’s a good idea to haveactive Science Deals with everybody that you’re at Neutral or better relations with; this lets you fill gaps in your Development and keep on top of the technological arms race. It also helps improve your overall relations, so it can sometimes be worth an unfavorable Science Deal with a hostile neighbor to stave off war.
There’s nothing stopping you fromdoing a Science Deal with one nation that effectively negates a Science Deal with another,i.e., doing the Utilities-for-Civics trade described above and then trading the Civics to someone else to get your Utilities back. Your total Development remains unchanged, but you foster relations with both countries!
