The Tech Tree is your path to new inventions, innovation, and prosperity. Use it to find new avenues to progress upward to the top of the industrial age! It is broken up into several smaller Tech Trees which will get you grant access to new recipes and building enhancements that are specific to that Tech Tree.
To unlock these upgrades you will need to spend some time and money researching each recipe and building enhancement. Investing deeper into a Tech Tree will result in Recipes that are more profitable but expensive, time-consuming to complete, and difficult to fabricate.
At the start of each game (unless disabled), you gain number of free unlocks that are used to jump-start your business. This number of unlocks varies depending on the Difficulty you selected at game creation.
Rural Trees[]
The Rural Trees specialize in Food and Drink Recipes that can consist of simple Fruits and Vegetables for your friendly neighborhood Farmer’s Market as well as Livestock Recipes that provide Leather and Wool that can be used to take your first step into other industries like Textile or Carpentry. You will also find high-profit Recipes like Pizza and Burgers here not to mention some profitable Smoothies and Juices for production.
Light Industry Trees[]
Within the Light Industry Trees, you will find many Recipes that revolve around the everyday usage of a Settlement’s population. Products like Summer Clothes and Winter Clothes are found here as well as Leather Furniture and Office Furniture. If the population prefers to read, Newspapers and Books Recipes are in the Papermill Tree, or maybe they prefer to relax with a nice cold Beer at the end of the day, that Recipe is found here as well.
Heavy Industry Trees[]
Melting Sand to make Glass and Iron Ore to Steel are just two of the linchpin Recipes found in the Heavy Industry Trees. With those two alone you can make Products like Bottles and Ceramics or Cans and Steel Barrels, which are used to contain various other products in other Trees. You will also find Recipes for making more intricate Products like Light Bulbs and Refrigerators to be used in every chef’s kitchen and Adhesive and Paint in every handy-person's toolbox.
Auxiliary Trees[]
With the Auxiliary Trees you will be able to improve the backbone of your industrial empire. You will be able to add Trade Depots like the Truck Depot and Train Terminal from here as well as add more Destination Slots. Don’t like driving on those old dirt roads, unlock Urban Roads and get a smoother ride. You can also find the unlocks for more Harvesters and Fields here so you can fully stock the shelves with raw products If you invest time and money into the Efficiency Tree you will gain ways to fine-tune your buildings for the optimal output of products and maximize profits. Lastly, you find unlocks meant to improve not only your Farms and Gatherers but also improve the capabilities of the Warehouse.
Prototype Trees[]
Any industrialist can work the fields, mine for precious metals, or run a factory. A true innovator though pushes at the limits of the known world to make something that could change the world. Those who manage to accomplish the impossible, are heralded as legends of the industrial age. Each Prototype Tree a path to your glory. By investing into one or more of these trees, you are endeavoring to make a new Product that will change the way the world works. You will plunge your assets into research and construct each component of this new Product. By doing so, you will either sink your business into obscurity or rise to become a true legend of industry!