User Guide

Probe Teams. Probe teams can steal technology from other factions (see Probe
Teams p. 133).
“Secrets” Technologies. The three “secrets” technologies (Secrets of the
Human Brain, Secrets of Alpha Centauri, Secrets of Creation) each provide an
extra instant tech advance to the first faction to discover them.
Secret Projects. The Universal Translator gives the faction that builds it two
instant tech advances immediately after it’s built. The Planetary Datalinks give
you instant access to any technology that is already known to any three other
factions. The Network Backbone and Supercollider can greatly enhance your
tech output.
Conquest. In some games (depending on what rules options you selected; see
Game Rules, p. 195) conquering an enemy base allows you to select any one
of that faction’s technologies that you do not already possess.
THE USES OF TECHNOLOGY
The biggest reason to research new technology is that it lets you build new
things—units, facilities and Secret Projects. That’s not all it does, however.
Technology can also:
Increase your production. Certain discoveries lift caps on the maximum
amount of a given resource you can take from a given square. Other discover-
ies increase your ability to take resources from fungus squares. See Fungus
Production, p. 43.
Expand your infrastructure. Some later discoveries can make certain key base
facilities part of your infrastructure—they are added to every new base that’s
built, at the time of establishment (bases that were built before the discovery
have to build the facility normally). See Facilities, p. 64.
Grant access to specialists, enhancements and social options. New tech-
nologies can give you access to new specialists (making current technologies
obsolete), new terraforming enhancements, and new social options (see
Society Window, p. 136).
CONTROLLING SOCIETY
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