Tech and Research is the system through which factions develop and progress their technological capabilities. As a faction researches, the districts on its planets become capable of producing more advanced units, larger structures, and more powerful infrastructure. 

Research is the slowest of the major faction systems. Where credits are earned every turn, materials are extracted every turn, and Influence shifts gradually over time, technological advancement happens in discrete jumps as a faction accumulates Research Points and spends them to push specific districts to higher tiers.

Note: this is not about discovery. All things available to factions already exist, it's moreso about a faction unlocking the capability to build them.

Research Points are the resource through which technological progression is purchased. They are generated by Research District buildings, which sit on specific planets across the faction's territory.

A faction's total Research Point income is the sum of every Research District building it operates across the galaxy. Building more Research Districts on more planets, and constructing more research buildings within each district, accelerates the rate at which the faction can advance.

Research Points themselves are not stored on individual planets; they are pooled at the faction level. This means a faction can choose to focus its accumulated research output on any district on any of its planets, regardless of where the points were generated. A Research District on Coruscant can fund the Tech upgrade of an Industrial District on Mandalore.

Though, I don't think that would make much sense, unless those Skirata shills get put in charge!

Tech is tracked per-planet-per-district. Each district on each planet has its own Tech level, ranging from Tech 0 (baseline) to Tech 5 (the peak even). The Tech level determines which buildings, units, and capabilities are available within that specific district on that specific planet.

A district at Tech 3 unlocks Tech 3 buildings and units within that district. This means a faction's overall technological development is not a single number but a map of tech levels across every district on every planet it controls.

Tech progression is sequential: a district must be at Tech N to be upgraded to Tech N+1. A faction cannot skip tiers, regardless of how many Research Points are available. This means advancing from Tech 0 to Tech 5 on a single district requires five sequential upgrades, each more expensive than the last. 

Research Point costs scale with the tier being unlocked:

• Tech 0 → Tech 1

  • • 2,000

• Tech 1 → Tech 2

  • • 8000 

• Tech 2 → Tech 3

  • • 25,000

• Tech 3 → Tech 4

  • • 75,000 

• Tech 4 → Tech 5

  • • 250,000

Cumulatively, upgrading a single district from Tech 0 all the way to Tech 5 costs 360,000 Research Points. The jump from Tech 4 to Tech 5 alone costs nearly 70% of that total, reflecting the fact that peak technological achievement is exponentially harder than basic advancement.

Because Tech is tracked per-planet-per-district, factions face meaningful strategic choices about where to invest Research Points.

A faction may concentrate Research on a single flagship planet, raising every district on that world to Tech 5 to create a galaxy-tier military hub. The resulting planet becomes a strategic asset of unmatched capability, but it's a vulnerability if its lost (the humble Kuat invasion): capturing or destroying that single world cripples the faction's technological reach.

Alternatively, a faction may distribute its Research Points across many planets, raising every Fabrication District to Tech 3 rather than raising one to Tech 5. The faction's overall capabilities scale linearly with the number of advanced planets, and the loss of any single world is recoverable.

The third option is specialised investment: raising Tech in specific districts on specific worlds based on what that world produces. A mining-focused world might receive Extraction District upgrades to Tech 4 while its Fabrication District remains at Tech 0. A shipyard world might receive Shipyards District upgrades to Tech 5 while its Cultural District stays at Tech 2.

Realistically, you will all persue a mix of all three of these strategies (or some evil fourth strategy, I'm sure), wherein you focus intensely on a handful of strategic capitals while spreading basic advancement across the periphery.

Research is the slowest investment in the game, except for Transformation Projects. You will need to start early so you don't lag behind other factions, but you also don't want to focus too heavily upon it at the expense of actual tangible capability. 

Factions that focus on Research first will become technologically dominant in the late game, capable of building Tech 5 fleets while rivals are still operating at Tech 2 or Tech 3. Factions that focus on expansion first dominate the early and mid-game, holding more planets and producing more resources, but find themselves unable to match the technological output of slower, more methodical rivals later on.

A faction that builds no Research Districts at all is locked at Tech 0 across all districts on all planets indefinitely. This is a viable short-term strategy for raiding factions or pirate states, but unsustainable for any faction seeking long-term galactic relevance.