NOTE: As a rule of thumb you can rely on the background colour of the section where you find each tech (NOT the tech's card). If you see the colour changing, then you are in a different category and a different bonus applies. The colours themselves though are NOT consistent, and the same category might get different colours at different sections of the Research Window. Techs of the same category are mostly grouped together, but many categories can have individual techs spread far away.
Weapons
- Weapons
- Planetary Weapon Arrays (like Massive Railgun Batteries and its upgrades)
- Point Deflectors (even if tied to Shields)
- Assault Pods + Boarding Upgrades (even if tied to Troops and grouped with Starfighters in Construction)
- NOT Shipboard Marines specific tech (Industry)
- NOT Starfighters (MOSTLY Construction except 1 tech)
Troops
- Troop types (infantry, tanks, special forces, PDF, etc) + Troop Production Facilities (including Cloning, Robots, Titans, etc)
- Troop Logistics
- Troop Upgrades
- Reinforced Construction (Planetary Bastion facility) + Impregnable Construction (Planetary Fortress facility) specific techs (even if tied to Armor Research and one would assume they would be tied to Construction)
- Officer Training specific tech (Military Academy facility) + Combined Military Training specific tech (Galactic Command Center wonder) (even if tied to Command Center Systems in HighTech)
- NOT Shipboard Marines specific tech (Industry)
- NOT Assault Pods or Boarding Upgrades techs (Weapons)
- NOT Troop Transports (Construction)
- NOT Troop Compartment components (Industry)
Reactors
- Reactors
- Energy Collection (solar panel components)
- Advanced Energy Secrets specific tech
- NOT Energy Storage techs aka Shield Enhancement (Shields)
Shields
- Deflectors & Shields
- Shield Recharging
- Energy Storage aka Shield Enhancement (even if tied to Reactors)
- Massive Shield Projection + Global Shield Reinforcement specific techs (Planetary Shield Generators Mk1 + Mk2)
Hyperspace
- Hyperspace Drives
- Hyperspace Deny
- Hyperspace Facilities (Gravity Well Generator Mk1 + Mk2)
Engines
- Ship Engines
- Ship Maneuvering Thrusters
Armor
- Ship Armor
- Damage Control
- NOT Planetary Bastion + Planetary Fortress specific techs (Troops)
Construction
- Ship & Station Hulls
- Starfighter Bays & Starfighters (except Advanced Starfighters specific tech)
- Fuel Transfer components (attached to Civilian Ship Hulls)
- Construction Yard components (attached to Spaceport/Construction Ship Hulls)
- NOT Advanced Starfighters specific tech (High Tech)
- NOT Docking components (Industry)
Industry
(Warning: Goes all over the place and I will not mention what is NOT in, to keep the list concise)
- Mining
- Transport Systems (Troop & Passenger components)
- Storage Systems (Cargo Bay & Fuel Cell components)
- Docking Bays
- Crew Systems
- Advanced Mining Research (Galactic Mining Center)
- Shipboard Marines specific tech (even if tied to Assault Pods in Weapons)
- All Colonization techs (Colonization component, Planet Suitability upgrades, Terraforming) (even if tied to Sensors)
- Networked Entertainment (Holographic Network facility) + Virtual Reality (Reality Adjustment facility) + Total Immersion specific techs (Holographic Universe wonder) (even if tied to Recreation Systems in HighTech)
- (Zenox) Archival Facilities specific tech (Galactic Archives wonder)
- Genetic Mastery specific tech (Koloros Medical Facility wonder) (even if tied to Medical Systems in HighTech
Sensors
- Targeting
- Countermeasures
- Sensors
- Scan & Scan Jamming
- Exploration Sensors (Colonization belongs to Industry, even if it branches off here)
- Stealth (including Espionage Academy facility)
HighTech
(Warning: Goes all over the place and I will not mention what is NOT in, to keep the list concise)
- Commerce Systems
- Medical Systems (also see Industry)
- Recreation Systems (also see Industry)
- Research Systems
- Command Center Systems (NOT in Industry, like Crew Systems)
- Governance Facilities
- Advanced Starfighters specific tech (even if tied to Starfighters in Construction)
- Advanced Construction (Advanced Shipyards facility) + Accelerated Construction (High Speed Shipyard facility) + Component Replication (Bakuras Shipyard Complex wonder) specific techs (even if tied to Construction)
- Any facilities or wonders not mentioned in other categories (which means most of them)
This category DOES NOT have a specific research bonus, but still benefits from All Research bonus
- Basic, Effective, Advanced, Complete Diplomacy for every species
- Galactic Diplomacy (Galactic Diplomatic Center facility) specific tech (even if tied to Governance in HighTech)
How I did this:
- Start a new game (for simplicity)
- Make sure to select All Techs Visible and Fixed Research Paths (doesn't change categories of techs, but easier to figure things out)
- In the Game Editor give to a planet all the Research Bonuses, via the Add Bonus button. You'll have to scroll through the list to find them (there's 11 in total).
- Set a different number bonus to each category (e.g. 1% for Weapons, 2% for Armor, etc)
- Still in the Editor move to Add Ship or Base
- Select your Empire and add a Research Base over the planet with the Bonuses
- Exit the editor and pause
- Fire your Leader if they have a Research skill (for simplicity)
- Make sure you account for any other bonuses
- In the Research Window, check techs for the same research bonus (e.g. if you followed the above example, all Weapon techs will have +1% research bonus, all Armor techs will have +2% research bonus).
- If you'd like, save this game, and load it every time you want to check your techs.
