Research

Research is the primary mechanism of progression in the factory builder genre. Raw resources are transformed and then consumed to unlock new options and receive permanent boosts to effectiveness.

Research serves many goals:

1. Provide a meaningful, nearly limitless sink for raw resources.
   1. Most other resource sinks ultimately improve the rate of resource extraction and refinement!
2. Gate complexity, by slowly unfolding options throughout the game.
   1. This feels more meaningful and is less patronizing as players can choose the order, and control the rate of unlocks.
3. Provides a sense of progression and rewards players for their successes.
4. Provide players with an outlet for mechanical creativity, by allowing players to choose how their playthrough unfolds.
   1. In most games, this effect is quite limited, as you are steadily unlocking a fixed tree with limited actual freedom.
5. Showcases late-game mechanics to let players plan and get them excited about how cool it's going to be.

In Emergence, there are three distinct forms of research: domestication (capturing new species), guided evolution (refining and branching existing species) and technology (unlocking new recipes and buildings, and increasing information). These are primarily split for thematic cohesion, but that choice also serves to increase system richness and add more interesting and distinct end goals.