Tech research path

Priority overview

#	Tech	Notes
1	Construction Speed	Push TC fast for higher troop tiers
2	Research Speed	Multi-day timers post-TC 24
3	Rally Capacity	Bigger contributions when joining
4	Command Tactics	Unlocks march queues
5	Training Speed	Bigger, faster armies
6	Healing Speed	Recovery during heavy events
7	Resource Gathering Speed	After early TC
8	Combat Tech	Save for HoG event day
—	Ward / Camp Expansion	Deprioritize (gate-forced levels only)
—	Infirmary Capacity	Bump up if your server is aggressive

Reasoning

1. Construction Speed

Pushing TC fast is the central early-game lever — every TC unlocks new troop tiers, new building tiers, and downstream research nodes. Time saved on construction compounds across every upgrade you make for the rest of the game.

2. Research Speed

Research timers stretch into multi-day territory after TC 24. A single research speed bonus compounds across hundreds of subsequent research nodes — easily one of the highest-ROI investments at this stage.

3. Rally Capacity

For joiners, more capacity means more troops in the rally per joining slot — a direct multiplier on your rally contribution. Critical for F2P, because rally contribution is one of the few places you reliably matter in alliance combat.

4. Command Tactics

Unlocks additional march queues. Once you have the queues, you can run gathering, training, and combat actions in parallel rather than waiting on each.

5. Training Speed

Bigger armies, faster. Every troop you train benefits from this; the gain is steady but not flashy.

6. Healing Speed

Combat events cost troops; recovery time costs you the next event window. Healing speed shrinks the recovery gap.

7. Resource Gathering Speed

After the early TC levels, gathering speed beats resource production for output per hour. Production buildings cap out; gathering scales with the time you can keep marches on tiles.

8. Combat Tech

Combat tech (troop attack / defense / health / lethality) sits low in the priority order — it’s expensive per-tick of power and the timers are long. Save combat tech for HoG event day when completed research scores event points; you get the best power-per-research-hour ratio there.

Within combat tech, the priority order is:

Arch Lethality > Inf Health > Cav Lethality > Arch Attack > Inf Defense > Cav Attack

This follows the troop stat priorities: archers’ damage from Lethality first, infantry’s tankiness next, cavalry’s burst third.

Ward / Camp Expansion

Camp expansion is the lowest-value branch — take only the levels the lab forces on you to keep the tree moving. Ward expansion is similar for F2P unless server activity demands more infirmary headroom.

Infirmary Capacity (conditional)

If your server is aggressive — frequent attacks, big rallies, lots of trade-fire — infirmary capacity becomes more important because you’ll fill it during heavy combat and start losing troops outright. Bump it up if your alliance regularly takes losses.

F2P-specific notes

• Don’t burn speed-ups on research. Speed-ups are worth more on building or training. Let research run on its own clock; the lab queue is your friend.
• Run research overnight. A 16-hour research finished in the morning gives you 24+ hours of progress per real day.
• Combat tech is a HoG resource. Stockpile the prerequisites and finish them on HoG combat tech day for the leaderboard scoring bonus.

Priority overview

#	Tech	Notes
1	Construction Speed	Important early; declines once multi-day
2	Research Speed	Multi-day timers post-TC 24
3	Command Tactics	Unlocks march queues
4	Training Speed	Bigger, faster armies
5	Healing Speed	Recovery during heavy events
6	Combat Tech	Pulled forward — comes before resource tech
7	Ward Expansion	Push up significantly
8	Resource Gathering Speed	Lower priority — packs cover resources
—	Rally Capacity	Deprioritize — you lead, you don’t join
—	Training Capacity	Deprioritize — doesn’t speed training
—	Camp Expansion	Deprioritize — minimums only
—	Infirmary Capacity	Bump up if your server is aggressive

Reasoning

1. Construction Speed

Pushing TC fast is the central early-game lever — every TC unlocks new troop tiers, new building tiers, and downstream research nodes. For Spenders specifically, construction speed declines in priority once buildings hit multi-day timers — you’ll run out of buildings to upgrade and the speed bonus stops paying back. De-prioritize once you’re in that range.

2. Research Speed

Research timers stretch into multi-day territory after TC 24. A single research speed bonus compounds across hundreds of subsequent research nodes — easily one of the highest-ROI investments at this stage.

3. Command Tactics

Unlocks additional march queues. Once you have the queues, you can run gathering, training, and combat actions in parallel rather than waiting on each.

4. Training Speed

Bigger armies, faster. Every troop you train benefits from this.

5. Healing Speed

Combat events cost troops; recovery time costs you the next event window. Healing speed shrinks the recovery gap.

6. Combat Tech (pulled forward)

For Spenders, all combat tech comes before any of the resource output / gathering tech. Your damage as a leader matters more than your resource output — and you can pack-buy resources directly when needed.

Within combat tech, the priority order is:

Arch Lethality > Inf Health > Cav Lethality > Arch Attack > Inf Defense > Cav Attack

This follows the troop stat priorities: archers’ damage from Lethality first, infantry’s tankiness next, cavalry’s burst third.

7. Ward Expansion

Spenders run bigger armies and lose more total troops in heavy fights — you’re more likely to overflow your infirmary and start losing troops permanently. Increase ward expansion enough to absorb your typical event losses.

8. Resource Gathering Speed

Gathering speed is mostly a point-scoring tool for Spenders — you probably have enough resources from packs that gathering speed only matters for points in gathering events. Defer accordingly.

Deprioritized: Rally Capacity and Training Capacity

Rally Capacity — As a Spender you’re typically leading rallies (not joining), so your own capacity isn’t the constraint — your gear, charms, and march composition are. Take the minimums the lab forces, no more.

Training Capacity — Capacity just determines how long a training queue runs; it doesn’t speed up troops per second. With pack-bought training speed-ups, you don’t want longer queues — you want them to finish faster. Same minimums-only treatment.

Camp Expansion

Lowest priority on the Spender path — only take the levels the lab forces you to clear.

Infirmary Capacity (conditional)

If your server is aggressive — frequent attacks, big rallies, lots of trade-fire — infirmary capacity becomes more important because you’ll fill it during heavy combat and start losing troops outright. Bump it up if your alliance regularly takes losses.