Research Priorities: What to Research First
The research order most guides agree on, how Valor Badges work, and when to push Special Forces for T10.
Research is a long game. The trick is to run two queues with different currencies, and to time big research for Wednesday.
Two queues
| Queue | Pays with | Research |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Resources | Development and Economy, then Garage (squad upgrades) |
| 2 | Valor Badges | Alliance Duel, then Special Forces |
A third Tech Center becomes available with Age of Oil.
Development first
- Fast Builder I–IV and Research Enhancement I–IV: everything else gets faster.
- Master Craftsman.
- Extra Barracks (a second troop queue) around HQ 20–25.
Economy
Output boosts, then More Farmlands, Iron Mines and Gold Mines. Gathering and protection nodes can wait.
Garage (squad upgrades)
Max Garage 1 early: it's the cheapest, fastest squad boost. One guide suggests Garage 4 next because it's cheaper than 2 or 3.
Alliance Duel tree (badges)
- Advanced Rewards unlocks daily VS chests 4–6.
- Super Bonus unlocks chests 7–9.
Every week you delay these, you miss badges and rewards. Get them early.
Special Forces: the road to T10
T10 needs HQ 30, Tech Center 30 and Barracks 30 plus Special Forces research. The final nodes are very expensive (hundreds of millions of coins).
- Guides suggest about 50% of the tree to unlock T10.
- Push on toward the Damage Reduction and Morale nodes once T10 is done.
- Don't rush to the bare minimum and leave yourself broke.
Valor Badges and research day
- Badges come mainly from Alliance Duel chests and the Arms Race Tech phase.
- Spend them on Wednesday, the VS research day, so they also score duel points. Time long research to finish on Wednesday, and claim it then.
- Some players keep a reserve of 5,000–10,000 badges going into each VS week.
Skip early
- Squad 2 and 3 research before Squad 1 is strong.
- Defense Fortifications past the first node, which gives the 4th Hospital, before T10.
- Splitting badges across two trees at once.
See also: Alliance Duel & Arms Race.
Sources
Compiled from community guides (last checked October 2026). Several are run by top-up shops, and numbers change with updates and differ by server, so double-check anything important in game.