Laboratory Efficiency

A laboratory isn't a building. It's an arrangement with reality.

In short: Your laboratory decides how strongly economy research, Navigation and Forced March affect an island.

- Full effect: laboratory meets the research's prerequisite level

- Half effect: laboratory present, but below the threshold

- Minimal effect: the island has no laboratory

- Sailing and combat research (Spear, Shield, Bow) work at full strength everywhere — they need no laboratory on the spot

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How the laboratory scales #

Research is stored globally. How strongly economy research (resource production), Navigation and Forced March affect an individual island is decided by the laboratory there. Three tiers:

• Full effect — the laboratory is at least at the level the research lists as prerequisite — nothing more is needed. The island gets the full bonus.
• Half effect — laboratory present, but below the prerequisite threshold. The island gets roughly half the global effect.
• Minimal effect — the island has no laboratory. A small residue remains — global research isn't lost — but the island isn't a useful research seat.

Sailing and combat research (Spear, Shield, Bow) are exempt: they work at full strength on every island, even without a laboratory.

Strategy #

• Read the prerequisite — if you plan late economy or travel research (Navigation, Forced March), build the laboratory high enough first; otherwise the bonus stays stuck at half effect
• Laboratories on economy islands — every island whose production should profit from research needs a laboratory at the level those researches require; a single strong laboratory elsewhere doesn't cover your colonies. Weigh the build cost against its local effects. The laboratory also affects the travel bonuses from Navigation and Forced March and is a prerequisite for training catapults. Your units' direct combat stats do not depend on the local laboratory