The Power techs appear in the top left part of the Research menu. They are quite a mixed lot: ship speed upgrades, bombs, and various special systems for ships.
0 RP: starting techs
None. you have to research all the Power techs if the game starts at Pre-Warp.
50 RP: Nuclear Fission
This is a "general" tech level - even Uncreatives get all the techs.
- Freighters (50 PP per 5 Freighters; maintenance 0.5 BC per 1 Freighter which is in flight)
Allows food and / or colonists (includiong Androids but not Natives) to be transported between colonies. See Freight training for details.
Miniaturization: none.
- Nuclear Drive
Ship component that moves a ship through interstellar space at 2 parsecs per turn, and in combat by 1 square per combat turn.
- Nuclear Bomb
Ship Weapon that can only be used against planets and only at zero range. Does 3 to 12 points of damage, minus whatever the planet's shield may block.
Miniaturization: Decreases size and cost.
Modifications: none.
80 RP: Cold Fusion
This is a "general" tech level - even Uncreatives get all the techs.
- Colony Ship (500 PP; maintenance 1 CP or 10 BC)
Ship that can colonize in any system within range, musually systems where you do not already have a colony. Creating a colony completely uses up the Colony Ship. You cannot design Colony Ships, and the game's hard-coded design includes Extended Fuel Tanks, which increases Colony Ships' range by 50%.
- Outpost Ship (100 PP; maintenance 1 CP or 10 BC)
Ship whose main use is to extend your other ship's range. Creating an Outpost completely uses up the Outpost Ship. Outposts can be created on Gas Giants and Asteroid Belts as well as on planets. If you colonize a planet on which you have previously created an Outpost, the colony gets free Marine Barracks; this improves the morale of new colonies for Feudalisms and Dictatorships. Note: you cannot land an Outpost Ship on an existing colony; so if you want to use one to provide a Marine Barracks for a new colony, the Outpost Ship must land at least 1 turn earlier than the Colony Ship or Colony Base. You cannot design Outpost Ships, and the game's hard-coded design includes Extended Fuel Tanks, which increases Outpost Ships' range by 50%.
- Transport (100 PP; maintenance 1 CP or 10 BC)
Transport Ships are the only way to invade enemy colonies. Each ship carries a squad of 4 Marines. If the invasion is successful, up to 4 Marines automatically remain on the conquered colony (how many depends onl your losses during ground combat). You will usually unload Marines from other Transports, up to a maximum of 1 Marine per 2 colonists (since you land Marines in groups of 4, the result is usually fewer than 1 Marine per 2 colonists). Placing fewer Marines on a conquered colony greatly increases the risk tha tthe colony will rebel and rejoin the empire that founded it (not necessarily its previous owner), unless that empire has been eliminated. Troop transports whose Marines are unloaded or lost in combat are themselves scrapped but this does not give you any revenue. You cannot design Transports, and the game's hard-coded design does not include Extended Fuel Tanks; so Transports' range is limited to what is provided by your fuel cell tech (in the Chemistry subject area).
Note: All of these ships will be destroyed in combat if not escorted by a warship. If the escort ship is destroyed, these ships will automatically retreat to the nearest friendly system.