Laser Tech

Laser Tech is a gate, not a weapon. Researching it does not make a single gun of yours hit harder. What it does is open the door to six other things: two defenses, two techs and two ships. That is the whole job.

You research it from the Research page like anything else. The level is account wide, so you research it once and every planet you own has it, including colonies you found later.

What it does

Nothing on its own. Laser Tech has no combat effect at all. It does not add damage to a Laser Cannon, it does not add damage to anything else, and it does nothing for hull, shields, speed, cargo, fuel or energy. The tech that raises weapon damage is Weapons Tech, and that one adds 10 percent per level to every gun you own, lasers included.

The in-game description says Laser Tech is used for "advanced engines and weaponry". The engines half is leftover text from the old game. SFC2 has three engines, Jet Drive, Pulse Drive and Warp Drive, and not one of them looks at your Laser Tech level.

Requirements

A Research Lab at level 1, on the planet you start the research from. That is the only requirement, at every level.

The game data also lists Energy Tech level 2, but every new player starts with Energy Tech already at 3, so that one is met the day you sign up and the game does not even show it. Build a lab and you can start Laser Tech straight away.

What it unlocks

Laser Tech	Unlocks	Also needs
2	Laser Cannon	Shipyard 2
5	Particle Tech	Research Lab 4, Energy Tech 4
6	Pulse Cannon	Shipyard 4
10	Plasma Tech	Research Lab 4, Energy Tech 8, Particle Tech 5
12	Hades Class Battleship	Shipyard 8, FTL Tech 5, Warp Drive 5
14	Zeus Class	Shipyard 12, Energy Tech 11, Plasma Tech 9, Weapons Tech 11, Warp Drive 8, FTL Tech 9, A.I. Tech 12

The two techs on that list are why anyone researches this. Particle Tech at 5 and Plasma Tech at 10 sit in front of most of the good weapons and most of the good defenses, so a stalled Laser Tech quietly stalls half your tech tree. The two ships are the other end of the same story: the Hades needs 12 and the Zeus needs 14, and 14 is the highest level anything in SFC2 asks for.

The More Info button on any Research page card opens that list, with a green dot next to everything you already qualify for.

Cost

Level 1 costs 200 ore and 100 crystal. Every level after doubles both. Laser Tech never costs hydrogen, and there is no level cap.

Level	Ore	Crystal	Ore spent so far	Crystal spent so far
1	200	100	200	100
2	400	200	600	300
3	800	400	1,400	700
4	1,600	800	3,000	1,500
5	3,200	1,600	6,200	3,100
6	6,400	3,200	12,600	6,300
7	12,800	6,400	25,400	12,700
8	25,600	12,800	51,000	25,500
9	51,200	25,600	102,200	51,100
10	102,400	51,200	204,600	102,300
11	204,800	102,400	409,400	204,700
12	409,600	204,800	819,000	409,500
13	819,200	409,600	1,638,200	819,100
14	1,638,400	819,200	3,276,600	1,638,300
15	3,276,800	1,638,400	6,553,400	3,276,700

Doubling does what doubling always does. Levels 1 through 8 put together cost less than level 9 on its own, and the last two levels before the Zeus cost more than everything under them combined.

Research time

Research time counts ore and crystal only, and Laser Tech is the same 2 to 1 ore and crystal mix at every level.

Hours = (Ore + Crystal) ÷ (2000 × (Research Lab level + 1))

Level	Lab 1	Lab 3	Lab 6	Lab 10	Lab 15
1	4m 30s	2m 15s	1m 17s	49s	34s
2	9m	4m 30s	2m 34s	1m 38s	1m 08s
3	18m	9m	5m 09s	3m 16s	2m 15s
4	36m	18m	10m 17s	6m 33s	4m 30s
5	1h 12m	36m	20m 34s	13m 05s	9m
6	2h 24m	1h 12m	41m 09s	26m 11s	18m
7	4h 48m	2h 24m	1h 22m	52m 22s	36m
8	9h 36m	4h 48m	2h 44m	1h 44m	1h 12m
9	19h 12m	9h 36m	5h 29m	3h 29m	2h 24m
10	1d 14h	19h 12m	10h 58m	6h 58m	4h 48m
11	3d 4h	1d 14h	21h 56m	13h 57m	9h 36m
12	6d 9h	3d 4h	1d 19h	1d 3h	19h 12m
13	12d 19h	6d 9h	3d 15h	2d 7h	1d 14h
14	25d 14h	12d 19h	7d 7h	4d 15h	3d 4h
15	51d 4h	25d 14h	14d 15h	9d 7h	6d 9h

Four things change that number:

The lab that counts is the one on the planet you start from. Once you have the Advanced Research Communication Network your labs are added together instead, one to start with plus one more for every ARCNet level, and it stops mattering where you press the button.
The Research Relay alliance perk divides the time, up to half at the top level.
Only one research runs at a time across your whole account, and you cannot start one while a Research Lab is upgrading on any of your planets.
Cancelling a research in progress refunds the full cost to the planet that paid. You can also finish it instantly with credits, which costs 1.12 credits per second remaining and is free once there are under five minutes left.

Quests

Four quests pay out for Laser Tech levels.

Quest	Needs	Pays
Firing My Laser I	Level 2	800 ore, 600 crystal
Firing My Laser II	Level 6	5,000 ore, 4,000 crystal, 3,000 hydrogen
Firing My Laser III	Level 10	1,400 ore, 41,000 crystal, 47,600 hydrogen
Firing My Laser IV	Level 14	247,000 ore, 61,000 crystal, 42,000 hydrogen

The first one is free money: it pays 1,400 for two levels that cost 900. After that the tech doubles and the rewards do not, so by level 14 all four quests together have handed back about a tenth of what you spent. Take them as a nudge to keep the tech moving, not as a way to pay for it.

Worth knowing

Get to 2 early. It is the cheapest tech in the game at the bottom end, and level 2 costs 600 ore and 300 crystal all in. That buys you Laser Cannons, which are the wall you put up before you have anything better.

Then 5, then 10. Those are Particle Tech and Plasma Tech. Getting stuck under either of them holds up more of your account than the Laser Tech levels themselves cost.

Stop where your plan stops. Levels 13 and 14 exist for one thing, the Zeus Class. If you are not building a Zeus, 12 gets you the Hades and 10 gets you Plasma Tech, and the two levels you skip cost more than every level below them.

There is no reason to go past 14. Nothing in SFC2 asks for a higher level and the tech does nothing by itself, so the only thing more levels buy is the resources counting toward your rank. There are cheaper ways to buy rank.