Particle Tech

Particle Tech is a key, not a bonus. Researching it does not make a single thing you own better. No ship flies faster, no gun hits harder, no shield holds longer. What it does is open up a cruiser, a defense turret, the whole Plasma line and, at the top end, the Hephaestus platform. Every account gets there in the end.

What it unlocks

Particle Tech level	Opens up
2	Poseidon Class Cruiser
4	Particle Cannon
5	Plasma Tech
10	Hephaestus Class Attack Platform

Four entries does not sound like much, but level 5 is worth more than the rest put together. Plasma Tech is the thing standing between you and the Ares Class Bomber (Plasma 5), the Plasma Cannon (Plasma 7) and the Zeus Class (Plasma 9). No Particle 5, no Plasma Tech, no late game fleet.

The More Info button on the Research page spells all of this out, along with what you still need to unlock the tech in the first place.

What it does not do

Nothing in a battle reads your Particle Tech level. It is not one of the bonus techs like Weapons Tech, Shield Tech or Armor Tech, which each add a flat 10% per level. Particle Tech has no percentage at all. A fleet built at Particle 10 fights exactly the same as one built at Particle 2.

The in game description mentions transportation. Ignore that part. No drive and no travel tech in SFC2 asks for Particle Tech.

Getting it

You need all three of these before it shows up on the Research page:

Research Lab level 4
Laser Tech level 5
Energy Tech level 4

Research belongs to your account rather than to a planet, so you pay for it once and every planet you own gets the benefit.

Two rules catch people out. Only one research runs at a time across your whole account, so the moment you start Particle Tech the Upgrade button on every other tech goes grey until it finishes.

The other rule is that you cannot start any research at all while a Research Lab is upgrading anywhere on your account. Get the lab work out of the way first. And until you have ARCNet, you have to start the research from a planet whose own Research Lab is level 4 or better. Once ARCNet is up, the planet you happen to be standing on stops mattering.

Cost per level

Level	Ore	Crystal	Hydrogen	Spent so far
1	1,000	300	100	1,400
2	2,000	600	200	4,200
3	4,000	1,200	400	9,800
4	8,000	2,400	800	21,000
5	16,000	4,800	1,600	43,400
6	32,000	9,600	3,200	88,200
7	64,000	19,200	6,400	177,800
8	128,000	38,400	12,800	357,000
9	256,000	76,800	25,600	715,400
10	512,000	153,600	51,200	1,432,200

Every level doubles the one before it. Going from nothing to level 10 costs 1,023,000 ore, 306,900 crystal and 102,300 hydrogen. Levels 6 to 10 alone are worth about 32 times the first five.

Research time

Hydrogen does not count towards the time. Only ore and crystal do:

Hours = (ore + crystal) / (2000 × (lab + 1))

"lab" there is your effective lab level. Without ARCNet that is simply the Research Lab on the planet you are researching from. With ARCNet it is the sum of your best few labs, one lab per ARCNet level plus one, counting only labs at level 4 or higher.

Level	Lab 4	Lab 8	Lab 12
1	7m 48s	4m 20s	3m 00s
2	15m 36s	8m 40s	6m 00s
3	31m 12s	17m 20s	12m 00s
4	1h 02m 24s	34m 40s	24m 00s
5	2h 04m 48s	1h 09m 20s	48m 00s
6	4h 09m 36s	2h 18m 40s	1h 36m 00s
7	8h 19m 12s	4h 37m 20s	3h 12m 00s
8	16h 38m 24s	9h 14m 40s	6h 24m 00s
9	1d 9h 17m	18h 29m 20s	12h 48m 00s
10	2d 18h 34m	1d 12h 59m	1d 1h 36m

An alliance that has bought levels in the Research Relay perk cuts every one of those times, down to half at the top level.

Quests

Three quests pay out on the way up:

Particular Particles I, at level 1: 2,000 ore, 2,000 crystal, 2,000 hydrogen
Particular Particles II, at level 4: 5,500 ore, 6,400 crystal
Particular Particles III, at level 10: 136,800 ore, 196,800 crystal, 16,400 hydrogen

The last one hands back roughly half of what level 10 cost you.

How far to take it

Nothing in SFC2 needs Particle Tech above level 10. You can keep researching past it and the levels still count towards your rank, but no new ship, defense or tech opens up.

A sensible order is level 2 early, so the Poseidon is on the Shipyard list, level 4 when you want Particle Cannons in the wall, then level 5 as soon as you can pay for it because that is the Plasma gate. Level 10 can sit and wait until you are genuinely building towards a Hephaestus. It is a long way up from 5 and nothing between 6 and 9 gives you anything.

Rank points

Research counts towards your rank the same way buildings and ships do: everything you have spent on it, divided by 1,000. Particle Tech at level 10 is worth 1,432 rank points. Unlike ships, those points cannot be raided or blown up.