Unlocks the Crafting Building and a recipe path for upgraded statues, banks, reactors, support buildings, and reward cases.
Research it once the base can afford Special Items purchases and has enough Iron, Cement, Gold, or later materials to start useful recipes.
This is a high priority in the Systems branch. Use it when the effect matches the next bottleneck in your current build path.
Delay it if the first economy, workers, population, or border defense are still failing; crafted upgrades pay off after the basic city is stable.
If the choice is unclear, open the Tech Advisor and compare this node against your current goal and bottleneck.
Open Tech AdvisorThese research nodes usually support the same timing or solve the next bottleneck.