So I've seen a lot of frustration from people trying to get the Mega-Engineering technology to show up without grabbing Voidborne, but I haven't really had much difficulty myself. It's to the point - for me - that I've never grabbed Voidborne but always build Megastructures.
The key is knowing the technology prerequisites in all their detail. The easy ones are these:
- Zero Point Power, Tier 4, Physics tree. Odds are you'll get this without trying very hard, as Physics doesn't really have as many technologies. If you're having trouble, researching Battleships and having a head researcher with Particles expertise makes the tech more likely to pop up.
- Battleships, Tier 4, Engineering tree. Requires Cruisers tech, and receives massive boosts to the card being drawn as time passes, as well as from a Voidcraft scientist and if you border someone else who already has them.
- Citadels, Tier 4, Engineering tree. Requires Star Fortress tech. Gains bonuses to draw if you have already constructed three Star Fortresses, as well as from a Voidcraft scientist.
Those are the three actual, specific prerequisites for Mega-Engineering. But wait - there's more! Note how I declared the Tier for each technology. I'm not sure people know this, but Tech Tier means a lot. You can only draw a tech from any specific tier when you have researched six technologies in that field from the tier below that. Mega-Engineering is Tier 5.
So if you're beelining towards Megastructures, trying to get those three prerequisites and then going through cheap techs that you skipped in order to refresh the pool, you're going about it exactly the wrong way. It's not your fault; it's not explained anywhere in game.
You already have Battleships and Citadels, so you'll need four more. Drawing straight from the game files, here's what I come up with for Tier 4 engineering tech:
*Gauss Cannons
*Kinetic Artillery
*Mega Cannon
*Giga Cannon
*Stormfire Autocannon
*Flak Artillery
*Marauder Missiles
*Whirlwind Missiles
*Devastator Torpedoes
*Advanced Cruiser Hulls (the second one - rare research)
*Standardized Battleship Patterns
*Improved Battleship Hulls
*Neutronium Materials
*Crystal-Forged Plating (only from the special system and boss fight)
*Impulse Thrusters
*Mineral Isolation (tier 3 planetary mining boost)
*Superfluid Materials (tier 3 engineering research boost)
*Synthetics
*Synthetic Personality Matrix
*Nanite Assemblers (rare)
*Fungible Circuitry (rare)
Now, so far as I can tell, those are all in the game (name might be wrong for one or two, some do not appear for gestalts, stuff like that, etc) but you need to have at least four of those twenty-one techs in order to draw Mega-Engineering. If you start getting repeatable technologies popping up, you know you've done it.
One recommendation is to go for the Gauss Cannon line. It opens up few branches and leads to Gauss Cannons, Mega Cannons, Giga Cannons and Kinetic Artillery. Unless you're doing synthetic ascension (and who is, right now?); then the bottom four should be logical picks.
Another option includes performing the mining boost, getting a couple of the engineering research boosts (using the Xvan Labs anomaly to grab the third as a guaranteed research if you have to), getting Standardized Battleship Patterns and Improved Battleship Hulls. Those are all useful techs to have.
Anyway. You get the picture. Once those prerequisites are in place, it should pop up with acceptable speed when you have the right researcher - with Voidcraft, Curator or Maniacal (not a stacking bonus; one will do). It will, however, be much faster if you also own a broken (or intact) Megastructure - but only the ones you need Galactic Wonders to build.
But that's it. That's the trick, and I hope it does you some service.
The key is knowing the technology prerequisites in all their detail. The easy ones are these:
- Zero Point Power, Tier 4, Physics tree. Odds are you'll get this without trying very hard, as Physics doesn't really have as many technologies. If you're having trouble, researching Battleships and having a head researcher with Particles expertise makes the tech more likely to pop up.
- Battleships, Tier 4, Engineering tree. Requires Cruisers tech, and receives massive boosts to the card being drawn as time passes, as well as from a Voidcraft scientist and if you border someone else who already has them.
- Citadels, Tier 4, Engineering tree. Requires Star Fortress tech. Gains bonuses to draw if you have already constructed three Star Fortresses, as well as from a Voidcraft scientist.
Those are the three actual, specific prerequisites for Mega-Engineering. But wait - there's more! Note how I declared the Tier for each technology. I'm not sure people know this, but Tech Tier means a lot. You can only draw a tech from any specific tier when you have researched six technologies in that field from the tier below that. Mega-Engineering is Tier 5.
So if you're beelining towards Megastructures, trying to get those three prerequisites and then going through cheap techs that you skipped in order to refresh the pool, you're going about it exactly the wrong way. It's not your fault; it's not explained anywhere in game.
You already have Battleships and Citadels, so you'll need four more. Drawing straight from the game files, here's what I come up with for Tier 4 engineering tech:
*Gauss Cannons
*Kinetic Artillery
*Mega Cannon
*Giga Cannon
*Stormfire Autocannon
*Flak Artillery
*Marauder Missiles
*Whirlwind Missiles
*Devastator Torpedoes
*Advanced Cruiser Hulls (the second one - rare research)
*Standardized Battleship Patterns
*Improved Battleship Hulls
*Neutronium Materials
*Crystal-Forged Plating (only from the special system and boss fight)
*Impulse Thrusters
*Mineral Isolation (tier 3 planetary mining boost)
*Superfluid Materials (tier 3 engineering research boost)
*Synthetics
*Synthetic Personality Matrix
*Nanite Assemblers (rare)
*Fungible Circuitry (rare)
Now, so far as I can tell, those are all in the game (name might be wrong for one or two, some do not appear for gestalts, stuff like that, etc) but you need to have at least four of those twenty-one techs in order to draw Mega-Engineering. If you start getting repeatable technologies popping up, you know you've done it.
One recommendation is to go for the Gauss Cannon line. It opens up few branches and leads to Gauss Cannons, Mega Cannons, Giga Cannons and Kinetic Artillery. Unless you're doing synthetic ascension (and who is, right now?); then the bottom four should be logical picks.
Another option includes performing the mining boost, getting a couple of the engineering research boosts (using the Xvan Labs anomaly to grab the third as a guaranteed research if you have to), getting Standardized Battleship Patterns and Improved Battleship Hulls. Those are all useful techs to have.
Anyway. You get the picture. Once those prerequisites are in place, it should pop up with acceptable speed when you have the right researcher - with Voidcraft, Curator or Maniacal (not a stacking bonus; one will do). It will, however, be much faster if you also own a broken (or intact) Megastructure - but only the ones you need Galactic Wonders to build.
But that's it. That's the trick, and I hope it does you some service.
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