Tech Center Research — Pre-Season Priority Order
Why the Pre-Season Sets Everything Up
The Tech Center is the slowest and most permanent progression system in Last War: Survival — a node you skip is power you never get back, and research never refunds. So the pre-season question is not "what's strongest?" but "what order pays back fastest?" Everything you research before Season 1 should do one of two things: compound (make all future progress faster), or climb toward Unit X (the gate to T10 troops, the headline Season 1 power spike).
Get this right and you walk into Season 1 with a heavy economy engine and the ability to convert it straight into T10. Get it wrong and you spend Season 1 still trying to build the foundation everyone else already has.
The node names and the order within each tree are confirmed from the in-game research data (each node has a fixed prerequisite row — you cannot skip ahead). The cross-tree priority below is our recommended strategy, informed by the community consensus and the maths of what compounds fastest. Use the Research Calculator to see exact costs and time for any node.
The Two-Queue Rule
Run two research queues at once from the start (a third opens later via The Age of Oil):
- Queue 1 — always on Development. It costs little and compounds everything else. Never let it sit idle.
- Queue 2 — rotating. Cycle through Economy, Units, and your climb up Special Forces.
Pre-Season Priority Order
1. Development — the compounding foundation (do first, keep running)
Work the tree top to bottom (it unlocks in row order anyway). The picks you must never skip:
- Fast Builder I → II → III → IV — faster construction on every building, forever
- Research Enhancement I → II → III → IV — faster research on everything that follows
- Extra Barracks (row 10) — more troop-training throughput
- Efficient Healing (row 15) — cheaper, faster hospital turnaround
- Pick up Infirmary Expansion, Barrack Expansion, Rapid Field Dressing and Focused Training on the connecting rows as you pass them; finish with Master Craftsman, Drill Ground Expansion and Survival Skills.
Why first: every level here makes all future buildings, research and troops complete faster — it is the multiplier sitting underneath both base power and hero power. This is the single highest‑return tree in the early game.
2. Economy — pay the bills (second queue)
In row order: Food Output I + Iron Output I → Coin Output I → More Farmlands → Output II → More Iron Mines → Output III → More Gold Mines → Output IV, finishing with the Protection nodes.
Why: prioritise the Output nodes and the "More Farmlands / Iron Mines / Gold Mines" capacity unlocks over the Gathering line — raw production funds your HQ, troops and research, whereas gathering speed matters less once you're farming resource tiles.
3. Units — free flat stats (filler)
Weapon Training, Defense Training, Advanced Armor and Load Training (I → V), in row order.
Why: these give flat ATK / DEF / HP that apply to every troop tier including the T10 you're about to unlock — so they're never wasted. Perfect for idle slots between bigger priorities.
4. Special Forces — the long climb to Unit X
This is the slow pole, so chip away at it in parallel. The tree runs in this order:
- HP Boost I · Attack Boost I · Defense Boost I
- Advanced Protection
- Weapon Training VII · Defense Training VII · Advanced Armor VII
- Focused Training I · Barracks Expansion I
- HP Boost II · Attack Boost II · Defense Boost II
- Morale
- Weapon Training VIII · Defense Training VIII · Advanced Armor VIII
- Rapid Field Dressing I · Infirmary Expansion I
- Advanced Protection
- HP Boost III · Attack Boost III · Defense Boost III ← the four final gate nodes (with Advanced Protection above)
- Unit X → unlocks T10 troop training
Why: Unit X is the spike the whole of Season 1 is built around. Climb it steadily — but don't starve your economy to rush it, because you'll need the resources and training speed to actually field T10 the moment it unlocks.
5. Hero — only your squad's line
The Hero tree is split into three troop lines. Push only the one matching your main squad and ignore the other two:
- Tank: Tank Mastery → Cannon Enhancement / Armor Hardening → Track Fortification
- Aircraft: Aircraft Mastery → Airborne Weapon / Reinforced Body → Wingman Tactics
- Missile: Missile Mastery → Precision Targeting / Metal Barricade → Missile Expansion
Why: hero stats for the squad you actually fight with. Splitting across all three troop types wastes badges and slows the line that matters.
What to Skip Pre-Season
| Skip / defer | Reason |
|---|---|
| The Age of Oil | Season 1 tree — not your focus yet |
| Type Mastery (deep nodes) & Tactical Weapon | Convert here later, once T10 + economy are in |
| Intercity Truck | Minor payoff for the badge cost |
| The other two Hero troop lines | Commit to one squad type |
| Pure Gathering economy | Output + capacity beat gathering |
In One Line
Lock in the compounding base — always-on Development, then Economy output, Units as filler, a steady Special Forces climb to Unit X, and your squad's Hero line — so that when Season 1 opens you can immediately cash it in for T10 and the Age of Oil.
➡️ Next: Tech Center Research — Season 1 (The Crimson Plague) · Plan exact costs with the Research Calculator and the Unit X (T10) Calculator.