Research
Research means taking software you already own and upgrading it to a higher version. You do it at the University, and it costs two things: money, paid from a bank account, and time. A research job runs for roughly half an hour per 0.1 of version.
The catch is that research only earns its keep once you're past the NPC ceiling. Most software is free to download from an NPC up to around v12–v15, so don't pay to research a version you could pull off an NPC for nothing. Two types sit higher than you'd guess — the cracker is free to v20, and the hasher to v20 in practice — so grab those before you ever think about researching them. Research is for climbing past the free ceiling, not getting to it.
One requirement before you start: a file's license has to be bought before it can be researched. Licenses are covered on Software & Versions.
| Software | Free up to | Off NPC |
|---|---|---|
| Cracker | v20 | Fsck You |
| Hasher | v20 | Slowdan — NSA's v40 stays locked until your cracker hits v40 at endgame |
| Firewall | v15 | Fsck You |
| Exploits (FTP / SSH) | v15 | Fourth Whois |
| Miner | v15 | Third Whois #9 |
| Warez | v14 | Third Whois #7 |
| Spam / Collector | v12 | Third Whois #6 |
Cost climbs steeply with version. Every 0.1 step costs more than the one before it, so a step from v30.0 costs far more than a step from v10.0.
You can research a single 0.1 step or queue several versions in one job, but the two aren't priced the same. A job that covers several steps at once carries a surcharge of roughly one percent per step, on both the price and the time. Ten 0.1 steps done one at a time come out about 10% cheaper and around half an hour faster than the same ground covered as a single +1.0 jump.
That doesn't make the big jump wrong. A single large job is fire-and-forget: you start it once and walk away. Stepping up 0.1 at a time means coming back to start the next job each time, and if you can't be around to do that, the idle gaps between steps cost you more than the surcharge would have. The cheaper path is one step at a time; the simpler path is one big job. Pick the one that fits how often you're actually at the keyboard.
Everyone plays under the same maximum software version, and it climbs by 1.0 a day. While that cap is on, however much money you throw at research, you can't sprint past the field. That has a defensive upside: a hasher and firewall at the cap lock out anyone whose cracker and exploits haven't reached it too, even though they can't stop the strongest.
The cap opens at 7.0 on day one, so the first week or so is mostly about downloading the free NPC versions before research can push anything higher. From there it climbs a step a day with no fixed top, right up to the endgame: once crackers reach the v40 doom gate the cap comes off entirely, and only then can a top player research past everyone, at steeply rising cost. From there it turns into a straight race of time and money: whoever pushes hardest pulls ahead, and a lead someone has already built is hard to chase down, more so the wider it has grown. That late uncapped sprint is how a round gets won, not something a new player plans around. The round ends when someone completes doom, which resets everything.
An upgrade that raises your income keeps paying out every hour until the round ends, so the same upgrade is worth more the earlier you buy it. Bought late, a step might not earn back its price before the round is over.
The collector shows this most clearly. It multiplies all of your virus income, which makes it the single biggest lever on what you earn. Each 0.1 adds the same flat slice of your virus earnings, paid every hour — but each step costs more than the last, so the return on a step shrinks even though the payout doesn't. How far it's worth taking depends on how much round is left: a long round justifies pushing the collector much further than a short one does.
For the exact break-even on your next step, the clan planner works it out from your live numbers.
Once you're past the NPC ceiling, every type competes for the same money. What each one buys you:
| Software | What researching it buys |
|---|---|
| Cracker & exploits | Reach to break tougher targets, and free research on the side. The hardest servers can't be cracked low, the NSA's hasher sits at v40.0, and chasing a doom launch means keeping these at the ceiling. A maxed cracker also pays for itself sideways: since the shared cap means nobody can out-hash you, you can break into other players and download whatever they spent money researching. |
| Hasher & firewall | Keeping other players out. A high hasher resists their crackers; a high firewall blocks their exploits and softens incoming DDoS. |
| Collector | More virus income, the biggest single lever on revenue. How far to take it is the investment question above. |
| Viruses | Higher isn't simply better: a bigger virus uploads slower and needs more disk and RAM on the target, so you keep a spread of versions rather than one maxed copy. That makes them a low research priority. |
| Hider, seeker, antivirus | Situational. Research them when a specific problem calls for it, not as a matter of course. |
You don't have to research blind. Under Ranking, the Software Ranking page shows what versions other players are pushing. If someone's antivirus has climbed high enough to clear the viruses you plant, or a seeker has passed the hider you rely on, you'll see it there before it costs you. That's how you size your reactive research: raise a defensive or utility tool to beat a threat that's actually on the board, instead of maxing to a number you guessed at.