Research upgrades are an important component of Evil Genius 2, and you literally can’t take over the world without them. Research upgrades range from improvements to your lair, additional traps to stop the Forces of Justice, and even your plot to build a Doomsday Device. You’ll need some Scientists to get started, and a sizeable Laboratory.
Recruit Scientists and build a Laboratory to research upgrades in Evil Genius 2.
If you plan to dominate the globe you’ll need the right tech, which is where research upgrades in Evil Genius 2 come into play. To start you first need access to Scientists in your base, who can be trained from your general Minion pool after you’ve completed the Side Quest and Scheme early on to kidnap one. After that you can build Scientist Trainers in your Training Room, which your Minions will use to turn into Scientists, up to the number you set in the Minion Trainer (“T” by default).
Once you have some Scientists in your lair you’ll need to give them a Laboratory to work in. If you are playing the tutorial then you’ll build a basic one shortly after kidnapping your first Scientist. To get your upgrade research up an running in the early portion of Evil Genius 2 you will want to build at least one Whiteboard, Databank, and Impact Analyzer, since different research nodes will require one of those three.
You need one scientist per device in your Laboratory, but only for the devices being used in research. In short, if you are researching something that requires the Whiteboard then you don’t need to surge your Scientist count if you only have one. That said, at the start of the game most research upgrades are tied to the Whiteboard, so to get a strong head-start on your research you should build four.
To put it simply: you get a research multiplier for each associated device and Scientist working it. So, for example, if you are researching “Larger Storage Bays” and have two manned Whiteboards you’ll get a 2x multiplier to your research speed. Having four Whiteboards at the start of Evil Genius 2 won’t break your bank or eat too deeply into your available power, and keeping four to six scientists in your lair at all times won’t tax your Minion count.
Start with four Whiteboards, and expand to two Databanks and Impact Analyzers once you start working on research upgrades that require those (they both take up more space, cost more money and power to run, and are not required for the majority of research nodes at the beginning of Evil Genius 2). Do this and you’ll find yourself well head of the Forces of Justice.
Evil Genius 2 is available March 30th on PC.
Published: Mar 29, 2021 10:00 am