Technology (Imp1)

Technology in the now free game Imperialism takes the shape of various discoveries of the Industrial Revolution that become available at irregular intervals from fairly early in the game. Not all appear in the same game year as they appeared in history.

As soon as one becomes available, it will be listed - click the "Invest in Technology" button. If you have all necessary prerequisites, its price will appear in the "Cost" column; if not, that table cell will list any remaining prerequisites.

List in approximate order of availability

The quoted years are for the standard game; they will differ for some scenarios. Years stated in the Manual (at pages 89 and 90) for the last few technologies are much earlier than have been noted in practice. More research may be desirable.

Year	Name	$	Prerequisites	Effect
1815	High Pressure Steam Engine	0?	-	Engineers can build railroads between tiles that contain desert, farm, forest, plain, or tundra (at $100 per tile except $150 for tundra and either sort of forest); (swamps need to wait for the Iron Railroad Bridge and hills wait till the late 1830s, mountains a further 5 decades)
1815	Seed Drill	0?	-	Farmer improves grain farm and orchard to level 1 at a cost of $100 per tile
1816 -20	Cotton Gin	1,000	-	Farmer improves cotton plantation to level 1 at a cost of $100 per tile; prerequisite of Spinning Jenny
1821 -24	Iron Railroad Bridge	1,500	-	Swamp is now available for railroads though at a cost of $300; more importantly, the bridge enables Forester unit, who can improve hardwood forest to level 1 - then he must wait for Compound Steam Engine in the late 1830s to go to level II
1821 -24	Feed Grasses	1,500	-	Enables Rancher unit, who can improve wool farms and livestock ranches to level 1; prerequisite of Spinning Jenny
1821 -25	Square-Set Timbering	1,500	-	Miner upgrades mines to level 2 (4 units) at a cost of $1,000 per tile
1821 -25	Streamlined Hulls	1,500		Clipper Ship - cheaper and faster than Indiaman or Paddlewheeler but with no armor
1826 -29	Spinning Jenny	3,000	Cotton Gin and Feed Grasses	Farmer upgrades cotton plantation to level 2. Rancher upgrades wool farm to level 2 at a cost of $1,000 per tile. Required for Power Loom.
1826 -30	Paddlewheels	3,000	-	Enables Paddlewheeler and Raider, (which still need lumber but use steel or arms, respectively, along with coal, instead of fabric)
1831 -35	Steel Plows	3,000		Farmer improves grain farm and orchard to level 2
1836 -39	Bessemer Converter	6,000		Build level 2 Forts; recruit Sharpshooters and Scouts, and convert Light infantry and Hussars to those units; also (not documented in the game itself) recruit demolitionists and upgrade sappers to them
1836 -38	Compound Steam Engine	7,000	Iron Railroad Bridge	Engineer puts railroad through hills (at $200 per tile) and can build depots there (though AI nations can do that from the start); Forester upgrades hardwood forest to level 2 at $1,000 per tile
1841 -45	Breech-Loading Rifles	12,000	Bessemer Converter	Recruit Rifle Infantry, Guards, and Carbine Cavalry and upgrade Regulars, Grenadiers, and Cuirassiers to those
1841 -44	Rifled Artillery	10,000		Recruit Field Artillery and Siege Artillery; upgrade light artillery and artillery to those units
1846 -50	Advanced Iron Working	12,000		Ironclads
1846 -51	Power Loom	12,000	Spinning Jenny	Farmer improves Cotton and Rancher improves Wool to level 3
1851 -55	Mechanical Reaper	12,000		Farmer improves grain farm to Level 3
1856 -60	Commercial Fertilizer	12,000		Farmer improves Orchard to level 3
1856 -58	Oil Drilling	25,000		Create Driller, produce Oil at level 1, prospect for oil in desert and swamp, build refinery and power plant (north-east of the steel mill)
1862	Barbed wire	20,000		Rancher improves livestock ranch to level 2
1866-68	Steel armor plate	40,000		Advanced ironclad( After you buy it ships-of-line retired because of alleged obsolescence.)
1872-86	Large artillery	40,000		Level III fort; Railroad Gun; Mobile Artillery
1874-87	Dynamite	40,000		Railroad into mountain; timber and mines to level 3
1873-89	Marine engineering	40,000		some new ships
1879-93	Machine Guns	100,000		new troops
1875-94	Chemistry	120,000		oil drilling level 2 and lifestock ranch level 3
1881-97	Improved range-finding	150,000		(After you buy it, you may find some of your ships retired because of alleged obsolescence.)
1884-98	Internal combustion	150,000	Chemistry	new troops