Combat Drone Damage

Combat Drone Damage is an infinite research technology that increases the attack power of combat drones. As the name indicates, it boosts both ground combat unit damage and space combat ship damage. Its effect multiplies separately with Energy Weapon Damage, so the two technologies stack multiplicatively rather than additively.

This makes Combat Drone Damage especially important once combat begins to scale, since every level directly improves the damage output of the player’s combat fleet. At level 1, it also unlocks the next step of the research chain, with Prototype as the prerequisite.

The research bonuses are as follows:

• Initial: ground combat drone damage 100%, space combat ship damage 100%
• Level 1: +10% ground, 110% total; space unchanged at 100%
• Level 2: +10% ground, 120% total; space unchanged at 100%
• Level 3: +15% ground, 135% total; +25% space, 125% total
• Level 4: +15% ground, 150% total; +25% space, 150% total
• Level 5 and beyond: +20% per level to both ground and space combat damage

Because the bonuses are multiplicative with Energy Weapon Damage, the final damage can grow very quickly when both technologies are researched together. For example, if a Prototype has a base attack of 9.0 hp, and both Energy Weapon Damage and Combat Drone Damage are at level 3, the final attack becomes 9.0 × 140% × 135% = 17.0 hp.

In practice, this technology is one of the main ways to scale combat performance for both terrestrial and space engagements. Since it is infinite, it remains relevant throughout the late game, and later levels continue to provide meaningful damage gains instead of hitting a cap.