Science Points

Science Points are the primary research currency in Timberborn. They are a collectible resource used to unlock buildings, workplace permissions for bots, monument blueprints, and other technologies. Science Points are generated by dedicated science buildings staffed by beavers (or later by bots) and as a minor secondary output from some production sites such as Mines. Science Points do not have a direct physical form in the world; they function as an account balance that allows the player to purchase unlocks from the build menu.

The baseline science producer is the Inventor. An Inventor employs one beaver and generates 1 Science Point per in-game hour, which equates to 14 Science Points per standard 14-hour workday. The Inventor requires no power and is available to both factions at the start of the game, making it the most accessible method of early Science Point generation. Folktails and Iron Teeth each have a faction-specific advanced science building: the Observatory for Folktails and the Numbercruncher for Iron Teeth. The Observatory costs 1,000 Science Points to unlock and requires 200 horsepower to operate. The Numbercruncher costs 1,500 Science Points to unlock and requires 500 horsepower. Both advanced buildings produce Science Points at much higher rates than the Inventor and form the backbone of mid-to-late-game research for their respective factions. Mines contribute a small passive amount of Science Points while extracting resources; although not primary science sources, several active Mines together add a noticeable percentage to total SP income.

Science Points are spent directly from the global unlock system rather than through a traditional technology tree. Building unlock costs span broad ranges: many early essential buildings cost around 250 SP, typical mid-game unlocks cost from roughly 400 up to 1,500 SP, late-game unlocks commonly range from 2,000 to 5,000 SP, and monuments and endgame projects require thousands of SP. Monuments serve as late-game science sinks, with unlock costs from about 3,000 up to 12,000 SP for the most elaborate monuments. The Bot Assembler, the gateway to automated workers, has an unlock cost of 10,000 SP; subsequent bot workplace unlocks can cost several thousand SP each. Because unlockables are available from the start, the player chooses which buildings to buy with Science Points according to immediate needs and long-term strategy.

• Keep science buildings staffed and supplied with housing, food, and water so they do not go idle; an unstaffed Inventor produces zero Science Points.
• Scale science capacity early: add a second Inventor within the first weeks of a playthrough to accelerate subsequent unlocks. Two Inventors produce 28 SP per day.
• Transition to an Observatory (Folktails) or Numbercruncher (Iron Teeth) when you can afford the unlock and power requirements to rapidly increase SP output.
• Use Science Points for survival priorities first (water storage, flood control, basic production) before spending on convenience or late-game projects. Early essential unlocks commonly cost ~250 SP.
• Bots dramatically increase effective SP generation once available: bot-staffed science buildings operate continuously and produce about 24 SP per day from a single Inventor compared with 14 SP per day from a beaver-operated Inventor.
• Treat monuments and bot technology as deliberate long-term goals: their unlock costs are very large and effectively act as late-game SP sinks.