Research (also known as Upgrades) is a feature in Egg, Inc. which allows you to spend Bocks to upgrade some quality relating to your hatchery, habitats, vehicles, or anything else on the farm. Most areas of research offer multiple levels, each one costing more than the previous. An upgrade from Tier 1 doubling egg value plus an upgrade from Tier 2 doubling egg value again will quadruple egg value. Since no upgrades in one tier do the same thing, this effectively means that all research will compound with each other.
When the number of upgrades researched hits a certain number, the Research Building changes.
Each upgrade or research adds 
3 or more to the Piggy Bank.
For the first few eggs without soul eggs, you can actually skip research and continuously only make chickens to upgrade your eggs (if you are patient enough), but late in the game you will have to use research to progress further.
Common[]
Common research are purchased with Bocks. They reset when you sell your farm or prestige.
Levels of research items in a tier can only be purchased once the tier has been unlocked, which requires purchasing enough levels of research from previous tiers on your current farm.
| Tier | Icon | Title | Description | Cumulative Effect | Levels | Total  Price to max out
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 
|
Comfortable Nests | Increase egg laying rate by 10% | +500% (x6) | 50 | 7.328M |
|
Nutritional Supplements | Increase egg value by 25% | +1,000% (x11) | 40 | 65.488M | |
|
Better Incubators | Hatchery will refill 10% faster | +150% (x2.5) | 15 | 30.038K | |
|
Excitable Chickens | +0.1% egg value bonus for each running chicken Note: This research does not give you any egg value bonus per running chicken - instead, it increases the amount by which each chicken contributes to your Running Chicken Bonus. |
+2.5% | 25 | 577.506B | |
| 2 | 
|
Hen House Remodel | Increase capacity of all habs by 5% | +40% (x1.4) | 8 | 138.928K |
|
Internal Hatcheries | Each hen house adds 2 additional chickens per minute | +20 | 10 | 330.326M | |
|
Padded Packaging | Increases earnings per egg by 25% | +750% (x8.5) | 30 | 35.540B | |
|
Hatchery Expansion | Increases Hatchery capacity by 10 | +100 | 10 | 64.794M | |
|
Bigger Eggs | DOUBLES egg value | +100% (x2) | 1 | 1.352M | |
| 3 | 
|
Internal Hatchery Upgrades | Each hen house adds an additional 5 chickens/min | +50 | 10 | 86.176T |
|
Improved Leafsprings | Increase vehicle capacity by 5% | +150% (x2.5) | 30 | 5.472T | |
|
Vehicle Reliability | Increase fleet size by 1 | +2 | 2 | 26.456T | |
|
Rooster Booster | Hatchery will 'refill' 5% faster | +125% (x2.25) | 25 | 241.246T | |
|
Coordinated Clucking | Max running chicken bonus increased by 0.2× | +10× | 50 | 67.626T | |
| 4 | 
|
Hatchery Rebuild | Increases Hatchery capacity by 50 | +50 | 1 | 186.912B |
|
USDE Prime Certification | TRIPLES egg value | +200% (x3) | 1 | 32.318T | |
|
Hen House A/C | Increase egg laying rate by 5% | +250% (x3.5) | 50 | 29.300T | |
|
Super-Feed™ Diet | Increase egg value by 25% | +875% (x9.75) | 35 | 151.308T | |
|
Microlux™ Chicken Suites | Increase capacity of all habs by 5% | +50% (x1.5) | 10 | 4.662T | |
| 5 | 
|
Compact Incubators | Increases Hatchery capacity by 10 | +100 | 10 | 45.586q |
|
Lightweight Boxes | Increase vehicle capacity by 10% | +400% (x5) | 40 | 1.189Q | |
|
Depot Worker Exoskeletons | Increase maximum fleet size by 1 | +2 | 2 | 693.226q | |
|
Internal Hatchery Expansion | Each hen house adds an additional 10 chickens/min | +150 | 15 | 3.674Q | |
|
Improved Genetics | Increase egg laying rate AND egg value by 15% | +450%, +450% (x5.5, x5.5, x30.25 total) | 30 | 1.049Q | |
| 6 | 
|
Traffic Management | Increase vehicle fleet size by 1 | +2 | 2 | 134.438Q |
|
Motivational Clucking | Max running chicken bonus increased by 0.5x | +25 | 50 | 142.070S | |
|
Driver Training | Increase vehicle speed by 5% | +150% (x2.5) | 30 | 1.507s | |
|
Shell Fortification | Increase egg value by 15% | +900% (x10) | 60 | 127.488s | |
| 7 | 
|
Egg Loading Bots | Increase fleet size by 1 | +2 | 2 | 90.430S |
|
Super Alloy Frames | Increase vehicle capacity by 5% | +250% (x3.5) | 50 | 261.066S | |
|
Even Bigger Eggs | DOUBLES egg value | +3100% (x32) | 5 | 1.683N | |
|
Internal Hatchery Expansion | Each hen house adds an additional 25 chickens/min | +750 | 30 | 2.364o | |
| 8 | 
|
Quantum Egg Storage | Increase vehicle capacity by 5% | +100% (x2) | 20 | 7.848d |
|
Genetic Purification | Increases egg value by 10% | +1,000% (x11) | 100 | 390.392d | |
|
Machine Learning Incubators | Each hen house adds an additional 5 chickens/min | +1,250 | 250 | 174.820d | |
|
Time Compression | Increase egg laying rate by 10% | +200% (x3) | 20 | 562.402N | |
| 9 | 
|
Hover Upgrades | Increase hover vehicle capacity by 5% | +125% (x2.25) | 25 | 24.518U |
|
Graviton Coating | DOUBLES egg density and thus egg value | +12700% (x128) | 7 | 34.074Td | |
|
Grav Plating | Increase capacity of all habs by 2% | +50% (x1.5) | 25 | 16.698U | |
|
Crystalline Shelling | Increases egg value by 25% | +2500% (x26) | +100 | 81.360D | |
| 10 | 
|
Autonomous Vehicles | Increase fleet size by 1 | +5 | 5 | 60.268D |
|
Neural Linking | Each hen house adds an additional 50 chickens/min | +1500 | 30 | 7.828Sd | |
|
Telepathic Will | Increase egg quality (value) by 25% | +1250% (x13.5) | 50 | 25.508qd | |
|
Enlightened Chickens | Increase max running chicken bonus by 2.0x! | +300× | 150 | 1.433V | |
| 11 | 
|
Dark Containment | Increase vehicle capacity by 5% | +125% (x2.25) | 25 | 1.254Sd |
|
Atomic Purification | Increase egg value by 10% | +500% (x6) | 50 | 123.094Od | |
|
Multiversal Layering | 10× egg value | +99900% (x1000) | 3 | 3.514V | |
|
Timeline Diversion | Increase egg laying rate by 2% | +100% (x2) | 50 | 2.864Od | |
| 12 | 
|
Wormhole Dampening | Increase capacity of portal habs by 2% | +50% (x1.5) | 25 | 57.162Nd |
|
Eggsistor Miniaturization | Increase egg value by 5%. | +500% (x6) | 100 | 8.810V | |
|
Graviton Coupling | Increase max hyperloop train length by 1. | +5 | 5 | 189.056V | |
|
Neural Net Refinement | Increase vehicle speed by 5% | +125% (x2.25) | 25 | 5.232V | |
| 13 | 
|
Matter Reconfiguration | Increase egg value by 1%. | +500% (x6) | 500 | 34.558uV |
|
Timeline Splicing | 10× egg value. | +900% (x10) | 1 | 16.564uV | |
|
Hyper Portalling | Increase hyperloop car capacity by 5% | +125% (x2.25) | 25 | 3.508uV | |
|
Relativity Optimization | Increase egg laying rate by 10% | +100% (x2) | 10 | 153.740V | |
| Total | 
|
Total | The cumulative cost. | N/A | N/A | 54.99uV |
Epic[]
Epic research are bought with Golden Eggs. Epic Research does not reset when you upgrade your Egg or Prestige - you keep it forever.
| Icon | Title | Description | Cumulative effect | Total Price to max out
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Hold to Hatch | Hold chicken button +2 chickens per second | +30/sec | 3,825 |
|
Epic Hatchery | Increase hatchery refill rate by 10% | +200% | 10,011 |
|
Epic Int. Hatcheries | Increase internal hatchery rate by 5% | +100% | 100,491 |
|
Video Doubler Time | Increase video doubler time by 30 min. | +360 | 30,595 |
|
Epic Clucking | +0.1% egg value bonus for each running chicken. Note: This research does not give you any egg value bonus per running chicken - instead, it increases the amount by which each chicken contributes to your Running Chicken Bonus. |
+2.0% | 100,991 |
|
Epic Multiplier | Increase max running chicken bonus by 2.0×! | +200× | 502,451 |
|
Cheaper Contractors | Reduce hen house build costs by 5% | -50% | 20,246 |
|
Bust Unions | Reduce vehicle hire costs by 5% | -50% | 20,246 |
|
Lab Upgrade | Reduce research costs by 5% | -50% | 40,496 |
|
Silo Capacity | Increase away time per silo by 6 min | +120 min. | 20,050 |
|
Internal Hatchery Sharing | Full habs' internal hatcheries send +10% chicks to other habs Note: This research treats absent hatcheries as full, which is its primary use-case - once you have it maxed out, you can stick to only 1 hatchery but get the same internal hatchery rate as if you built more. |
+100% shared | 12,997 |
|
Internal Hatchery Calm | Increase internal hatcheries rate by 10% while away | +200% | 102,491 |
|
Accounting Tricks | Increase farm valuation by 5% | +100% | 100,991 |
|
Soul Food | Increase bonus per soul egg by +1% | +140% | 384,931 |
|
Prestige Bonus | Earn +10% Soul Eggs when you prestige | +200% | 219,991 |
|
Drone Rewards | Increase your chances for bigger drone rewards by 10% | +200% | 20,491 |
|
Epic Comfy Nests | Increase egg laying rate by 5%. | +100% | 502,491 |
|
Transportation Lobbyists | Increase vehicle capacity by 5%. | +150% | 78,736 |
|
Prophecy Bonus | Increase bonus per egg of prophecy by 1% (compounding) Note: This research does not "compound", the game's term for multiplicative stacking - instead, it increases your bonus per  additively (so rank 5 means each egg provides 10%, twice as much as rank 0, 5%). Eggs of Prophecy stack multiplicatively ("compound") with each other with or without this ER in play. |
+5% | 2,750,000 |
|
Hold to Research | Increase repetition rate when holding down research button by 25% | +500% | 249,991 |
|
FTL Drive Upgrades | Reduce Artifact mission time of FTL ships (Quintillion Chickens and Above) by 1% | -60% | 6,149,971 |
|
Zero-G Quantum Containment | Increase Artifact mission capacity by 5% | +50% | 5,249,996 |
|
Total | The cumulative cost. | N/A | 16,672,479 |
The general formula for Epic Research totals is as follows:
- The costs of the first level and the last level, as well as the total number of levels, are hard coded by the devs.
- For any level in between, call the costs of the first and last levels "first" and "last", respectively, and the number of levels "levels". The cost of a given level "level" is .
- Because of the floor operation, there is no concise formula for the total cost of a Research. However, there is one without the floor operation, which means there is one for a value which is greater than or equal to the actual answer, without being significantly larger:
- This will always be less than levels - 1 too large, as it will always overcount by strictly less than 1 extra per level, and the first level can't be overcounted at all. It will never overcount by less than zero, so while it may be exactly accurate, it will never undercount.
- While it is not listed here, the Hyperloop obeys this formula as well, although it only has one level, so there is no need for a formula.
Research Strategies[]
- Since the running chicken bonus can only appear when your habs are not yet full, players who use boosts to fill their habs may wish to only buy the first 24 levels of Wormhole Dampening boosting. This allows for them to buy the final level after boosting and hence still be able to take advantage of the running chicken bonus for nearly-full habs.
- An alternative strategy is buying all the levels of Wormhole Dampening, maxing the habs, and then activating a gusset. However, this would require one artifact slot to be used for the gusset (which cannot be taken off if that would result in habs overflowing).
- Hold to Hatch will only work when your Hatchery is not empty, so to take full advantage of this upgrade you should either activate a Dilithium Warming Bulb/Quantum Warming Bulb, or remember to release your hold occasionally to let the Hatchery fill up a bit again (being careful to resume holding before your running chicken bonus starts dropping, if you are trying to earn Bocks).
- Depending on many factors (your level of Hold to Hatch, your hatchery refill rate, your max running chicken bonus, your running chicken bonus per chicken, your personal timing of holding and releasing a button, and your personal skill at rapidly pressing a button), you might have an easier time maintaining your running chicken bonus (and therefore maximizing your income) by rapidly pressing the hatch button than by using Hold to Press.
- But in many situations (including having all common and epic research completed), it is still possible to hold and release with the right timing to never lose the max running chicken bonus. Players who are not skilled at rapidly pressing buttons and/or do not want to put in that much effort may prefer this method even if the occasional poor timing results in a moment of reduced running chicken bonus.
Trivia[]
- The Warp Shift epic upgrade was removed and refunded in update 1.10.
- The Hover Semi, Quantum Transporter, and Hyperloop Train all count as hover vehicles for the purpose of the "Hover Upgrades" research in Tier 9.
- Epic Internal Hatcheries and Internal Hatchery Calm compound, so when both are fully upgraded your hatcheries perform at 6 times the rate they would without these upgrades.
- The FTL Drive Upgrades research only affects Spaceships with faster-than-light drives, or 'warp drives' (the Quintillion Chicken and above).
- The FTL Drive Upgrades and Zero-G Quantum Containment research both only apply to missions which are launched after purchasing the research.
- Silo Capacity visually increases silo height with each level.
- It is easier to maintain maximum running chicken bonus if you keep Habs closer to your Hatchery smaller (and full) while Habs further away have space; this forces the chickens to run around much farther in order to disappear from the screen.
- Vehicle Speed common research actually increases the visual speed of vehicles. This can be useful to shorten wait times of delivery trucks.
External Links[]
Common Research, Habs, and Vehicles price list (Assumes maxed out Lab Upgrades ER). May also assume maxed out Cheaper Contractors and Bust Unions.[verification needed]