Each section will be for each research category. All of the tech will be in the order that it is researched in the campaign as of core patch 1.01 live.

I will put a * next to research that is a passive upgrade which does not need fitting to a ship.

Some passive upgrades don't appear in the same order each time you play the game but the major ones do. Because I don't know which ones are random and which ones are fixed I will just include them in the order that I encountered them.

I will do an analysis at the end of the guide to give my opinions on each tech branch.

I will also suggest potential strategies assuming that the game will be played from start to finish (1890-1950).

1. Lighter reciprocating system*, engine weight -4%
2. Steam 3 exp
3. Steam M exp 1
4. Steam M exp 2
5. Turbines
6. G. turbines
7. Turbo electric
8. G. turbines 2
9. Diesel 1
10. Diesel 2
11. Gas

1. Lighter boilers*, -2.5% boiler weight
2. New funnels available
3. New funnels available
4. New funnels available
5. Induced
6. Economiser*, -2.5% boiler weight and fuel stowage
7. New funnels available
8. Semi oil fuel
9. New funnels available
10. New funnels available
11. New funnels available
12. Preheater*, -2.5% boiler weight + fuel stowage
13. Once through boiler*, -2.5% boiler weight + fuel stowage
14. New funnels available
15. New funnels available
16. New funnels available
17. New funnels available
18. New funnels available
19. New funnels available
20. New funnels available
21. Balanced boilers
22. Preheater*, -2.5% boiler weight + fuel stowage
23. Forced boilers (seems to appear randomly)
24. New funnels available
25. Full oil 1
26. New funnels available
27. New funnels available
28. Full oil 2
29. New funnels available
30. New funnels available
31. Full oil 3
32. New funnels available
33. Water wall furnace*, -2.5% boiler weight + fuel stowage
34. Advanced superheater*, 5% boiler weight
35. Forced circulation *, -3% boiler weight, -5% fuel stowage
36. Recurring weight answer smoke interference buffs*?

1. Hydraulic steering
2. Auxiliary engine 1
3. Electric steering
4. Hydro electric steering
5. Propeller Shaft 1
6. Propeller shaft 2
7. Auxiliary engine 2
8. Electric steering 2
9. Auxiliary engine 3
10. Electro-hydraulic steering 2
11. Propeller shaft 3
12. Auxiliary engine 4
13. Ducted Propeller*, bonus to acceleration and engine damage speed penalty
14. Improved gearbox*, bonus to acceleration and engine damage speed penalty
15. Recurring propellor buff*?

1. New structural steel*, +5% hull form, +5% resistance, -5% hull weight
2. +2.5% hull form, resistance. -2.5% hull weight*
3. +2.5% hull form, stability, resistance. -2.5% hull weight*, unlock BB2, BB3
4.+2.5% hull form, stability, resistance. -2.5% hull weight*
5. +5% hull form, stability, floatability, +2.5% resistance, -5% hull weight*. Unlocks dreadnought, lose BB
6. +5% hull form, stability, floatability, +2.5% resistance, -5% hull weight*. Unlocks dreadnought 2
7. -5% hull weight +2.5% resistance*, unlocks dreadnought 3, lose dreadnought 1
8. +5% hull form, +2.5% resistance, -5% hull weight*. Unlocks N3/G3, lose dreadnought 2
9. +5% hull form, stability, floatability, +2.5% resistance, -5% hull weight*. Unlocks modernised dreadnought, lose dreadnought 2+3
10. +5% hull form, stability, floatability, +2.5% resistance, -5% hull weight*. Unlocks modern BB 1
11. Unlocks modern BB 2, heavy cruiser 2, super battleship
12. Recurring hull buffs*?

1. New riveting techniques*, -1% hull weight, -2.5% ship construction time
2. Improved stiffening*, -1% hull weight, -2.5% construction time
3. Specialised forging*, -1% hull weight, -2.5% construction time
4. Advanced weight control*, -1% hull weight, -2.5% construction time
5. Tower crane system*, -5% construction time
6. Oxy-gas welding*, -2.5% construction time
7. Arc welding*, -1% hull weight, -2.5% construction time
8. Fully welded hull*, -2% hull weight, -5% construction time
9. Recurring construction buffs*?

1. Minesweeper cruiser
2. CA 4000t
3. Minelayer cruiser
4. CL 3000t
5. CA 5000t
6. CL 3.500t, unlock semi armoured cruiser
7. CA 6000t
8. CL 4000t, unlock CL2
9. CA 7000t
10. CL 4.500t
11. CA 8.500t, unlocks armoured cruiser 2+3
12. CL 5000t
13. CA 9000t
14. CL 6000t
15. CA 9.500t
16. CA 11000t unlocks armoured cruiser 4, lose AC1+2
17. CL 6500t
18. CA 12.000t
19. CA 12.500t, unlocks armoured cruiser 5
20. CL 7000, unlocks semi armoured cruiser 2
21. CL 8000t, unlocks semi armoured cruiser 3
22. CL 8.500t
23. CL 9000t
24. CA 13000t
25. CL 9.500t
26. Unlock BC
27. CL 10000t, lose light cruiser 1 and semi armoured cruiser 1
28. CL 11000t
29. CA 13500t
30. Unlocks BC 2
31. CA 14000t
32. CL 11.500t
33. CL 12000t
34. CA 14.500t, unlocks armoured cruiser 3
35. CL 12.500t
36. Unlocks BC 3, loses BC 1+2
37. CL 13000t
38.?? Lose BC 2, probably a mistake here.
38. CA 15000t
39. Unlocks modern cruiser and heavy cruiser 1. Loses all previous cruiser designs
40. CA 16.500t
41. CA 16000t? Oops
42. CA 17000t
43. Unlocks BC 5
44. CA 18000t, unlocks heavy cruiser 3
45. CA 19000t
46. Lose BC 3, mistake?
47. Todo
48. CA 20000t
49. CA 21000t
50. CA 22000t
51. Unlocks Modernised BC, super BC, large cruiser
52. CA 23000t

1. Minelayer destroyer
2. Minesweeper destroyer
3. TB 300t
4. TB 400t
5. TB 500t
6. TB 600t, unlocks torpedo boat destroyer
7. DD 700t, unlocks DD1
8. DD 800t
9. DD 900t
10. DD 1000t
11. DD 1100t, unlocks DD 2, lose DD1 and both TB
12. DD 1200t
13. DD 1300t
14. DD 1400t
15. DD 1500t, unlocks DD3, lose DD2
16. DD 1600t
17. DD 1700t
18. DD 1800t
19. DD 1900t, unlocks DD 4
20. DD 2200t, unlocks modern DD small
21. DD 2400t, unlocks modern DD standard
22. DD 2400t?, unlocks modern destroyer leader
23. DD 2800t
24. DD 3000t
25. DD 3300t
26. DD 3600t
27. DD 4000t
28. DD 4500t

1. Nickel-steel armour
2. Harvey armour
3. Krupp 1
4. Krupp 2
5. Krupp 3
6. Krupp 4
7. Recurring buffs?

1. Mechanical armour forging*, -2.5% construction time, -4% armour weight.
2. Improved annealing*, -6% armour weight for belt and deck
3. High% nickel*, -6% all armour weight
4. High tensile*, -6% all armour weight
5. Sloped armour*, -7.5% all belt armour
6. Citadel 4
7. Silicon-manganese steel*, -10% armour cost
8. Citadel 5
9. Improved Sloped armour*, -6% all belt armour
10. Stronger decanting armour plate*, -5% belt armour weight
11. Advanced face hardening*, -5% armour weight

1. Voice tubes with whistle* +2.5% gun aiming speed, +1% gun base accuracy
2. New towers available
3. New towers available
4. New towers for light ships
5. Dryer fire control table*, gun accuracy and aiming speed buffs.
6. Bracketing salvo*, gun accuracy and aiming speed buffs
7. New towers available
8. New towers available
9. New towers available
10. Dumaresq device*, gun accuracy and aiming speed buffs
11. New towers available
12. Central first control*, gun accuracy and aiming speed buffs
13. Plotting room*, gun accuracy and aiming speed buffs
14. New towers available
15. Vickers range clock*, gun accuracy and aiming speed buffs
16. Firing director system*, gun accuracy and aiming speed buffs
17. New towers available
18. Post 2d stabilisation*, -10% sea waves accuracy penalty
19. Electromechanical*, gun accuracy and aiming speed buffs
20. Advanced range keeper*, gun accuracy and aiming speed buffs
21. Post 3d stabilisation*, gun accuracy and aiming speed buffs
22. New towers available
23. New towers available
24. New towers available
25. New towers available
26. New towers available
27. New towers available
28. New towers available
29. New towers available
30. Recurring gun buffs*?

1. Coincidence rangefinder 1
2. Stereoscopic rangefinder 1
3. Conicidence Rangefinder 2
4. Stereoscopic rangefinder 2
5. Conicidence Rangefinder 3
6. Stereoscopic rangefinder 3
7. Conicidence Rangefinder 4
8. Stereoscopic rangefinder 4
9. Conicidence Rangefinder 5
10.Stereoscopic rangefinder 5
11. Radar! 1
12. Radar 2
13. Recurring radar buffs*?

1. Double bottom
2. Torp protection 1
3. Torp protection 2
4. Torp protection 3
5. Triple bottom
6. Torp protection 4
7. Torpedo protection 5
8. Recurring torpedo protection?*

1. Underwater protected deck 1 (citadel 1)
2. Reinforced bulkheads 1
3. Anti flooding 1
4. Wing tanks*, +2.5 floatability
5. Repair party*, engine repairs +15%, all module repairs +10%
6. Anti flooding 2
7. Underwater protected deck 2 (citadel 2)
8. On board caisson*, +5% ship repairs flooding
9. Engineers party*, +35% engine repairs
10. Fire squad*, -15% flash fire spending, +20% fire extinguishing
11. Citadel 3
12. Anti flooding 3
13. Reinforced bulkheads 2
14. Safety hood*, +5% ship repairs
15. Emergency welding repairs*, +5% ship repairs (flooding)
16. Medical department*
17. Non flammable materials*, fire reduction buffs
18. Emergency diesel generator*, +5% ship reairs
19. Advanced survivability*, fire and repair buffs

1. 7" casemate guns
2. 8" casemate guns
3. Barbette 1
4. 2x side mounts for large guns*
5. 4x side mounts for large guns*
6. 6x side mounts for large guns*
7. Barbette 2
8. More barbette sizes
9. Barbette 3
10. X4 centreline mounts for guns (barbettes)
11. More barbette mounts
12. More barbettes allowed
13. More mounts
14. More mounts
15. 8x side mounts for large guns*
16. More mounts
17. Barbette 4
18. More mounts
19. More mounts
20. More mounts
21. Recurring bulkhead protection buffs?

1. Enhanced turret cylinders*, +5% traverse speed
2. Improved turret gearbox*, +5% turret traverse speed
3. Advanced hydraulic turrets
4. Enhanced gun reload
5. Electric turrets
6. Improved twin turrets*, -2% reload time, +2% accuracy and traverse speed
7. Improved reload mechanisms*, -6% gun reload time
8. Double barrelled turrets for secondary guns
9. Electro hydraulic turrets
10. Advanced twin turrets*, -2% reload time, +2% accuracy and traverse speed
11. Improved ammo feeding system*, -6% reload time
12. Triple barrel turrets
13. Triple barrel secondary gun turrets
14. Double barrels for light cruisers
15. Quad barrel for secondary guns
16. Double barrels for DD
17. Triple turret improved accuracy*, -3% reload time, +3% accuracy and traverse speed
18. Semi auto gun reload
19. Triple turret on CL
20. Triple turrets on DD
21. Full auto reload
22. Quad barrel main guns
23. Improved quad turrets*, +4% accuracy, traverse speed and reload time
24. Advanced quad turrets*, +4% accuracy, traverse speed and reload time
25. Recurring turret buffs*?

1. 9" mark 2 guns
2. 10" mark 2 guns
3. 13" mark 1 guns
4. 11" mark 2 guns
5. 12" mark 2 guns
6. 13" mark 2 guns
7. 9" mark 3 guns
8. 10" mark 3 guns
9. 11" mark 3 guns
10. 12" mark 3 guns
11. 13" mark 3 guns
12. 14" mark 1 guns
13. 14" mark 2 guns
14. 14" mark 3 guns
15. 15" mark 1 guns
16. 14" mark 3 guns?? Mistake
17. 10" mark 4 guns
18. 16" mark 1 guns
19. 15" mark 2 guns
20. 16" mark 2 guns
21. 9" mark 4 guns
22. 17" mark 1 guns
23. 12" mark 4 guns
24. 13" mark 4 guns
25. 18" mark 1 guns
26. 11" mark 4 guns
27. 15" mark 3 guns
28. 16" mark 3 guns
29. 17" mark 2 guns
30. 18" mark 2 guns
31. 10" mark 5 guns
32. 19" mark 1 guns
33. 20" mark 1 guns
34. 9" mark 5 guns
35. 10" mark 5 guns
36. 11" mark 5 guns
37. 12" mark 5 guns
38. 19" mark 2 guns
39. 20" mark 2 guns
40. 17" mark 3 guns
41. 18" mark 3 guns
42. 19" mark 3 guns
43. 14" mark 4 guns
44. 20" mark 3 guns
45. 13" mark 5 guns
46. 15" mark 4 guns
47. 14" mark 5 guns
48. 15" mark 5 guns
49. 16" mark 4 guns
50. 16" mark 5 guns
51. 18" mark 4 guns
52. 17" mark 4 guns
53. 19" mark 4 guns
54. 17" mark 5 guns
55. 19" mark 5 guns
56. 20" mark 4 guns
57. 18" mark 5 guns
58. 20" mark 5 guns

1. 2" mark 2 guns
2. 3" mark 2 guns
3. 4" mark 2 guns
4. 5" mark 2 guns
5. 6" mark 2 guns
6. 7" mark 2 guns
7. 8" mark 2 guns
8. 2" mark 3 guns
9. 3" mark 3 guns
10. 4" mark 3 guns
11. 5" mark 3 guns
12. 6" mark 3 guns
13. 7" mark 3 guns
14. 8" mark 3 guns
15. 2" mark 4 guns
16. 3" mark 4 guns
17. 4" mark 4 guns
18. 5" mark 4 guns
19. 6" mark 4 guns
20. 7" mark 4 guns
21. 8" mark 4 guns
22. 2" mark 5 guns
23. 3" mark 5 guns
24. 4" mark 5 guns
25. 5" mark 5 guns
26. 6" mark 5 guns
27. 7" mark 5 guns
28. 8" mark 5 guns

1. Armour piercing cap* +10% shell penetration
2. Aerodynamic ballistic cap*, +2.5% gun range, +4% shell penetration
3. Thin walled shell cases*, +5% HE damage, +10% HE fire chance
4. Improved armour piercing cap*, +6% shell penetration
5. Advanced shell fuse*, +6% shell penetration, -8% ammo detonation chance
6. Super heavy shells
7. Improved thin walled shell*, +25% HE fire chance
8. Improved ballistic tip*, +2.5% gun range, +6% shell penetration
9. Recurring shell buffs?*

1. Guncotton
2. White powder
3. Ballistics
4. Picric acid 1
5. TNT 1
6. Picric acid 2
7. Dunnite
8. Cordite 1
9. Cordite 2
10. TNT 2
11. Tube powder 1
12. Picric acid 3
13. Smoke composition*
14. Composite propellants*, various bonuses
15. Advanced bursting charge*, various bonuses
16. TNT 3
17. Cordite 3
18. Tube powder 2
19. TNT 4
20. Tube powder 3
21. Triple base
22. Recurring explosive buffs*?

1. Tube mechanisms 1*, -2.5% torpedo weight and reload time, +2.5% rotation speed.
2. Deck torpedo x2
3. Tube mechanisms 2*, -2.5% torpedo weight and reload time, +2.5% rotation speed.
4. Mark 2 torpedo tubes
5. Tube mechanisms 3*, -2.5% torpedo weight and reload time, +2.5% rotation speed.
6. Deck torpedo x3
7. Mark 3 torpedo tubes
8. Tube mechanisms 4*, -2.5% torpedo weight and reload time, +2.5% rotation speed.
9. Deck torpedo x4
10. Tube mechanisms 5*, -2.5% torpedo weight and reload time, +2.5% rotation speed.
11. Deck torpedo x5
12. Mark 4 torpedo tubes
13. Advanced launchers*, -0.5% weight, +1% rotation speed, -1% reload time
14. Mark 5 torpedo tubes

Doesn't have Recurring buffs

1. 16" torpedo tubes
2. 17" torpedo tubes
3. 18" torpedo tubes
4. 19" torpedo tubes
5. 20" torpedo tubes
6. 21" torpedo tubes
7. 22" torpedo tubes
8. 23" torpedo tubes
9. 24" torpedo tubes
10. Recurring torpedo buffs*?

1. Fast torpedoes
2. 3 cylinder Pneumatic motor*, 1150m range, +2kn speed, +3% accuracy*
3. Torpedo propulsion* 1500m range, +2kn speed, +3% accuracy*
4. Torpedo gyroscope*, 3000m range, +2kn speed, 75% accuracy*
5. 4 cylinder Pneumatic motor*, 5000m range, +0.5kn speed, +5% accuracy*
6. 6000m range, +0.5kn, +5% accuracy*
7. 6500m range, +9kn speed, +7.5% accuracy*
8. 7000m range, +1kn speed, +5% accuracy*
9. 9000m range, +1kn speed, +5% accuracy*
10. Electric torpedoes
11. 12000m range, +2kn speed, +75% accuracy*
12. Oxygen torpedoes
13. 14000t range, +2kn speed, +5% accuracy*
14. Recurring torpedo buffs*?

1. Steam powered submarines
2. Electric battery technology
3. Advanced periscope
4. Electrical powered submarine
5. Kerosene engines for submarines
6. Diesel engines for submarines

1. 400t submarine
2. 800t cruising sub
3. 800t minelayer sub
4. 1200t cruiser submarine

1. Single hull with external light hull sections
2. Inner hull
3. Damping engine vibrations
4. Silent proof tubes
5. Improved hull lines
6. Improved submarine propellers
7. Diesel electric propulsion
8. Snorkel device
9. Telescopic snorkel

1. Modern naval formations
2. Naval bombardment
3. Naval blockade
4. Cruiser scouting force
5. Concentrated fire
6. Ambush tactics
7. Destroyer screen
8. Merchant ship camouflage
9. Armed merchant cruisers
10. Advanced raiding tactics
11. Destroyer smoke screen
12. Submarine hunting
13. Advanced submarine warfare
14. Convoy system
15. Wolf pack

1. Flags communication
2. Naval communications
3. Radio telegraph
4. Improved radio telegraph (radio advanced)
5. Radio direction finder (radio RDF)
6. Cryptography
7. Radar surveillance
8. Recurring comms range buff*

1. Contact mines
2. Defensive minefields
3. Advanced minesweeping
4. Minesweeping with paravane
5. Minelaying submarines
6. Active minefields
7. Electromagnetic minesweeping
8. Magnetic mines
9. Degaussing ship hulls

1. Anti torpedo nets
2. Improved anti torpedo nets
3. Depth charges type 1
4. Hydrophone station type 1 (acoustics hydro 1)
5. Hydrophone station type 2 (acoustics hydro 2)
6. Depth charges type 2
7. Hydrophone station type 3 (acoustics hydro 3)
8. Sonar 1
9. Sonar 2
10. Sonar 3
11. Depth charges type 3

It's pretty obvious that some tech branches are very important whereas others are more of a luxury choice. I will give my verdict on each one-

Engines

Reduces weight, allowing you to add more things to each hull (speed/armour/guns) but they are very expensive. So you can get better ships but not as many for the price.

Boiler

Hugely important to get a fast ship without accuracy or acceleration penalties.

Special machinery

Important for maneuverability, let's you dodge torpedoes more easily.

Hull strengthening

Battleships are the easiest path to victory so if you want to make life easy then this is high on the list of priorities.

Hull construction

One of the most underwhelming of the choices. Ship construction time is just meh.

Cruiser design

If you aren't just playing a pure battleship fleet then this is a very important branch.

Destroyer design

You can easily forego this if you are using cruisers. Otherwise destroyers are a good addition to a battleship fleet.

Armour quality

It really helps with your big ships, not important for CL or DD.

Armour forging

Contains citadel 4 and 5, everything else are passive upgrades.

Control station

Very important, especially for big ships.

Rangefinders

Although it gives a nice accuracy buff there are much more important things to focus on at the start. It does give access to radar technology at the end of the tree though.

Hull protection

Personally I would rather avoid eating torpedoes at all and just skip this tech entirely.

Internal protection

Not too high on the list of priorities. Citadel is nice though.

Gun layout

Important if you are going the battleship route. You need this for main gun and barbette placement slots.

Turret mechanisms

Mid tier importance. Becomes more important later in the campaign.

Big guns

Obviously very important but maybe not needed immediately if you are using torpedoes and small guns.

Small guns

Not exactly urgent, maybe wait until your main choices are researched.

Shells

Only passives apart from super heavy shells, they can wait.

Explosives

Pretty important, high-mid tier.

Torpedo tubes

Low tier importance.

Torpedo size

Low tier importance.

Torpedo propulsion

A couple of important techs, mid-high tier.

WIP ASW

Although this section is still a work in progress, it has all of the acoustics/sonar equipment in it.

Depending on playstyle different people are going to prioritise different goals.

The main techs that I would aim for ASAP are-

Induced boilers

Geared turbines

Electro hydro steering 1

Dreadnought 1

CA 12000t

DD2

Krupp 2

Enhanced gun reload

12" mark 3 guns

TNT 1

Torpedo propulsion 4 (gyroscope)


The next tier of upgrades are-

G. Turbines 2

Forced boilers (this is currently and probably incorrectly assigned as a random tech, you could end up chasing this for a VERY long time)

Propeller shaft 2

N3/G3 BB

Heavy cruiser 1/ modern light cruiser

Krupp 3

Triple barrelled turrets

16" mark 2 guns

Tube powder 1

Torpedo propulsion 7 (steam gas)


The final tier should be-

Diesel 2 engine

Balanced boilers

Propeller shaft 3

Super battleship

Krupp 4

Auto reload turrets

All explosives

Super heavy shells

Oxygen torpedoes

Radar 2

Max control towers

Max sonar

Citadel 5

20" mark 3 guns

If you are going to be following the above strategy then this is how I suggest you place your priorities-

1. Big guns, probably for a very long time as they take the longest to research.

2. Boilers, induced is pretty much essential ASAP.

3. Torpedo propulsion, getting the gyroscope tech significantly improves your torpedoes.

4. Engines, Geared turbines will help you to maximise your limited options for hulls.

5. Explosives, TNT 1 will reduce your chances of flash fires.

6. Cruiser design, 12000t will provide you with an excellent CA.

7. Hull strengthening, dreadnought 1 is your first big step up in terms of BB.

8. Armour quality, Krupp 2 will benefit your new dreadnought greatly.

9. Special machinery, Electro hydro steering will make screening and torpedo strikes easier.

10. Destroyer design, DD2 is the king of screening until you get modern light cruiser.

11. Turret mechanisms, enhanced reloading helps now that guns are becoming more effective.

12. Torpedo propulsion, a great new leap from steam gas propulsion.

13. Hull strengthening, N3/G3 will be your mainstay for a very long time.

14. Engines, G turbines to help maximise your new BB.

15. Armour quality, Krupp 3 to further strengthen your N3/G3.

16. Special machinery, Propeller shaft 2 is a huge leap in manoeuvrability.

17. Cruiser design, modern cruisers provide a big advantage over older designs.

18. Explosives, tube powder is a lot safer to use resulting in far fewer unlucky losses.

19. Turret mechanisms, advanced twin turrets will make your shots much more accurate.

20. Big guns, 12" guns won't compete for much longer, it's time to upgrade to 16" mark 2.

21. Boilers, it's time to try your luck, forced boilers are a massive boost but it is random when they appear. In my last game they were the second to last boiler tech that I researched. Cross your fingers!

22. control station, you will be in desperate need of control towers by now. Research them until you are happy with what you have got.

23. Boilers, balanced boilers in the latest patch give a huge bonus to accuracy via smoke interference.

24. Engine, diesel engines again since the latest patch are a significant improvement compared to what they were pre patch.

25. Hull strengthening, it's a tough call to decide what direction to go at this point. I think maybe having your big boys ready to go if you need them is a good call. Go for them all!

26. Armour quality, it shouldn't take too long to get Krupp 4 if you havnt already got it by now.

27. Armour forging, citadel 5 will make you feel a lot safer trading shots.

28. Shells, super heavy shells will give a big increase to long range accuracy.

29. Explosives, safer to use and pack a bigger punch, what's not to love.

30. Special machinery, propellor shaft 3 will make torpedo exchanges easier to handle.

31. Turret mechanisms, it's time to fire as many shots as you can with full auto reloading.

32. Rangefinders, radar 2 will be a significant boost to long range battles.

33. Torpedo propulsion, start a blanket fire strategy with oxygen torpedoes, requires luck though.

34. WIP ASW, give yourself a heads up with some sonar.

35. Big guns, 20" guns are completely unnecessary, but that's why we want them!

If you wanted to go for an alternate and probably much easier but also more boring tech route then you can just do the all BB fleet.

Going for all BB you can pretty much skip half of the tech needed for the variety build which means you will have much better tech much quicker because you can focus on a few key things.

If you play this way then I recommend going for boilers, big guns and fire control first, then switching over to engines once you have got forced boilers.

At some point you will probably want to max out armour quality for krupp 4 and armour forging for citadel 5.

From there you can potentially move over to rangefinders or turret mechanisms but you probably won't even need them until right at the end of the game.

And then the only other thing you will want is explosives.

It's a nice easy route but it probably wouldn't be very fun playing the entire game at long range all of the time.

Long range sniper-
Battleship 1
Dreadnought 1
Dreadnought 2
Dreadnought 3
N3/G3
Modern battleship 1
Super battleship

CQC-
Armoured cruiser 1
Armoured cruiser 3
Modernised Dreadnought

Screener-
Light cruiser 1
Light cruiser 2
Heavy cruiser 1
Large cruiser

Torpedo threat-
Torpedo boat
Destroyer 1
Destroyer 2

This is my preferred strategy but it might not be to everyone's tastes.

1. Set torpedo propulsion alone as priority until you get fast torpedoes that have a range of 2-3km.

Use TB alone with 4-6 tubes (side by side) of these fast torpedoes. Use task fleets of 20-40 TB.

2. Once you reach the torpedo propulsion tech you are happy with you can now remove this priority and put your priorities into hull strengthening, boilers and turret mechanisms.

Your aim is to get a dreadnought which has 4 centreline main gun slots and the first main gun barbette. You want to get induced/forced/balanced boilers, it's entirely up to you how much you want to invest in this depending on the speed you want your battleship to go.

3. When one of the above 3 techs are reached you can switch to big guns, fire control and engines.

For the big guns you really want to aim for at least mark 3 15/16" guns. The fire control is just a gradual accuracy improvement that you can continue researching until you are happy with it. The engines are there just to save weight, I recommend either geared 1 or geared 2 turbines.

4. When the above 3 techs are researched you can switch to explosives, armour quality and special machinery.

You want to get TNT 2 for the best flash fire reduction, the highest quality armour and some decent manoeuverability.

5. At this point I would go for oxygen torpedoes (propulsion), biggest torpedoes and mark 3 deck launchers but I understand that most people prefer to stay using guns from here on out.