Research Bureau

Revision as of 13:32, 16 July 2021

The principle of player progression in World of Warships is moving from lower tier to higher tier ships up to the apex of each branch — the Tier X ship. However, in doing so, players often leave intermediate-tier ships behind. These ships offer game play experiences that are equally interesting as those of Tier X ships. And often, a now-more experienced player will discover that his lower-tier ships seem to play better than when he was first grinding through them.

Qualification

Any player with five (5) unlocked tech tree Tier X ships automatically qualifies for the Research Bureau.^[1] Obtaining Research Points in other ways, e.g. through Dockyard events, also qualifies the player for the Research Bureau.

Immediately on qualifying a player is awarded 10,000 Research Points (RP) that can be redeemed in the Armory.

In the qualified player's Armory, a Research Bureau page is enabled that describes the loot for which RP can be exchanged. See below.

Earning Research Points

Although small amounts of can be obtained from such things as Daily Missions and Dockyard Events, the primary source is by 'resetting' lines of tech tree ships then re-earning and playing them.

A line is defined as those ships that must be unlocked consecutively to obtain a Tier X ship. In the case of split lines (e.g. the USA light and heavy cruiser lines), each line includes the ships that are common to both (in this case the Tier II-V cruisers)). Excluding Tier I ships, lines consist of:

• 9 Ships for Cruisers
• 10 Ships for Battleships and Destroyers
• 8 Ships for Aircraft Carriers (there are two "side steps" to get to CV's).

In order to earn Research Points a line is reset as described below. The ships of the line must then be unlocked again. When each of the ships from Tiers V^[2] to X of the line is in port, winning a battle^[3] or achieving 300 Base XP in a single battle earns Research Points. Each higher tier ship earns progressively more RP. Gunship lines earn a maximum of 10,200 (base) per reset. Carrier lines earn less: 8,000 (base). More than one line may be reset at the same time.

Battle Performance Bonuses

At each reset, Battle Performance Bonuses — in this case — are calculated and recorded on the ship. The base earnable for the ship tier (shown in the illustration above) is multiplied by any applicable bonus, for instance the 2x bonus for the first reset of a season, and the total added to any previous bonus on the ship.

When the ship is played to a win (or the base XP in a battle is achieved) the accumulated Battle Performance Bonus is awarded and the total reset to zero.

Lines can be reset any number of times per season, and the base value applies to each ship for every reset.

Resetting a line

To enable line resets the player must have at least five (5) unlocked tech tree Tier X ships even if the Research Bureau was unlocked by other means.

Once line resetting is enabled a button will appear below each researched Tier X ship in the Tech Tree panel in Port. Pressing this button (and confirming), causes the line to reset. For all Tier II through Tier X ships in the line:^[4]

• All ship XP is moved to the Tier I ship,
• Mounted Upgrades are de-mounted to Inventory at no cost,
• Mounted camouflages, skins, and signals are de-mounted,^[5]
• Commanders are moved to Reserve (slots are added when necessary),
• The ships in port are sold for credits at the normal Sell price,
• Modules, whether mounted or in Inventory, are sold for credits at the normal Sell price,
• The relevant Battle Performance Bonus is added to each researched^[6] Tier V to X ship,
• Tier II to X ships and their modules become locked,
• A icon appears in the tech tree and in the Ship Carousel on each ship with a bonus available, indicating that can be earned from that ship.

Seasons

Each Research Bureau season lasts three months.^[7] In each season, the first line reset becomes eligible for double (2x) Research Points when the Tiers V-X ships in the line are played to a win. Season end dates may be viewed by scrolling to the bottom of the tech-tree.

• Season 5 - 16 Aug. 2020 to 13 Nov. 2020
• Season 6 - 14 Nov. 2020 to 12 Feb. 2021
• Season 7 - 13 Feb. 2021 to 14 May 2021
• Season 8 - 15 May 2021 to 13 Aug. 2021 (est.)

Note that the 2x season bonus does not depend on the first line reset being unlocked or played first. The second line reset may be completed and played first, but it will earn only the base Research Points.

Regrinds do not need to be completed within a specific season to obtain the 2x RP bonus.

RP Loot

Research Points can be exchanged in the Armory for items, most notably the unique ships X Colbert (57,000), X Ohio (62,000), X Slava (63,000), X Vampire II (55,000), IX Paolo Emilio (43,000), and IX Siegfried (47,000), Unique Upgrades, and signal flags. In the future more items will become available for . See the Armory page for updates and details.

Techniques

There are several ways to use the Research Bureau, understanding that there are two goals: acquire Research Points (RP), and enjoy playing low- and mid-tier ships again.

Play It Your Way

This is the longest and may be the most rewarding way to earn back the ships of a reset line. Start with the Tier I ship of the line and play it to earn enough XP to unlock the Tier II ship. Buy it. Repeat through Tier X.

As with the first time you did it, no extra experience or credits are required; the ships earn it themselves. Oh, you might toss in a little FXP to get over a hump or two, but the play's the thing.

Blowing By

Free XP will unlock any tech tree ship, so with enough you can unlock the whole line, selectively purchasing and playing ships as desired. This technique certainly saves time, but you might miss discovering that that long-hated ship is actually pretty good in your now-skilled hands.

Level up to Six

The ships of Tiers II through V are inexpensive to unlock  and inexpensive to purchase . Some players will immediately FXP past them to Tier VI, and some will use them to earn credits for those expensive high-tier ships.

Doing A Split

Some tech tree branches split into two lines:

• the Soviet destroyer branch splits after Tier VII.
• the Japanese destroyer branch splits after Tier IV.
• the German destroyer branch splits after Tier VI.
• the American cruiser branch splits after Tier V and the battleship branch after Tier VII.

The splits make resetting and re-grinding those lines a little easier. Resetting both sides of a split line can save a fair amount of time or Free XP over re-grinding two full lines separately.

Using the Soviet tree as an example, a player who has unlocked both Khabarovsk and Grozovoi can reset both at the same time and need unlock the Tier II-VII ships only once to complete both destroyer lines. (In this case, although they are common to both, unlocking and winning in Podvoisky, Gnevny and Minsk earns RP for only one line.)

Stacking resets

For a player rich in Free XP, this is the easiest way to accumulate Research Points (RP). The Tier V-X ships of a reset line need not be played to qualify for RP at an eventual first win.

A player can reset, then unlock an entire line using without purchasing or playing a single ship, and the Tier V-X ships will "remember" that they are due those at the first win. Then the player can reset, then unlock the same line without purchasing or playing a ship, and the Tier V-X ships will "remember" that they are due more at the first win. When those ships eventually are purchased and played for a win, the accrued Research Points are awarded.

Example

1) In Season 1 a player unlocks his fifth tech tree Tier X ship and immediately receives 10,000.

2) He resets his KM cruiser line. All Tier II+ KM cruisers in port etc. are sold. Then he spends 755,410 (ships plus B hulls) to unlock all nine ships through Tier X yet purchases none of them. His Tier V through X ships thus gain the ability to play for double (the Season 1 bonus) at any future time — 20,400 for all six.

3) In the same season, the player resets his KM cruiser line again, and again unlocks all nine ships. His Tier V through X ships thus can play for another RP award — an additional 10,200 for all six.

4) As his first reset of Season 2, the player resets his KM cruiser line for the third time, and again spends to unlock all nine ships. His Tier V through X ships thus accrue access to yet another double award (the Season 2 bonus) — 20,400.

5) He then purchases his six Tier V-X ships, and plays six Co-op games, all wins, thus earning a total of 51,000 to add to the 10,000 qualifying bonus, giving him 61,000 — enough to buy Colbert (57,000).

He has spent about 2.7M, 19.3M to 53M,^[8] and played 6 games. Elapsed time, about 2 hours total.

Achievements

The following achievements have been added celebrating milestones in the number of lines reset:

•   Junior Shipbuilder (10 resets),
•   Senior Shipbuilder (50 resets),
•   Shipbuilding Inspector (100 resets), and
•   Chief Shipbuilding Inspector (150 resets).

Notes

Original News Article
News Article with 0.9.9 updates
Forum Game Guide

1. ↑ The Research Bureau was introduced with Update 0.8.7. At first, five Tier Xs was the only way to qualify.
2. ↑ Since Update 0.9.9, Tier V ships earn 200.
3. ↑ Recognized game modes are Random, Co-op, Scenario, Ranked. Wins in Clan Battles or in the Training Room are not counted.
4. ↑ Tier I ships have no unlock or purchase cost so are not sold, nor are upgrades and signals de-mounted or the commander sent to reserve.
5. ↑ Special camos or skins designated to a ship remain designated to that ship.
6. ↑ It can be that not all ships in the line are researched if you have reset a line with a split or if you got an early-access ship.
7. ↑ So far, the seasons appear to end on the closest Friday to the 15th and the next start on the following Saturday.
8. ↑ The Credits cost depends on a number of things. The numbers given assume a 15% Clan buy/sell discount, and reflect the variance of the number of ships and modules that were sold at first reset. I.e. the53M expenditure is if he had no KM cruiser in port to be sold at first reset — an unlikely occurrence. 19.3M is if he had them all.