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Research · Defense

Barbicans

A killing ground before the gate is ever reached — raises troop defense.

Entity ID
barbicans
Branch
Defense
Stat buffed
defense — Defense
Bonus per level
+1.2%
Maximum level
8
Bonus at maximum level
+9.6%
Power per level
84
Power at maximum level
672
Base study time
35 seconds
Study time at maximum level
14m 2s
Prerequisites
Watchtowers at level 5

Cost, time and bonus at every level

Barbicans runs to level 8, adding +1.2% to defense and 84 power each time. Studying it out costs the four soft resources — the same amount of each — and takes 14m 2s for the final level alone. Gems are only ever the optional instant finish; the study itself is bought with what your fields already make.

Barbicans: what each level costs and what it grants.
LevelTotal defensePowerStudy timeEach resourceGems to finish instantly
1+1.2%842m 14s12,0003
2+2.4%1682m 54s15,6003
3+3.6%2523m 47s20,2804
4+4.8%3364m 55s26,3645
5+6%4206m 23s34,2737
8+9.6%67214m 2s75,29815

Taken from nothing to level 8 that is 53m 21s of raw study and 286,292 of each of food, wood, stone and iron — 1,145,168 resources in total.

Where it sits in the tree

Barbicans belongs to the Defense branch — the walls line — what an attacker has to get through before they reach your granary. It stays locked until Watchtowers reaches level 5. Studying it opens 1 further tech.

Techs gated behind Barbicans.
TechBranchRequires this tech at level
Concentric CastlesDefense5

The road here: Weaponry to level 3 → Armor to level 8 → Fortification to level 8 → Watchtowers to level 5 → Barbicans. That is 4 studies standing between a fresh Academy and this one.

What Barbicans costs before its own first level: the prerequisite chain, at the levels it demands.
PrerequisiteLevel requiredEach resourceStudy time
Weaponry347,88040m 47s
Armor8286,2924h 3m
Fortification8286,2924h 3m
Watchtowers5108,51717m 20s
Total before you may begin728,9819h 5m

What it eventually opens: 2 studies sit downstream of Barbicans, counting every remove.

Everything gated behind Barbicans, directly or at a remove.
StudySteps outBuffsAt its capStudy time at cap
Concentric Castles1defense+7.2%13m 3s
The Long Memory2production_rate+6%10m 57s

Guide: Research & the Academy · Research Priorities. Studied at the Maester's Academy. Index: all 81 studies · the whole database.

Rest of the Defense branch: Fortification · Siege Craft · Palisades · Stonework · Watchtowers · Moat Works · Battlements · Portcullis · Curtain Walls · Gatehouses · Counter-Siege · Murder Holes · Arrow Slits · Siege Engineering · Concentric Castles · Deep Cisterns · Bombardment Doctrine

Every figure above is generated from the shipped game code — the same constants and formulas the running game uses — and regenerated whenever the balance changes. Nothing on this page is hand-typed.

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