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Research · Defense

Watchtowers

Nothing crosses the fields unseen — raises troop defense.

Entity ID
watchtowers
Branch
Defense
Stat buffed
defense — Defense
Bonus per level
+1.2%
Maximum level
10
Bonus at maximum level
+12%
Power per level
75
Power at maximum level
750
Base study time
30 seconds
Study time at maximum level
20m 20s
Prerequisites
Fortification at level 8

Cost, time and bonus at every level

Watchtowers runs to level 10, adding +1.2% to defense and 75 power each time. Studying it out costs the four soft resources — the same amount of each — and takes 20m 20s for the final level alone. Gems are only ever the optional instant finish; the study itself is bought with what your fields already make.

Watchtowers: what each level costs and what it grants.
LevelTotal defensePowerStudy timeEach resourceGems to finish instantly
1+1.2%751m 55s12,0002
2+2.4%1502m 30s15,6003
3+3.6%2253m 14s20,2804
4+4.8%3004m 13s26,3645
5+6%3755m 28s34,2736
10+12%75020m 20s127,25421

Taken from nothing to level 10 that is 1h 21m of raw study and 511,434 of each of food, wood, stone and iron — 2,045,736 resources in total.

Where it sits in the tree

Watchtowers belongs to the Defense branch — the walls line — what an attacker has to get through before they reach your granary. It stays locked until Fortification reaches level 8. Studying it opens 1 further tech.

Techs gated behind Watchtowers.
TechBranchRequires this tech at level
BarbicansDefense5

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

What Watchtowers 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
Total before you may begin620,4648h 48m

What it eventually opens: 3 studies sit downstream of Watchtowers, counting every remove.

Everything gated behind Watchtowers, directly or at a remove.
StudySteps outBuffsAt its capStudy time at cap
Barbicans1defense+9.6%14m 2s
Concentric Castles2defense+7.2%13m 3s
The Long Memory3production_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 · Moat Works · Battlements · Portcullis · Curtain Walls · Barbicans · 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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