Meritocracy
Meritocracy is an Exploration Age upgrade available from a Trading Post or Tambo on a Zen Temple holy site. It reduces the cost of unit upgrades by 20%. It applies to upgrades for units, not the purchase price of newly trained troops, so its return depends on how much of the army the player intends to improve.
Research profile
- Research location
- Trading Post or Tambo on a Zen Temple holy site
- Research time
- 10 seconds
- Food cost
- 300
- Coin cost
- 300
- Effect
- Unit upgrade cost -20%
Effect & research conditions
Research costs 300 Food and 300 Coin and takes 10 seconds. First secure the required Zen Temple site and place the Trading Post or Tambo there; a post on a different settlement does not satisfy this access condition. The discount applies to affected unit-upgrade purchases, while unit training and unrelated building technologies retain their own costs.
Research condition
Available from the Exploration Age. Research it at Trading Post or Tambo on a Zen Temple holy site.
When to research
Research Meritocracy when several unit upgrades are planned and can be purchased after the discount takes effect. It is less attractive if the army will remain small or needs immediate units to survive a rush. The 600-resource cost must be repaid through saved upgrade resources, so consider the number and price of planned improvements.
Separate upgrade savings from unit production
Meritocracy lowers the price of unit upgrades; it does not directly reduce the Food, Wood or Coin paid to train another unit. A player improving several existing lines can turn the discount into a larger army or preserve resources for production. A player who needs bodies immediately may get more value from spending those resources at military buildings. The holy-site connection also makes map control part of the cost: secure the access point before investing.