Electronics

_{Focus Areas · Design document §3}

Available from: EL06 + EL03

Also reachable in this focus (dual-path; home focus in parentheses): Room Temperature Superconductor (EL12, from Electricity).

9 breakthroughs — CORE 3 · STANDARD 4 · UNCOMMON 1 · RARE 1 — Modern – Atomic

Builds on: Mechanics (2) · Chemistry (2) · Optics (2) · Electricity (3) · Quintessic Physics (3) · Quantum Physics (2)

Leads into: Farming (1) · Warfare (3) · Philosophy and the Arts (1) · Medicine (1) · Mechanics (1) · Computing (4) · Nuclear Physics (1) · Quintessic Physics (1) · Rocketry (2) · Aeronautics (2) · Energy Systems (1)

_{The numbers count prerequisite links between this focus and the other. How to read the tables.}

Overview

ID	Breakthrough	Tier	Era	Prerequisites
EN01	Vacuum Tube	CORE	Modern	EL03 + OP01 (Glassmaking)
EN02	Transistor	CORE	Atomic	EN01 + QP01 (Wave-Particle Duality)
EN03	Integrated Circuit	CORE	Atomic	(EN02 Transistor, or QM-E03 Resonant-State Computing) + MC10 (Precision Machining)
EN04	Radar	STANDARD	Modern	EN01 + EL09 (Wireless)
EN06	Semiconductor Mastery	STANDARD	Atomic	((EN02 Transistor + CH11 Polymer) or QM-E03 Resonant-State Computing) + CH06 (Periodic Table — crystallography)
EN07	MEMS	UNCOMMON	Atomic	EN03 + MC12 (Robotics)
EN09	Spintronics	RARE	Atomic	EN06 + QP02 (Quantum Mechanics)
EN10	Miniaturization	STANDARD	Atomic	(EN02 Transistor, or QM-E03 Resonant-State Computing) + EN03 + EN06 — cost ×2.5 in Elemental worlds
EN11	Radio	STANDARD	Modern	EN01 + EL09 + OP02 (Lens Grinding)

Prerequisite map

flowchart LR
  n_EN01["EN01 Vacuum Tube"]:::CORE
  n_EN02["EN02 Transistor"]:::CORE
  n_EN03["EN03 Integrated Circuit"]:::CORE
  n_EN07["EN07 MEMS"]:::UNCOMMON
  n_EN10["EN10 Miniaturization"]:::STANDARD
  n_EN06["EN06 Semiconductor Mastery"]:::STANDARD
  n_EN09["EN09 Spintronics"]:::RARE
  n_EN04["EN04 Radar"]:::STANDARD
  n_EN11["EN11 Radio"]:::STANDARD
  n_EN01 --> n_EN02
  n_EN02 -.-> n_EN03
  n_EN01 --> n_EN04
  n_EN02 -.-> n_EN06
  n_EN03 --> n_EN07
  n_EN06 --> n_EN09
  n_EN03 --> n_EN10
  n_EN06 --> n_EN10
  n_EN02 -.-> n_EN10
  n_EN01 --> n_EN11
  classDef CORE fill:#dbeafe,stroke:#1d4ed8,color:#0b1b3b
  classDef STANDARD fill:#f1f5f9,stroke:#64748b,color:#0f172a
  classDef UNCOMMON fill:#dcfce7,stroke:#15803d,color:#052e16
  classDef RARE fill:#fef3c7,stroke:#b45309,color:#3b2005
  classDef UNIQUE fill:#fae8ff,stroke:#a21caf,color:#3b0a3f

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_{Prerequisites within this focus. Box colour is the tier (blue CORE, grey STANDARD, green UNCOMMON, amber RARE, purple UNIQUE); dotted arrows are alternatives (“or”); a line can pass behind another box, so follow it from its start. 9 of these 9 breakthroughs also need breakthroughs from other foci, which the overview above lists.}

Breakthroughs

EN01 · Vacuum Tube

• Tier: CORE · Era: Modern
• Prerequisites: EL03 + OP01 (Glassmaking)
• Unlocks: ⟨[+15]% Production when constructing [Air] units [in all cities]⟩ — valve radios and instruments in every cockpit. Prerequisite for Radar (EN04) and Radio (EN11, with television). Shared craft in every world, and named as in ours: a heated metal boils electric fire into the evacuated bulb and a charged grid steers it. (The crystal rectifier is likewise shared; in a Process world it passes flow along the generative cycle's arrow.)
• Notes: Shared craft: a heated metal boils electric fire into the evacuated bulb and a charged grid steers it — amplification works in every world. (The crystal rectifier is likewise shared: a junction passes flow one way; in a Process world that way is the generative cycle's arrow.)
• Leads to: PH10 Information Theory, EN02 Transistor, EN04 Radar, EN11 Radio, CP13 Analog Computing Mastery, QM-E03 Resonant-State Computing

EN02 · Transistor

• Tier: CORE · Era: Atomic
• Prerequisites: EN01 + QP01 (Wave-Particle Duality)
• Unlocks: Unlocks Computing focus (the atomic route). Atomic worlds only — the semiconductor is a quantum device.
• Notes: Most important electronics breakthrough.
• Leads to: EN03 Integrated Circuit, EN06 Semiconductor Mastery, EN10 Miniaturization, CP01 Programmable Computer

EN03 · Integrated Circuit

• Tier: CORE · Era: Atomic
• Prerequisites: (EN02 Transistor, or QM-E03 Resonant-State Computing) + MC10 (Precision Machining)
• Unlocks: Microchip Foundryⁿ [375/2; +3 Gold; requires Rare Earths]. Many switching elements cut into one piece — in every world, and under the same name; what is integrated differs by world, not what it is called.
• Leads to: WA20 Drone Warfare, WA21 Powered Armor, MD12 Cybernetic Enhancement, MC12 Robotics, EN07 MEMS, EN10 Miniaturization, CP11 Neural Interface, RK05 Satellite Technology

EN04 · Radar

• Tier: STANDARD · Era: Modern
• Prerequisites: EN01 + EL09 (Wireless)
• Unlocks: Anti-Aircraft Gun, Fighter, Bomber, Paratrooper (units — canonical Radar; Fighter and Bomber require Oil); Radar Stationⁿ [125/1; cityStrength +5].
• Leads to: AE07 Stealth Technology

EN06 · Semiconductor Mastery

• Tier: STANDARD · Era: Atomic
• Prerequisites: ((EN02 Transistor + CH11 Polymer) or QM-E03 Resonant-State Computing) + CH06 (Periodic Table — crystallography)
• Unlocks: Two faces, unequal — and that is the point. Atomic: Fabⁿ [500/3; requires a Microchip Foundry in this city; +4 Gold; requires Rare Earths; ⟨Remove [Neuromorphic Foundry] [in this city]⟩] — Moore's law begins, and belongs to silicon. Elemental: Resonant Crystal Worksⁿ [250/1; +2 Gold; requires Rare Earths] — a flawless switching crystal, but one that does not shrink: "computation in this world is slower to miniaturise than silicon" (Model I §7). In elemental worlds the breakthrough is Resonant Crystal Mastery — not a rename but a different craft: the crystal switches by resonance, not as a semiconductor, and it does not shrink.
• Notes: Silicon or resonant crystal — the craft of growing a flawless switching substrate is the same craft.
• Leads to: FA11 Vertical Farming, EN09 Spintronics, EN10 Miniaturization, CP09 Artificial General Intelligence, ES07 Solar Panel

EN07 · MEMS

• Tier: UNCOMMON · Era: Atomic
• Prerequisites: EN03 + MC12 (Robotics)
• Unlocks: ⟨[-10]% maintenance cost for [All] buildings [in all cities]⟩ — buildings that sense themselves.

EN09 · Spintronics

• Tier: RARE · Era: Atomic
• Prerequisites: EN06 + QP02 (Quantum Mechanics)
• Unlocks: ⟨[+2 Science] from all [Fab] buildings⟩; ⟨[+2 Science] from all [Research Lab] buildings⟩ — memory that needs no power. Atomic worlds only.

EN10 · Miniaturization

• Tier: STANDARD · Era: Atomic
• Prerequisites: (EN02 Transistor, or QM-E03 Resonant-State Computing) + EN03 + EN06 — cost ×2.5 in Elemental worlds
• Unlocks: ⟨[+1 Happiness] [in all cities]⟩ (everyone carries a computer); ⟨[+25]% spy effectiveness [in all cities]⟩ (<when espionage is enabled>). Requires Rare Earths. Possible in every world, but a pocket-sized resonance computer is "slower to miniaturise than silicon" (Model I §7), so Elemental worlds pay two and a half times the Insight — the clearest use of the cost-multiplier lever. Prerequisite for Powered Armour (WA21), which therefore arrives late, not never, in Elemental worlds.
• Leads to: WA21 Powered Armor, NP-F02 Micro-Fission Reactors, AE11 Electric Aviation

EN11 · Radio

• Tier: STANDARD · Era: Modern
• Prerequisites: EN01 + EL09 + OP02 (Lens Grinding)
• Unlocks: Broadcast Tower; Eiffel Tower (world wonder); National Intelligence Agency (national wonder). The world in every home. ⟨[+2 Gold] from all [Broadcast Tower] buildings⟩ — advertising revenue; Sydney Opera House, CN Tower (world wonders); ⟨Resting point for Influence with City-States is increased by [10]⟩ — soft power, broadcast by sound and then by picture (Television, merged here in v3.103, with Mass Media merged into it in v3.100).
• Notes: Relocated from the former Communications focus.
• Leads to: RK16 Satellite Communications