Doloc Town Tech Tree

Doloc Town’s technology trees are the real skill screen. There are four branches and about 81 unlocks: Agriculture (24), Industry (17), Life (22), and Animal (18). Point costs and parent nodes also sit as sortable rows on doloctowndb.wiki — this page is the spend order; the catalog is the digit. Use the community database doorway when a node will not appear. Points come from play, not a vendor, and many late nodes charge two disciplines at once. This guide explains how points work, which early unlocks matter, and how the trees feed genes, automation, fishing, and cooking after the 1.0 launch.

Agriculture, Industry, and Life are open from the first day. The Animal tree appears during Kenenimuu’s ranch tutorial after you build a Small Barn and report back — see Ranching. If a node lists several parents, you only need one of those parents, but you still pay every point type on the cost line.

The four point types

Point	Main tree	How you earn it
Field Study	Agriculture	Planting, harvesting, botanical work
Tech Research	Industry	Smelting, machines, industrial chores
Tool Operation	Life	Cooking, furniture, daily tools
Nurturing Animals	Animal	Feeding, cleaning, aquaculture

Levels 1–16 each ask for their own XP packet, not a running total. Animal levels start cheaper, so ranch points appear quickly once the barn quest opens. Cross-tree taxes are the trap: Gene 101 wants Field Study and Tech Research; Wasteland Materials II wants Field Study and Tool Operation. Hoard a few spare points instead of dumping every Field Study into extra basins.

Guildmaster Bellad still awards story tech points — spend those on the Early Game industrial spine (smelting, batteries, lightning rods) before luxury Life décor.

Agriculture: basins, mushrooms, genes

Agriculture starts at Agricultural Basics (wooden Plant Basin) and splits into irrigation, shrubs, wasteland basins, and trees.

Early must-buys

• Basic Irrigation → Manual Sprinkler
• Reservoir Techniques → Wooden Barrel, then Water Source → Basic Well
• Shrub Planting / Vine Cultivation / Mushroom Cultivation if you want fungus planters before Mushroom Fest
• Resin Crafting (Field Study + Tech Research) → Resin Press and rubber — Merlin’s jetpack quest needs this later

Gene spine (Harvest Fusion → 1.0)

1. Gene 101 — Mushroom Cultivation or Wasteland Materials II — Gene Activation Chamber
2. Cloning Technology → Gene Replicator
3. Gene Editing → Gene Extractor
4. Botany → Seed Compressor
5. Genetics — Gene Editing or Botany — Gene Synthesizer

You do not need every wasteland basin to finish the story, but Gene 101 is the door to the gene system. Pair chamber rolls with the crop gene tier list and the gene notes tool.

Late agriculture adds Electric Sprinklers, Farm Lights, Vertical Frames, Compost Grinders, and foam/metal basins. Buy lights and electric irrigation when you start stacking platforms in farm expansion, not on day three.

Industry: smelter to automated workbench

Industry opens with Industrial Basics — Smelter and Copper Ingot. That single node gates the copper pickaxe and half the walkthrough.

Recommended industrial order for story players

1. Industrial Basics → Smelter
2. Craftsman → Equipment Workbench
3. Lightning Ward → Lightning Rod (before outdoor power; see Weather Protection)
4. Waste Dissolution / Advanced Refining as mats allow
5. Rechargeable Battery → Charger
6. Basic Power Generation → Simple Generator, then storage and Wind Power
7. Alloy Material → Advanced Smelter, steel and titanium
8. Commander → Automated Workbench (end of the listed industrial line)

1.0 farming automation sits on this power spine plus the agricultural drone tutorials from Mody and Cod. Do not rush Commander if your batteries still die overnight — Automation explains hub placement. Patch 1.00.03 also warns that drones can idle incorrectly; keep one manual row until the follow-up hotfix.

Life: kitchen, drying, storage

Life is how you stay fed. Living Basics drops a bed, stools, and wasteland lights. Then the tree splits:

• Cooking I → Pot, then higher kitchen tiers used in Cooking
• Pickling and Drying lines — 1.00.03 specifically fixed new fish variants that could not be dried, so the drying branch is relevant again for Fishing
• Storage, textiles, and household machines that keep indoor rooms useful during acid weeks

Spend Life points whenever you are about to leave town for a long map run. A better kitchen saves more stamina than a third decorative lamp.

Animal: barn to fish power

After the Small Barn tutorial:

• Animal Basics → Feeding Trough
• Aquaculture Basics → Fish Tank (the indoor cousin of outdoor ponds)
• Feed, breeding, hatchery, and later Fish Power / Poop Generator style end nodes that turn ranch waste into electricity
• Automated Animal Care (lint roller, milking machine) once you are tired of chores on the daily checklist

Animal points will not unlock Gene 101. They will unlock the protein that festivals and Master Chef ask for. Mix one aquaculture line with one livestock line instead of maxing both in week two.

A practical 1.0 spend plan

Week one: Agricultural Basics, Industrial Basics, Living Basics, Craftsman, Lightning Ward, Basic Irrigation.

Until River Valley: Waste / smelting upgrades, Cooking I, Water Source, Resin Crafting.

Mid-game: Gene 101 as soon as you can spare 4 Field Study + 1 Tech Research; Animal Basics after the barn; batteries before you place solar on the roof.

Endgame: Genetics + Synthesizer, Commander workbench, agricultural drones, territory power on farm expansion plots.

Use Priority unlocks if you want a shorter ranked list, and Version 1.0 if you are checking which machines arrived at launch versus Harvest Fusion.

Common spending mistakes

• Buying every planter material before Gene 101
• Dumping Tech Research into décor while the copper pickaxe is still locked
• Opening Animal and then ignoring Nurturing Animals for a month
• Unlocking electric sprinklers on an uncovered field (weather still kills the crop)
• Assuming one parent node spends only one point type

The tech tree is a conversation between four jobs. Keep a little of each currency in your pocket, and the wasteland opens in the order the story expects.