Institute

Basic Information
The institute is where you learn and level technologies you need to make advancements for your city and army. In the institute, you spend gold and resources to learn and level technologies. For you to build an institute in your city you will need a tier 2 town hall and pay a certain amount of resources.

An institute is also a requirement to complete a quest. Benefits you get from building an institute is you will now be able to learn technologies that will help you improve your city and military. An institute is a must to have in every city, as you will not get advantages of technologies learnt in other cities if you don’t have an institute there. Construction research is the one exception. The time reduction from Construction will apply to all cities, regardless of their Institute status.

Technolygies
Agriculture: “enhances food production”

This is just as important as any of the other military enhancements because armies need food. Without food, your armies will starve.

Lumbering: “enhances lumber production”

Just like agriculture, lumbering is a must. Lumber is required for every single unit you create.

Masonry: "enhances stone production"

The faster you can get stone, the more fortified units you can create. We all need more defense!

Mining: “enhances iron production”

Similar to lumbering, iron is needed for any creation of a military unit. Iron is a necessity.

Metalurgy: “enhances production speed of mechanics”

From personal experience, trust me, you need at least level 9 or 10 of Metal Casting once you have established yourself. Mechanics are powerful units in Evony and you want to build them as fast as you can.

Leardership:"increases heroes' command ability by 10%"

The higher leadership is, the larger the army can be leaded by the hero. This is very important to your battle so you have to level it up.

Espionage:"get you ever more detailed information on the city you scout"

The higher level is, the more information you can get. This is nice if you really like to attack and collect intellegence.

Military Science: “enhances training speed”

Although this does not directly relate to victory or loss in battle, generally the lords who can train their troops the quickest will have a larger army. The larger your army is the most dominant you are. This is also a pre-requisite for many other technologies.

Battle Skill:"increase army attack"

Without a doubt, anyone without a high military tradition will lose many battles. The more attack you have, the stronger you are.

Iron Defense: “enhances army’s defense”

Again, this is very vital to a strong civilization. Without defense, your troops will get massacred within moments.

Battle Curing: “enhances army’s life”

The higher your medicine level, the more “hitpoints” each and every military unit will have. This is important, because if your attack, defense, and range is exactly equal to your opponent’s, then it will come down to whoever has more life.

Navigation: “enhances infantry moving speed”

The higher this is, the faster your troops will move around. Given the fact that the majority of your army will be infantry (archers, warriors, etc) it would be wise to have a high compass level. It could determine victory or loss in battle.

Riding: “enhances moving speed of cavalry and mechants”

The higher this is, the faster your troops will move around. Horseback riding helps scouts, cavalry, cataphracts, ballistae, transporters, battering rams, and catapults. I must say, the mechanics units move very slowly, so you might want to research this.

Archery: “enhances shooting range”

This is considered to be the most important technology. If you do not plan on trying to get level 10 archery you are making a huge mistake.

Stockpile: “enhances warehouse capacity”

This is probably the least essential technology in the game. The goal of this research is to help you keep resources if you get plundered. The biggest problem with this is that anyone with privateering will come in and destroy you anyways.

Logistics: “enhances army’s load”

You can carry more resources with higher logistics. This is important if you intend on attacking cities that are far away, or want to transport resources to and from your different cities.

Construction: “enhances construction speed of buildings and fortified units”

This is one of the most useful technologies in Evony. The faster you can build buildings and defenses, the more powerful you will be.

Engineering: “enhances durability of walls”

The higher your engineering level, the more space you have to build fortified units. Who doesn’t want to build more defenses?

Machinery: “enhances repairable rate of fortified units”

For those of you who do not understand this, it is similar to when an NPC regenerates its traps and archer towers. The higher your machinery level, the more fortifications will regenerate after being defeated. This is highly useful when an enemy destroys your defenses and then gets a surprise when 75% of your defenses spring back up!

Privateering: “Decreases rival’s warehouse down to 3% whilst plundering”

Although you need a level 10 Academy to research privateering, it is extremely useful. If you have a powerful army, you can plunder your enemies who have a warehouse without fear of them keeping the majority of their resources.