The Skill Tree vs The Tech Tree

Figure 1: Each level of this technology add an ever increasing bonus as you level up

The "Commander Skill Tree" and the "Tech Tree" are two ways to upgrade your abilities in Mobile Strike.  The skill tree is updated by points earned when you level up your commander, while the tech tree takes resource and time requirements.  Both skills and technologies often have levels associated with them, where higher levels provide you with a higher rate of bonus improvement.  For instance, in Figure 1, after the first level you carry a bonus of 1%, the second level, your net bonus is 2.25%, the third level is 3.75%, and so on.

At some point, you find yourself confronted with a decision, "do I unlock a different part of the tree, or do I increase my skill/tech level of something I've already unlocked?".  Surprisingly, there are different answers for the skill and tech tree.  

Figure 2: Tech Tree

For the tech tree, you pay a penalty in research time when you level up an existing technology.  For instance, the first level may have taken an hour to research, the second level 4 hours, and the third level 12 hours.  When you could unlock the next branch of the tech tree for a smaller time commitment, it usually pays off better in the long run.  Why?  Well the technology that you achieve faster contributes its benefits more immediately.  Consider if you had two choices... leveling up tech A at 12 hours, or unlocking tech B at 2 hours.  Whats the difference between ordering these as A->B vs B->A?  After 14 hours, you will have unlocked both.  Had you gone A->B, you receive 2 hours of A benefits, and 0 hours of B.  If you had gone B->A, you get 12 hours of A, and 0 hours of B.  Since the time commitment tends to dwarf the technology benefit, this implies that as a rule of thumb, its more efficient to go for breadth in the tech tree, rather than level depth. 

Figure 3: Commander Skill Tree

The skill tree is a different story.  Here, you gain points which you can spend on your skill tree whenever you level up your commander with enough XP.  Once you earn a point, you can immediately apply it to any branch of the tree to which you have access.  Here, since your time commitments are 0, you are best served to go for depth.  For example, if you had a choice between opening up the "Commander Attack" skill with a 1% bonus, or adding a 3% "Energy Cost Reduction" bonus by leveling up, I'd take the deeper level.  As you can see in my skill tree, that means I max out each skill before moving on to the next.

This is just a rule of thumb.  If you are aiming to reach a particular skill further down the tree, you might want to skip levels to reach your target skill as quickly as possible.  Or perhaps, you want to maximize a certain technology before unlocking new skills.  The true "future given present" calculation can be much more complex than I've suggested.  However, I am convinced that you will achieve your technologies and skills more efficiently by going for breadth in the tech tree, and depth in the skill tree.