In They Are Billions, the tech tree serves as the backbone of your campaign strategy. However, the game’s design is notorious for its lack of a native "Reset" button. This can lead to a "soft-lock" where players spend research points on non-essential upgrades and find themselves unable to beat difficult missions like Cape Storm. Can You Officially Reset the Tech Tree?
No. By design, once you successfully complete a mission, any research points spent are permanently locked.
Temporary Respec: You can only undo your most recent tech choices if you fail a mission or have not yet won a mission after spending those points.
The "Hard" Solution: If you are truly stuck because of poor tech choices, the only official way to fix it is to restart the campaign from the beginning. Community Workarounds and Tools
Since the lack of a reset feature is a common frustration, players have developed external ways to manage their tech tree:
This report covers what the tech tree is, why players want to reset it, the official methods (or lack thereof), and practical workarounds.
Inside the Campaign menu, there is a "Restart Campaign" option. This does not reset your tech tree. It simply resets the mission order. You will keep all the tech you already researched. This is useless for a full reset.
It is a common misconception that the Tech Tree can be reset globally (i.e., wiping all progress to start a new campaign from scratch).
C:\Users\[Username]\Documents\My Games\TheyAreBillions\SavesThe lab's shutters slammed shut as the siren's wail cut through the colony. Workbenches that once hummed with clever designs lay half-cleared; schematics were stacked like memories to be burned. Colonel Vega stood before the central console, fingers hovering over the fail-safe key. they are billions reset tech tree
"Once we reset it, everything we've unlocked goes dark," she said. "We rebuild from bare copper and rust."
She pulled the key. For a heartbeat the colony held its breath. Then, one by one, holographic icons blinked out—advanced turrets, steam tanks, arcologies—reverting to their primitive roots: wooden palisades, simple ballista frames, smoldering forges. The tech tree collapsed into a single trunk of survival: gather, craft, defend.
It wasn't loss but recalibration. The reset stripped comfort and complacency, exposing skill. Engineers scrubbed back to basics, relearning metallurgy and pressure valves they had long outsourced to automated lines. New research nodes sprouted where old ones had fallen, forcing decisions none had to make in decades. Do we invest scarce biomass into improved sawmills or into refining gunpowder? Do we risk early steam drives to reclaim territory, or fortify the walls and wait?
Outside, the infected pressed against the barricades, twice as eager now that the colony's edge had faltered. Inside, a new map glowed on the console—no more shortcuts, no more tech debt. The reset wasn't punishment. It was a gamble for ingenuity. Whoever re-claimed the branches would define the colony's future.
Vega tapped a fresh node into the queue: “Rebuild the basics. Prioritize power. Reinforce the perimeter.” Around her, the colony bent to the work—because in a world of billion mouths, survival required starting over.
Title: Can You Reset the Tech Tree in They Are Billions? (The Short Answer)
The Short Answer: No. In the standard Survival Mode of They Are Billions, there is no built-in button or console command to reset or refund your Technology Tree points once they have been spent.
The Long Explanation:
The Tech Tree is designed to be permanent for a single playthrough. Unlike a skill tree in an RPG, your choices in Survival Mode are meant to have lasting consequences, forcing you to adapt your strategy based on the order you unlock units, buildings, and upgrades.
However, you have two powerful options to "start over":
Restart the Colony (Same Map): If you are early in a run and realize you made a poor tech choice (e.g., you rushed Sniper but have no food production), you can simply pause the game > Menu > Restart. This resets the entire map, your tech choices, and your command center to Day 0. You will be able to repick your techs from scratch.
Start a New Game (Different Map/Difficulty): Each new Survival game starts with a fresh, blank Tech Tree. If you finish (or lose) a run, your next game has zero techs unlocked, and you earn research points again as your population grows.
What About the Campaign Mode?
The Campaign is different. You earn Empire Points to unlock techs on a massive, permanent tree. You CANNOT reset the Campaign Tech Tree without manually deleting your save data. There is no in-game refund system. Choose carefully, as some techs are required to progress.
Workaround for Frustration (PC Only):
If you absolutely want to "cheat" a reset for Survival mode, you can manually delete your save configuration files: In They Are Billions , the tech tree
C:\Users\[YourUserName]\Documents\My Games\They Are Billions\SavesSurvival.sav or relevant save file. This is effectively restarting completely.Pro Tip for Future Games: Always prioritize Wood Workshop techs early (Farms, Cottages, Ballistas). Avoid unlocking advanced units (Titans, Thanatos) until you have a stable mid-game economy. Remember: No resets means every tech point matters.
Bottom Line: There is no "undo" button. Your only reset is starting a brand new survival colony.
They Are Billions , resetting the campaign technology tree is not a built-in feature, creating a system where strategic choices have permanent consequences. This design forces players to live with their research decisions, often leading to situations where a poorly optimized path makes later missions significantly more difficult or even impossible at higher difficulties. The Challenge of Tech Permanence
The tech tree is a "point of no return" system. Once you successfully complete a mission, any technology you purchased beforehand becomes locked into your save file permanently.
The "Tricked" Feeling: New players often spend early research points on "trap" technologies, such as minor unit bonuses like Mercenaries (+1 Ranger), which lose value rapidly as swarms grow from dozens to thousands.
Soft-Locks: Certain missions, like Cape Storm or The Lonely Forest, require specific splash-damage tools (e.g., Shocking Towers or Lucifers) or advanced food production (Farms). Without these, players may find themselves unable to progress, frequently forcing a total campaign restart. Legitimate "Reset" Methods
While there is no "Respec" button, players can use specific in-game behaviors to adjust their choices:
The "Loss" Loophole: Research choices only lock after a win. If you buy a technology and then lose or quit a mission, your research points are refunded, allowing you to try a different build for that specific challenge. Method 2: The "Restart Campaign" Button Inside the
Strategic Backups: Experienced players often manually backup their save files before spending large amounts of Research Points, allowing them to "reset" to a previous state if a new technology underperforms.