These two features exist to help you progress your empire and become stronger as time goes on.

 

Research

As your empire gains more and more gold, and more and more refined resources, you can research different areas to increase your power.

 

How do I get refined resources?

Early on, most of your refined resources will come from using your Sorcerers Tower at Level 10 to refine excess resources.  

As time goes on, you also gain refined resources by killing troops belonging to other players - the more troops you kill, the more refined resources you receive.  These are seen on a battle report when you start killing troops! 

 

What can I research?

The first one you'll need to research is Title Advancement - every time you advance your title/give yourself a promotion, you are able to enlist one more senator which means you can have one more city.

You can also research troop combat strength, city build speed improvements, increased cart speed for example.  

One research which is useful is Senator City Capture bonus - it takes a lot of gold, however it increases the speed at which you can capture another player's castle. 

Most players would suggest that early on in the game you concentrate on Title Advancements and troop combat strength.

 

 

Rewards

You are also recognised for your achievements in the game, these are listed in the Rewards section, you can receive gold and other resources to help you grow.

 

For example

When you enlist a certain number of Vanquishers, you will be rewarded with iron.  You can then claim that iron in the currently active city.

When you kill a certain number of cavern monsters, such as Unicorns, you will be rewarded with gold. 

 

Note

If you claim a reward of resources without the storage space in the currently active city, you will lose the resource (unless you have a Sorcerers Tower at Level 10 and an active Trade Councillor who will refine it for you) so check the empty storage space before you claim a resources reward.  There is a warning on the Reward screen if you don't have the storage space.

Gold adds to your overall gold balance, it does not matter which city you're in.

There is no need to claim the rewards instantly, they will be there until you claim them at a time that suits you.

Waiting to claim some of the 'City progress' rewards can be a tactical advantage - claim wood and stone in a new city while waiting for a delivery to arrive, for example.