The Research Redirect
v0.21.0 gave us eyes on the retention funnel. What we saw: 80% of players who survive the first minute drop before five minutes. Zero players — not a rounding error, literally zero — ever reached the research system. The post-tutorial objective was telling them to passively grind 500 Iron for the Market. They watched robots mine, got bored, and left.
One Message, Different Outcome
After the tutorial, ARIA now directs you to open the Tech Tree and start your first research project. It's a single message change, but it points players at the game's most engaging system instead of a passive grind. Research has choices, branching paths, and visible progress — everything the "wait for 500 Iron" goal didn't.
Research Nudges Come Sooner
The advisor's research-idle hint used to wait until you had three or more fleet members. That gate made sense for established players but locked out newcomers who needed the nudge most. Now ARIA mentions research earlier in the session, before players have time to disengage.
We're measuring this against the June 20 analytics baseline. If the 5-minute survival rate improves and first_research events start appearing, we'll know the cliff is about the objective, not the game.