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There are around 300 innovations that can be discovered. Many of them have requirements, and many do not, so it's kind of a tech forest/grassland rather than a tree. Notably missing are innovations related to practical labors in the game (which will be added later in development). Only the discovery of certain "form" type topics has any effect on gameplay, as it allows scholars to write new types of [[book]]s; star charts, atlases, dictionaries and various historical forms.

According to a [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf//index.php?topic=169696.msg8071983#msg8071983 Future of the Fortress Reply] 'Fortress [[Scholars]] do activity cycles, the length of which is 1-2 days (whether they are pondering or discussing etc.)  Once they get through 50 cycles, it rolls 0-50 vs. the number of completed cycles minus 50 to see if they get "breakthrough credit."  So at 51, they have a 2% chance, and at 100, they have a 100% chance.  Then, it resets the cycle number to zero and gives them breakthrough credit, based on a skill roll plus 100 (for discuss, the other researchers contribute half of their summed skill rolls.)  Based on the difficulty (1-4) of the topic, total lifetime breakthrough credit is then assigned a number of 50-sided dice.  An easy topic is dice=credit/2500, then /5000, then /10000, then /20000 for level 4 topics.  The number of dice cannot exceed 10.  Then roll these dice -- if you get a 50 on any of them, discovery!  This is a bit archaic, and I'm not suggesting it works particularly well.  But that is how it works.  Also: if they fail to get the breakthrough after the 50-sided rolls, they have a 2% chance of switching topics, or if their credit exceeds 100000, they always switch topics (though they keep the credit, so returning to the topic later gives them a decent chance at breakthrough.)'

For unskilled roles, some initial back-of-the-envelope calculations gives a basic idea of just how long research can take...  

With zero contribution from skill rolls it takes an average of 50+(1/50*.02*1+1/50*.04*2+1/50*.06*3+...+1/50*1.0*50)=67.17 1-2 day cycles to get a breakthrough credit. This means an additional breakthrough dice every 1680 cycles for level 1 topics, every 3660 cycles for level 2 topics, every 6720 cycles for level 3 topics, and every 13440 cycles for level 4 topics. From that point, it is an average of 67.17*50=3360 cycles (50-100 days) to get a breakthrough, or to switch topics (2% chance of switching topics).  However in an actual player fort, scholars will need to take breaks to eat, and drink, and can switch topics after doing so. Dwarfs with academic skills will research according to what skills they have, but unskilled dwarfs might pick any topic, further slowing research.

In short, research takes an unreasonably long time with unskilled dwarfs.

[http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=174850.msg8061426#msg8061426 Player science] has found that [[visitors]] can come with research credits already done, thus, for forts aiming to maximize research, it makes sense to prioritize attracting wandering scholars.