Tech systems
There are three types of research/tech system that can be used on worlds.
The Simple research system is the most frequently used setting. The 3 level system is also used fairly frequently. The 10 level system is extremely rare, and only used on a couple of worlds.
Simple research system
Unlike the other two research systems, the Simple research system only allows units to be in two states: Not researched, and Researched.
It is only possible to train units in a village if they have been researched in the Smithy. However, the fighting power of the units is not affected by research, since there is only one possible level of it.
It is not possible to downgrade the research of a unit.
3 level system
This research setting is also sometimes referred to as the '15 tech system', due to each village only being able to research a total of 15 times.
Units typically start at research level 0, or in other words, not researched. The exceptions are Suličar and Mečevalec - these are researched from the start, and cannot be downgraded.
Each unit can be upgraded up to a maximum level of 3. At level 1, you are given the ability to train the unit. At level 2, they will be 25% more powerful in battle. At level 3, their bonus will increase 40%.
Since you can only have 15 active research levels in a village, you will need to carefully choose what units to research. It is possible to downgrade research levels all the way down to not researched.
10 level system
The 10 level system is similar to the 3 level system, but allows each unit to be upgraded to level 10. The higher the research level, the better the unit performs in battle. There is no limit to the number of researches you can have in a village.