Observatory

The Observatory is a production building that generates Science. It functions like the Inventor by converting time and assigned workforce into Science points used for research and unlocking advanced blueprints. The building requires 200 (population?) to construct and can employ up to 4 beavers as workers.

At full efficiency an Observatory produces 10 Science every 0.75 hours, which scales to roughly 53 Science per beaver per 16 hours, or about 3.33 Science per beaver per hour. The building became available in the initial release, was later made Folktail-exclusive in an update, and in Update 7 was enabled to accept bot workers for a cost of 7500 Science points.

Practical notes and interactions:

• The Observatory consumes workforce rather than raw materials to produce Science; placing more qualified beavers increases output up to the 4-worker cap.
• Efficiency depends on being staffed continuously; idle time reduces total Science yield proportional to staffing gaps.
• Investing Science to unlock bot worker capability allows automation of the Observatory at a high one-time Science cost (7500 Science), useful for late-game continuous research without tying up living beavers.
• Observatories are a late-game research infrastructure target once you have steady resource and population management, and they pair well with other Science-producing buildings to accelerate technological progression.