# Studying Skills

Every unit in Eressea can be upgraded by learning a number of skills.
Some examples of skills are mining, riding, archery, and shipcraft.
Some skills enable a unit to produce a good, such as mining, which
gives you access to iron and other metals. Other skills improve a
unit's combat qualities, like archery, melee, and constitution. With
enough time, all skills can be studied to higher levels, with no upper
limit, and usually give better benefits the more proficient a unit is.

To study a skill, a unit needs to give the STUDY order, followed by
the name of the skill:

    UNIT 1234
      STUDY mining

## Study duration

An unmodified skill takes about a week to learn, higher levels take
longer. The total time to advance a level is variable per unit, but on
average, learning up to a new level takes as many weeks' time, so for
example, starting from level 3 it should take approximately 4 weeks to
reach level 4 in a skill.

## Skill modifications

Skills can be modified for any number of reasons. Certain races have
natural modifications on skills, which give a bonus on the skill if it
has been trained to at least level 1. Some buildings provide their
inhabitants with a skill boost, and certain skills are modified by the
terrain that a unit is in.