A research question

[General Hawkwing]

Seawolf,
Any results to report yet?

[Jubala]

I think the SE3 research model with percentage allocation was much better. You could have some projects running on backburner while other got alot of attention. And you could easily crashresearch a vital area and jump several levels at once.

I miss the SE3 research model. It would be so much better if they brought it back and made intel ops like that as well.

[Master Belisarius]

Jubala: I must agree with you... But also, I miss the SE3 interface, the SE3 build queue, and some SE3 game settings (starting tech points, AI starting planets, for example).

Anyway, I believe(hope) that some of those things will be fixed in future patches.

[Richard Link]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Master Belisarius:
Jubala: I must agree with you... But also, I miss the SE3 interface, the SE3 build queue, and some SE3 game settings (starting tech points, AI starting planets, for example).

Anyway, I believe(hope) that some of those things will be fixed in future patches.

---

The more I play both Versions I have to agree with both of you, especially on the Research Screen. I really get a feeling of being limited in Research Options ( the core of the Game IMHO )in the new Version.

I wonder if someone close to the project can explain the reasons for the change to the research interface in SE IV.

[Seawolf]

Ok it seems that if you spend funds on research then stop the points spent are remembered and yuo only have to add the difference. But the tech expense listed won't show it.

------------------
Seawolf on the prowl

[Repo Man]

I never played SEIII, but the current research model is flawed. It makes absolutely no sense to divide points evenly, since the total time to obtain all the technologies in the queue is equal to the amount of time to research each tech sequentially. By devoting all research to one project at a time, you have the first tech much sooner, and the later techs at the same time as dividing equally.

It would make more sense to give some sort of bonus to tech for researching equally, or penalty for researching one item at a time. For example, if only one tech was researched, only 60% of total research points would be used, the remaining would be wasted. Two items could utilize 80% of all total research, wasting only 20%. However, each item would receive only 40% of the grand total. This would force players to choose between faster results or more efficient but slower multiple item research.

On a related note, it would be cool if a science pod were available for ships. These would be used for special assignments, such as researching black holes. Research points from these ships would be necessary for certain technology. It would also give an incentive to build massive research stations near black holes and other exotic locations, needing some sort of thrusters to keep them stable. These would make great targets in times of war. <evil grin>.

[LintMan]

Many 4x games have a slider or something so you can divvy up your research among different areas, with varying percentages to each. That would be more useful than SE4's equal division of points.

I think the game "Spaceward Ho!" (an old favorite of mine - anyone remember that one?) was set up that if you pumped lots of money into a single research area, you got diminishing returns for the extra money.

[Repo Man]

True, as I recall, either MOO or MOO2 (or both) had such a system, as does Stars!. That other games use this system doesn�t change the underlying math � applying a portion of a specific amount of research points to several tech projects is less efficient than concentrating one at a time. All good Stars! players know this. I didn�t play MOO 1 or 2 multiplayer, but realized early on that dividing tech offered no benefit whatsoever.

Don�t get me wrong, I like the idea of multiple research items. That�s why I think it should be more efficient to research several projects at once. But under the current system, you can bet your Last Wave Motion Gun that I will research my projects sequentially.

BTW, does anyone know the true source of the Wave Motion Gun?

[LintMan]

Yep, spreading your research points out among multiple projects is less efficient than putting them all in one at a time.

The case where I'd like to be able to allocate a specific percentage to multiple projects (instead of evenly dividing it) is when I want to research a very expensive item, like say, gas colony, but without putting a halt on all other research progress for many turns. So I would put maybe 5-20% research onto that and leave the rest for quicker goals. You can sort of have the same effect with SE4's dividing the point evenly system, but then I couldn't do a 90-10 split. And it's worse than that, because in SE4 with the even split, when a project is completed, and excess points allocated to it are lost.

As for the Wave Motion Gun - Star Blazers was one of my favorite cartoons as a kid. The WMG was the Big Gun on the Yamato.

[Psitticine]

I also remember Star Blazers/Yamato very fondly. I was a bit disappointed to read the stats on the WMG in the other thread. I think I'll tweak it to make it more powerful in my own Version!