Question: What does the research rate curve look like in your games?

[Nexii]

Yea, I mod Cyber to +3 RES, probably accounts for about 1k also.  ToE and Supercollider are quite strong, yes.  4x research means that one base becomes about as good as 4 normal bases.  I think theres a few things I could have done better, an extra condensor or two per city might result in better top-end labs due to more population.  As well I didn't drill any aquifers.  It's a decent setup I think at least for a baseline.  These bases could have boomed up a bit more also, I realized (into the mid 40s, at least).  All fungus bases about the same (mid 40s), closer to 60 for Gaia if working 20 squares.  That's quite a few turns post Hab domes (30-40).  With a higher tech curve, you might see higher populations before the game ends though. 

Still I would agree, anywhere in the range of 15-25k for the last few techs is probably about right.  The thing about full labs (lets say 10-15k at the end) is that it's a risky strategy...putting it all in with no energy to rush Ascent (say Ascent goes to 2000 rows, or 40k energy assuming +5 IND) doesn't seem so wise.  I have to think a bit on strategy related - I believe by unlocking VoP, you can rush Ascent that same turn before anyone else's Ascent can complete.  Depends how much game time you want between VoP and Ascension, I guess.

I checked and Manifold with Fungus is definitely superior, especially for Gaia.  For anyone else it's slightly less N/E production, but a massive gain to minerals.  Overall it's worth it it more in practice (i.e. before the game is over, rather than point scoring) just for the minerals.  Minerals matter even late I say...you can always put it into military to take down the leader in a last ditch hope.

[Yitzi]

I checked and Manifold with Fungus is definitely superior, especially for Gaia.  For anyone else it's slightly less N/E production, but a massive gain to minerals.  Overall it's worth it it more in practice (i.e. before the game is over, rather than point scoring) just for the minerals.  Minerals matter even late I say...you can always put it into military to take down the leader in a last ditch hope.

Yeah, although for point scoring crawled farm/enricher/condenser is superior even for the Gaians, unless you mod.  I favor such modding.

[Corak]

I allways mod my .ini files for a tech rate of 20% or below. That way I can enjoy every single game phase a bit longer

[Yitzi]

I allways mod my .ini files for a tech rate of 20% or below. That way I can enjoy every single game phase a bit longer

Yeah, although that doesn't let you adjust the ratio between the phases, which is what I'm really interested in.

[Corak]

Yeah, although that doesn't let you adjust the ratio between the phases, which is what I'm really interested in.

Hmm, you are right, Yitzi. What's about a rework of the tech costs on a logarithmic scale?

[Yitzi]

Yeah, although that doesn't let you adjust the ratio between the phases, which is what I'm really interested in.

Hmm, you are right, Yitzi. What's about a rework of the tech costs on a logarithmic scale?

Logarithmic would probably be too extreme, but I do have plans to enable changes to make it quadratic in techs known instead of the intermediate value of two linear functions and one quadratic (which for large values will be linear).

[Corak]

Dear Yitzi,

that sounds interesting. Would you mind sending me the .ini file when you are done?

- Corak

[Yitzi]

Dear Yitzi,

that sounds interesting. Would you mind sending me the .ini file when you are done?

- Corak

It'll be an option in the usual alphax.txt; I simply haven't added it yet, and probably won't get to it for a while (as there are several other things ahead of it.)

[JarlWolf]

 I play with blind research and tech stagnation typically and depending on my mood may switch techs on conquest on or off. Depending on faction and trade,  it always seems to be around at least a 10-20 turn mark before new technologies happen, depending on how powerful research industry is.

[Yitzi]

I play with blind research and tech stagnation typically and depending on my mood may switch techs on conquest on or off. Depending on faction and trade,  it always seems to be around at least a 10-20 turn mark before new technologies happen, depending on how powerful research industry is.

Is it the same amount at the beginning of the tech tree as at its top?

[JarlWolf]

Typically, yes. The rate of discovery doesn't change too much, if at all- unless of course my research capabilities go up, which they do.

But it generally, due to my play style stays around the same rate. Unless I am playing a research oriented faction my rate stays the same and I typically am slightly behind in the tech race, but production and military wise I am pretty formidable.  I play on Thinker difficulty, if that helps.

[Yitzi]

Typically, yes. The rate of discovery doesn't change too much, if at all- unless of course my research capabilities go up, which they do.

But it generally, due to my play style stays around the same rate. Unless I am playing a research oriented faction my rate stays the same and I typically am slightly behind in the tech race, but production and military wise I am pretty formidable.  I play on Thinker difficulty, if that helps.

What play style is that?

[JarlWolf]

My playstyle is emulated fairly well in my AAR-

I typically go with expanding my infrastructure across the board, expanding outward and then making sure each city is as much a productive hub as it can be, my emphasis being production/minerals for the most part while having a large population to boast it and create more colonies and cities. With a large amount of cities that have strong industrial output and supportive infrastructure, with a large mass produced military I often then provoke an AI without becoming the aggressor to start a war with me, fighting a defencive conflict while preserving my faction's reputation, inducing massive attrition on their army, exhausting them and then charging forward to "liberate" all their cities from them. I also commence trade with other friendly factions with my massive sum of energy credits I don't really need too heavily due to my high production levels, that way I can trade for tech I might be missing out on.

When I play with my CC custom faction its very well tailored to this style of gameplay. An industrial strongman that fights defencive conflict while trying to have noble relations with everyone, so trading conditions stay healthy.

[Yitzi]

My playstyle is emulated fairly well in my AAR-

I typically go with expanding my infrastructure across the board, expanding outward and then making sure each city is as much a productive hub as it can be, my emphasis being production/minerals for the most part while having a large population to boast it and create more colonies and cities. With a large amount of cities that have strong industrial output and supportive infrastructure, with a large mass produced military I often then provoke an AI without becoming the aggressor to start a war with me, fighting a defencive conflict while preserving my faction's reputation, inducing massive attrition on their army, exhausting them and then charging forward to "liberate" all their cities from them. I also commence trade with other friendly factions with my massive sum of energy credits I don't really need too heavily due to my high production levels, that way I can trade for tech I might be missing out on.

When I play with my CC custom faction its very well tailored to this style of gameplay. An industrial strongman that fights defencive conflict while trying to have noble relations with everyone, so trading conditions stay healthy.

Ah; I suspect the reason that you find your research rate not growing and other people find teching a lot faster late-game, is that you emphasize production and they emphasize tech.

[JarlWolf]

Exactly- but that's intended. I typically dominate them though because I outnumber them with more experienced troops and my trading keeps me up to par on the tech race. And I can always shift my priorities too.