Sometimes you can shorten your next Research Project.

[elwoodps]

There are times when you can complete your next Research Project one turn earlier (without slowing-down your current Research Project), by adding it to the queue when your current Research Project has just 1 turn left to go. Here's how it works:

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When you have more than one Research Project in the queue, each turn the total RP (Research Points) output of your economy is divided equally between the projects.  So for example, if your economy cranks out 200 RP per turn, and you have 2 Research Projects in the queue, when you tap the END TURN button each project gets 100 RP for that turn.  This means that when you have 2 Research Projects in the queue, in most cases, they'll each make only half as much progress per turn as they would if run individually.  So most of the time you don't want to have more than one Research Project in the queue.

But I said "most of the time" because there's one notable exception to the "one Research Project at a time" rule:  That's when your current Project is only 1 turn from completion, and it doesn't need more than half of the RP your economy is producing per turn to finish.  The following screen shows a good example of that situation:



My Current project is one turn from completion, needing just 56 RP (3600-3544=56) to finish, and my economy is cranking out 551 RP/turn.  So if I add my next Research Project to the queue now, the current project will get 275 RP (still more than enough to finish), and the new project will get a 275 RP jump-start at no cost.





And in many cases, that extra half-turn's worth of RP salvaged at the end of the old project, is enough to allow the new Research Project to complete one turn sooner.


  
 

 

[pendell]

Very clever! I don't even think that's an exploit; it's a perfectly reasonable game mechanic to apply surplus research to the next project, preventing it from going to waste.

The only drawback I can think of is that I think that the research allocated between projects is random; there is a small chance that adding a second project at the end might delay the first project a turn or two. In most situations that is unimportant. But if you absolutely cannot wait an additional turn for research to complete, it might be a little risky.

Respectfully,

Brian P.

[Cory Trese]

RP allocation isn't random. EP allocation is, but RP allocation is divided between projects each turn.

[elwoodps]

Feb 17, 2016 10:02:08 GMT -5 pendell said:

.....

The only drawback I can think of is that I think that the research allocated between projects is random; there is a small chance that adding a second project at the end might delay the first project a turn or two. In most situations that is unimportant. But if you absolutely cannot wait an additional turn for research to complete, it might be a little risky.....

As Cory Trese said, RP is equally divided between projects so there's no risk there. 

But there is another small risk, if you cut things too close.  In the above example, if you need 260 RP to complete the current project, and a negative political event occurs (maybe a Trade Embargo or the end of an Alliance) that unexpectedly reduces your economy's RP output, that could result in the completion of the current project being delayed, but for one turn only.  

So to be cautious, in a case where you desperately need the current Research Project to finish in the next turn, don't try this trick, unless you have a reasonable cushion of excess RP; only bet on getting  maybe 40-45% of total RP output (rather than the full 50%).

[fallen]

Love the strategy crafting and sharing!

I hope someone works on pulling all these great tip threads into a single linked thread.

[acecow]

Feb 17, 2016 16:14:46 GMT -5 fallen said:

Love the strategy crafting and sharing!

I hope someone works on pulling all these great tip threads into a single linked thread.

Is that reverse psychology? But it's not reverse...is it... subtle psychology? Heheh, we shall see, we shall see!

[fallen]

acecow - lol, I think its just psychology. I really hope some one does it. There are lots of smaller threads that provide great tips. If there was one bigger strategy roll-up thread that linked to these gems, it would be great for new and veteran players alike.

[Cory Trese]

It seems like a lot of this could go into this wiki type thing:

startradersrpg.proboards.com/board/40/tips-techniques-4x