Maxing out concurrent research projects and its value.

[TGK72]

In most of the guides I have read its usually implied that dividing your research into multiple projects is mostly pointless outside of the rare scenarios that you crashed a project then shortly after find out that you need different tech ASAP.

But this latest game I decided to experiment and try to play with my projects maxed out to 4-6 concurrent studies as much and as long possible (Unless I either need a tech soon that would otherwise take a very long time with high or maxed number of projects, or I just need to beeline to an important early game tech.)

And after playing about 100 years in, I don't think I'm going to play any other way from here on out.

At first the benefits werent immediately obvious. I was tempted on multiple occasions to just knock it back down to one and play the rest of the game normally because of how slow it was to get any techs at first and for a good while. But I stuck with it, only switching to 1 or 2 concurrent projects when im at war and I needed mil tech to counter my assailant asap! And i've found out that after a lengthy "Warmup" period without any new tech, the first wave of techs start to finish! Then the arrival of techs started to become much more frequent as the separate techs started to differ a bit regarding the time the tech was started or promoted to an active queue position and their increasingly higher costs.

Once I get it going good I started to get techs no more or less frequently than you would doing tech the normal way just focusing on 1-2 at a time, and I never at any point found myself falling behind my rivals. I've noticed too that groups of similarly tiered techs that I started at the same time usually finish close to each other so my refits became much more infrequent as I'm no longer getting trickle fed techs and end up editing my designs (I micro them) once or twice every in-game year. And It wasn't irregular that my refits only became necessary once every 4-6 or so years if they are not crucial techs like better warp drives, with each upgrade being significantly more of an "upgrade" compared to the tiny incremental refits my fleets ended up getting the "Normal" way.

But the biggest game changer besides just changing the way and rate I received and researched new techs, and is the main reason im even making this post and is also the reason you should be doing it too! And that is how much more often I noticed that I got breakthroughs, which is usually accompanied by new scientists compared to just focusing on one tech at a time.

Id even say its multiplied roughly by the amount of techs you have going, as each "Project" is basically another chance to get a roll to see if you do get a breakthrough, and therefore new scientists!

There may still be limiting factors based on the number of scientists and total empire population I have that kept me from literally having 6x more scientist than someone would normally and taking into account the general randomness and rarity of breakthrough events, but the rate was noticeably more frequent thoughout this game and I usually always had a ton of scientists to manage and move around.

So after this experience I certainly believe that researching multiple at a time is superior compared to just researching one, just because each tech you have researching concurrently is an extra roll to get breakthroughs so you end up having more tech and scientists than you would have without doing so

Thoughts?
And if there is something im not considering or taking into account that would counter the greater benefits of splitting them up, (and thus returning "having multiple research projects" back to the pointless strat category.) then please share!

[AKicebear]

Thoughts?
And if there is something im not considering or taking into account that would counter the greater benefits of splitting them up, (and thus returning "having multiple research projects" back to the pointless strat category.) then please share!

Thanks for the thoughtful posts - I think I'll give this a try my next game. To make re-designs less frequent (also a manual player here), I use slower tech research speed, but this is a nice alternative for when I don't want a mega long game but still want infrequent retrofits.

[Nightskies]

I also generally use multiple projects after the early core techs are researched. I think certain techs are absolutely worth focusing on- namely the government buildings, jump drives and research techs- or armor, shields and the first weapon (maybe frigate hull too) for those who opt for militarily dealing with pirates- but otherwise it seems sensible to try to proc the breakthroughs like this.

Getting scientists earlier is a considerable boon. This strategy is more beneficial for races and governments with research bonuses, as they're more likely to get scientists, just as espionage bonus races get more spies. Boskarans, in particular, will probably be better off sticking to 1 project until mid-game, because they aren't likely to get more than 1-3 scientists for a while because of this.

In the long run, I would assume the number of breakthroughs would be roughly the same either way until research is so large that projects are very quickly finished. I believe that simply completing tech is the primary source of experience for scientists (and leaders to a smaller degree), and also leads to scientists appearing. Salvaged technology does as well, if I remember correctly. Point being, the decision is seemingly of minor consequence.

However, I do believe you are correct. You voice my reasons in doing so after the core techs for most empires.

[TGK72]

Thanks for the thoughtful posts - I think I'll give this a try my next game. To make re-designs less frequent (also a manual player here), I use slower tech research speed, but this is a nice alternative for when I don't want a mega long game but still want infrequent retrofits.

No problem! It has been a positive enough experience I feel its worth the time to share. lol

When I pick a technology, I usually end up picking a couple other techs that pair with it, (Like a larger troop transport hull alongside an improved troop compartment and medical center tech.) Then I try to order them in a way in the queue based on the ones already there and their current progress so if they are different costs they will still finish roughly around the same time. And since it's likely been 4-5 years since I put the order in for all the techs it really helps spread out the refits while making each more substantial regardless of what you set the tech speeds for. I've noticed this also helps your private economy significantly since you are only clogging up the shipyards every couple years instead of every couple months for refits.

[TGK72]

I also generally use multiple projects after the early core techs are researched. I think certain techs are absolutely worth focusing on- namely the government buildings, jump drives and research techs- or armor, shields and the first weapon (maybe frigate hull too) for those who opt for militarily dealing with pirates- but otherwise it seems sensible to try to proc the breakthroughs like this.

Yeah, theres a couple times I will focus on a tech, which is usually in the early game or during war when that larger hull size has immediately become needed asap instead of 6 years from now, lol.

[AKicebear]

It would be interesting if researching multiple projects had a similar (inverse) buff as having multiple characters at one location - the best character bonus applies at 100%, the next at 50%, then 25%, etc. Instead, one can pour all their research from every station into a single project, or spread it among multiple projects (which the game requires more stations for to even have the option) - e.g. your research multiplier for n simultanous projects is Output*1.02^(n-1). E.g. your total research output for n projects:
1 = 100%
2 = 102%
3 ~ 104%
...
6 ~ 110%

The exact number could be tweaked for balance, of course.

So it would be slightly advantageous from a total research by end game perspective to research multiple projects always, but you could also prioritize getting one much earlier at some cost during that period. Rationale: scientists duplicate work, undermine each other when all competing on the exact same thing (hand wave, like most other character negs).

[TGK72]

So it would be slightly advantageous from a total research by end game perspective to research multiple projects always, but you could also prioritize getting one much earlier at some cost during that period. Rationale: scientists duplicate work, undermine each other when all competing on the exact same thing (hand wave, like most other character negs).

Plus having multiple projects going at once is just more realistic. There's never just one or even two federally funded research programs going at once. A nation would divide their R&D funding between a whole host of science divisions. And I think it'd be a whole lot more inefficient to have a host of separate science divisions all trying to work on the same project, especially in a galactic empire where Research stations can be hundreds or thousands of lightyears apart. Collaboration between any of them I feel would not only be extremely expensive, but slow regarding communication and data sharing. So honestly I'd be fine with it being the other way around from what you said instead, and make you have a sort of inefficiency malus the less programs they have going at once, instead of a boost the more you have going.