Why is it?

[Drago Sinio]

Why is it that sometimes when you increase your psych allotment from 10 to 20, and reduce your labs by 10 per cent you get faster research? Is this logical? A bug? Do talents produce more labs than workers?

I have also noticed that in your science base, sometimes if you make a librarian into a worker, you actually gain lab points. Yet if you make all your librarians in to workers, you lose a few lab points. You have to "fiddle" with them to get the best balance between librarians (or other specialists) and workers. Why is this?

[Kirnwaffen]

I'm not entirely sure about you're first question, but sending bases into golden ages through psych allocation ups energy production, and can, therefore, up your labs.

As for the specialist thing, it's all a matter of what the worker is harvesting and your labs allocation. If a worker works a square that produces mostly energy, then some of that will go to labs, and will be multiplied by whatever facilities you have. If this amount is greater than what a specialist produces, then your labs will go up.

[Ned]

Just a couple of additonal points:

GA + Wealth gives most factions a +2 economy. This adds 1 energy per worker and is equivalent to Free Market.

(Morgan is at +2 economy simply with GA.)

As to more research with workers vs. specialist, this is caused by commerce income which solely depends upon energy produced by a base. A specialist does not produce energy. A worker does.

Ned

[cbn]

Aside from what has been stated-- changing the labs can trigger lesser or greater inefficiency losses. I have toyed with this with the economy and Labs settings and often you can get more Labs or economy at 80% allocation compared to 100%. Try it in the first turn of a game with your alocations. Often the maximum economy/labs is achieved at 70 or 80 % and going higher on the allocation reduces your yield. If you have a lower efficiency rating the penalty for moving away from balanced allocations is greater than the increase from that allocation. This effect is reducd with greater efficiency ratings and disappears with a paradigm economy.

Also

-- I often get better production with a psych allocation if I can change a doctor into a librarian or an energy producing worker. This would not be the effect you describe but anotther offshoot since increased psych can allow you to have fewer doctors

-- a worker on a high energy square can beat a librarian. At 50 % allocation while working a borehole for example the Labs should be the same and you get minerals and some economy besides. Up the allocation and a worker can produce more Labs han the specialist. But if you suffer from efficiency loss the librarian may be a better choice and later in the game the better specialists can be hard to beat.

[johndmuller]

I think I have seen slightly strange numbers in psych/econ when I've switched a pop unit between a psych specialist and an engineer. For example, running at 50/50 labs/econ, I would expect the change in output of labs and econ to be roughly equal when I switch a citizen between doc and engineer, but it will sometimes differ by 2 (I know the ratio is 3:2, and then there are the facilities, but still...), which suggests some inefficiency by the Firaxis mathematicians.

Kirnwaffen, I believe that the enhancing facilities apply to the output of specialists as well as workers.

[Ned]

John, I too have noticed that you get a lot more lab production out of a thinker vs. an engineer, even though the ratio is 3:2. I was very surprised at this. Ned

[Drago Sinio]

Thanks, all, for the replies.

I think cbn is right about efficiency gains/loss being the answer to the second question.

On the specialists I dont know. It seems logical that a worker on a high energy square like a borehole would produce more labs than a specialist would . But why would a worker on a forest square that produces 3 energy, make more lab points than a librarian would? That makes no sense to me. Doesnt a librarian generate three lab points, while a worker on a square that produces three energy would produce only one or two labs, depending on allocations?

Could it be that facilities treat specialist produced labs differently than worker generated labs?

Could it be that the worker is generating extra energy (or commerce maybe ?) which is causing something to be rounded up, rather than down?