Help - please refresh my memory

[mcbutcher]

Hi All,

I know I've read about these somewhere but can someone either point me in the right direction, or let me know the answer to the following four questions.

1. Do Research points carry over from one item to another during a single turn?

For example, assume it's early in the game and I need 15 more for my next tech. If I'm due to earn 25 will the remaining 10 contribute towards my next tech? I assume yes but can someone please confirm.

2. I remember reading that SE settings of 30-10-60 are better than 40-0-60, even when you only have one base. Err... why? Is it to do with 3 energy being split 0.9-0.3-1.8 as opposed to 1.2-0.0-1.8, and if so why? Or does the 10% Physch have some positive Efficiency benefit I'm not aware of?

3. I noticed in one of the multiplayer logs in the forum someone was changing their SE ratings at the end of turns prior to receiving a new tech with statements along the lines of "to avoid wasting any research points". Am I missing some clever trick here?

4. Am I correct in thinking that the 1/3, 2/3 maintenance cost problem only existed in SMAX and this was fixed in the v2.0 patch? I ask because I was playing a game of SMAC on Transcend with Morgan, had +4 Efficiency, and put everything into labs for a short period. On the SE screen it said that I was earning -109 credits per turn. However, after about 10 turns my total reserve had only dropped by about 60. Hmmm. Any ideas? My first thought was that the maintenance problem existed in SMAC but this is probably not the case. I deleted the game so can't check, but does anyone have any thoughts on this? Again, am I missing something simple?

Thanks in advance for any advice you give me.

[Qwerty88]

Me thinks (1) the extra tech doesn't carry over for the base, but it does for the turn (that is you need 15, base one makes 20, base two makes 5, you get 5 tword your next tech, but if base one makes 5 and base two make 20 you get no extra...) and (3) I'm guessing this is to avoid loss from lack of cost rollover, and (4) I think smac/x just doesn't calculate income well lategame, but I'm not entirely sure on any of these points...

[Flubber]

1. Any excess points in the Base making the discovery are lost. All remaining points are applied to the next tech. It is possible to research more than 1 tech in a turn.


2. I'm not sure. All I know is that it often plays to tinker with the SE allocation sliders. When you have many bases, the 10% psych can often allow you to work additional tiles. Also sometimes you may trigger a GA for additional energy in certain bases


3. Sometimes if you have a massive energy base yo might see much research would be wasted. Imagine you are 100 labs from a discovery and your HQ generates 1200 research points at a 50/50 allocation. As ity stands you would lose 1100 Labs for nothing. Many players would adjust their sliders to 10% and adjust specialists so that this waste doesn't occurr and instead you get a lot of cash.

4. Other possibilities include wormkilling, Commerce energy and energy producing specialists

[Ecthy]

The latter 2 of those are computed as income though, aren't they?

[Senethro]

How do you know what order your bases take their turn in?

[Kataphraktoi]

Check the f4 screen with no special ordering. IIRC top to bottom.

[Senethro]

Ah, so the order they were founded in then.

[Puppeteer]

I never realized a particular base makes a discovery. I gather from the above discoveries rotate through bases in order, but unless you're tracking carefully that's got to be hard to track. I just jumped in-game and looked carefully at a tech screen and couldn't tell which base discovered it.

Is there a way to tell besides tracking from the beginning?

And do techs from pods or trades advance the discovery base?

I've recently adopted the super science city approach and hope to avoid losing that city's research for even a turn.

[Flubber]

Originally posted by Senethro
Ah, so the order they were founded in then.

yes

but remember that captured bases can muck things up so remeber to check where they sit in your base order

[Flubber]

Originally posted by Puppeteer
And do techs from pods or trades advance the discovery base?

No Traded or discovered techs should not affect this. Your tech cost (except for your initial researched tech) is set when you BEGIN research.

Pods garner you a couple of research points IIRC so popping a few could put you closer to a discovery . . . enough that an earlier base makes the discovery.

If your science base is your HQ, this gets very easy to track since you know your big bases labs will get applied first