Research Query

[Schmoog]

Hey there, I'm an occasional lurker of this board and longtime fan of SMAC/X, and I've come up with an excuse to create an account. My question is simple. What determines research costs? I understand that the energy you collect is partially diverted into labs and psych and the remainder goes into your energy reserves. I understand that this energy devoted to labs is modified by your RESEARCH rating, to give a set amount of research points every turn. However, what I do not understand is how research point costs are determined. One would think that the tech level of the research would correspond with the point cost, but at any given point it takes the same amount of turns to research a tech level 4 as a tech level 1: you could change between them and the research time will not change. And yet, as the game progresses, research times will become slower and slower unless you rigorously work to keep pace with the slowdown. I would like to understand the source of this rising cost in research points.

I figure there are several possibilities.
a) As the game goes on in turns, research point costs gradually increase.
b) Research costs more points proportional to the highest level tech you have avaliable for research/have researched
c) Research costs increase as your empire grows in size, with costs being greater with more bases (I find this one unlikely)
d) Research costs are proportional to the number of techs you have researched.

I don't have any overwhelming need to understand the precise equation for research costs, I'd really just like to know in what manner they increase.

Thanks for your help!

[Petek]

The following factors all contribute to the cost of technological discovery:

* The number of techs you've already discovered.
* Difficulty level.
* The greatest number of techs already discovered by any one player.
* The number of turns that have already passed.
* The size of your world (bigger world = longer research time).

The greatest factor in the tech cost is the number of techs you've already discovered. As you noted, the level of a specific tech plays no role in the cost.

The time to research a tech is modified by your research rating and whether or not tech stag is on.

HTH

Petek

[Schmoog]

Thanks, I've wanted to know that for a long time. It's amazing how much there is to know: I've been playing for years and am the undisputed expert in my social circle, but there are still things I don't understand!

[BlackCat]

Well, welcome to a new social circle