03-26-2011, 06:12 PM
My best answers to your questions from reading the Game Manual, Getting Started, and Strategy Guide, and playing a few turns of this game:
In short, the program does not "remember" what you spent on research on the previous turn. The only way those points have an affect on your future research is either by increasing the tech level (which makes it harder to do future research) or with the leftover points in the research bucket which will carry over to future turns. If you have Mining at 10 and you spend 35 points to Research MI, it will spend 10 points to have a 1 in 10 chance of improving Mining, if that fails, it will spend another 10 points to have a 1 in 10 chance of improving Mining, if that fails, it will spend another 10 points to have a 1 in 10 chance of improving Mining, and the remaining 5 points in the research bucket will be carried over to the next turn. If any of those attempts are successful at improving Mining, that tech level increases to 11, and successive attempts now take 11 points from the bucket and have a 1 in 11 chance of working.
As you can see, it is much easier to research lower tech levels than higher tech levels. This leads one to believe that you get better value for your Research points at the beginning of the game when tech levels are low. With or without Research, there is also a flat 1 in 6 chance of improving any given tech at the end of a turn. Basic strategy would seem to dictate spending as many points as you can afford on early research and then your future 1 in 6 tech increases are now "more valuable" as its better to randomly get an increase from 14 to 15, than from 4 to 5.
Following the advice of the Hints for Beginners section and the Strategy Guide, your top priorities should be to build a 2nd shipyard using the SHIPYARD command (which costs 10 x Manufacturing tech level, so its best done earlier than later), build TR1 ships to jump to nearby systems and scan them for habitable planets, and devote a small amount each turn to Planetary Defense. I would imagine that all remaining points would be well-spent on Research.
Once you have found a habitable planet to colonize, your priorities will likely shift to building larger transports, colonist units, colonial manufacturing units, and colonial mining units, and research may fall largely by the wayside for the time being.
In short, the program does not "remember" what you spent on research on the previous turn. The only way those points have an affect on your future research is either by increasing the tech level (which makes it harder to do future research) or with the leftover points in the research bucket which will carry over to future turns. If you have Mining at 10 and you spend 35 points to Research MI, it will spend 10 points to have a 1 in 10 chance of improving Mining, if that fails, it will spend another 10 points to have a 1 in 10 chance of improving Mining, if that fails, it will spend another 10 points to have a 1 in 10 chance of improving Mining, and the remaining 5 points in the research bucket will be carried over to the next turn. If any of those attempts are successful at improving Mining, that tech level increases to 11, and successive attempts now take 11 points from the bucket and have a 1 in 11 chance of working.
As you can see, it is much easier to research lower tech levels than higher tech levels. This leads one to believe that you get better value for your Research points at the beginning of the game when tech levels are low. With or without Research, there is also a flat 1 in 6 chance of improving any given tech at the end of a turn. Basic strategy would seem to dictate spending as many points as you can afford on early research and then your future 1 in 6 tech increases are now "more valuable" as its better to randomly get an increase from 14 to 15, than from 4 to 5.
Following the advice of the Hints for Beginners section and the Strategy Guide, your top priorities should be to build a 2nd shipyard using the SHIPYARD command (which costs 10 x Manufacturing tech level, so its best done earlier than later), build TR1 ships to jump to nearby systems and scan them for habitable planets, and devote a small amount each turn to Planetary Defense. I would imagine that all remaining points would be well-spent on Research.
Once you have found a habitable planet to colonize, your priorities will likely shift to building larger transports, colonist units, colonial manufacturing units, and colonial mining units, and research may fall largely by the wayside for the time being.