Research & Lab Gains

[PrinceMiskin]

How research is conducted is defined in game_research.lua

It takes into account two major components, the gameplay speed and the labincrement.

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 -- Total progress of tech this turn
  local totalIncrement = gameplay.researchSpeed + labIncrement

The game play speed is defined as:

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gameplay.researchSpeed = 10

The lab increment is more complicated and calculated as:

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function GetTechIncrement(faction, techName)

  local techClass = data.newTechnologies[techName].class

  -- Research speed bonus starts from 2 labs, 0 at 1 lab
  local labs = faction.luaData.labs[techClass] - 1

  -- Lab research speed bonus calculation
  --FIXME: should not be "labs - 1" AGAIN here, but change requires resetting of all tech times
  local labIncrement = ((labs-1)/3)/math.sqrt(1+math.pow((labs-1)/3,2))*3

  -- Total progress of tech this turn
  local totalIncrement = gameplay.researchSpeed + labIncrement

  -- If there currently is a focused tech in this tech class
  if faction.luaData.currentTech[techClass] ~= -1 then

    -- If the current tech is the focused techn speed bonus
    if faction.luaData.currentTech[techClass] == techName then

      -- 20% increase
      local boost = totalIncrement * 20 / 100

      totalIncrement = totalIncrement + boost

    -- If another tech is focused, speed is slowed down
    else

      local loss
      -- This should never happen cos if there is only 1 tech left than there cant be another thats being focused
      if GetCategoryTechlineCount(faction, techClass) == 1 then
        loss = 0
      else
        loss = (totalIncrement * 20 / 100) / (GetCategoryTechlineCount(faction, techClass) - 1)
      end

      totalIncrement = totalIncrement - loss

    end

  end

  return totalIncrement
end

As a side note, apparently focusing a technology is boosting the increment by 20%, while slowing down all the others by 20%. In other words boosting a specific technology slows down the overall progress, as long as there are more than two technologies.

Lab increment is calculated by the formula:

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local labIncrement = ((labs-1)/3)/math.sqrt(1+math.pow((labs-1)/3,2))*3

Based on this, one can calculate the effects of adding more labs as:

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Labs  |  Increment  |  Research  |  Gain
0  |  N/A  |  0  |  N/A
1  |  0.00  |  10.00  |  10.00
2  |  0.95  |  10.95  |  0.95
3  |  1.66  |  11.66  |  0.72
4  |  2.12  |  12.12  |  0.46
5  |  2.40  |  12.40  |  0.28
6  |  2.57  |  12.57  |  0.17
7  |  2.68  |  12.68  |  0.11
8  |  2.76  |  12.76  |  0.07
9  |  2.81  |  12.81  |  0.05
10  |  2.85  |  12.85  |  0.04

Meaning that the effect of adding more labs is insignificant and rapidly diminishing. The key point is to have 1 lab per category to receive the gameplay researchSpeed, which is 10. The second 0.95, the third 0.72, the forth 0.46, and the fifth 0.28.

If we also take into account that the lab cost is increasing, not only by each category, but all categories, investing in labs is probably a waste of resources. If we make a simplification and assume that there are no purchased labs in other research groups, one can also estimate the gain per PP cost per lab increase.

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Labs  |  Gain  |  PP Cost  |  Gains / PP Cost (%)
0  |  N/A  |  0  |  0
1  |  10.00  |  0  |  Infinity
2  |  0.95  |  45  |  2.11
3  |  0.72  |  50  |  1.43
4  |  0.46  |  55  |  0.83
5  |  0.28  |  60  |  0.46
6  |  0.17  |  65  |  0.27
7  |  0.11  |  70  |  0.16
8  |  0.07  |  75  |  0.10
9  |  0.05  |  80  |  0.06
10  |  0.04  |  	85  |  0.04

Overall, it seems that investing in labs is worthless. Perhaps an investment up to 1 or 2 labs early on may pay off. And if you ever consider buying a second lab, do never purchase it in the same research group.

In addition, we should restrain from extensive use of focus points, as it tends to slow down the overall research of the subgroup.

[Historion]

see viewtopic.php?f=218&t=51430 for additional information about research and some new code which allows to easily adjust Research-Speed and boost by additional labs via parameter.

At the moment two additional labs give you ca. 20% research bonus which is only affordable if you have enough unused pp-Income. If you consider rounding issues, additional labs mean that you gain new tech a few turns earlier, e.g. for a tech which costs 100 points the difference is 11 turns normal (1 lab) to 9 turns with 3 labs ... roughly.

Focussing a tech is only possible while there is at least another tech in that tech area to research. The additional research points for focus on one tech are taken from the research of the other techs in that tech area. It's a zero-sum mechanism so if you focus wisely you can speed up research in a tech area.

[PrinceMiskin]

Thanks you are so nice! This game needs a thorough revision!

I decided to take a break and play some Anno, till I revisit it.

[Werk9]

Thank you for all the information.

In my games if never invested in labours, it had never seemed to be useful. And for Austria I sold the marine labour and bought some more needed infantry.