steep increase in the cost of technologies

You know, I thought I was observing tech research times for the same tech go up as my game went on as well (i.e., the research time for an unresearched tech went up as the game went on). That was despite the fact that I had a larger empire and more research. However, I did not really analyze the situation to see if my casual observation was correct.

Any chance you coudl zip up your saved game and email it to me at [email protected]?  I'd love to check it out.

It is done, young Lord Frog.

I seem to get the same problem, but also sometimes all the techs suddenly double in research time for no apparent reason, I'll try and get a save game of it and send it.

I also observed some strange increase of tech costs. Especially i was wondering why the graviton driver(attack 3) tech was costing 20k+ in my current yor game.

I have also seen the inflation of research costs. It completely bogs the game down eventually. I noticed that the inflation appears to occur when a mining module is added to a research resource mining starbase. I will try and get a save game file that replicates the issue.

Scratch my last post - it may not have to do with starbase mining modules after all. I think what I saw was coincidental. I have a save game zip that I am sending though.

Well now I am not sure at all. I just saw the tech cost inflation again, and it did indeed coincide with adding a mining module - but I still don't know if there is a cause and effect relationship. I sent a zip of the game in question. I hope that the issue is resolved - it can be a real game killer.

Tech inflation occurs when a new tech is completed. I thought it had to do with mining modules because I happened to have added them at the same time that a tech was completed. Sorry for so many posts, but I really dislike the inflation problem and would like to provide as much info as possible to help squash the bug.

I always thought it was by design, research costs increase based on the total amount of research done. If you go deep down one branch you'll spend a lot of beakers on a couple advances and all of the cheaper ones will be more expensive when you go back for them. It can be quite a rude awakening if you research something very expensive early on.

It makes a certain amount of sense though, because if the costs of advances were static you'd be a bit of a retard for not rushing to the best research buildings first.

Elleron -
What is being referred to in this case is not the usual increase in the cost of techs as you go up the line, but rather the stated costs of techs actually changing as the game goes on. What happens is, you look at the cost of a tech in the tech tree and it might be stated to cost 200 rp, the next turn the exact same tech might be listed as 250 rp, then after that 300 rp, etc. What is happening is the techs just keep increasing in cost until they become impossibly expensive to research. At this point it might take dozens and dozens of turns just to research even cheap techs. It appears to affect the AI players as well.

I played a couple games through the colony rush phase, and i noticed this bug in a game as the Altarians. Unfortunatly i didn't really notice it for sure right away and didn't get any saves to prove/reproduce it.

I noticed my tech cost about doubled right after I researched Soil Enhancement.

I only saw it happen the one time though, no idea what could have caused it. The current game I'm playing hasn't had such a problem, and I'm almost finished researching everything.

I play on fastest tech speed, any chance it could change mid-game back to normal?

Has anyone found a way around this problem? This is my third game and the second one that I've noticed tech inflation. Could it be related to taking a research bonus while spending your ability points? Advanced Miniaturization increases 51-52 pts each time I complete a tech. I took a 5% research bonus at the start and I see Adv Min costs 1000 pts initially. A bug associated with the bonus could account for the inflation (5% of 1000 is 50). The other game I played with research inflation was as the Altarians and they have a 25% racial research bonus. I think the inflation was even worse that game.

I'm going to restart with a 20% research bonus and see what happens. Wish me luck!

In my current game interstellar governments started off as 155 rp.

I researched up the research path then returned to governments.

Now interstellar governments cost 415 rp. I had a 40% research bonus.

Started a new game with no research bonus.

I noticed this research issue too. When it gets to a certain point the AI players just stop getting new techs.
Kevin Lorenz

Well, I just tried a game with no research bonuses for myself or the AI player. Unfortunately, the tech cost inflation problem is still there.

Kevin Lorenz:
You are right, eventually the costs get too steep for the AI player(s) to be able to acquire new techs. This is why this bug is a real game killer.

Frogboy mentioned this on another thread. The inflation is by design - researching a tech adds a little to the cost of all other techs. Possibly it's just more visible now because we can see the cost of each tech before researching it.

Also, the AI has always dramatically slowed or stopped researching when involved in wars or building up its military.

I notice that not all tech completions result in inflation. It would be nice to know which ones do so I can research a weapons branch before it gets too expensive. It really does bog down the AI races, though.

I was going to mention this as well. I recall something about this being the intended way it should function, though perhaps not so severe. I wish I could experience this bug! I think I'd like it so long as the AI could handle it too. I think research should be a very long and arduous process.

Although the inflation of tech costs itself may be by design, it appears that the inflation rate is far too high (perhaps higher than intended based on Brad's request for a zipped save game above).

Certainly if the inflation rate causes AI players to bog down to the point where they can no longer keep up with human players it is a problem. What I have experienced is that the inflation of tech costs forces me to radically devote more resources to research to make any progress (even at a slow rate), but that is because I am consciously aware of the inflation based slow-down. The AI doesn't seem to adjust to the slow-down, and eventually I am able to significantly overtake the AI (even though it may take hundreds of turns to do so), then I just roll right over the technologically backwards AI. It lacks elegance and satisfaction.

Additionally, while I agree with the idea that too rapid research is unsatisfactory, and that a certain amount of inflation may be appropriate, I also find that the glacial speeds that are appearing now are similarly unsatisfactory. Even while playing with research speeds set to fastest rates, >>60% spending on research and all planets focused on tech, it can often take 50-75 turns to achieve a tech increase. What results is a bout of turn button spam - something that I have never experienced with GalCiv in any of its incarnations before.

Space Empires V has ridiculously "overpriced" technology costs, ostensibly to slow down research to "epic history" proportions, but it turned into turn button spam, and I grew to dislike Space Empires V to the point that I abandoned playing it within a week. I will probably never buy another Space Empires game in future.

The tech inflation issue has (for me at least) radically changed the flavor of the game - even over that of the ToA Beta. I find that I really dislike the way the inflation mechanic is working. Other than a few test games to see if changes in research bonuses altered the inflation rate - I have stopped playing GalCiv2. I am waiting to see if the inflation is rebalanced with the June 1.92 patch. I sincerely hope that it is.

If it is not, well I am left with the option of modding tech tree costs to counteract (to an extent) the inflation, but I would really hate being forced to do that to simply regain the flavor of the game. Additionally, if I am going to spend time modding, I would rather do modding to add "fun" features to the game, not to "correct" a (flawed in my opinion) game mechanic. Ultimately, I doubt that I would be bothered. GalCiv2 will wind up taking the route of Space Empires V and when GalCiv3 (or the talked about upcoming fantasy game) comes along, I might just opt out.

I would like to add something to my above posting - I have been a GalCiv player for a very long time (note my member number) and this is the first time EVER, that I have been dissatisfied with GalCiv and it is the first time I have ever posted a negative comment about a GalCiv game.

Although I understand that the tech cost inflation may be by design, I am not certain it functions as intended. Even if it does, I would hope that Stardock reconsiders. For me (and for at least a few others) this is a change in the game that alters my game playing experience in a way the reduces my enjoyment - which is ultimately why I play.

This is probably the last comment I will make about the tech inflation issue. I will simply wait and see - but I did want to make a plea for (re)consideration of the mechanism.

I agree with Formis6. And I've been playing GC since the OS/2 days, and was a beta and gamma tester for GC2. If the tech cost inflation is by design, I would really like to see it made an option. I'm on my second game in TA now, and like my first one I can tell it's going to end long before I can get to large hulls (this is in a large galaxy). In my current game I had 4 weeks to finish researching plasma weapons, but after stealing a tech from the Drengins (via invasion) all of a sudden I'm 7 weeks away.

I have seen this with DA, but only at a very slight incline and never noticed it at all till I was score grinding a tech vistory in DA. Would get it down to a week and research a few other things to come back and find it was at three weeks for example. With TA though, I'm getting sudden jumps of around 33% or more in the early game where it was unnoticable in DA. I would think a smooth, steady increase to be by design, but this is changing by leaps and bounds.

I'm playing TA and same problem here. Played two games until the end and in both of them (and all others which were not played until the end) the tech costs grow and grow over time. I thought it was intentionally so I deleted all my saves. =/
Next time I'll keep them and send them.

I quit a game because of this, there was no way I could catch up with the top AI players. I saw a hike in technology costs across the board, I'm not sure how drastic it was, but it was enough for me to admit there was no way I could win.