Help me up my research game

Play Altarians with Technologists. There's about +40 to research straight away.

CTRL+N till you get at least a 300% bonus tile for research on your HW, or better yet, a Precursor Library.

Try playing All Lab. If you can manage your econ and the colony rush you will be miles ahead.

Be sure to get the Diplo Translators and the diplo techs as early as possible. This allows for a superior position in tech trading that will nab you some much needed techs. Don't trade away the diplo techs though.

Be sure to get all the Research Treaties you can.

While I think upping your %research (at the race creation level) is a pretty obvious way there are some things you can do no matter what race/bonus you are using.

I spend a period of agony every game trying to figure out my core research world. Its tough because the earlier you get it set up the better off you are but theres nothing more frustrating than finding a class 28 with rings and research bonus tiles the turn after your tech capital is completed elsewhere.

What I try to do each game is find a high quality planet and maximise my research output there through a combination of tech capital, research coordination, omega research and economic starbases (by installing the production/research modules). If you set it up right it can end up producing more research per turn than every other research world you have put together.

The key here is stacking a lot of %research. Secondary to that is trying to fit as many other planets as possible under the starbase bonus and making them research (or production) worlds. But always focus on the number 1 planet as the techcapital and omega bonus dwarfs the potential of any other planet.

You can fit 4 starbases per sector so another thing you may want to consider is how close a planet is to the edge of a sector as it can allow you to overlap it with starbases from other sectors as well. It all depends on how heavily you want to throw money at this - just the 4 starbases works fine.

You are not always going to find a high quality planet thats suitable but thankfully you have some options in creating one - it just takes a little bit longer. When colonising low class planets keep an eye out on how many yellow tiles are available and calculate its future class. Often even a lowly class 1 can end up your research capital on the basis that it has 5-6 yellow tiles.

Another option is setting up shop on an extreme world but its the slowest option. It can be very rewarding in the long run if that world is of a very high class but it is much easier to set up a non extreme tech capital - even a low class one. You don't suffer a period of production penalty while waiting for the colony techs and work can begin before you even think about looking at researching extreme colonisation.

The sooner you get this world running the better as otherwise you are likely to start to fall behind the AI. Also the starbases do not really need to be built for quite some time but its handy to start building the constructors early. The percentage bonus they give does not really start to shine until you have a planet covered in the upper end research structures and they start generating hundreds and hundreds of bonus RP.

Its worth noting that you pay less for research generated through bonus production. Also having a very strong economy so you can afford to fund a lot of research is very important. You may find you lag behind in research because you cant afford to fund it and therefore hesitate building more research or adjust the slider down.

Can't say i agree. thats not a very cost effective way to pump up your research. Playing all lab will outsrip that ability with ease.

But of course, different players have different techniques and there is no right or wrong way to play.

As long as the OP gets some help thats all that matters.

True

It works for me and isnt as large a step away from conventional play. I've never experimented with all factories or all labs or anything like that but its always struck me as not something thats going to be hard for a low to middling level player to figure out.

I'd put myself into that category too.

Not so hard as you think. It's actually easier on Suicidal than Maso/Obscene due to there being a +20 (IIRC could be higher even) to research on Suicidal, so the all lab start really takes off.

One does need to be able to colonize very well though to make the strat work. Ya need a good economy to pull it off and some tech whoring skills to stay above-500bc early game also help.

Edit - There's plenty of tips on the Tyranny of Evil website mate that deal with all lab and other strats in general. I'll shoot ya invite to the empire and if ya like what ya see join up.

It's a percentage bonus when you have a bonus present.  The factor is 2.64 on Suicidal-so if you have a 20% bonus, it's actually a 52.8% bonus (which will wind up being a 52% bonus)-a 40% bonus becomes a 105(.6)% bonus, etc.

This also applies to anything above Tough, with Painful on the low end at about 1.32-1.33x (could've sworn it was less than this but just checked) and Masochistic at around 1.62x.  Never did Crippling or Obscene numbers but I'll add them if anyone wants to know.

But you are correct that the higher research output conferred by difficulty does make it easier.  All-factories has no equivalent hidden bonus, though.

I knew you'd drop by with exact numbers SS.

Ty.