When to build Fusion Plants and Research Coordination Centers?

Also, is there a point after which it's worth just building those?

I'm wondering exactly how the bonus for the fusion/anti-matter/quantum plants and the research coordination center work. Do you pay for the added IP's and RP's just like they were from a factory or research center, or are they discounted/free?

If you have to pay for the bonus IP's, it seems like you'd only build a fusion plant (+10%) after building 8-10 regular factories (but after 3 or so with the quantum). Similarly, 3-4 research buildings before the coord center.

But if some/all of the bonus is free, you'd potentially want to build one sooner.

Any good rules of thumb for when is a good time to build these?

Also, does it pay off to just start building all fusion/AM/quantum plants instead of factories after you've gotten a certain number of factories? Same thing for the research coord centers?

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1) All Prod / Research bonus' work the same way in terms of payment. If it is a building on-planet, you pay full price for the points it generates / adds. (This includes Omega Research Center, and includes the power plants and RCC.)

If the bonus is generated from some off-planet or intangible source, like a Galactic Resource SB, or a racial ability, you pay 1/2 price for the additional prod / tech points.

2) 99+% certain that you can only build 1 power plant and/or 1 RCC on a given planet. You can also upgrade an existing PP to improved tech.

3) As to when to build them, its a pretty simple decision. If a power plant / RCC will produce more of an increase in points than a new or improved factory / lab on that same tile, build the support structure rather than the primary producer. In calculating when to build, do not forget that your original colony/capital is producing some points that will be multiplied by the PP / RCC as well.
The exact number of factories / labs you should have before it is worthwhile to build the support building can vary depending on what bounus tiles you have primary buildings on, i.e. if you only have one lab, but it is on a Precursor Library, build the RCC next (if you have the tech) - it will yield about twice the points that a lab build would.
Never put a % yielding support building (or a Capital or Nano Recorders or Hyper Computers or Omega Research Center) on a bonus tile - it wastes the potential of the bonus tile.

drrider