Research question

from Stardock Forums
I'm having trouble with research. Several times in my last game I was told that I would get a tech on the next turn (not one turn remaining - next turn) and I didn't receive the tech. One time that it happened I turned my tech down to 2% after not receiving it, and I was still told that I would receive the tech, but when I hit the button I didn't get it that turn either. The only way I can reliably get a tech when I'm told I will get it is to intentionally spend 3-5% extra on research than I'm told is necessary. I reported it as a bug, but I was hoping someone with more experience with the game might tell me what they do to get around this - if anything. Thanks in advance for the help! :)
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Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top
Alverin,

I have encountered the same thing, and have concluded it is due to the rounding algorithym used by the program. It appears the Domestic screen calculates overall beaker production empire-wide (fractions and all, added together), then truncates the net sum. But when research progress itself is calculated, it's done planet-by-planet, with fractions being dropped at that level. Consequently, you can wind up 4 or 5 beakers short.

What I do, is drop my Science spending until the "break point" of "next turn" is reached. Then, I nudge this slider up to the next "notch" (setting) to allow for the rounding variance. So far, I've never failed to get the tech on the next turn, using this method. It costs a little bit more, but it's worth it.

~SDC~
Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top
I've noticed this too. I think the problem is that moving the slider does not always adjust the research spending until the screen is reloaded. So as a result of this, I've seen the research screen say next month, switched back to the economy screen and then back to the research screen and had it say 1 month.

So now when adjusting research production I now always watch the actual spending (in bc not %). Then to make sure I do an extra switch between the spending screen and the research screen (F6-F4-F6). With this technique I've always gotten the research without having to do any extra spending.
Offworld Trading Company
Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top
odd its never happened to me.im quite surprized to tell ya the truth.im one of those guys where what can go will go wrong with comp/games.try upping your gov't spending might work
Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top
Thanks for the answers guys. I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one. I'll try just upping it 1% instead of 3-4% and see if that works. Interesting theories as to what is causing the problem too. Hopefully it will get resolved. If not, at least I have a work-around now! :)
Reply #5 from Stardock Forums Top
From what I can tell any extra beakers that get produced beyond what you need for that tech get applied to the next tech on the list. So you aren't losing the extra research that wasn't applied to the tech you just researched. I remember one game a tech that was at the top of the list and originally needed 12 turns to be researched only needed like 4 when I actually got around to researching it.
Reply #6 from Stardock Forums Top
That didn't necessarily seem to be the case for me. Realize that if you wait for a while before you get around to researching a tech your max research has gone up considerably due to planetary improvements and population. Therefore techs that used to take 12 turns would then take considerably less. Still, it could be tested by finding a tech that you want to research and finding out how long it would take, then IMMEDIATELY BEFORE research a minor tech that you looked over (Stellar Cartography comes to mind) and max out your research. If it is late enough in the game you should be able to research it with only 20-30% of your tech points, and the rest would roll over to the next tech, so on the next turn click on the original tech that you wanted to research and see if the time to build it has dropped any (after putting your research back to normal levels of course.)