A way to fix the mid game tech slowdown

[keynes2.0]

The tech slowdown creates a very severe problem in the mid game pacing. Every pop adds 2% to the cost of technology so if an empire gets large technology research gets very very slow. The problem is that this pretty much removes the player ability to speed up tech research. If you want to go build more labs or get more research stations you need more planets for the land and territory. But those planets add more pops which slow down your research. In the end the player doesn't have much power to speed up research so when technology gets more expensive, research just gets slower. I think this is a major reason for why people are saying the early game and late game are good but the mid game is "meh", there is this artificial slowdown. All the same, I can see why the (generally brilliant) design of Stellaris wants to slow down the big empires, you dont want them crushing the small guys.

So what I suggest is making the pop penalty to research small or non existent and instead give a bonus to the rest of the galaxy. This bonus could take the form of "free research" like you get by exploring debris. That way the player still has the ability to speed up research if devote resources to it, they can get territory to build labs and stations; however a large empire will find that it can't snowball and outtech it's opponents.

This bonus should be based on several things:
-Population of the empire spreading the technology
-Research cost of the technology
-How much of the technology the recipient has researched.
-Distance between the empires

Suppose the UN has Space Time Theory and the Blorgs next door can research Space Time Theory but hasn't yet. Space time theory is 2320 research points. The UN has 100 pops. The empires border each other directly. Every month, the Blorgs would get free research in STT of:

.5% [base] * log(100) [UN pops] * 2320 [research cost] * 100% [unresearched] = .5%*2*2320*100% = 46 free research points in Space Time Theory a month
Later on, the technology has spread a bit and the UN population has grown so the free research is:
.5% [base] * log(150) [UN pops] * 2320 [research cost] * 100% [unresearched] = .5%*2.18*2320*50% = 17 free research points in Space Time Theory a month
Because of the diminishing returns an empire can't learn a technology purely through tech spread. They would still need to wait for the technology card to come up and research the technology.

I think a system like this would help with the mid game slowdown. Once you are established your research doesn't grind to a halt as you are powerless to keep up with growing tech costs. However you wont be able to just out tech your opponents and snowball.

 

[Ventessel]

I really like the idea of technology propagating to nearby empires.

Currently, the game has no trade mechanics, which means that "open borders" such as civilian access are somewhat meaningless. I would like to see interplanetary trade routes develop wherever there is civilian ship access, and the presence of these could determine the spread of technologies (or religions, if those were added. Or influence the rate of ethics divergence to represent exposure to different cultures).

This way, if you're an isolationist xenophobe, you don't get trade and you don't get free research. However, the secret designs of your weapons technology stay secret.

I strongly dislike the idea of a larger empire slowing down research. Ideas are a positive externality of people; the larger your populace, the more ideas you have. I think that large empires should be limited more by the development of factions and their various demands than by an artificial research slowdown.

 

[keynes2.0]

Something like a diminishing return to research might be alright. Like you have 4 times the labs but only get double the results. But you are right that ideas are a positive externality and big empires shouldn't be punished like this.