Bugs or am I doing it wrong?

[idSRG]

Hello! I just recently got the game and all the DLC during the sale, loving the game.

I've got a few questions on if I'm doing it right, or if these are bugs.

1. Mega Constructions. I simply cannot get Mega-Engineering to trigger as a research.

I have the following, I even have a Curator and my Researchers are level 8!

• Battleships
• Citadel
• Zero Point Power

2. I have an enemy empire that I have conquered completely, but they will not accept Vassalize. They are at 100% exhaustion.

What do I need to do to get them to accept?

 

[Kryndude]

1. Weight is very low for Mega Constructions unless you already own it in your territory, in which case you get x20. Habitat also gives you x2 so you might wanna grab that first if you're gonna get it anyways.

 

[idSRG]

I've got the Cybrex (I think) Ring World in my territory, and I went after a ruined Dyson Sphere in enemy territory (item 2!) to see if that would trigger it. The Habitat, I think I passed up on for some reason, I'll go back a few saves and see.

 

[Defiler99]

2. I have an enemy empire that I have conquered completely, but they will not accept Vassalize. They are at 100% exhaustion.

The UI doesn't make it obvious, but exhaustion only counts a little bit toward your actual war-goals.
If you go to the war menu and click on the bottom-left button; the one that shows your progress toward total victory, it will show you what's really going on.

Generally you need to occupy more planets, not just exhaust them; if they are in a federation, you'll need to occupy some of their allies' planets as well to get to the necessary score.

 

[idSRG]

Ah ok, I did not go into their ally territory at all. I've since rolled back to try and get the Habitat perk to trigger things, it has not so far worked for the Mega research.

 

[HorizonTheory]

Having a broken Megastructure in your borders multiplies the weight by a whopping amount, giving you Mega-Engineering as your next or second-next research option. Nothing else can really be counted on to improve the odds.

 

[sillyrobot]

In addition to the listed pre-requisites, you need to complete 6 tier-4 engineering research projects before you will be given any tier-5 options. Only at that point will mega-engineering (and all the rest of the tier-5 projects) get added to your deck. Battleships and citadels are 2. Find 4 other engineering projects that cost about the same and research those.

Once you have them in the deck, it becomes a trial to get it to appear. Its base weight is very low. So you want to maximize the number of cards drawn at a time, maximise the weight given to the card, and minimize the time spent between drawings.

 

[idSRG]

Thanks for the help all. It finally (2415 year?) came in, but I believe it had to do with the Perks on top of everything. Habitat seems to be required to then unlock Master Builders, and then it showed up right away.

Is that a short cut, or just a requirement? Again I'm super new to the game so looking up old guides to try and figure it out. :]

 

[rubert]

Habitat -> Master Builders is just a shortcut. Master Builders add Mega-Engineering as a research option but it is not required to get it. Without it getting Mega-engineering can be bit random and annoying depending on how lucky you are.

 

[idSRG]

Perfect, that makes sense then. Thanks!