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aroddo

needs more ponies
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Jan 3, 2013
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Use your first Science Vessel to assist research on your home planet.
That's a +11% research bonus for your planet (and for your entire empire, for quite a while) for the cost of 2 energy upkeep (scientist + ship).

This delays your scouting for 2 months but it also shaves off about 5 months of research.
It's probably worth the expense.

Never saw someone do that and never saw that advice mentioned anywhere, so have fun finding out if that makes a difference.
 
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I usually go by whether I see a planet next to my home system.

If so, the first ship goes to survey that system for a very early first planet followed by a bunch of Science Ships.
If not, the first ship goes assist, and I build ~2-3 Science ships before queuing the Colony Ship.

Not sure it's super-efficient, but it feels very good.
 
I think the first science ship is better used exploring, right at the start you have 2 researcher and any boost they get is practically meaningless compared to what you get later on when have a few more of them, while early exploring can mean the difference between finding and taking a chokepoint or not.
 
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I find it interesting, but there's a point where at the beginning of the game much of your research comes from anomalies.
Anomalies scale with your science income, right?

So having a higher base science income would increase those benefits -- up to a point.
 
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If you go for a science rush, then you get more scientists on your starting planet and thus more benefit from the early assist.
Doesn't even have to be the first ship ... Your first tech will take years, so even ship #4 will make a difference if you pump them out early enough.
 
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If you go for a science rush, then you get more scientists on your starting planet and thus more benefit from the early assist.
Doesn't even have to be the first ship ... Your first tech will take years, so even ship #4 will make a difference if you pump them out early enough.
Aye maybe not the first ship but certainly in the first handful, once the intial explore phase has tapered off, ie finding the first set of chokes.
 
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Anomalies scale with your science income, right?

So having a higher base science income would increase those benefits -- up to a point.

I'm not sure how much they scale with science income; it seems you get a few thousand science whatever you do. Even if they don't, though, you can only process science windfalls into tech/projects as fast as your monthly production of science (i.e. in total you end up processing at most double the normal amount of science per month), so monthly income still matters.
 
Use your first Science Vessel to assist research on your home planet.
That's a +11% research bonus for your planet (and for your entire empire, for quite a while) for the cost of 2 energy upkeep (scientist + ship).

This delays your scouting for 2 months but it also shaves off about 5 months of research.
It's probably worth the expense.

Never saw someone do that and never saw that advice mentioned anywhere, so have fun finding out if that makes a difference.
More science you will get from anomaly than from assisting research, especially when research cost is higher than 1x, tho you still can use your 3rd or 4th scientist to do so, especially if you will make 2nd science building.
 
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I find it interesting, but there's a point where at the beginning of the game much of your research comes from anomalies.
Anomalistic rewards scale with scientific income. So extra science gives extra rewards as well.
 
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Anomaly rewards all scale with income but also have min and max values. very early in the game, you're not likely to have hit the max yet, but after maybe year 20 you will have.
 
I think the first science ship is better used exploring, right at the start you have 2 researcher and any boost they get is practically meaningless compared to what you get later on when have a few more of them, while early exploring can mean the difference between finding and taking a chokepoint or not.

Agreed. It's actually just ~2.5 research at that point. Much better to get anomaly research faster, and then use one of the later science ships you make assist research instead. By then you should have more researchers working, and enough science ships already out doing what you need them to do.
 
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I find it interesting, but there's a point where at the beginning of the game much of your research comes from anomalies.
Anomaly research bonus scales with your empire research.

As for assist research. I find it offensive and disgusting. Before, when number of leaders were capped, it was a strategic decision. Now you are compelled to send them to every single one of your planets\habitats\rings.
And you have to keep tabs on them dying.
It clutters your leader pool.
It clutters your outline.
It adds more forced micro.

It should be removed or reworked to work like governors at the very least.
And sectors should go away too.

But developers are busy with making very important decisions like whether empire pop growth penalty should be 0.2 or 0.5
 
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I thought this was pretty common and the reason they removed the bonus to it from the discovery tree. Great way to capitalize on this is with void born or ring world.
 
At the start of the game I tend to produce science ships as fast as possible, up to about 8-10 within the first couple of years. I typically use the first 2-3 science ships just to explore the hyperlane network, find locations of neighbours, and decide on suitable chokepoints to expand to, then sue the next science ships to survey the shortest path to these chokepoints (Maybe let the explorers help by surveying from the chokepoint backwards).

This technique typically grants me about 3 times as much space to expand into 'peacefully' compared to other empires, and the sheer amount of anomalies I get to research more than others more than makes up for not having an 'assist' early. Not to mention the strength I gain from expanding into more terrtory without war and settling on more planets than anyone else.

I've learned this technique when playing with Inward Perfection, but I found it is just as powerful with other civic or ethics choices.
 
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I don't think it's worth the opportunity cost of
- Delaying your guaranteed habitable settlement. Usually you should be able to have it touching down by 2203, if playing an origin with such habitables at least.
- That additional information which will guide your play. (How much free space do I have? How close is the nearest genoicidal?)
- If playing the proactive first contact, the influence you can get from sending science ships as far away as you can to get as many first contacts as possible to farm influence. I'm particularly fond of this on my recent voide dweller plays.
 
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I don't think it's worth the opportunity cost of
- Delaying your guaranteed habitable settlement. Usually you should be able to have it touching down by 2203, if playing an origin with such habitables at least.
- That additional information which will guide your play. (How much free space do I have? How close is the nearest genoicidal?)
- If playing the proactive first contact, the influence you can get from sending science ships as far away as you can to get as many first contacts as possible to farm influence. I'm particularly fond of this on my recent voide dweller plays.
all these arguments are countered if you just build one more ship.
 
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