Negative Research Points

[ohdear]

Currently playing a game as the Ottoman Empire and research has been slow since the start of the game due to the low literacy. I now however seem to have managed to make myself have negative research points which means although I am working back to zero my research isn't making any progress at all. I have two questions really:

1) How did I do this? (So that I can avoid it in the future)

2) Are there any tips for speeding up research with countries like this?

 

[Orm]

Currently playing a game as the Ottoman Empire and research has been slow since the start of the game due to the low literacy. I now however seem to have managed to make myself have negative research points which means although I am working back to zero my research isn't making any progress at all. I have two questions really:

1) How did I do this? (So that I can avoid it in the future)

2) Are there any tips for speeding up research with countries like this?

1) I'm fairly certain you traded for a tech from someone else. When you trade for a tech you expend the corresponding amount of RP, which can bring you into the negative.

2) Turn more national culture POPs into clerks (or clergymen). When (or if) you research Darwinism, clerks will become more efficient at providing RP, while clergy will lose efficiency, so clerks are the better choice in most cases (especially since they also work in factories).

This said, trading for techs is essential, since there isn't enough time in the game to research all the techs yourself. Producing a surplus of RP is therefore desirable.

 

[ohdear]

1) I'm fairly certain you traded for a tech from someone else. When you trade for a tech you expend the corresponding amount of RP, which can bring you into the negative.
QUOTE]

That would be it then. I traded for three simultaeneously which explains why I am so far negative. (Still I got three techs I needed badly).

Thanks for the advice.

 

[Waffen9999]

As the Ottomans or anyone else for that matter I like to rush Functionalism and Positivism as fast as possible. Just keep researching cultural techs till you get those two. They speed up research alot. Of course I play VIP where things rsearch wise are a little more expensive later so yes, it's important to really get some clerks going. The Ottomans actually don't have that rough of a time getting there really as their natural Turkish population is rather small comparatively. While it wasn't mentioned and will hardly contribute a meaningful amount, Capitalists also increase your research rate.