Research agreements only usefull early game

[Blorg is CK3]

The -25% on your tech cost you get from research agreements is based on the base cost. So early game it reduces your research cost nearly by 25%.

But as your number of pops and planets increase, the -25% on the base cost gets less and less relevant.

In early mid game with 83 Pops and 11 Planets your base research cost is already increased by 173%. And the research cost reduction of 25% reduces this penalty to 148%.

In late game the amount of your Pops and Planets gives an increase of over 1000% to your base research, making the bonus from research agreement diminishing in return.

I think to make research agreements worthwhile late game, the 25% research cost reduction should be calculated after the cost increase from Pops and Planets is added to the base cost.

 

[gamer42_au]

I had no realised the effect of research agreements dropped off quite so much.
I agree that RA benefit should be more related to the actual cost, because having access to information on how someone else achieved something should give you a big advantage in doing it yourself.

 

[EmperorZelos]

it should then be multiplicative

 

[General Karthos]

I used to work in academia. I was an ivory tower elite. Perhaps I can explain.

The simple explanation is that all knowledge is heresy, and that all papers on new technologies have to be sent for a peer review to every single scientist in your Empire. Where the definition of scientist is "sentient" or "made of metal". The penalty is intended to represent this. The more planets you have, the more people you have to send your papers to for review. Because of the nature of technology in Stellaris, you can only have a single copy of the paper in circulation at a time, so when you send it to a new planet, you have to wait for them to remark on it before you can send it to another. The research agreement only helps you write the initial paper. You still have to wait for the illegible margin notes to come back.

Anyone working in the same field who did not discover the technology themselves will attempt to destroy you and your career. You must move to thwart them preemptively by destroying their reputations before they can question your own, or knocking them unconscious, setting fire to their car and then driving it into a large body of water, and/or over a cliff. All this takes time and thoughtful preparation.

 

[Dunaedine]

The -25% on your tech cost you get from research agreements is based on the base cost. So early game it reduces your research cost nearly by 25%.

But as your number of pops and planets increase, the -25% on the base cost gets less and less relevant.

In early mid game with 83 Pops and 11 Planets your base research cost is already increased by 173%. And the research cost reduction of 25% reduces this penalty to 148%.

In late game the amount of your Pops and Planets gives an increase of over 1000% to your base research, making the bonus from research agreement diminishing in return.

I think to make research agreements worthwhile late game, the 25% research cost reduction should be calculated after the cost increase from Pops and Planets is added to the base cost.

It's probably a bug, you should post it in this section.

 

[General Karthos]

One person didn't understand my joke, jape, jest, or satire. I should probably have ended with "yeah, it may be a bug".

For the record, I DID work in academia, I WAS an ivory tower elite, and I believe the ivory tower should be knocked over, because, as much as I'd like it to be, the statement that anyone working in the same field who didn't make the discovery you did will attempt to destroy you and your career is an accurate one. After watching it happen to my mentor, I left before it could happen to me.

 

[Wizzington]

Sounds like an oversight on our part, will look into it.