Research - How it's generated

t's pretty well established that Strategy Mode is going to be a kind of RTS. A fundamental part of any good RTS is Research - that is, resources invested in progressing technologically, culturally, and developmentally, generally along a Tech or Research Tree.

But in Evolutions! we should strive to use a more realistic model to generate research than simply having the player click a button and "discover" a technology. I'd like to try and imagine a more organic solution to the problem.
Research Points: Overview
Research Points are the units by which progress toward a Research Item is measured. Every advancement on the Research Tree takes a certain amount of Research Points to be "discovered". Some methods of generating Research Points might include:
*Spending money on Research at your government center
A Civ's capital building (or perhaps the Culture Editor) would include options for how much money should be spent per upkeep cycle on research. (Upkeep is a concept which we've yet to discuss, but which will represent in some way the ongoing expense of feeding citizens, maintaining infrastructure, paying workers, etc.) Early in the game, players would not be able to choose what, specifically, would be researched, only the field in which the research would be conducted (i.e. "Agricultural", "Physical", "Cultural"); this approach would yield somewhat random results until Scientific Method is researched.
*Tasking Worker units on certain buildings
Some building types might allow a Worker to be tasked on them for various purposes; for instance, tasking a worker on a Tool Shed might generate Research toward the next Research Item above Toolmaking. (Note that we've yet to outline any real building types)
*Tasking Worker units on certain tasks related to certain Research Items
Certain Worker tasks (i.e. mining Iron) might generate small amounts of Research Points toward related Research Items (i.e. Steel or Compass). The greater the gap between two Research Items, the less Research Points this method would generate.
*Visiting other cultures with different completed Research Items
Cultural diffusion is a driving force behind innovation; if one culture begins to interact with another, they'll have a chance at receiving a large bonus number of Research Points toward available Research Items the foreign culture has already unlocked. Note that the unit must return to their own culture's borders before the bonus is received! This would not be the case once Tech Items such as telegraphs or telephones become available.
*Constructing certain building types
There will likely be buildings, such as Foundries, Hospitals, Libraries, and different types of Laboratories, that increase research toward given areas by certain amounts (i.e. Foundries might add x% extra Research Points toward all metalworking research; Libraries might add x% to cultural research.) How we're going to handle Building Types is something that must still be discussed.
*Other factors?
There are certainly other possibilities for generating Research Points that I haven't thought of - post your suggestions in this thread!

As Research Items become more advanced, they will require an increasing number of Research Points to be unlocked. This will encourage a player to expand their Civ with more workers and buildings to generate more Research Points; however, Upkeep costs will discourage them from creating more than their Civ can sustain. Another strategy might be to stay small, but send scouts to interact with as many other cultures as possible, bringing home bonuses toward new Research Items.

If a Civ is conducting Research outside of their natural environment - i.e. if they are aquatic and Researching on land, or terrestrial and Researching in the ocean - those Research Items will cost twice as many Research Points. These Civs would also first need to unlock Tech, via Research Items, that allowed them to enter the foreign environment (such as water-filled or water-proof suits, for aquatics and terrestrials respectively).

For example, Fire might cost 200 Research Points for a terrestrial race, but 400 for an aquatic one; Steel might cost 2600 Research Points for a terrestrial race, but 5200 for an aquatic one. As we come up with more Research Items that are aquatic-only, this will work in reverse for terrestrial races.

Something else about research is that most new inventions are not created by the government- therefore, many new inventions will probably just "pop up" as long as the base discoveries for them are there.

That's my 2 cents, but strategy mode really isn't my thing- as long as it's not too terra- centric, i'm going Laissez-faire.

sciocont wrote:Something else about research is that most new inventions are not created by the government- therefore, many new inventions will probably just "pop up" as long as the base discoveries for them are there.

That's my 2 cents, but strategy mode really isn't my thing- as long as it's not too terra- centric, i'm going Laissez-faire.

Which is why having workers work on things like metal will give a boost to metal researches. If people are just messing around with things, there's a chance they could come up with major discoveries.