Egosoft has said that for 3.0, they were working on improved research options. How would you like to see research implemented? What sort of improvements in research are you hoping for? Here are some ideas I've had.CBJ wrote: ↑Sat, 26. Jan 19, 01:18For all updates, we are working on better missions. At the latest for 3.00 we plan to have a number of new and improved combat missions in particular. An area we want to combine this with is improved research (in the player HQ) and the ability to potentially even move the player HQ to a different location.
1. Research requires Research Modules that can be added to stations. No more solo research from your generous, genius Boron friend. Multiple research modules can be added to a station or stations. They require workforce to be functional.
2. Research follows closely along the lines of what already exists in terms of ship mods. Except that instead of researching improvements to apply to a single ship, the research would allow you to apply these improvements to every ship or module that you produce. So if you research an improved engine, then every ship that gets this improved engine at an equipment dock or shipyard will get the benefit.
3. Research requires research points, which are generated by research modules using credits and wares, based on what you are researching. Inventory items can speed the process along, but are not mandatory. Research points are project-specific, and are not transferrable. Shield research would require shield components, ship chassis research would require hull parts, turret research would require turret components, etc. It would make sense to have research modules at shipyards, since that is where all these components would be going anyways.
4. Multiple research modules assigned to the same research project can be used to complete the research faster. Alternatively, you could split your different research modules among different projects.
5. Research can also be used to improve various aspects of production modules on stations, such as increased production efficiency, lowered build cost of the module itself, etc. It can be used to improve deployables as well, such as making faster missiles, satellites with improved radius, more effective countermeasures, etc.
6. NPC factions are researching alongside the player, continuously improving ships and modules over time. A state of the art ship at the beginning of the game might become obsolete by 200 hours in.
7. You can reverse engineer ships and modules in order to obtain the blueprint. This consumes the item being reverse engineered. We can then either produce that module, or use it as a starting point for our own research. Individual items which have been improved by mods can be reverse engineered.
8. You can buy blueprints of ships and modules that have been improved via research from NPC factions, and use that as a starting point for our own research. If your research results in superior ships and modules, you can sell the blueprints you produce to NPC factions.
9. Research projects can be queued up in advance, so the next research can begin immediately after the last project is finished.
10. There is no end to the research tech tree. You can incrementally improve every existing ship or module forever if you want, although the more times a particular ship/module has been improved, it becomes increasingly costly to get to the next level. For example, the first research that improves a shield’s output by 10% takes maybe 20 research points to complete, the next 10% increase to shield output takes 40 research points, then 80 research points, etc.