Q&A Session with Aaron Hall. (Offline Edition)

[Saber Cherry]

So, what is this SE3 research/intel model that will be used in SEV? How does it differ from SEIV?

[Ragnarok]

It uses %'s in it. You have X amount of research points like in SEIV and you can take X% of that and put into any given tech, then another Y% into another and yet another. You can have it to where you have 1% of you total research points in 100(perhaps more?) different tech areas whereas you are limited to just 12 max areas of research in SEIV and really even less then that unless you turn on devide points evenly.

[Saber Cherry]

The way research points accumulate (e.g., without compound interest) makes it preferable to put all points into a single project. MOO I had a sort of strange system where spreading research around was beneficial, but as long as doubling research allocation halves research time (that is to say, as long as research "flow" and time are perfectly inversely proportional) spreading research is detrimental.

For example:

If you have 4 projects of 1000 RP each, and you get 1000 RP per turn, sharing the research gives you 4 advances on turn 4... but focusing research gives you one advance per turn. The more you spread research, the worse off you'll be...

Was there some hidden advantage to spreading research in SE3, like compound interest or decreasing gains?

[Fyron]

Was there some hidden advantage to spreading research in SE3, like compound interest or decreasing gains?

It is more of a benefit for intelligence... If you make a huge amount of research and can get many tech levels in a turn, there is no limit to 12 tech areas. The same goes for intelligence, for which the limit tends to be reached a lot more easily. Also, you don't have to remove tech areas that you started researching, but changed your mind mid-way, due to no limit of 12 slots in the queue.

[Fyron]

So, what is this SE3 research/intel model that will be used in SEV? How does it differ from SEIV?

You can get the shareware for SE3 from www.malfador.com (under 2 MBs, possibly a lot less) and see exactly how it works.