Problem with Research Points?

Kelly Hrdina · #1 December 26th, 2000, 10:36 AM

In my first game of SEIV (v 1.19), I ran into a problem with research points. At one point in the game, my Colonies screen indicated that 70,895 research points were being produced, and the research screen indicated that 74,658 research points were available. Things were looking good.

A few turns later, the Colonies screen indicated that 94,719 research points were being produced, but the Research screen listed my research points as exactly 50,000. It remained at 50,000 points for the remainder of the game.

So, what happened to reduce my available points to exactly 50,000? I would suspect enemy intelligence operations, but I was leading in intelligence at the time, and had one counter-intelligence (level 3) project going.

Thanks for any help, and apologies in advance if this had been discussed before.

Kelly Hrdina

[This message has been edited by Kelly Hrdina (edited 26 December 2000).]

Kagetora · #2 December 26th, 2000, 03:50 PM

When I first started playing I didn't think you needed space ports to gather research and intelligence points. But you do. Perhaps a space port in a system with alot of research got destroyed or you scrapped it without knowing this? It would still show up as being produced by your colonies but you would never get it to use.

DirectorTsaarx · #3 December 26th, 2000, 04:32 PM

I think earlier Versions of SE4 allowed research points to get distributed without space ports - I know it worked for me back on 1.02; it might have been fixed by 1.11 or 1.19. Kind of a pain - I forgot about this, and filled a world with research facilities but no spaceport, which means I've wasted a LOT of research (and I've needed it against the new AI...)

terrylw · #4 December 26th, 2000, 08:38 PM

My research points have been suddenly limited in exactly the same way. Now, no matter how many research points my colonies are producing - in this case over 100,000, I cannot use more anything other than exactly 50,000 in my research page. I has nothing to do with space ports.

This just started today after I loaded a saved game, and the save was 1.19 from Last night. So, now I am wondering what is up. Does anyone have any suggestions, ideas, or similar happenings?

Kelly Hrdina · #5 December 26th, 2000, 09:04 PM

Thanks for the replies.

The problem is definitely not with space ports. I did have one planet with research and not space port, so its research point output was displayed inside ()'s on the Colonies screen. It was the only one.

None of my research labs were destroyed - the Colonies screen eventually listed me with over 127,000 research points produced, but the Research screen held steady at 50,000 points. Such a suspiciously round number! The odd thing is that it was correct for a while past 74,000 research points, then reverted back to 50,000.

Daynarr · #6 December 26th, 2000, 10:43 PM

You guys may consider sending e-mail to MM regarding this. Also make sure you put in your save game files (they are needed).

Seawolf · #7 December 27th, 2000, 08:50 PM

Only other thing that comes to minsd is that some of your planets may be blockade preventing the transfer of points.

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Seawolf on the prowl

Cryptotec88 · #8 December 28th, 2000, 09:56 PM

I've had the problem too. Only had my Homeworld generating research points, 7400 in fact. Yet from one turn to the next the research points on the F8 Research screen showed 7000, with the Homeworld still generating 7400. I built a research facility on a colony and the points jumped back to what they should have been.

I'm emailing the save game files to MM.

Nyx · #9 December 28th, 2000, 10:55 PM

If the bug kicked in when you had a lot of research points, have you tried scrapping a couple of research facilities to see if that gets you below the bug threshold?

Kelly Hrdina · #10 December 29th, 2000, 12:37 AM

I tried Nyx's suggestion. Once it got to the point that my research points were being restricted, if I scrapped enough facilities to bring my total research point generation (including trade) below 50,000, it gave me the correct number on the next turn. I had to scrap a lot of facilities, though.

I had already been constantly building research facilities. My production had jumped from about 70,000 to over 94,000 before I noticed that it wasn't doing any good. I had been working on a multi-turn project, so hadn't actually checked the research screen in a while.

It does seem weird, though, as I had been able to generate over 70K research points before the (probable) bug kicked in and set me back to 50K. I tried another experiment, and went back to my Last good saved game. I set up all of my colonies with room to build research facilities. I got up to generating over 164K points (plus trade) with no problems before the game ended, so I don't think the problem is created by absolute point totals. Based on some of the things I had been doing when it failed, maybe one of these things caused it:
1) Completing several research projects on the same turn;
2) Colonizing a planet with ruins, but obtaining the same tech being researched or just completed - I remember colonizing a couple of specials during that time but receiving nothing;
3) Having rioting on a planet which produces research

In any event, I eventually finished the game despite the problem, and don't think I'll have the time to go back and explore these possibilities. Hopefully the before-and-after saved games that I sent to MM will be of some use. I also sent them a pointer to this discussion.