April 2, 2019

DESIGN OVERVIEW

The design goal of Research & Development in Project Exo is to have a deeper and more realistic sim-based approach to research than traditional strategy games. Research will possess a number of mechanics that all contribute to more non-linear play and a more dynamic narrative. Rather than using linear "tech trees," Project EM aims to take a more non-linear Theory-Development-Component approach.

FIELDS OF RESEARCH

Research is categorized by a number of Fields of Research. By researching projects in a specific field, individual Research Labs can build up expertise in that field, which lets them research it with ever more efficiency and speed. Because of this, a Research Lab will likely tend toward specializing in only a handful of fields, since the player will generally assign projects to the best-suited lab for that project (unless the player is intentionally trying to grow expertise in a new lab or transition an old one).

THEORY, DEVELOPMENT & ENGINEERING RESEARCH

Research is broken up into three categories: theory research, which leads to unlocking development projects, which can then be improved on through engineering research.

Theory Research

Theory research is how you expand the theoretical limits of your scientific knowledge. Each field has an overall metric of Theoretical Knowledge, which is grown (slowly, compared to Development and Engineering research) by assigning a Lab to that field's continuous (i.e. no end condition) Theory Research project. The primary purpose of increasing a field's Theoretical Knowledge is to unlock new Development Projects to research.

Development Research

Researching a Development Project allows you to begin manufacturing and utilizing the technology of that project. It is generally faster than Theory research, but slower than Engineering research. Examples of Development Projects would be Nuclear Thermal Rockets, Mass Driver-based Launch Systems, 3D-Printed Surface Structures or any other applied technology that can be constructed or manufactured. Completing a Development Project unlocks the prototype for that technology. As soon as you have a technology's prototype, you can begin manufacturing it for use in real-world applications.

Engineering Research

However, you may not want to manufacture it immediately. While you can choose to build up production lines for protoypes immediately, they will perform very poorly without more time spent on them through Engineering research. Engineering research projects allow you to improve the individual components of a protoype, and they will likely make up the bulk of your research efforts. Each prototype has a number of components that contribute to the overall performance of that technology. Having a VASIMR Ion Thruster prototype, for example, isn't all that much use without good Gas Injector designs, after all. A bonus of researching a prototype's components is that while the bulk of the improvement goes to that prototype's component, it will also contribute to the quality of related components in other technologies. For example, researching Oxygen Recirculators in a Reusable Solid Rocket Booster prototype will not only improve that component, but will also contribute a small amount to a Life Support technology's Oxygen Pumps component.

Engineering research is also affected by the level of Theory research you possess in a field. A lower Theoretical Knowledge means engineering for higher-Theory developments will take longer.

Research Projects

Research Projects, as you may have guessed, are the overall research effort that you assign to Research Labs in order to accomplish a scientific goal. They come in the three forms listed above, and have a handful of different variables that affect how quickly the project progresses. Projects can experience delays (which temporarily halt the progress of a project) or breakthroughs (which temporarily boost the progress of a project) based on a number of factors.

EFFICIENCY

Each Research Project has an Efficiency metric that is based on the expertise and infrastructure of each Research Lab contributing to the project, as well as the overall funding of the project. A higher Efficiency means the project is less likely to experience delays, more likely to experience breakthroughs, can generally be accomplished more quickly, and contributes to a more positive outlook on the project overall.

Funding

Each Research Project has a certain level of funding required to consider it Fully Funded, which contributes to the overall Efficiency of the project. Projects can be over-funded to receive small gains in Efficiency, but this comes with diminishing returns. Funding also contributes to the Infrastructure build-up of the research labs working that project, which allows that lab to lend more Efficiency to future projects.

ATTITUDE

Attitude is a metric of the overall morale of the parties involved in researching the project. Attitude about a project can be Optimistic, Neutral, or Pessimistic, each of which is a function of how well-funded the project is, the amount and quality of lab resources it has on hand, and how many delays or breakthroughs it has experienced. Attitude serves as a multiplier of those factors, i.e., an optimistic attitude means the project is more likely to experience breakthroughs, while a pessimistic attitude means the project is more likely to experience delays.

RESEARCH LaboratoRIES

Research Labs have two metrics that determine how efficient and successful they will be at accomplishing a project: Expertise and Infrastructure. Expertise represents the intellectual output of a lab's personnel. It is field-specific and can be grown by working on Research Projects. Expertise will slowly decrease over time (to represent the loss of personnel and intellectual stagnation) unless the lab is actively working on a Research Project. Infrastructure measures the physical wealth of research equipment that a lab posesses. It does not decrease over time, and it can be grown by adequately Funding (discussed in a later section) a Research Project that an an individual Lab is working on.

Research Labs are physical establishments that must be built by the player inside of Colonies or Cities.