How does research speed work?

[Sandermatt]

If I max out the research slider I get techs sooner, but will I advance further and further ahead in time or will I eventually stall at a given advantage. If it is the latter how many years ahead of time will I eventually be (no focus) ?

[Marshall99]

25 minutes ago, Sandermatt said:

If I max out the research slider I get techs sooner, but will I advance further and further ahead in time or will I eventually stall at a given advantage. If it is the latter how many years ahead of time will I eventually be (no focus) ?

I feel like the tech is not always "linear". For example I am waiting for forced boilers for a very long time, and I have maxed out tech budget. But in 1915 still don't have the forced boilers only more and more funnels etc...

So in my opinion the tech tree has randomized components. But this is only my point of view

Oh and the most important thing! I still don't have Battlecruiser hulls, wich is strange because in 1915 many nations had battlecruisers already. And I still can't build them

Edited November 22, 2022 by Marshall99

[Admiral Donuts]

Some things advance faster than others. If left alone, for example, light guns will advance farther ahead of the technology year of discovery. Armor quality will lag way behind. Submarine research will lag way behind.

Some things require you to play catch-up, like Boilers or Cruisers. But once you do catch up, if left alone and no focus in research, they will remain ahead in tech.

Edited November 23, 2022 by Admiral Donuts

[Wowzery]

On 11/22/2022 at 2:34 AM, Marshall99 said:

Oh and the most important thing! I still don't have Battlecruiser hulls, wich is strange because in 1915 many nations had battlecruisers already. And I still can't build them

Yeah, the cruiser tech doesn't make much sense.  I can build dreadnoughts most games by 1900, but battlecruisers lag way behind.  And for most of that I'm still designing cruisers like a pre-dreadnought.

[SpardaSon21]

6 hours ago, Wowzery said:

Yeah, the cruiser tech doesn't make much sense.  I can build dreadnoughts most games by 1900, but battlecruisers lag way behind.  And for most of that I'm still designing cruisers like a pre-dreadnought.

There are far too many techs in the cruiser tech line, and 90% of them are "You can build larger cruisers now!"  And those techs alternate between heavy and light for that all the way down, nothing combined in the least.  You can build an unlimited tonnage BC the minute you minute unlock them, but somehow your naval architects need more time to design cruiser hulls that have a thousand tons more displacement.

Boiler techs have the same problem.  Funnel types and more funnel types, and they need to be researched separately for cruisers/destroyers/capitals so it takes an eternity for all of that, which is how you get the ridiculousness of semi-coal diesel engines.

The devs have consistently refused to consolidate these massive, gigantic tech lines for whatever reason, never mind that they're an active impediment to gameplay and overall QoL.

[Suribachi]

Would be great if there was a toggle for the sub techs in a tree.  For example, you can specify to the researchers that you would prefer Heavy Cruiser tech over that of Light Cruisers or have them research shells vs torpedoes.  Or even simpler than that, a choice preference between making current tech better (bigger displacement) or coming up with something new (hull designs).