Please explain "Steal Projects" like I'm a 5yo...

[Brilyn]

I'm finding the tech unlocking in this game to be extremely frustrating: it's 2038, and T2 Heavy Fission Arrays still haven't popped.

1) I have researched Gas Core Fission Systems.
2) Heavy Fission Reactor Array has (100%) marked. This means I've met all the prerequisites... Right....? Right...................?

Several other factions have Heavy Fission Reactor Arrays in their Habs, so... They clearly have the tech.

I sent my 25 Espionage guy up to a Protectorate Hab that has a Skunkworks (so they're in a Hab that has Engineering; it also has several Heavy Fission Reactor Arrays, but I understand that that's not part of the mechanics (I'm just... It's right ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ there, guy... It's right there...)) and... I can't Steal Project.

Ok. I'll Detain a Protectorate Counsellor because they have the tech I need (as per the Habs with the Heavy Fission Reactor Arrays), so if the problem is me 'not knowing about it' then that'll sort it, right?

Nope.

Do I need to Turn a Counsellor to identify that they have the Project I want? How do I 'target a hab', as per the text on Steal Project?

In short: how the f*ck does this work?

[Ericus1]

No, 100% tells you that it has a 100% chance of being available for you to research. Techs with less than 100% mean there is a chance it will never be available for you. That chance is modified by factors like your overall councilor science stats, the amount your contributed to any global requirements (direct % increase), the Innovative trait (+10%), and the Autonomous Research Groups tech (+10%).

To see if you've met all the pre-reqs you need to look at your full tech tree and make sure they are all green. Having Gas Core is not the only requirement. Then, provided you passed the "will I get that at all" roll, a tech starts at some minimum monthly unlock chance, and increases by an amount each month until it hits its maximum monthly unlock chance. All these are specific to the tech, but HFAs start at 0 by default an only increase 6% a month to an eventual max of 100%, so it could take as long as year and half to unlock if you are unlucky.

As for stealing it, assuming the other faction has researched it, you just run the mission if you have a targetable councilor or module, e.g. skunkworks. And it doesn't give you tech, it only makes you able to research it. You don't need a turned agent. Targeting a skunkworks is targeting a hab.

[Brilyn]

Originally posted by Ericus1:

As for stealing it, assuming the other faction has researched it, you just run the mission if you have a targetable councilor or module, e.g. skunkworks. And it doesn't give you tech, it only makes you able to research it. You don't need a turned agent. Targeting a skunkworks is targeting a hab.

How do I target a Skunkworks? I had an agent in the Hab that had a Skunkworks, and Steal Project was greyed out.

[Ericus1]

Do you check and see if you actually met all the requirements for the tech?

[Brilyn]

Originally posted by Ericus1:

Do you check and see if you actually met all the requirements for the tech?

I still need the Fission Reactor Array.

That doesn't change the problem, as the Steal Project button still isn't working.

(Yes, I have all the pre-reqs for Fission Reactor Array)

[Ericus1]

You can't steal something you aren't eligible for, which is why I asked.

If you are certain you've met all the requirements (which, you checked) and you are certain that they have the project researched (which, if they have built them, they have done) and the project isn't available to you to steal, it's because you already have it. Check your obsolete projects list; you may have inadvertently hid it when it unlocked for you.

[Brilyn]

Originally posted by Ericus1:

You can't steal something you aren't eligible for, which is why I asked.

If you are certain you've met all the requirements (which, you checked) and you are certain that they have the project researched (which, if they have built them, they have done) and the project isn't available to you to steal, it's because you already have it. Check your obsolete projects list; you may have inadvertently hid it when it unlocked for you.

Ok, all that to oneside. with regards to targeting a skunkworks: does it specifically need to be on a Hab, and not an Orbital?

[Ericus1]

An orbital is a hab.

Hab

• Orbital
  
  1. Platform
     
  2. Station
     
  3. Ring
• Base
  
  1. Outpost
     
  2. Settlement
     
  3. Colony

[CaptainSpacetime]

Originally posted by Brilyn:

Originally posted by Ericus1:

Do you check and see if you actually met all the requirements for the tech?

I still need the Fission Reactor Array.

That doesn't change the problem, as the Steal Project button still isn't working.

(Yes, I have all the pre-reqs for Fission Reactor Array)

Fission reactor array is different from *heavy* fission reactor array.

HFRA needs: Fission reactor array, heavy fission pile, and gas core fission systems for it to start unlocking.

That's the point where you can target a councilor (I didn't even know you could target a hab, it sounds like more of a hassle) and do steal tech. This just skips waiting month after month for the unlock chance to tick up.

[Brilyn]

Originally posted by Ericus1:

An orbital is a hab.

Hab

• Orbital
  
  1. Platform
     
  2. Station
     
  3. Ring
• Base
  
  1. Outpost
     
  2. Settlement
     
  3. Colony

I figured so, but I was trying to rule out a possible misunderstanding on my part.

The Sabotage Project allows me to target the Orbital that I'm on just fine, so it looks like there's just no projects to steal that eligible for. This is a hugely unintuitive system: allowing the button to work with various projects then marked with "pre-reqs not met" would be massively more helpful than the button merely not working.

I spent years slogging away at unifying Africa, so I presumed I was behind on a ton of projects, and that I still hadn't unlocked a bunch of early-game stuff.

The Fission Reactor Array *is* in my project list (not obsoleted out), I just had ignored it as I hadn't realised it was a pre-req for the Heavy Fission Reactor Array.

[Brilyn]

For anyone else stuck on this, the actual answer to my very straightforward post title is:

1) You need to have met all the pre-reqs for a tech
2) You need to *not* have the Project available for research
3) If you have an agent in the Hab with an Engineering Module, the Hab will be in the targeting drop-down just like counsellors.
3a) If the Hab isn't in the list, then the Faction you're looking at doesn't have any tech that you meet the pre-reqs for.
4) "Faction has no projects to steal that we are aware of" doesn't mean that you need to see their tech list, it should read "Faction has no projects that we are eligible to steal".

[Ericus1]

Weeeeelll, there are also many projects that are hidden and not revealed until you complete certain milestones. An AI faction technically could have one of those, but you wouldn't be aware of it yet.

[gimmethegepgun]

Originally posted by Brilyn:

Ok. I'll Detain a Protectorate Counsellor because they have the tech I need (as per the Habs with the Heavy Fission Reactor Arrays), so if the problem is me 'not knowing about it' then that'll sort it, right?

Okay, so the rest of the thread went over the general reasons you can't steal it right now, but for this particular case here, you wouldn't be able to steal it from that councilor anyway, because you can't use Steal or Sabotage Project on Detained councilors.