Constantly Backward in Research

[Breakfast At Gimlis]

I am constantly backwards in my research relative to other nations. I have maxed out research (12%) and have modded the game a bit to have larger budgets for myself so it is like 450k per month. Still am consistently behind other nations. Any ideas why?

[smashgrab0]

RNG

[Lakel]

assuming youre in the early 1890 years, its completely RNG, starts really kicking off in my experience by 1910 or so with having an actual tech edge.

[Breakfast At Gimlis]

Originally posted by smashgrab0:

RNG

Originally posted by Lakel:

assuming youre in the early 1890 years, its completely RNG, starts really kicking off in my experience by 1910 or so with having an actual tech edge.

Could easily be RNG. It’s happened in 3 games in a row so I am starting to wonder if there is another component of research (number of ships built, wars fought, etc) that also factors in

[Primus Pilus]

National traits influence this. Nations with poor education level have a slight research disadvantage, while nations with the Technology leader trait will have a slight advantage.

[Breakfast At Gimlis]

Originally posted by Primus Pilus:

National traits influence this. Nations with poor education level have a slight research disadvantage, while nations with the Technology leader trait will have a slight advantage.

Yeah, I should have mentioned I was playing as the US. It has that tag

[Phantasmagoria]

You shouldn't be falling behind in research as the US after the 20s or 30s. Earlier it's understandable because the US takes a while to ramp up, but research scales with increasing budget so as your navy ramps up so should your research. Are you spying on the other tech leaders? You can definitely steal tech, and should.

[Sume Kont]

I think the descriptor in the Almanac for technology level is totally broken and bears no resemblance to your actual tech level, i've done a few playthroughs and it just seems to bear no resemblance to the state of play.

[Breakfast At Gimlis]

Originally posted by Phantasmagoria:

You shouldn't be falling behind in research as the US after the 20s or 30s. Earlier it's understandable because the US takes a while to ramp up, but research scales with increasing budget so as your navy ramps up so should your research. Are you spying on the other tech leaders? You can definitely steal tech, and should.

Yep, full spying on every nation. Maxed research percent plus a huge budget. No idea how it keeps happening, game 4 now.

[Breakfast At Gimlis]

Originally posted by Sume Kont:

I think the descriptor in the Almanac for technology level is totally broken and bears no resemblance to your actual tech level, i've done a few playthroughs and it just seems to bear no resemblance to the state of play.

That may be true, but you can also see reports of other countries getting tech I don't have and them fielding ships with configurations I can't use. So there is a there there, as they say.

[Andrew Cree]

Order ships from countries with higher tech levels than you.

Some techs are an immediate 'why didn't we think of that' case, which unlocks them immediately whilst others aren't but the ships will give you a research boost.

[EnterElysium]

Don't go above research 10%, you get very quick diminishing returns. While it may be attractive to want to max it it just does almost nothing for the cost. Generally in RtW if something has "diminishing returns" it has a VERY aggressive fall-off.

[Breakfast At Gimlis]

Originally posted by EnterElysium:

Don't go above research 10%, you get very quick diminishing returns. While it may be attractive to want to max it it just does almost nothing for the cost. Generally in RtW if something has "diminishing returns" it has a VERY aggressive fall-off.

Right, but that doesn't actually answer the question about why this is happening. Diminishing returns are not negative returns.