What exactly does a 'Research Agreement' do?

[Mr. Goblin]

I am new to Stellaris.

What exactly does a 'Research Agreement' do?

Nothing in the game tutorial. And there are no 'hover cursor' information either. I don't know exactly what this agreement does for me (and the other Empire). So far, it seems 'nothing'; no change. No gain, no loss, no change. But then again I am still recent in making this research agreement with this Alien race here.

[titanopteryx]

引用自 Weizen1988：

引用自 Mistfox：

But then, balancing? How do you give an advantage that a solo empire will not get rolled over by a Federation if someone rather go solo or play a non-Federation playstyle? The last thing we want is to make a Federation playstyle "the only way to play", especially since some government types do not allow Federations, we don't want them to be "suicide options".

"Its not fair that one guy cant beat up 5 guys" No, Federations should pretty much always be stronger than any one empire. Thats how reality works

I was going to be an annoying contrarian, but then I remembered that the Federation was always ahead of both the Klingon Empire and the Romulan Star Empire.

[Sabaithal]

引用自 titanopteryx：

引用自 Weizen1988：

"Its not fair that one guy cant beat up 5 guys" No, Federations should pretty much always be stronger than any one empire. Thats how reality works

I was going to be an annoying contrarian, but then I remembered that the Federation was always ahead of both the Klingon Empire and the Romulan Star Empire.

If we're going with star-trek here, the borg were stronger than all three put together, and more technologically advanced. And the dominion was about equal in strength to all three.

[Weizen1988]

引用自 titanopteryx：

引用自 Weizen1988：

"Its not fair that one guy cant beat up 5 guys" No, Federations should pretty much always be stronger than any one empire. Thats how reality works

I was going to be an annoying contrarian, but then I remembered that the Federation was always ahead of both the Klingon Empire and the Romulan Star Empire.

Ive only ever watched the shows, but it sure seems like one research vessel from the Federation wrecks warships from the other empires. That said im not sure its fair to call the Enterprise just a research vessel. But my point remains.

Non space example. I get in a fistfight with some guy, lets say im stronger, ill probably win, so his 3 friends jump into the fight, now me being stronger doesnt matter, i still have 2 hands, and they have 8, and can all independently act, I lose the fight. A group will pretty much always beat an individual, no matter how powerful.

[Weizen1988]

引用自 Sabaithal：

引用自 titanopteryx：

I was going to be an annoying contrarian, but then I remembered that the Federation was always ahead of both the Klingon Empire and the Romulan Star Empire.

If we're going with star-trek here, the borg were stronger than all three put together, and more technologically advanced. And the dominion was about equal in strength to all three.

Didnt the dominion get wrecked by one combat ship in DS9? once again by the Federation.

[Zorlond]

Research Agreements are there to help the AI catch up to the player. Because I have yet to see even one situation where the AI was ever ahead of me without being one of the decaying precursor empires (who will never join a research agreement). Research Agreements are useless to the side that is far ahead of the other.

引用自 Weizen1988：

"Its not fair that one guy cant beat up 5 guys" No, Federations should pretty much always be stronger than any one empire. Thats how reality works

By the time any Federation I've seen has had five empires in it, I most definitely am capable of beating up all five at once, because they've fallen -that- far behind in tech.

[Sabaithal]

引用自 Weizen1988：

引用自 Sabaithal：

If we're going with star-trek here, the borg were stronger than all three put together, and more technologically advanced. And the dominion was about equal in strength to all three.

Didnt the dominion get wrecked by one combat ship in DS9? once again by the Federation.

Uh, wat? I remember there being a HUGE battle with thousands of ships on both sides, and the federation (and allied kingons and romulans) won through tactics alone, not numbers or tech.

[Mistfox]

引用自 Weizen1988：

Non space example. I get in a fistfight with some guy, lets say im stronger, ill probably win, so his 3 friends jump into the fight, now me being stronger doesnt matter, i still have 2 hands, and they have 8, and can all independently act, I lose the fight. A group will pretty much always beat an individual, no matter how powerful.

So let us say for example Finland, Norway, Iceland, maybe Sweden and the Netherlands for some strange reason decide to gang up and declare war on the US or China. In your theory, this little coalition will somehow win against the US.

[Weizen1988]

引用自 Sabaithal：

引用自 Weizen1988：

Didnt the dominion get wrecked by one combat ship in DS9? once again by the Federation.

Uh, wat? I remember there being a HUGE battle with thousands of ships on both sides, and the federation (and allied kingons and romulans) won through tactics alone, not numbers or tech.

I was thinking of the Defiant, and looking back no it was just doing the heavy lifting in some instances, not fighting the whole war i suppose.

Note: It has been many many years since i watched it.

[MaceX]

引用自 Weizen1988：

引用自 Mistfox：

But then, balancing? How do you give an advantage that a solo empire will not get rolled over by a Federation if someone rather go solo or play a non-Federation playstyle? The last thing we want is to make a Federation playstyle "the only way to play", especially since some government types do not allow Federations, we don't want them to be "suicide options".

"Its not fair that one guy cant beat up 5 guys" No, Federations should pretty much always be stronger than any one empire. Thats how reality works

True. But not always. Since there is Ethics and Civics that prevent you from Joining a Federation, It does make Federations a more complicated to fight. If there was an option to make it where you could trick the members of a federation turn again each other, that might make it different.

[Sabaithal]

引用自 Weizen1988：

引用自 Sabaithal：

Uh, wat? I remember there being a HUGE battle with thousands of ships on both sides, and the federation (and allied kingons and romulans) won through tactics alone, not numbers or tech.

I was thinking of the Defiant, and looking back no it was just doing the heavy lifting in some instances, not fighting the whole war i suppose.

Note: It has been many many years since i watched it.

It did cause the dominion problems, yeah, but thats primarily because it was pretty advanced, had a cloaking device, a good captain, and it was very fast. It sure couldn't take on a battleship by itself though, not unless it got in a good surprise first strike.

[Mistfox]

If you are a superpower late game you definitely can take on a group of empires in a Federation.

[Mistfox]

引用自 Sabaithal：

引用自 Weizen1988：

I was thinking of the Defiant, and looking back no it was just doing the heavy lifting in some instances, not fighting the whole war i suppose.

Note: It has been many many years since i watched it.

It did cause the dominion problems, yeah, but thats primarily because it was pretty advanced, had a cloaking device, a good captain, and it was very fast. It sure couldn't take on a battleship by itself though, not unless it got in a good surprise first strike.

Not to mention that minefield that they had choking the Dominion or they would have been overrun by warships.

[Sabaithal]

引用自 Mistfox：

引用自 Sabaithal：

It did cause the dominion problems, yeah, but thats primarily because it was pretty advanced, had a cloaking device, a good captain, and it was very fast. It sure couldn't take on a battleship by itself though, not unless it got in a good surprise first strike.

Not to mention that minefield that they had choking the Dominion or they would have been overrun by warships.

Oh yeah I forgot about that (its been years for me too). Also he had the support of the nearby planet an the space station Ds9...strategy! If only we could do that in this game...

Wait, it just occured to me, why are minefields not a thing in this game?

[Weizen1988]

引用自 Mistfox：

引用自 Weizen1988：

Non space example. I get in a fistfight with some guy, lets say im stronger, ill probably win, so his 3 friends jump into the fight, now me being stronger doesnt matter, i still have 2 hands, and they have 8, and can all independently act, I lose the fight. A group will pretty much always beat an individual, no matter how powerful.

So let us say for example Finland, Norway, Iceland, maybe Sweden and the Netherlands for some strange reason decide to gang up and declare war on the US or China. In your theory, this little coalition will somehow win against the US.

This is political, id rather not get into it.

Actually, yes. Our economy is currently a disaster, and i doubt we could manage a war on 5 fronts while keeping our populace from snapping. Nor could China.

I mean, we arent even currently in a war and russia, iran, china and others seem to have managed to make us flail helplessly and get nothing done by all poking at us in various ways.

But again, this is political and has no real place here. Its just going to make someone inject more politics and derail things worse.

[Mistfox]

Bypass politics and talk about raw power. Even with all the countries mentioned's armed forces added up, there is no real conceivable way for them to take on the US or China. No, there is nothing that says a coalition has to win against 1 large country. Both in reality and in terms of gameplay balance which you WANT more than one way to win so that you can have flexibility in gameplay.