RESEARCH PROBLEM SOLVED?

[Adriane Tempest]

so we all know that your science minions aren't 100% reliable at researching what you want, which is a problem later in the game. and sadly there's no way to force them to research

i may have cracked it. this is just through a few reent playthroughs and a theory

my science minions would fly through research no problem, but at some point they'd stop. i noticed this seemed to happen AFTER i moved my evil genius to the lab (torturing those poor agents)
so, i started a new game with a theory: the evil genius causes a glitch if he is in the laboratory. so i played through making sure i keep him out of there.
lo and behold, i get the infirmary chair very early on for a change (sometimes i never get it) as well as a bunch of other objects i usually struggle to get

just try this out guys

[unca.alby]

well this makes perfect sense.

who can concentrate on their work when the BOSS IS WATCHING?

You sit the boss in the lab, ANY boss of ANY lab, and suddenly everybody is more interested in "looking busy" than actually DOING anything!

[Adriane Tempest]

so two more playthroughs my theory seems to be holding true

science minions will research the ♥♥♥♥ out of anything, but if you move youur genius into the lab even once (whether it's for interrogations, or just keeping his area of unfluence in there) for some reason the game glitched and the science minions stopped. like. they even just left research bottles on the floor, never to be picked up again

i think at some ppoint in the game your genius HAS to go in there (to finish off Dirk Masters i think) so trying to research everything before that would be benefeicial

[Sally]

scientists will move your dead, and sit in the control room or pharmacy booths alot, technicians will build, move, repair objects,
If your base is under attack alot, they will be to busy to do research.

I have 20 scientists and 15 technicians just walking around doing sweet f all but have researched nearly everything on island 1 within the space of 1hr. (have to build the new objects so they can study them too)

keep a low heat when you want to research so your scientists are free to roam and record.

[Morph Orme]

Adriane - Thank You !!! and Thank You again !!!

I've played this awesome game dozens of times over the last 15 years and the one killer bug I never found a solution for was the Minion Research that just stopped on island 1.
Leaving my Evil Genius hidden away whilst the research was completed fixed everything on the first try.

Who knew that the biggest bug in Evil Genius was the Evil Genius?

Thanks again.
(I know its a couple of years late, but I only blow the dust off this old classic every few years)

[WelancholyMank]

YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

With this new knowledge, building a second lab fixes the issue. I moved the research machine into a new room and it kicked off again despite no new save! Try it!

[Your Daddy Roberto]

hoping this thread still gets viewed, so i think im having kind of a different problem, havent had much luck searching elsewhere. I just recently started up my old evil genius save trying to beat the first one before i start playing evil genius 2. The other day i noticed my lab was seldom used, was hoping it wasnt an issue after building the silo foundation and too many of my science minions going to hang out there as they do. I built a second small lab and rearranged some items and it seemed to work well with the minions interacting with the props again. Then i stumble into the optional objectives section and decided it was finally time to get rid of mariana mamba, after figuring out how to stop her i saw the mercury mirror was like the cornerstone to starting the progress for the objective. So having one of my other pieces of loot stolen/lost while moving into the 2nd base I assumed that also happened to the mercury mirror. After spending a few hours of playtime plotting around trying to find the mercury mirror back on the world map I realized I had the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ mirror the entire time. Anyways that brings me to my current issue that ive had the mirror right in the middle of the lab, yet i have yet to have a minion research it in order to start the chain en route to getting the infirmary chair used to stop mariana. I know there are no pathing issues right now as my minions have been researching other items, any one have any ideas to solve this/run into something similar?

A note as I write this it occurs to me that building the second lab and moving certain items in the lab seemed to get minions researching again, however since this first solution the only items that have been researched are items I placed after rearranging, and I'm almost certain I have other items that still need to be discovered aside from the stuff in the infirmary chair tree. I'm going to move some items, the mirror firstly and see if maybe some re-placement would solve the whole issue. I'm keeping this up though in case I'm wrong and welcome all tips.

[unca.alby]

There's a few things you can try.

1. Get more Science Minions. Sacrifice some Military ones if you have to, or try the Cheat that lets you get more Minions overall.

2. Find a cluster of Science Minions if possible, and have your EG saunter on over and kill one of them. We know that creates a Loyalty boost in surrounding minions, plus I've heard it gets your Science Minions off their butts to start Sciencing again.

3. Speaking of Loyalty boosts, I always have Loot Items sprinkled around different places where Minions aggregate and spend a long time, like in the Mess Hall, Dispensary and the Control Room. Your minions work becomes less efficient if you let their Loyalty get too low, as well as risking total desertion.

[Your Daddy Roberto]

thanks for the response! I'm not sure if they amount of science minions is the problem, i currently have 55, 20 techs, 15 scientists, 10 quantum and 10 biochemists, I'm going to try out ur second recommendation, maybe it is something with them slacking off, tho i have been under attack a bit recently but it still seems like when everything is calm they still arent researching as they should be. I have tried to spread out some of the uberloot in some of the higher activity rooms. And just want to be sure the dispensary like the infirmary or no? Sorry just ask cuz otherwise the dispensary is a room i dont have yet, so id have another unlock to track down

[unca.alby]

I think it's called the "Dispensary". It's the room full of medical equipment and drugs where minions go to refresh their Health stats. Maybe it's the "Infirmary" I don't remember. You don't get the room until one of your minions dies from something other than your EG killing him.

If you want to rush it, just tag one of your minions for death, and the other nearby ones will do the job. Otherwise, just wait until an Agent of Justice takes care of one.

I like to keep a loot item there, because most of the medical things in there are not self-service. So it has to be staffed by a minion, who sits in there for long periods of time, with his Loyalty stats slowly draining away.

The Mess hall is another place that has to be staffed by a minion who sits in there for long periods of time. And of course, the Control Room.

Most of the other rooms are self-service, so a minion goes in, refreshes whatever stat, then gets back to work.

[Your Daddy Roberto]

alrighty thanks again, your feedback gives me a bunch of stuff to try. Seems like I do have the medical room so thats good. But sadly i think that save of mine previously mentioned is lost, getting back into it i spammed a bunch of acts of infamy accidentally so the attacks are just too much to overcome, luckily i have another save from a few years back when I originally located to the second island. The science minions seem to be working a little better on that save but still no gd infirmary chair. Anyways appreciate u taking the time man

[Baraz]

Here is what I did that unblocked the "no research being done" bug/quirk on the second island.

I do not know which of these steps was the true solution, but here goes...

1) Destroyed research Databank ; moved "Research Machine" ; rebuilt new Databank ;

2) Trained new "Scientists"
(all my other higher types of science minions (Biochem & Quantum) are still the same ones from the original island) ;

3) Once all 4 basic machines were built (bio-tank, centrifuge, laser, imp. analyzer), along with the Super Computer, suddenly my science minions started to gather samples/items again!

I suspect step 3 here was my issue.

[jjooj]

what might be the f king problem if there is nothing to research, completely empty option after they steal the fake machine? I already have scientist, but still nothing

[LSD]

Originally posted by jjooj:

what might be the f king problem if there is nothing to research, completely empty option after they steal the fake machine? I already have scientist, but still nothing

Why are you dredging up old threads and getting mad instead of just making one yourself and saying "i'm a bad player, please teach me to play the game"?

Science minions get distracted. They only research when they don't have jobs to do, like manning stations, training new science minions, or carrying stuff.
On top of that, they need things to research, and you need things to research with.