This guide examines the elements that influence research point generation rate. Research points are generated by having a base research points pr. day, which is multiplied by all active factors.
- See research points for details
The Player's tools for influencing the research point rate will be National Focuses, Education/other Funding, Technology and events/decisions.
Base Research Points
Base research points pr. day come from the state of your nation. There are 4 factors in a nations base research points:
- How many people in your nation are educators? (% Clergy)
- Is your nation high tech, wealthy and industrial? (% Clerks)
- How educated is your nation? (% Literacy)
- Status (Great Power, Secondary Power, Civilized, Uncivilized)
Clergy Percentage
This is the percentage of the population that are clergy. They are critical to your nation for increasing literacy, which affects research and pop promotion. Their income is made through your education budget slider.
A nation receives research points from your clergy equal to RP = (% Clergy) * 150 with a maximum of 3.0 RP, such that a clergy population that is 2.0% or more of the total population will provide 3.0 RP. Having a clergy population higher than 2.0% will not provide more RP, but will further increase the literacy gain (up to 4.0% of total population).
- The level of population promotion will be directly influenced by the use of the education slider in the budget and national foci.
- However promotion will also be indirectly influenced by literacy, life needs, or other employment and lack thereof; these will be mostly out of control with the exception of taxes, tariffs and other funding.
- Examples: High military or administrative funds can lure potential clergy promoters to become/stay bureaucrats and officers. High taxes may cause nobility to demote to clergy.
- Note that literacy affects your clergy promotion rate, and clergy affect the rate of literacy increase. If you are playing an unciv you must make literacy a priority in order eventually catch up in the tech race otherwise your literacy will always stay low throughout the game.
- Pop Promotion/Demotion to/from Clergy
- Pops that demote to clergy: Aristocrats, Capitalists, Clerks, Officers, Bureaucrats
- Pops that promote to clergy: Farmers, Labourers, Craftsmen
- Pops that clergy can promote/demote to: Aristocrats, Bureaucrats, Clerks, Craftsmen, Farmers, Officers
- Actions to take:
- Fully fund education (Clergy promotion likelihood/Literacy Increase Rate)
- Use NF to promote clergy (Clergy promotion likelihood by 10%)
- Further Action:
- Reduce Military budget greatly (Decrease pop promotion to officer / Increase officers demotion to clergy)
- Reduce your administrative budget (Decrease pop promotion to bureaucrats / Increase bureaucrats demotion to clergy)
- Increase rich/middle class taxes (Increase demotion to other classes, hopefully clergy if education funding is high enough and prevent promotion to aristocrats)
Clerk Percentage
This is the percentage of your population that are clerks.
A nation receives research points from your clerks equal to RP = (% Clerks) * 50 with a maximum of 2.0 RP, such that a clerk population that is 4.0% or more of the total population will provide 2.0 RP. Having a clerk population higher than 4.0% will not provide more RP.
To prevent clerks from demoting, enact Unemployment Subsidies and Old-Age Pensions from the Social Reforms section. Subsidies prevent clerks (and craftsmen) from demoting due to an extended run of unemployment (less likely in HOD, as factories can reduce throughput before firing workers), while Pensions increase POP's buying power, thus increasing their ability to meet their needs. These reforms are generally preferable in the mid-game because they are paid for through social spending, unlike Minimum Wage, Maximum Work Hours, and Safety Regulations, which have similar effects but are paid for by capitalists.
Literacy
You receive research points from your literacy rate equal to RP = (% Literacy) * 4 such that a nation that is 100% literate will receive 4.0 RP, a nation with a literacy of 25% will receive 1 RP and so forth.
National Ranking
You receive research points depending on your nation's status as an uncivilized nation, civilized nation, secondary power, or great power.
- Uncivilized nations do not receive extra RP from national ranking, but they do have the chance to get research rate-boosting events.
- Civilized nations receive 1.0 RP.
- Secondary powers receive 1.25 RP.
- Great powers receive 1.5 RP.
Total Base Research Points
A nation's total base research points are equal to:
RP = (% Clergy) * 150 + (% Clerks) * 50 + (% Literacy) * 4 + (Bonus RPs from national ranking)
For example, a great power with at least 2.0% clergy, at least 4.0% clerks, and 100% literacy will receive 10.5 RP pr. day.
Research Point Multipliers
Research point multipliers come your social atmosphere, social influences and progress of your research institutions:
- Plurality
- From Improved Technology
- influences, decisions and events in your nation? (Academic Confusion, Western Influences, Assimilation Schools, etc.)
Plurality
Your research modifier from plurality is equal to your nation's plurality. Therefore, a nation with 100% plurality will receive a 100% research modifier.
Technology
The techs needed here are mainly Culture Techs
- Social Thought and Psychology: Behaviorism will give you education/literacy needed for BASE research points
- Note literacy affects clergy, clerk and capitalist promotion rates, which the former grant BASE research points based on their percentage of the total population. Clergy boost literacy so note the literacy affect is cyclical.
- Literacy is a long-term investment +50 years for uncivs, the effects may seem subtle and pointless but will become apparent late game especially if your population went from largely illiterate to a largely literate one techs can be researched extremely quickly compared to at the beginning of the game.
- Philosophy and pluralism from Political Thought branches will give MULTIPLIERS to your research points
- These techs especially philosophy will give you very large short-term boosts, the gain is however diminishing though still significant (i.e. From 100% to 200% is a 100% gain but from 350% to 450% is only a 29% gain)
- See research points for the calculations.
Technology for Research Points
Culture technologies in the Philosophy branch provide an increasing research multiplier. However, these technologies are severely limited by their activation years. For example, research on idealism cannot start until 1840.
| Name | Year | Cost | Effects |
|---|---|---|---|
| Late Enlightenment Philosophy | 1830 | 3600 | Research: +50% |
| Idealism | 1840 | 7200 | Research: +50% |
| Empiricism | 1850 | 10800 | Research: +50% |
| Analytic Philosophy | 1860 | 14400 | Research: +100% |
| Phenomenology and Hermeneutic | 1880 | 18000 | Research: +100% |
| Anti Rationalism | 1900 | 21600 | Research: +100% |
These multipliers are additive, such that a nation that has researched the entire branch will receive a +450% multiplier.
Technology for Literacy
Events and Foreign Influence
Some nations can gain research points or temporary modifiers through decision or events, like the Swedish Folk School decision or discriminatory schools event.
Uncivilized nations, however, can get a lot more events to aid their research. When attempting to Westernize, one should always take the pro-West choice to get more research points.
Finally, a couple nations like Japan and Egypt have unique decisions that give research points or modifiers.
Conquest
Uncivilized nations gain a huge amount of RP by conquering other uncivs using either the Acquire State or Conquest CB. Each of the first four military reforms grants an additional 25% RP from conquest, meaning that you can sometimes pass one or even two reforms after a war.