Outsourced R&D Not Working?

[skipgamer]

Is it just me or is outsourced R&D not working at all now? All missions are showing (0) extra science even when their rewards are much higher than the 12812 funds required, and I haven't received any extra science in-game at all.

[waterlubber]

They uber-nerfed it, don't bother.

You need stupid credits, it's like 1000Y:1 Science

[skipgamer]

They uber-nerfed it, don't bother.

You need stupid credits, it's like 1000Y:1 Science

I know it's nerfed, but in my opinion it's still totally worth it.

My problem is it's not working... Can anyone else confirm this? Or is it just something wrong with my save?

[AgincourtDB]

I noticed this too... picked the 10% level and I think I got a grand total of 4 science out of it in five or six missions. Absolutely useless currently.

[Voidwalker]

I know it's nerfed, but in my opinion it's still totally worth it.

My problem is it's not working... Can anyone else confirm this? Or is it just something wrong with my save?

It's too nerfed, too. I thought I bought in at 1,281.73:1, but it's actually 12,812.73:1 at 5% commitment and 78k buy-in. The developers do not make numbers easy to read in this game. A simple comma would be nice or maybe getting rid of the unnecessary decimal. Did a contract for 18k and ended up with 0 science gains with only this strategy active. I should be getting 1 for every 13k.

Sort of off-topic, but: I thought the grind fest would disappear with a tree rebalance, but the tree is still full of nonsense (i.e. Jet engines without Jet fuel tanks, fixed landing gear (for jets?), ALL vehicle wheels requiring an upgraded facility to research rather than being spaced out in a sensible progression). 35:1 R&D ratios were far too generous, but 13,000:1? In this already existing grind-fest? Career doesn't feel right at all.

But yes, it isn't even returning at the posted rate.

[KSK]

Will test this tonight - just started funds-to-science at 20% commitment.

Minor aside - LF/O tanks make a serviceable, if not exactly pretty, jet fuel tank. Just use tweakables to empty out all the oxidiser first.

[Arsonide]

Contract science is more rare than it was to encourage earning science through experimentation, so the ratio of funds to science is high: 10,000 to 1, approximately. This can help out quite a bit in late game contracts since funds scale by the contract planet in large factors. A mission to Eeloo could net funds in the millions. This has shifted Outsourced R&D to be more effective later in the game when funds are more abundant, and not as necessary. In the early game, it is indeed not worth losing the funds over.

The thing you want to keep an eye on is the commitment level. Consider this, at 5% commitment, you are losing 5% of your funds, and every 10,000 of them converts into one science. This means you would need 200,000 funds in a mission to see one science. (5% of 200,000 = 10,000) So later in the game, when funds are scaling to much greater amounts, and at higher commitment levels, Outsourced R&D can be a great source of bonus science. It isn't meant to be a primary source of science, but an auxiliary "bonus" source. Imagine a late game ARM contract that awards 2.5 million funds - at 50% commitment, you'd net an extra 125 science out of this contract. If you went whole hog and took a loss on the contract at 100% commitment, you'd get an extra 250, on top of the contract science, and any earned through experimentation.

So no, Outsourced R&D is not the early game powerhouse that it once was, it is, however, very useful later in the game, when you are trying to clear up those expensive technology nodes at the end of the tech tree.

Edited May 1, 2015 by Arsonide

[juanml82]

Contract science is more rare than it was to encourage earning science through experimentation, so the ratio of funds to science is high: 10,000 to 1, approximately. This can help out quite a bit in late game contracts since funds scale by the contract planet in large factors. A mission to Eeloo could net funds in the millions. This has shifted Outsourced R&D to be more effective later in the game when funds are more abundant, and not as necessary. In the early game, it is indeed not worth losing the funds over.

The thing you want to keep an eye on is the commitment level. Consider this, at 5% commitment, you are losing 5% of your funds, and every 10,000 of them converts into one science. This means you would need 200,000 funds in a mission to see one science. (5% of 200,000 = 10,000) So later in the game, when funds are scaling to much greater amounts, and at higher commitment levels, Outsourced R&D can be a great source of bonus science. It isn't meant to be a primary source of science, but an auxiliary "bonus" source. Imagine a late game ARM contract that awards 2.5 million funds - at 50% commitment, you'd net an extra 125 science out of this contract. If you went whole hog and took a loss on the contract at 100% commitment, you'd get an extra 250, on top of the contract science, and any earned through experimentation.

So no, Outsourced R&D is not the early game powerhouse that it once was, it is, however, very useful later in the game, when you are trying to clear up those expensive technology nodes at the end of the tech tree.

But... in the late game you no longer need science