Ok so I'm running 1.1 beta 4 and I thought the economy was ironed out and made more clear, but I'm still just as confused as before.
I'll give a concrete example. I start a new beginner game as the humans. I increase my 'spending' in the domestic policy to 100%. I'm now outputting 8 research. I build a research facility, which is listed as providing 5 units of research and my research output only goes up by 1. I'm funding it at 100% so shouldn't it go up by 5?
I understand how the spending slider, and the spending distribution sliders, work. What I don't understand is why. Nothing I build actually produces what it says it will. Decisions are based on information, and when you obfuscate information like this it paralyzes my ability to make decisions.
My understanding of the spending distribution slider is that it helps prioritize your spending in the event that you can't fully fund your research/industrial production. That would be a very helpful tool. What it actually does is restrict your production even if you are at 100% funding, for apparently no reason.
Why do this? And for that matter, why is there any distinction at all between military and social production? Why can't we just have plain production, period, that builds everything? Is that too simple or something?