New tech speed is way too fast.

I agree. In fact, while I recognize that some folks out there may differ, in my opinion the research rate is way too fast on any galaxy size, even with rare habitable planets and tech set at "very slow." My observation is that this rate for research is something new for Beta 4 and 4a. Beta 3 through 3d seemed much better in overall speed, i.e., they were slower.

It would be nice if either the overall rate was slowed down, or, even better, new slower research rate settings were allowed.

I know one of the stated goals for TA was to "make everything bigger", but the sad reality is that the initial techs are useless given how fast research goes. I mean, I don't even bother using any of the first level weapon techs and by the time the second level techs are on a few ships it's almost time to wait for 4th tier weapons because they aren't far away.

In other words, I rarely have a game where 1st and 3rd tier weapons are of any use/value because they are obsoleted too quickly. And this is on small/medium galaxies with uncommon stars and planets and slow tech.

I really want to be able to play some games where you can stretch out the usefulness of the various technologies instead of blinking while you research past them.

I don't want to slow down all the tech speed options, but make the Slow options significantly slower than they are now. Leave the other options at their speeds now (or make Normal the same speed as Slow right now). It's just too fast at this point, IMHO.

Last night, I started a game on Very Slow, and it was incredibly slow. I mean, 77 turns to research planetary invasion slow.

I think it varies from game to game. I don't think this was "too fast" or that the research needed to be "significantly slowed down."

More planets to own = more research points.

Here here. I too want slower research speeds.

~ Wyndstar

That's just amazing to me-just incredible. What race are you playing and what are your picks? At what level was your economy running? I ask these questiosn because I've NEVER seen it take that long for ANY tech in Beta 4a unless my economy is virtually shut down.

I've played in games where I am using the very slow setting, with rare habitable planets in a medium galaxy, only two or three planets and I still race through techs, even when I'm not running my economy at `100%. Like Dr. Guppie, I don't even bother using lower level weapons or defense techs because the mid to upper levels are not very many turns away. Usually, I just explode right through lasers and go to particle beams in an emergency, i.e., a situation where I am about to be attacked or already am being attacked and I have no fleet to speak of. Otherwise, I wait until phasors before I even develop warships. In a few games, I've waited until I got doom rays (or whatever they're called) before I built a warship. The lower level techs are virtually useless because they become obsolete too quickly. It would be nice to stretch things out a bit so every tech becomes truly playable instead of just being a footnote.

Again, reasonable minds can differ and this particular attribute is almost purely subjective, but the current tech speed just makes the game less fun for me. Based on that, I stand by my position that tech either needs slowed down or needs a new, slower level or two. The latter would be my preferred approach because it does not force my subjective opinion on others but instead gives everyone (or at least more of everyone) additional options to fit their preferences.

Abundant/Abundant/Abundant for habitable worlds, planets, and stars.

I was playing the Korath, and I'd put three points in +Research. I was also running at 50/0/50 until I was done colonizing, and switched to 0/50/50 and 100% spending.

Research speed currently scales according to number of worlds - so you're going for rare, and seeing fast research and I'm going for abundant and seeing slow research. What's needed isn't a general "slow everything down" change, but a change to tweak how much it slows down with fewer worlds so you end up with comparable results.

Aye, this last game, I didn't fire a shot until I was well into Phasor tech with Droid Sentry defenses on Large Hulls.

Honestly, I want gargantuan-sized maps and extremely slow tech for nice, long games.

Hmm. You might be on to something there. Of course, it makes no difference to me how they fix this "problem" so long as it's fixed. Also, adding a few more options that allow individual players to further slow things down would fix things without the "slow everything down" change you refer to. Either way.

I think I'll see how ridiculous the game is on "Very Fast" tech

Research time was adjusted to be based on the number of planets as oppossed to the map size, according to the beta 4 changelog. They noted that some adjustment might be needed.

It's quite ridiculous. I had one game with 50% creativity and very fast tech, and one creativity proc gave me four or five techs at once. It was crazy.

Well, yeah. What I mean is, very slow should be very slow no matter how many planets you have on the map. Same with slow. I guess they could add an ultra-slow setting, which would be fine, but I'd like to see the base formula work properly.

Just steamrolled a technology victory with Terrans. Built one warship, and sold it later to the Drath for some cash

Besides, why should it scale at all, really? Isn't the entire point of more planets to have more resources to do things, like research?

This kinda makes me want a 'game pace' setting instead. "Very Slow" paced games have slower population growths, fewer resources, shorter ranges and speeds for ships, etc.