edit: okay I see a bunch of people already pointed this out... I'm going to read other posts before replying in the future... oh well I'll leave my response below anyways.

I completely disagree. If you could just change the speed of research at any point in the game you could just play with super slow tech and the slider on 100% production then as soon as you needed to research something just put research on 100% and set tech rate to super fast for a few turns. The AI is at a severe disadvantage because it doesn't know to do this and is wasting a bunch of resources on research while the tech rate is set to super slow.

Even if you programmed the AI to take advantage of tech rate shifts, the player is still the one calling the shots and can choose to up the tech rate when it's an inconvenient time for the AI, like in the middle of a huge war.

I personally think this setting would be a huge unfair advantage to the player.

If you are still listening oh master of the GalCiv universe, I think what would be even better is an in game difficulty slider.  I wish for this in every game.  It would go a long way toward addressing the two fundamental problems facing turn based strategy games: the insanely competitive colony rush, which is invariably a losing battle on higher difficulties, and the "I know I will win, but how long long is it going to take?" syndrome.

We could start the game at a moderate difficulty, then if we survive the Torian/Drengin colony tidal wave, we could up the difficulty to have some really competitive wars.  Another nice feature would be to be able to trigger events, which of course would have a similar effect of either pulling our tail from the fire or salvaging a game that is effectively over.

I think the ability to change the research rate, or any of the rules mid-game...well...doesn't make sense.   I wouldn't use it.  But then again, I don't do Metaverse, either. 

What I would really like to see is ships' auto-explore and auto-survey not be so stupid.   Just a little work on the AI would go a long way there, and it would affect the computer opponents more than it would the human (just because there's more of them).  If you've got 9 survey ships out, your surveyor shouldn't go after that anomaly across the galaxy just because another of your ships is already going after that one anomaly 4 squares away.

Im just wondering... Is there a final date for when 2.0 is ready for download? Ive been waiting and waiting and waiting... and the seconds seems like days..   Everyd day after work the first thing i do is to check if its any news on the 2.0, and almost every day i go to bed crying..

Please oh please tell me a date, or a date-range for when it will be ready.. I love stardock and if i could, i would marry Brad    (dont tell my wife that, she wouldnt understand)...

I'd just like to add my two cents to the pot-I'm against a player-changeable research speed after the game has commenced.

That said, I'm all for even MORE research speeds, both fast and slow, if they're doable.

And you'll note I said player-changeable...if it were somehow random (or well pseudo-random but anyway) and went both up and down during the course of the game, this would be something I would be interested in.  I'm not sure if this could or would fall under mega events or not, but it seems like the best place to put it.  I'll leave it to you guys to come up with a storyline/universe reasoning for it.

I'd agree that setting tech speed is abusable.  By maximizing research when you are able to most benifit from it and then slowing it to retard other civilizations development, it creates a potential exploit for the player.  And for those who say "it's a single player game, who cares if there's exploits?", I think it does matter, and not just for metaverse.  I don't want to have to ignore strategic options because they would give me an unfair advantage over the AI, it makes my gameplay feel hobbled.  It's just fundamemtally annoying to have to choose between borderline cheating and giving up an advantage, it makes it feel like I'm not trying to win.

More particularly because a survey ship that's 6 squares away from that anomaly across the galaxy has a course set for the anomaly 4 steps away from the ships that's, like, *RIGHT THERE*. Hey Captain Rainman, I know starfleet command told you to to go halfway across the galaxy like, three months ago, but  would you, like, *look* at that starship graveyard that's sitting off your starboard bow? Yeah - that one, the one *RIGHT THERE* - oh for pities sake, yes, I will have HQ cut you some new orders.

And I wanna be able to set surveyors to *IGNORE* *WORMHOLES*.

I hate wormholes. They have no tactical or strategic use except to cripple you in the early game because your surveyship is halfway across the galaxy and slowly coming back with the crew in stasis while everyone else on the board is grabbing 1,000 credits here and there and picking up 25% research bonuses. The only good use of a wormholes is bypassing it and letting the competing surveyor that is grabbing anomalies before you get to them grab it and let *him* get transported across the universe into the middle of the Drengin Empire.

Okay - that part is kinda fun, but still - {G}.

Jonnan