I thought as much.

Now, the second and larger Q is, what happens to the extra research points?

That is, when one researches a tech and generates more research points than needed, the extra is carried over to the next higher tech in that same line.  What happens when one researches a "retro-tech" and already has the next higher tech?  What happens to the carry-over research pints?  Are they lost?

I knew that ,if the researched tech was the last in its line, then the points were lost.

My Q is what if one has tech #1 and 3 but not 2, 4, 5, etc. and one then researches #2 and has extra points when it is reasearched on that turn?  Do the points go away because one already has #3?  Or, are they applied to #4?

In the case of Planetary Improvements, one may well want the three +10% bonuses, but what happens to the extra points if one is the Thalians?

I feared as much.

--- sigh ---

Removes some of the advantages of the Tahlians, though.  I wonder if the AI ever goes back and researches those "retro-techs"?

this doesn't hold true for all branches of the tree, for example, you'll get a RP carryover after "Sensors IV" or "Total Majesty" which will be taken in to other branches of the tree as well.

And I think that there are more such "carryover endtechs", although I can't say for sure if the RP overflow will carry into all other branches or just a few specific ones. Problem is I have a very organized way to research and will use the same order over and over again, and in this order I will use this carryover to get a following tech in one turn, which usually would have taken two turns.

You're research carries over to "Xeno Farm Construction I". Always when a branch splits up into several other branches the game will pick the middle tech to go on with research automatically, e.g. in case of researching "Advanced Computing" "Research Centers" are always next...

No, the game will not proceed to research #4, but stop researching - as when the end of the tree is reached.

However, your remaining RP's will carryover into other techs - at least, they will do in the Thalan's example of researching "Galactic Warfare".

I do use sliders and take planets off research focus to avoid losing research points in those cases.  In the cases where it is a 'retro-tech," there is still a serious loss of time or efficiency.  In the war techs lines that branch out from a common root, I thought the Thalians started with the second +10% mil prod bonus tech (Space Mil) but not the first +10% tech (Galactic Warfare).  Thus, researching the "retro-tech" of Galactic Warfare and having more than needed points will lead to loss of points/efficiency/time (since Space Mil is already researched).

For example, by the time I'm building a military and assuming tech trading off so I can't fill in the tech that way, I face the decision of what to do.  The Galactic Warfare tech costs something like 25 points, but I'm generating several times that amount each turn.

If i pass up the tech, I'm missing the 10% ship production bonus.  If I throttle down Research generation to avoid simply wasting the points, I have missed applying 100 or many more research points to something else.  Essentially, I have "lost" that difference in research points.

In the extreme case, suppose one delayed creating a military until late and were generating 500+ research points in a turn and applied all 500 to Galactic Warfare. 

W/O Space Mil:  one might get Galactic Warfare, Space Mil, Space Weapons, Beam theory (say), and laser I.  (or the equivalent down another track, or even a Defense path, depending on how the path is laid out.)

W/ Space Mil: one would get Galactic Warfare and all the rest would be lost.

Yes?

Yes, in this situation the game will actually proceed in a straight line to go on and research "Beam Weapon Theory" after "Space Weapons". But this is not an exception to the rule - because "Space Weapons" itself yields a beam-weapon (Particle Beam), ergo, belongs to this branch of the tree.

Yes, exactly. I use this in every game even multiple times - if used wisely, you can research more techs than usual.

This is not what I ment with "carry-over" or overflow.

What I ment is that RP of turn 1 will flow additionally into the production of turn 2.

This can have only 3 reasons:

1) end of tree

2) RP's still not replenished after researching +1 techs as the player has planets under control.

3) research hits into an already researched tech.

Notes on

1) some ends of the tree will consume the RP's fully - e.g. all 3 weapons. Carry-over isn't possible there.

2) in DL the "+1" is void.

3) if this happens at a crossection of different branches of the tree - the research will sometimes continue on another branch instead.

To be precise - when this situation as you describe (in the quote) happens then this does prove that NO carry-over did happen; ie. RP's were directed into a tech and got completely sated into the tech.

So, you see, an indicator of this carr-over is most likely when your research comes to halt at the exact end of a tech, ie. the new turn begins and the new tech in the the queue is entirely untouched.

Another indicator of an existing RP overflow is when your SurveyVessel/ FlagShip encounters an anomaly such as the "1bc lucky day"anomaly and suddenly, the queued tech is researched - or, if the carry-over wasn't big enough - its time goes down.

Yes, 2 hours ago, before I posted my reply. This thread arose my interest as I use this feature every time - although usually never on pre-requisite techs. So I wanted to see how it will work.

BTW it works exactly the same with all races.

Indeed. But as I said, there are many exceptions in the techtree. and if you don't know, simply test it.

Before ending a turn, quicksave, then proceed.

Next turn, kill all production and end turn. If "carry-over"/overflow is there, you will see it in the decrease of time a new tech needs to be researched.

Once you know, reload your quicksave.