All the time. I'm playing a new game where I've gone back to the normal research rate and the difference is scary.

I had a lousy starting position, but turned it into something acceptable because I focused on planetary invasion and took a couple of the Korx colonies. It was only a 16 turn research item, early game. On very slow it's a 30+ turn research item, early game.

I have noticed that focusing on diplomacy and influence during a game with faster research will put you behind the 8 ball militarily...in a very short amount of time. During a slower research game, the damage isn't too bad because the tech hasn't changed that much.

In my current game I started out researching missles, but changed to lasers when everyone else jumped on the missle band wagon. I don't think they left lasers, because a couple months later I've finished off the Korx and have built up a nice fleet to attack the Yor and found out Plasma II with ECM III doesn't do very well against Photon torpedoes. Not well at all. I lost several fleets just to clear out the nearby Yor forces and take two of their colonies. That's with a military starbase adding support. A second starbase was just enough to keep me from losing everything. Stealing Photon torpedoes during the invasion is the only thing that has kept me in the game.

My next comment is probably skewed because my previous couple games were long, drawn out, influence victories that bored me to tears, but: Games with slower research seem to be more even...there's not much chance for any one race to research overwhelming technology while games with faster research can become more challenging simply because that 20 turns you spent going down the diplomacy tech tree, someone else spent getting a 5 damage weapon that takes up less space than your 2 damage weapon.

They are different games and I think I'm finding this game (with "normal" research speed) more challenging because I didn't adapt my game play for the change and am now fighting for my life. Had I thought about what the difference would be, things would have gone smoother.

Hi, very good to know you play in Slow Research! Very very fun... but I am a little more crazy than you.
I modified the TechTree so that all research costs 8x more. I call it Very Slow Research

It is very fun indeed.

Kisses from me...

Edna

I've just bought the game myself, and have been playing on Slow. I haven't played on Normal yet actually.

Edna,

How exactly did you modify the tech tree so that all research costs 8X more? I think that the Very Slow tech rate is still waaaay to fast.

Thanks

lol whoa I just tend to use very fast at the moment... I feel ashamed... nah I don't really... One day I'll try the slowest options

What size maps?

Started playing Very Slow Research when 1.1 came out. Normal felt to fast. After a half dozen games at very slow, normal seems like a rush with techs appearing constantly. I suppose it also hurts that I've always tended to concentrate on tech any way. So for me, very slow is the only way to go.

Richrf- I actually randomize everything (except difficulty) but this time it's a medium map, and from the looks of it, stars were very rare, planets were also rare but habitable planets seem to be common. I was with four other races (Drath, Yor, Iconians, and Thalans) and one minor race (Paulos).

I was in a battle to the death with the Drath and had just made peace with the Thalans when the Yor decided to embrace peace, love and happiness which was horrible for me because I was the Korx... non-stop excitement!

Very Slow is the best option for me. In any other you spit out techs one after another...

I've found the tech research to be a bit too fast for my taste in the 1.1 patch, but I think I want to try modifying my gameplay before I change the tech rate. In my last game, I got to Alliances absurdly early (absurd for me), and quickly made two alliances, thinking that they would help with the Drengi next door. Instead, pretty much on the subsequent turn, one of my new allies got attacked by a civ I han't yet met from across unexplored space. I accepted the option to honour my treaty, and not long after that, the Drengin declared war and I was fighting them on my own. It turns out that alliances aren't worth all that much when your allies are busy fighting an invisible war in a corner of the galaxy of which I have yet to set foot. Now my people are learning to eat Drengin Putrid Soup, as they cannot chew solid food due to a pandemic of missing teeth, courtesy of about a million Drengi troop ships.

I feel this would not have happened if I had researched Alliances later, so that the earlier techs happen later in the diplomatic/exporation parts of the beginning to mid game. Well, it wouldn't have happened if I was also more careful with my empire, so this is part of the learning curve. On the plus side, by the time the war with the Drengi came to its gut-churning end, all of the civs were much higher up the tech tree than I am used to by the end of the game. So, for now, I will leave the research settings the way that they are so that I can see more of the high-end techs. I can always adjust the reserach options later.

Hi,

If you are interested in the Very Very Slow Tech Tree, please take a look in this Link where I uploaded my modified TechTree.

I hope you like it.

Kisses from me...

Edna

i play on slow or very slow too, i like it when all the tecs mean something, if i play on normal or faster then you just blast through the tecs and you never have time to catch up, i found myself just wating to research everything THEN build my empire. why bother building a 1 laser fighter when you can wate 20 turns and build a doom ray battleship?

slow is good

Slow research, gigantic universe.

I like every tiny advantage to be noticable on a huge scale. Brilliant epic games

I've switched to very slow for research in my last couple of games. I quite like the difference it makes, advantages are more pronounced. You can't let yourself fall behind too far and catch instantly up. Need to pay attention to your neighbours and make sure they don't end up with some weapons you won't be able to cope with if they come knocking.

I generally play on Suicidal these days and the techs come scary fast on Normal progression rate. I often find myself dropping Photonic torpedoes on my first hull design for the game.