The research cost of Future Technology

The research cost & effects of Future Technology; support/discussion/questions

Moderator: thunderchero

Post Reply
User avatar
Gowron
Code Master
Code Master
Posts: 304
Joined: Sat Apr 26, 2008 2:00 am
Location: 50° N, 11° E

The research cost of Future Technology

Post by Gowron »

Unlike tech levels 1-10, future tech research costs cannot be edited directly. Nevertheless, here's how it works.

The cost of FT (future tech) only depends on two values:
  • the "base cost", which is nothing other than the cost of the level 10 tech of the same tech area (biotech, computertech etc.)
  • the future tech level (FTL), i.e. the tech level minus 10.
    So if you want to research, say, weapons tech 11 (in other words, future weapons tech 1), then the necessary amount of research points for this task depends only on the FTL (which is 1) and the cost of weapon tech 10.
The research cost increase in relation to the tech level is not linear, but quadratic, i.e. it increases faster and faster with increasing tech levels.

The formula for the cost is

[research cost] = [base cost] * [FTL] * ([FTL] + 1)


As an example, let us say that the cost for propulsion technology 10 is 100,000 points. Then the cost for the first few future propulsion techs is:

Code: Select all

Tech Level     Research Cost

    10               100,000
    11               200,000
    12               600,000
    13             1,200,000
    14             2,000,000
    15             3,000,000
    16             4,200,000
    17             5,600,000
    18             7,200,000
    19             9,000,000
    20            11,000,000


I haven't tested this for the highest future tech levels, and and at some point (tech level 100+) an integer overflow could happen. But I doubt anyone will make it that far in a real game ;)


-------------------------------------------------------------------


Reminder of the effects of future technology

Future Biotech increases the output of manned food structures.
(default: +2% per biotech level)

Future Construction Tech increases the output of manned industry structures.
(default: +2% per construction tech level)

Future Energy Tech increases the output of manned energy structures.
(default: +2% per energy tech level)
It also increases the strength of shield generators (default: +50 shield strength per energy tech level; can be changed using the Ultimate Editor).

Propulsion Tech 11 increases ship range (this can be modded). Any further Future Propulsion Techs won't have any effect (this cannot be modded ;)).

Future Weapon Tech increases the ground combat strength of star systems and troop transports (this can be modded).
It also increases the strength of orbital batteries (default: +80 firepower per tech level; can be changed using the Ultimate Editor).

For modding the +2% bonuses on the output of manned structures, see this topic.
A discovery consists in seeing something everybody has seen and at the same time thinking something nobody has thought yet.
User avatar
Spocks-cuddly-tribble
Code Master
Code Master
Posts: 1884
Joined: Sun Apr 27, 2008 2:00 am

Post by Spocks-cuddly-tribble »

The Future tech research cost is computed via the following code sequences:

Code: Select all

4532E7         mov     edx, 0Ah   // TechLev for base cost
4532EC         xor     eax, eax
4532EE         mov     esi, esp
4532F0         mov     al, bl         // tech area
4532F2         call    sub_4540A0  (GetTechCost_Desc)
4532F7         lea     eax, [ecx-0Ah] // (current tech level -10) i.e. FTL
4532FA         sub     ecx, 9  // (current tech level -9) i.e.  [FTL + 1]
4532FD         imul    eax, ecx  // FTL * [FTL + 1]
453300         mov     edx, [esp+3Ch]  // base cost
453304         imul    edx, eax   // [base cost] * (FTL * [FTL + 1])



452DA7                 mov     edx, 0Ah // TechLev for base cost
452DAC                 mov     esi, esp
452DAE                 call    sub_4540A0  (GetTechCost_Desc)
452DB3                 lea     eax, [ebp-0Ah] // (current tech level -10) i.e. FTL
452DB6                 sub     ebp, 9   // (current tech level -9) i.e.  [FTL + 1]
452DB9                 imul    eax, ebp   // FTL * [FTL + 1]
452DBC                 mov     edx, [esp+3Ch]   // base cost
452DC0                 imul    edx, eax    // [base cost] * (FTL * [FTL + 1])


Addition to the effects of future technology:


Future Construction Tech increases the defensive strength of orbital batteries (default: +80 per tech level; can be changed using the Ultimate Editor).

It also somehow increases the resilience of star systems against bombing damage:

Code: Select all

466EF6                 mov     al, [edx+4Ch]
466EF9                 mov     edx, 2
466EFE                 call    sub_453680 GetTechLevel
Future Computer Tech increases the offensive and defensive effectiveness of Intel:

Code: Select all

47D41C                 mov     edx, 1
47D421                 mov     eax, esi
47D423                 call    sub_453680 GetTechLevel
47D428                 mov     ecx, eax
47D42A                 xor     eax, eax
47D42C                 mov     edx, 1
47D431                 mov     al, [esp+0B8h]
47D438                 call    sub_453680 GetTechLevel
47D43D                 sub     ecx, eax

47D446                 mov     [esp+8Ch], ecx
...
47D612                 mov     edx, [esp+8Ch]
I don't know how many bugs is too many but that point is reached somewhere before however many in BotF is.
Post Reply

Return to “The research cost & effects of Future Technology”