question about cloaking & research

[calon]

Hello Everyone!

First of all, I dug out botf after having not played for over 10 years or something. I was so surprised and overjoyed to find that there is still such a lovely community here! Really cool!
So I downloaded UDM and I'm playing a decent game as federation. I just wanted to ask:

1. - Is it normal, that there is absolutely no way for me to engage cloaked ships? The dominion just park their ships right on my starbase and I can't do anything about it? Seems kinda weird, as I have no means to defend myself although I can see their ships...

2. - Is there any point in continuing research after lvl 10?

Thanks for this site and everything, it's awesome!

Cheers,

Calon

[cleverwise]

Welcome to our little community!

1) With the cloaked ships you pretty much have to take it. That is the advantage of cloaking technology. The only way cloaking is defeated is if both sides have all cloaked ships then everyone starts with no cloaking.

2) Personally I turn down, reassign, research after reaching the max but members have reported decreased construction times.

[Lennartgro]

hi calon,

you can get cloaked ships if your secret services steal one from the klingons or Romulans. But you will need a lot of intel.

[Martok]

Welcome to the forums, calon! Glad you joined us.

2. - Is there any point in continuing research after lvl 10?

A little, depending on the tech in question, but not much.

You get a small production bonus to your factories (2%, maybe? I forget the exact number) whenever you get another breakthrough in Construction. You receive a similar food bonus to your farms anytime you get a breakthrough in Biotech, and likewise for your power plants when you get a research breakthrough in Energy. (I want to say your ground combat abilities receive a small boost whenever you get another level in Weapons research as well, but don't quote me on that.)

So tech breakthroughs -- at least in those 3 (4?) fields -- will always yield at least some benefit. However, said benefits generally aren't worth it beyond tech level 10, given how small it is. Once you've "maxed out" your tech, those people working in your labs could probably be better employed by being moved to either your factories (helping produce ships/credits) or your intel structures (helping your spies).



Of course, the above applies to vanilla BOTF only. Some of the mods make the bonuses from tech breakthroughs much more robust -- Balance of Power and Ultimate Mod 5 in particular come to mind -- making continuing research after level 10 a more worthwhile endeavor.

[calon]

Thank's for the answers guys! I forgot how addictive this game is Gonna try UM 5 Now!

[cleverwise]

Yeah BotF is a pretty addictive game! I, like many others, keep coming back to it year after year after year. It doesn't have the latest graphics but it has more character than modern games and being based in the Star Trek Universe (non JJ version) that is just awesome!