Are research agreements worth the cost?

[civvver]

The return seems pretty bad. Maybe not for the amount of gold spent but it takes a really long time to get there. Also you are not just boosting your research but helping a potential competitor as well. And that's ignoring all the political factors like backstabbing cancelling the RA, having to make a pledge of friendship first, etc. In the end I never find RAs that useful. They're too much of a pain to setup, take too long to mature and the gold is better used buying units, improvements or city states. What do you guys think?

Also I'm playing G&K. Have RAs been changed at all in BNW?

 

[regeneration64]

I like to use them when I'm having a bad game and I'm behind in science or if I've gotten off to a slow start. I only sign them with civs that aren't doing too well and simply laugh when, late game, the #2 civ attempts to sign one. Tech lead is all about the NC and universities. RAs can help though.

I haven't noticed any changes in BNW.

 

[I was NC]

I've come to the same conclusion (also playing G&K). The only exception is when it's really early, the AI is stable/friendly, and I have or am likely to get the Porcelain Tower.

 

[scheva007]

I tend to wait with them untill i have either porcelain tower or the corresponding policy, but im only an average player.

 

[duxup]

I focus on them less and less, at one point I felt I needed to use them but that doesn't seem to be the case as much anymore.

Still if some weaker nation wants a deal I'll take it every time, late game (or earlier in BNW) gold is cheap, and if you an get a couple going you can make a big late jump.

 

[Falconiano]

I feel that a couple RAs before Renaissance really help getting to Press and Acoustics earlier, which means I can be host, GE Pisa, GE Sistine/Palace and sit back to enjoy the inevitable victory.
That is unless I am Babylon. In that case I don't need any RA haha. OTHER civs need them to stay on my tail.

 

[George Abitbol]

I only make RA with weaker civ, if they can't afford it I give the money for

 

[joncnunn]

I only make RAs with civs who at time of signing are in the same era I am.

The science yielded is the last X turns average between you and the other civ, which makes one with a civ with less science less valuable, but that AI expects you to pony up the era differential cost. (Which result in a bad ROI; much better to wait for that AI to catch up to your era and then sign RA.)

 

[Unresolved]

I only got RA's if I was playing on Immortal+ really. If I had a surplus on money on Emperor, I would get maybe one round of them in the Renaissance since the bpt difference isn't too large at that point. Never really cared if I was helping the computer, because they were always helping me more.

 

[Vohbo]

The wiki says the bonus is 50% of the median of whatever technologies you can currently research.
It's almost always to your advantage to sign research agreements if and when you can afford it, except with civs that are far ahead of you and/or have Rationalism/porcelain tower.
You can surely take more advantage of the tech boost than most AI's.

 

[Browd]

The wiki says the bonus is 50% of the median of whatever technologies you can currently research.

This is just vanilla. The reward for RAs in G&K and BNW is a formula based on your and your RA partners' beakers generated over the 30 turns of the RA (with relatively stable beaker production its usually 5-ish turns of beakers, +50% for PT and +50% for Scientific Revolution).

 

[Chiatroll]

I think it depends on your economy and if people like you.

When I played for a science win at venice I was spreading them out to buy with everyone and had rationalism + that tower to boot they blasted me up well from experience there. Then I bought the spaceship parts instantly and won.

It can vary by game though. Often the AI annoyingly wants you to put out the same money and stupid amounts of stuff for the research agreement.

I try to spread my RA's out with anyone who will give me a fair price so that no one benefits as much as I do thanks to the bulk vs partial amounts and I avoid signing them with runaways.

 

[troublmaker]

I only make RA with weaker civ, if they can't afford it I give the money for

Funny enough I do this too. Then after the second research agreement they start asking for money and resources as well

 

[Ximixanga]

Yes and no. If you have the friends and money to do it, definitely do it. A science boost is never bad in any case, even if the guy you're agreeing to get into a RA with already has 3 of them and is in the lead for tech. With Rationalism's scientific revolution SP and the porcelain tower, you will be able to match the output of several RAs with one.

The gold cost is not the cost I'd be concerned about. Being friends with multiple civs is what I'd worry about. If all those civs are friends with one another and then one goes and denounces the other, eventually the denouncement dominoes will fall upon your shoulders and make trading diplomacy a chore for several turns. This happens practically anytime I am part of a friendship clique and one of the civs there goes and backstabs someone with mean words.

This is particularly true once ideologies have been adopted.