Does the research lab have any other purpose?

[sabo]

What I mean is we get this half way through the modern age when pretty much everything is already discovered. Does this rate up there with Magellans voyage, or Sun Zsu as being pretty much worthless?

I'm asking because I haven't seen the research lab mentioned too much here at CFC, I'm wondering if someone found a use for it other than science.

 

[Arvedui]

Doesn't it have culture also? I don't remember.

 

[sabo]

Does it?? but even if it has culture too aren't we getting this a little to late in the game to be of any use?

 

[WillJ]

Research Labs produce 2 culture, and they also produce 1 pollution. I guess they would be useful if you are going for the space race, and if not I don't think they're exremely useful due to coming kind of late, but they can help if there's any tech that you really want.
Oh, and Magellan's Voyage and Sun Tzu's are not that useless. They both never expire, and barracks in all cities and an extra movement point for all ships, not to mention the culture, is pretty useful.

 

[aneeshm]

Rlabs are very useful for a modern tech lead . They shave off 20-30 turns of modern research time . ALso , try scientifis civs , they tend to get Rocketry free , which can sometimes make up for Fission .

 

[Shabbaman]

@willj: research labs produce pollution? I didn't know that... That would be a disadvantage of the new internet wonder though.

Research labs are great. Another +50% science output! Modern era technology is expensive...

 

[TheNiceOne]

Shabbaman, I doubt the research labs added by the internet wonder will produce corruption. I guess it will work similarily to the upkeep cost, i.e. a building automatically created through a wonder doesn't cost any upkeep, and will probably not produce pollution either, which also makes sense since you don't really have the building there.

 

[Shabbaman]

I take it that you meant 'pollution' instead of 'corruption', but I get your point.

 

[thoxic]

It is true that computers tech advance is a bit late in the game,
Rlabs can't be used for strategical cultural expansion(you must
have library/university before) where cathedral is more efficient.
Moreover,Rlabs are usefull in your capitals or the huge
cities surrounding them.For the rest of your empire,due to corruption,you lose the biggest part of the science you
increase.
Rlabs:consume with moderation...

 

[Tassadar]

Reaserch lab is available with computer so it is not half way into modern era but in begining of it.

Usualy i play with german ( scientific), i search first ecology, then recycling and then computer. I do this because i dont want to increase to much my polution, so when i reach computer my city are over size 12, got factory,power plant, mass transit and recycling center. Then i built a reseach lab in each of my city, because it is cheap i built it in 2 turn ( scientific trait).

So now unsteed of getting a tech in 7-8 turn i got it in 4-5 turn, so i can go through modern era very fast, i like to get off shore platform, i like to get manufacturing plant and nuclear power, i like to have aegis cruiser to carry my cruise missile( a mod), and i love to do precision strike.

So if you want those modern toy pretty early to wage war you need reserch lab, in civ 3 we have only 2 level for commerce boost ( marketplace and bank) but there is 3 level for tech reaserch ( library,university and research lab).

 

[Grey Fox]

Research Centers are great. Even when not going for the Space Ship, if you are going on a military conquest Computers might be a good first tech and then strait for Modern Armor.

 

[mydisease]

Originally posted by sabo10
What I mean is we get this half way through the modern age when pretty much everything is already discovered. Does this rate up there with Magellans voyage, or Sun Zsu as being pretty much worthless?

Sun Tzu's is useless? Cough, splutter, false teeth fall in tea.

Well there's me like an idiot thinking that a free barracks in every city on my home continent with no upkeep at all was useful. Ok, I'll save 50 GPT over the next 400 turns, but what the hell, plenty of other wonders give you 10000 gold.

 

[Park Ranger]

Originally posted by mydisease


Sun Tzu's is useless? Cough, splutter, false teeth fall in tea.

Well there's me like an idiot thinking that a free barracks in every city on my home continent with no upkeep at all was useful. Ok, I'll save 50 GPT over the next 400 turns, but what the hell, plenty of other wonders give you 10000 gold.

Indeed! Plus during warfare your units can duck into ANY city (including ones you just captured!) for a turn and be ready to fight again.

For me, Sun Tzu's is the closest to a "must-have" wonder in civ3.
Magellan's also very useful - 1 extra move is tactically priceless for naval warfare.

I often end up building a lot of research labs if I'm winning, and they DO help towards culture. Once everything else is built, being able to get 2 more cp can bring a culture victory that much closer, can make a difference if an AI is building a spaceship. Also for scientific civs RLab is one more cheap (100 shields) culture improvement for your captured cities, if you need it.

 

[Sim_One]

If you have Copernicus and Newton and library and university AND a research lab, and if you're lucky enough to have a few gold mines, gems or silks around that city...you have a science powerhouse.

 

[billindenver]

Sun Tzu's worthless? No way. It's great to produce nothing but veterans, even in brand new cities and newly conquered cities, and to be able to heal in newly captured cities.

I always build Research labs. The AI is usually close to or ahead of me in tech at that point in the game, so another 50% boost in science is quite helpful, especially in my biggest cities.

 

[warpstorm]

Sun Tzu's will be even more valuable with Radio in PTW as the Civil Defense needs a barracks to be built.

 

[sabo]

Originally posted by mydisease


Sun Tzu's is useless? Cough, splutter, false teeth fall in tea.

Well there's me like an idiot thinking that a free barracks in every city on my home continent with no upkeep at all was useful. Ok, I'll save 50 GPT over the next 400 turns, but what the hell, plenty of other wonders give you 10000 gold.

The reason I say it's useless is because by the time I can build it I already have barracks in all my cities, I mean a city of size 12 can produce a barrack within 2 turns, why do we need a wonder for that?? The only really GOOD use I've found with Sun Zsu is newly conquered cities will automatically have barracks in them for healing and upgrading purposes, but other than that it's just faster and cheaper just to build them in your cities.

 

[jshelr]

Research Labs and the Monarch Science Route

Last week playing England I started on a modest island with Persia. The good news was there was no iron. The bad news was that, after Persia was eliminated, there was still no iron. There were also no horses, salt peter, aluminum, oil, or coal. I got uranium!!

Needless to say, there was a huge gold outflow to pay for needed stuff all game long. And the small land mass kept me down the food chain. How to win?

Well, on Monarch, the combination of rapid population growth in indvidual cities yielded by graneries and an early sanitation discovery, along with a well-built economy, and and early research of computers in the modern era to give you research labs and seti, will give you an edge in the modern era over the AI research pace. In this game, Cathy stole tech on me and almost beat me in the end. But I was crusing away from the pack doing "honest" research on my own.

Try this strat as a small civ on Emperor and the AI will often laugh at you!! It's a complete joke by Deity. However, even after the SS launch in this game I was still only third on the score table.

 

[DaDoo]

Originally posted by sabo10


The reason I say it's useless is because by the time I can build it I already have barracks in all my cities, I mean a city of size 12 can produce a barrack within 2 turns, why do we need a wonder for that?? The only really GOOD use I've found with Sun Zsu is newly conquered cities will automatically have barracks in them for healing and upgrading purposes, but other than that it's just faster and cheaper just to build them in your cities.

Because the ones you built without Sun Tzu cost you 1 gold upkeep. Count that over ... let's say 10-15 cities that's productive.. that's 10-15 gold per turn. Multiply that by... say 400 turns...

I think you get the point.

 

[sabo]

So you don't have to pay for upkeep on barracks if SUn szu builds them?