Question on RAs

[Sutter Cane]

Does anyone know the formula for the number of beakers granted after an RA is completed? Does this change based on the era you are in?

 

[Sir Lunchalot]

The median value of all available techs by the time the RA is completed divided by 2.
PT increases the number of those beakers additionally by 50 % and so does the Rationalism opener. So with both you can get the 100 % of the above mentioned median value. Anyway, the era you´re in does not have any influence.

Edit: With "available tech" I mean those you can choose as your next research project (not the ones you have already researched).

 

[Sutter Cane]

That means half of the average tech's cost! That's pretty strong, if you add the addional bonuses (Policy + PT) it means that you will actually recieve the whole value of an average tech at the time...

 

[Ellye]

That means half of the average tech's cost! That's pretty strong, if you add the addional bonuses (Policy + PT) it means that you will actually recieve the whole value of an average tech at the time...

Just for the sake of precision, it's not the average, it's the median.

 

[Sir Lunchalot]

The median value is not equal to the average value.

For example: A given group of numbers (in this case beaker costs for the techs),

let´s say: 100, 200, 400
Median value = 200 (there are as many values above as below this value)
=> An RA would give you 200/2 = 100 beakers (without PT or Rationalism opener)

Average value = (100+200+400)/3 = 700/3 = 233
=> RA = 233/2 = 117 beakers

 

[Sutter Cane]

Thanks for the notes. I know the difference between median and mean, I guess I read Lunchalot's initial answer a little to quickly .

Anyway, if an RA is awarding you half of the median available-to-research technology's value, it would make sense to clear up the cheaper technologies ahead of time to get most of your RAs.

Is this a common strategy that people are already using? I feel like re-inventing the wheel here

 

[Sir Lunchalot]

Well as the median is relatively resistant against ouliers or extrem values this tactic is not as effective as it might seem at the first sight. Beelining important techs is way stronger.

 

[Sutter Cane]

Good point but then beelining an advanced tech and RAs don't work too well together as you are potentially reducing your RAs values by skipping early cheap technologies (i.e., reducing your median value). Basically you won't be able to use the full potential of your RAs. If I am beelining an important tech, I might want to keep the gold I would spend for RAs for more useful investments...

 

[chazzycat]

There are all sorts of tricks to use the tech tree to your advantage by working the median value. and yes, it's very important to make the distinction between median and average.

For example, early critical techs are commonly theology & civil service, and education. So your goal if you use early RAs, should be to get the median value at least equal to theology or civil service.

The easiest way is to not research the wheel but research everything else in the classical era that you can. That leaves:

Compass (expensive)
theology (expensive)
civil service (expensive)
metal casting (expensive)
The wheel (cheap)

So if you have 5 techs and 4 are expensive, the median = expensive. Even after Theology and Civil Service are cleared, the median is still "expensive" so if you have staggered RAs, you will still get a decent return.

But if you had researched the wheel, you would have two more "cheap" techs in that list. After the first RA completed, the median would drop to "cheap" and the value of the next RAs in line would be reduced dramatically.

 

[Liegence]

For the sake of arguing semantics, the median is a kind of average. So, to say it is the average, while not precise and possibly misleading to the reader, is still technically accurate.

The mean, most commonly referred to as 'the average' in common parlance, is also a kind of average.

Just sayin'.

 

[Bubblewrap]

There are all sorts of tricks to use the tech tree to your advantage by working the median value. and yes, it's very important to make the distinction between median and average.

For example, early critical techs are commonly theology & civil service, and education. So your goal if you use early RAs, should be to get the median value at least equal to theology or civil service.

The easiest way is to not research the wheel but research everything else in the classical era that you can. That leaves:

Compass (expensive)
theology (expensive)
civil service (expensive)
metal casting (expensive)
The wheel (cheap)

So if you have 5 techs and 4 are expensive, the median = expensive. Even after Theology and Civil Service are cleared, the median is still "expensive" so if you have staggered RAs, you will still get a decent return.

But if you had researched the wheel, you would have two more "cheap" techs in that list. After the first RA completed, the median would drop to "cheap" and the value of the next RAs in line would be reduced dramatically.

Continuing this line of thought, to keep the median as high as possible:
option A) research a tech which has a cost equal to the median tech cost, if it is the last tech with median cost, the median will rise.
option B) research a tech with equal or higher cost than the median that unlocks multiple new techs, this could shift the median to a more expensive tech

 

[chazzycat]

Not sure I totally understand how you phrased option A, but I think you get the point. It's all about what opens what and what the costs are for each. With regards to point B, the best example of this is electricity. This opens up 3 really expensive techs, so a good strategy is to bulb it before a wave of RAs completes.