Could you clarify a bit on this one for me?
Do you mean it is better to have 1 turn with 0% and 5 turns with 100% than to have 6 turns with ~70%?
Or do you mean to, after getting 3 or so cities, set research to 0% until you have ~6 cities that all have library finished or something?
In a case like this would you still want to beeline alpha before setting to 0% or get priesthood for oracle first, etc.?
In some ways this is a more complex mechanic to explain. It's called binary research.
It's also a bit relative to the difficulty level you play, as maintenance costs go up substantially on higher difficulties, so it becomes more important.
Generally speaking, while at 1 city (starting capital) you will be able to research at 100% without running a deficit.
Typical play is to get worker techs (food/BW) and then tech to writing. Around this point you will likely settle your first city, or even second.
The point is that once you settle your first new city you will start running deficit research. Unless you are playing lucky huts and hit gold or attacked someone and pillaged a bit, you will likely start losing your bank rather quickly. At this point, it is better to run 0% until you can fund the next tech you want at 100%.
Also, a common play is to do this upon hitting writing. Run 0% until your first library or two is up (not all cities need libraries necessarily, but certainly build them where it makes sense). This way you are funding research prior to getting the beaker multipliers in place.
Other things to consider is that at 0% you still research at a rate of 1bpt..that is your default. Due to rounding and other stuff it is better to go 0% than running X% during the early stages. Furthermore, you also may get bonuses on techs during this time from meeting other AIs and their discovery of techs.
Also, simply there is the factor of funding early expansion. You want to create a balance between expansion (or conquest), economy, and researching the things you need to take the next step one way or another.
Later on, you will have more beaker multipliers in place so that you want to keep your slider at 100% as much as you can, or even at X%. You will have more options to acquire gold as well to fund this research. But early on a real balance is required so that you can comfortably expand or conquer. All this becomes much more critical as you move up levels.
Hope that helps.. kinda hard to explain. Others are better at it.
So to answer your questions:
Yes, it is better to fund research in the early game. This doesn't preclude alpha beeline or oracle attempt. You are funding whatever you tech. I start doing this the moment I start hitting deficit research...and at the point I'm building libraries.
The point here is that many less experienced players base the health of their economy on the slider continuing to drop % points. Judge your economy by a) gold you earn at 0% research b) beakers per turn at 100%. What is happening at 70% or 50% or 30% is irrelevant.
Thanks!
