Maintained by The Center
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In order to do research you will need to be level 10.
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RESEARCH UNITS AND PATENTS
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The research is divided into each research type: Plant, Energy, Mining, Electronics, Breeding, Chemistry, Software, Automotive, Fashion, Aerospace, Materials and MaterialsRecipes.
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The above image shows the products that fall under Materials Research. The number in the (0) is how many research units you have of that research type. Any product that shows yellow stars is how much quality you have researched per product. The above image shows Q3 for Carbon Composite and Q2 for heat Shield. The rest of the products that do not have stars are Q0. There are progress bars at the bottom of each product that show you how far along that product is until the next quality is reached.
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Once you’ve obtained research units, you can try to get your research patented by using them in the RESEARCH screen. This varies, but you can expect approximately eight ( 8 ) research points getting your company a single (1) patent. You can imagine rolling a dice for each research points, getting a patent each time you get a six.
You will need 12 patents to get quality level 1 (Q1), another 50 for quality level 2 (Q2), 500 more for quality level 3 (Q3) and finally 2000 more for quality level 4 (Q4).
Quality | Patents Needed |
1 | 12 |
2 | 50 |
3 | 500 |
4 | 2,000 |
5 | 5,000 |
6 - 10 | 10,000 |
11 | 50,000 |
12 | 50,000 |
Each type of research patent has a fixed value, which contributes to your Company Value (CV). Your CV will be effected by the price that you pay for research consumed. One (1) patent increases CV by the listed value.
Patent | Value |
Plant | $ 1,368 |
Energy | $ 2,160 |
Mining | $ 2,160 |
Electronics | $ 2,590 |
Breeding | $ 1,584 |
Chemistry | $ 1,296 |
Software | $ 1,260 |
Automotive | $ 1,440 |
Fashion | $ 720 |
Aerospace | $ 2440.80 |
Materials | $ 1,800 |
Recipes | $1,728 |
PRODUCTION OF HIGH QUALITY PRODUCTS
Do I just need to invest in Q1 smart phones research and I can produce Q1 smart phones? Well, yesYes, that's exactly right, once your company is granted the 12 patents needed, all the smart phones you produce from then on wards onwards will be Q1. There's no need to decide what quality you want to produce, the highest quality possible is always produced.
Does the same works work for Q2? Not entirely. . You do need to invest research points to achieve Q2, but you also need all your input resources to be at least Q1. The rules rule is simple: The manufactured product cannot be higher quality than the lowest quality input resource plus one.
It's actually very simple. Let's say you want to sell petrol Q3 and you already invested in the research. You will need crude oil that's at least Q2, ethanol that’s at least Q2 and power that's also Q2 minimum.
(Not pictured; To produce Q2 crude oil, you will need at least Q1 power. To produce Q2 ethanol, you will need Q1 sugarcane and Q1 power.)
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Some players wonder what's higher quality water for? It can't be sold in retail, so why bother leveling the quality up. Well, it's simple, you need high quality water, to produce high quality apples, oranges, etc.
Another Example:
To make Q3 fabric you will need Q2+ cotton and Q2+ power. To make Q2 Cotton you will need Q1+ water and Q1+ seeds. To make Q1 water you will need Q0+ power.
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HOW EXACTLY DOES QUALITY IMPACT RETAIL
As mentioned at the beginning, higher quality products are sold faster in retail. The higher the demand the higher the quality impact.
To learn more about how product selling speed impacts your hourly profit check out:
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Let’s take a look at retailing apples of varying quality. We assume fixed apple sourcing cost at $2.40
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Conclusion: you want to be selling high quality products that are in demand. (Yes, surprising …)
RETURN ON INVESTMENT
We covered the mechanics, so let's answer the most obvious questions. Should I invest in research, and when should I do so.
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Let's see an actual example, getting Q1 apples capability needs approximately 12 times 8, 8 is approximate, plant research units (12 x 8 = 96 research units). Assuming unit cost of $150, this is $14,400. $150 being on the expensive side, assuming you get the plant research units on the market or from other players. Getting your own Plant research center can bring the cost down to $90 a unit. With $90 a unit, the total cost of Q1 is $8,640.
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A very rough calculation, depending heavily on market conditions and your retail strategy, assuming you sell 350 apples an hour in each of your two level 5 grocery stores. You will get $14,400 back in a week or $8,640 back in less than 3 days.
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Cost of getting a good Chief Technical Officer (CTO) can vary greatly. A young student fresh of the university will have skill 0 - 3. Training him/her, or keeping the executive around for long time can cost anywhere around $50k to $200k. See executives guide.
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Assuming the worst case of patent conversion 1/8, e.g. 12.5%. A CTO skill 15 increases this by 15%, changing the conversion to 12.5% * 1.15 = 14.375%. If you were to bring your batteries from Q2 to Q3 (500 patents, $300 for energy research). The move from Q2 to Q3 costs around $1.2M, the science 15 skill CTO would save you ~ $155,000.
Helpful articles from our local newspaper The Sim Companies Times:
Genie of the Lamp: The Power of Science
ACHIEVEMENTS
There are achievements that can be earned by researching products.
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It makes sense to invest in research once your company gets larger (reaches about $1,300,000 in company value or 3,000 employees). The larger your company, the more sense high quality products make. Having a strong CTO on retainer is worth it only if you are getting Q3 research or higher.
by Patrik Beck
Special Thanks: The Traveller, for confirming Aerospace Research patent value after the November 2020, Aerospace Nerf.
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