Research Labs on ships

[Sim-Mania]

What's the point of putting research labs on ships.

Does it help increase research?
Does it help Quicken research?
Does it help the Antaran Expedition?
Does it server any purpose at all?

[pedxing]

supposedly, helps with X expeditions. supposedly.

[DavidByron]

Unconfirmed in testing.

[ranos]

Whenever I send out an Antaran Expedition, all ships are fully loaded with Research Labs. I build TFs to clear out all other ships and then send out the expedition. Whether or not this makes a difference, I don't know since I have never sent out an expediot made up of regular ships.

[Longspur]

Okay, if putting Research Labs on ships is of doubtful utility in finding Antaran X's, how about choosing the 10-point Antaran Background special ? Does it really make a difference ?

In my current game (my first with patch 1.2.5) I do have the special. I sent out the first Antaran armada on turn 88. Now on turn 144, have seven armadas out, and have made two partial disc overies. Haven't lost many ships though.

Since there are only five X's, is there any point in sending out more than five armadas ? -- Longspur

[The Big Joke]

Yes, it does make a diferance. You will find new ones faster.

[RAGIR]

The one question not answered was does it assist with research points in general. I was thinking of using some of my poor worlds to create armadas of battleships packed full of research labs. My hope was to create hundreds, even thousands more RPs per turn. Anyone know if the RP generated from ships (like in MOO2) can go towards an Empire's RP total?

[DavidByron]

Easy enough to test I suppose. Design a ship with that component and build a few of them. Save game. Deploy ships and hit "turn" a couple of times noting the research levels. Reload and play the same turns without the research ships. Compare research points created.

I haven't tried it because it's been my impression from the manual and the notes that the research components were for Antaran Xs only.

[RAGIR]

Good point. I'll give it a try. Thanks!

[RAGIR]

I finally decided to check this out and the verdict is that research labs on ships do nothing to contribute to an empires total RP. I had 72 ships eqiupped with multiple labs and I tried two tests. First time I left them all intact (both in task forces and reserves)and the other time I scapped every one of them. In both cases, the RP total stayed the same at the beginning of the next turn. Oh well... I tried. :rolleyes:

[Sternum]

As far as I know, the only thing research labs on ships contribute towards is the chance of finding Antaran Xs. I'm not sure if they stack on individual ships, though.