R&D cumulative?

[Joubarbe]

I have trouble understanding how two Research centres exactly behave. If I put two of them with only one unit, for six month, both gives me 1 point. Except at the end of both cycles, it seems that I only receive 1 point instead of 2. In a way, it could be understandable, as they research the same thing and lead to the same result, but it's not very intuitive, or clear. I would like to know more about that, please

[David]

You may download the Capitalism 2 manual from https://caplab.b-cdn.net/manual/Capitalism_2_Manual.pdf and refer to the section "Research & Development (R&D)" on page 53

[Joubarbe]

There's nothing explicit about that in the manual. There is this:

An R&D team can have one to nine R&D units. A larger team can achieve
more technological advancement than a smaller team. However, an R&D
team with two R&D units is not 100% more productive than a single-unit R&D
– it is only 70% more productive

So because a project that is already in research shows in red, and because two teams working on the same project shows the same progress projection, I'm going to assume that it's definitely a bad idea to have two teams working on the same project.

You have a Manager's Guide screen that is completely underused, as it doesn't show a basic explanation of the unit. Please do something about that, use that help screen to provide actual help. All the tricks and every information about units should be available to the player in-game (in the manual if there was not a dedicated screen, but there is).

[David]

So because a project that is already in research shows in red, and because two teams working on the same project shows the same progress projection, I'm going to assume that it's definitely a bad idea to have two teams working on the same project.

That's correct.

You have a Manager's Guide screen that is completely underused, as it doesn't show a basic explanation of the unit. Please do something about that, use that help screen to provide actual help. All the tricks and every information about units should be available to the player in-game (in the manual if there was not a dedicated screen, but there is).

Please let me know your suggestion for improving it and I will forward it to the dev team for their consideration.

[Joubarbe]

Thank you for your answers.

Well, my suggestion is just to properly document all units. You only describe the UI elements, you don't talk about the element itself, how it should be connected, and what consequences does it have. A frequent question around units is about the Inventory. When you look at the in-game dedicated help screen, you see "this is the name of the unit here, this is the stock of the unit there". Great, what does it do? No idea. Same for the tips section. Three tips, seriously? In a game that complex?

I'm not the game designer, it's not my role to write the documentation, or to suggest anything. It's clear and obvious that some work needs to be done in that area. Capitalism Lab is, to me, the best economic game available, so as in every complex software, it needs to be properly documented, even if you repeat what is said in the manual.

[David]

It's clear and obvious that some work needs to be done in that area. Capitalism Lab is, to me, the best economic game available, so as in every complex software, it needs to be properly documented, even if you repeat what is said in the manual.

I've forwarded your suggestion above to the dev team.