How much faster do you accumulate research points if you go up to level 2 in Science? For instance, if you have the 12,000 points to up the Science level, will you get the 50,000 points you need for level 3 Farming faster by staying at level 1 Science or using the 12,000 points to go up to level 2 and starting over from there?

I have been told that you will get to 50,000 point faster if you just go straight through, without getting science levels.

OOPS! I should have checked back again sooner. I wavered for a while but then decided to buy the science level! Oh, well, I'm back up to 22,000.

I don't generally add to the Science points until later in the game. Harvesting Level 3 is most important

Next time I'll get Harvesting 3 before anything else. Have you noticed that Researchers will try anything to get away when you're trying to keep them at it? I was only letting them leave if they were going for food or water. I think they communicate with each other because, all of a sudden, several in a row went for food or water!

Sometimes the villagers get a one-tracked mind and will want to do laundry or water the field or push the boulder, etc. It seems like it takes forever to build up research points, especially in the beginning.

I always feel a little tinge of guilt when I disrupt their deviant plans and drop them back on the research table, but hey... they are there to serve me, right! I've got miles to go and puzzles to solve before I sleep, even if it is late at night.

I'm on my second game after a disasterous mass-starvation in my first one. I ran up to harvesting 3 immediately, but after that I went for research as a priority to get the rest done. Does anyone have any idea how much research levels 2 and 3 help? Certainly the research points rolled in faster, but my population was higher too so there were more researchers. My research table is starting to look like an all-you-can-eat buffet the way they crowd it now!