I did a test to compare how quickly one racks up tech points in 2x mode vs normal mode vs 1/2 time mode and it seems to me like the ratios are off.

I started with 12 science nerds -- 6 master scientists, 5 adept scientists and one trainee who wasn't brand new but also wasn't yet close to becoming "adept".

Worked them flat out -- dragging them back to to the table when they were doing "nothing" or about to go stare at a rock / boulder / field / cactus, etc, for all three tests.

The tests were done one right after the other, in the following order: Normal mode, 2x mode and 1/2 speed mode.

In normal mode, the group racked up just over 1500 points in 5 minutes.

In 2x mode, they racked up 2000 points -- hardly 2x the number of points they got in "normal mode" with the same people, same skill levels (if anything, improved a bit as this test was done after the "normal mode" test).

In 1/2 time mode, the group got slightly more points (about 1700_ than the test in "normal mode". I'm thinking this is because I did this test third, and everybody's skill level had gone up because of experience gained while doing the other tests and because the experience gaining process probably accellerated in 2x. So, adjusting this, it looks like 1/2 time mode isn't that different from "normal" at leasst if you're there to babysit VV's.

The trade off is that the slower the speed, the less food they eat, and the slower they age. So, running the game in "normal" time or 1/2 time seems to be the way to go if you want to get the most work out of your peeps before they drop dead (or if you're in a race against the clock to get level 3 medicine before your newly "elderly" 58 year olds drop dead at 66).

In contrast, the ratio between the 2 year nursing period for new babies among the 3 speeds is the right ratio =-- 120 minutes in 2x time vs 240 minutes in normal time.

Is this tech points issue a _bug_ in the game, or am I missing something in my test methodology?

Eek, all that "research" has rubbed off on me... (does small kick before returning to the table.... or maybe just going off to stare at a cactus for a while....)

-- Kathryn
da newbie

PS -- Thanks, LDW people, for designing this game. I'm totally hooked. Okay, I have no life and my family's joking about my going into Isola-lation.... But it's sure fun.
--KC

I think over time you'll find that it's easier to get, at 1/2 speed, science before farming in easy and normal modes, and that you can pretty easily get level 3 medicine by their late 40's or early 50's. I get all the puzzles except the graveyard done before my peeps reach 58. Much harder to do this running in normal mode, and I suspect it can't (or is really difficult) be done before 58 at 2x. And I do that without slave driving them (I don't drag them back to the tech table or hurry them up)

In my last easy game, the oldest villager was 53 when 15 puzzles were completed.

The method that you used to determine the effects of game speed on research won't work with the game running, especially when you intervene in the villagers' work.

It's not a _bug_, however, since the game operates differently when it's on than it does when it's off. I have written a more complete explanation in this post.