Research Is Boring

[Tones]

I love most of this game and the additions being made, but there is something wrong with the research element. Klei keep tweaking it but it is fundamentally boring. You research a few vital things to start off with and then it seems to drift with decisions not really meaning much. There is little sense of purpose other that needing to research everything eventually. There should be some jeopardy, or bonuses, or both to enliven the decision process.

It should really matter which branch of the tree you choose. At the moment you just shrug your shoulders. I am no stranger to tech trees and generally enjoy exploring them but this is, well, meh.

Suppose your dupe researchers suffered from burnout if they are forced to work too intensely (it's much harder mentally than digging or farming or building or tidying) Suppose you got bonuses for completing research in one field in a completely different part of the tree? That would make planning a challenge. Suppose certain substances, or even live critters, boosted research into a particular subject considerably if supplied? This adds a possible moral dimension. Can't we have the loom produce "white coats" for the scientists for a bonus? How about connecting those abandoned terminals with data wire to your supercomputer that perhaps gives you access to restricted research areas and boosts? Or maybe they contain a virus and wipe your files! Suddenly your coal generators no longer work, or the water pumps, or the lights! Suppose there were morale penalties for not researching basic techs within a number of cycles, or bonuses for early completion?

The research aspect should be just as much fun as the rest of the game and there is no reason it can't be.

[ZombieDupe]

Yes, absolutely! I have something to further this sort of approach. So we have the old data bank cards that in the DLC you can find some of but serve absolutely no purpose anymore. These could be for 2 things.

One would be you having to find these data banks as a way of recovering building information from gravitas for research purposes. Put that inside a super computer along with a coolant and that is how you could research things more intuitively on second tier research as opposed to just dumping some water for whatever you please.

The second would be to have video tutorials found from these databanks. Once researched, you could view videos that zoom in on the supercomputer to show you the tutorials more seamlessly rather than just a popup that people might ignore. The videos in the game are short, very fun to watch and are very informative, but I rarely see anyone look at them even though the game presents them to you periodically. This being done through excavation and research could improve viewing of these bits of video tutorials, and we honestly don't have enough of them for explaining the most fundamental mechanics of the game.

This could eliminate some level of decisions on what to research on that tier to some extent, but it would be a crucial limiter that would require you to expand and really explore new POI buildings not just for some bits of lore.