@OneirosTheWriter, I'm liking the research revamp so far. Initial thoughts:
1) The two-layer research system with research categories and multiple research techs within categories with their own points does introduce issues that I didn't anticipate, which pheonix89 points out (more on this later).
2) I don't like the naming of "Turn of the Century" and "Early 24th Century" because that places a definitive time aspect to the research. There's no guarantee that we'll have researched e.g. Turn of the Century Personal Tech until decades from now (although we obviously should), so it's no longer actually "turn of the century".
So I think you should stick with something that's time-neutral. I can't think of any fancy naming that wouldn't also be confusing - hopefully someone has a better idea. You could always default to the boring "Tier 1", "Tier 2", etc. monikers.
3) Also how many generic research teams are we going to be given, or are they something that need to bought with PP? Or perhaps better, could they be bought with RP, since we may need another RP sink?
edit: 4) I really like the multiple preferences per non-generic team. Could eventually have teams that still have 1 preference (cheap) or 3+ preferences (expensive).
What happens to oveflow? If we research T1 Escort tech, do all the extra points go into the equicalent T2 tech?
How about if we partly finish a tier? Say we research T1 explorers this turn and the inspiration bonus comes up Hull Design. That leaves with one of the combat techs and both the engineering techs from T1 finished. Would T2 explorer Engineering be unlocked next turn?
And do we have to finish every tech in a tier to move on? You've got tech cost gaps as big as a whole OOM in places - if we have to finish Escort Size I for 100 points to get at the next tier of Escort - Science when the rest tops out at 20, we'll just never get that second tier.
And some thoughts.
It might be worth having some sort of sidebleed or passive gain mechanic to cause very slow background progress in techs we aren't favoring, to reflect developments outside our control or focus. Something like non-active research teams causing some limited progress in random areas they specialize in that no one is working on, or a chance of random 1 point gains in inactive areas, or something.
Yeah, this requires more thought. And I don't want to throw out the existing research mechanics of leveling up all techs within a category. Also don't want to complicate this more than necessary by introducing new passive gain stuff, which would also be an absolute PITA to update for the QM.
So here's my proposal:
a) When choosing a particular research category of tier N, one randomly picked unfinished tech of a lower tier related research categories is also leveled up. The random +5 bonus can also hit that randomly picked unfinished tech.
b) The next tier research category is unlocked if at least one tech within the chosen research category has been completely researched. If this is a proper tech tree, than only research categories related to the that chosen category are unlocked (e.g. early 24th century short sensors -> middle 24th century short sensors).
This should both introduce tension between researching between the higher and lower tiers, while allowing lower tiers to be fully researched over time without requiring too much "waste".
Example 1:
2300s Xenopsychology has 1 tech that is fully researched, and others around the half way point. So early 24th century xenopsychology, affiliates research, and external diplomacy all unlock, since they all have 2300s xenopsychology as a prereq.
Now, players can choose to assign a team to either 2300s xenopsychology or one of the early 24th century categories.
If a team is assigned to 2300s xenopsychology, it's researched as normal, but it's a bit less optimal because 1 tech is already fully researched.
If a team is assigned to, say, early 24th century xenopsychology, then that is researched as normal, AND one randomly picked unfinished tech in 2300s xenopsychology is also researched. The list of techs eligible for the +5 bonus includes that randomly picked unfinished tech.
In this particular case, it's probably more optimal to continue researching 2300s xenopsychology.
Example 2:
It's now a couple years later, and 2300s Xenopsychology is nearly completely researched, except 1 tech due to bad luck.
If a team is assigned to 2300s xenopsychology, only that 1 tech is leveled up.
If a team is assigned to early 24th century xenopsychology (or a sibling tech), then that is researched as normal, AND that single 2300s xenopsychology tech is also leveled up.
Clearly, the more optimal choice here is researching early 24th century xenopsychology.
