Alswinn said:
I do understand this post, but I don't feel able to transfer the information to a selfmade research plan.
Can OP (or anyone else) make me a research plan for an early science nexus, please? (Is One Planet Strategy still doable in 2.0.X? Haven't played yet)
Start with the Star Fortress beeline detailed in the post to get Habitats. Then beeline Zero Point Power, which, combined with the Habitats perk, will let you get the Master Builders perk and gain Mega-Engineering as an automatic research option, bypassing it's normally terrible weighting and prereqs.
Edit: Filling this out in a little more detail now that I'm on desktop instead of mobile.
So the Star Fortress beeline will get you started, but you'll have to deviate to pick up Fusion Power sooner or later so you can eventually get Zero Point. How early you do that depends on whether or not you're in a hurry to start getting Habitats up while you tech to Science Nexus. If you don't care about Habitats much, you don't need to beeline Star Fortress because even with unfocused engineering research, it's not hard to get Star Fortress (a Tier 3) before you reach ZPP (a Tier 4) on the Physics side.
The physics side is going to be the main focus, then. Unlike Spike, we don't have as many prerequisite techs to worry about, but we're still going to avoid Blue Lasers to keep weapons tech from crowding our tree. The big question is how strictly you want to limit your options. At the highest extreme, you can avoid Administrative AI and Colonial Centralization. Then your ideal research options would look like this:
T1: Fusion Power, Quantum Theory, Automated Exploration Protocols, Improved Deflectors, Field Modulation, Global Energy Management.
T2: Cold Fusion Power, Shields, Shield Capacitors, Hyperlane Breach Points, Gravitic Sensors, FTL Inhibition/Lythuric Gas/Curator Computers
T3: Antimatter Power, Advanced Shields, Planetary Shields, Wormhole Stabilization, Hyperspace Slipstreams, Subspace Sensors
At that point, if my count is correct, you should have roughly 11 research options for Physics floating around including Zero Point Power. Since we don't have Self-Evolving Logic, we'd better have Science Division, it'd help to have Technocracy, and we should have a Particles specialist running the research to increase the odds of seeing ZPP. With both Science Division and Technocracy you'll probably see it in the first two draws after unlocking Tier 4, definitely within three. With only Science Division, it may take three or four draws for it to show up.
Edit 2: Realistically, though, skipping Colonial Centralization is probably a bad idea, as it gates several Unity building upgrades, among other things, and you need at least three ascension perks for this strategy. Instead, a better move is probably to skip Sensors entirely. The modified research list would then be:
T2: Cold Fusion Power, Shields, Hyperlane Breach Points, plus three of Applied Quantum Physics, Shield Capacitors, Quantum Energy States, the two Curator Computers, or FTL Inhibition
T3: Antimatter Power, Planetary Shields, Wormhole Stabilization, Planetary Power Management, Advanced Shields, Hyperspace Slipstreams
Avoid Galactic Administration until you have ZPP being researched. You still have roughly 11 possible options when you unlock Tier 4, however, so the previous note about research alternatives stands.
Just for the sake of comparison, let's see what we can do with researching Administrative AI, since Self-Evolving Logic is so useful. Unfortunately, that section of the tree doesn't provide enough Tier 3 techs to allow us to avoid both Sensors and Shields. Sensors and Shields are equally cluttered, but we can go Sensors and hope that we don't have the strategic resources in the vicinity of our empire to trigger those techs. We're going to avoid Physics Labs because they aren't any help in Tier 3 and add unnecessary clutter to Tiers 2 and 4. My suggestion:
T1: Fusion Power, Administrative AI, Global Energy Management, Automated Exploration Protocols, Specialized Combat Computers, Auxiliary Fire Control
T2: Cold Fusion Power, Self-Evolving Logic, Hyperlane Breach Points, Gravitic Sensors, plus two of FTL Inhibition, Lythuric Gas, or the two Curator Computers
T3: Antimatter Power, Planetary Power Management, Wormhole Stabilization, Hyperspace Slipstreams, Subspace Sensors, Extended Combat Algorithms
You end up with something like 14 research options. With Science Division, you'll have 5 research alternatives, but that still leaves a lot to sift through. Even with Technocracy it could take as many as four draws to get ZPP.
tl;dr: The fastest way to beeline Zero Point Power (and thus get Master Builders and automatic access to Mega Engineering) is probably to skip Sensors, Blue Lasers, Administrative AI, and Galactic Administration.
