Talk:Advanced Research Communications Network

Here is the brief answer on how Arcnet works

Authored by Dread Pirate William, proud member of Interstellar Repo Services

Lets address the issues that we are not confused about.

• 1.) Assume you have your first level 10 lab

  (Required to research Arcnet)

• 2.) Research Speed is Arcnet level +1
• 3.) To research anything your lab level must meet tech requirements Warp = 7 Arc = 10 Armor = 2
• 4.) Only the highest level "qualifying" labs will be counted
• 5.) We are only concerned here with lab levels and Arcnet level. We assume you already have all other requirements met.
• 6.) "Building" other than labs only matter where you begin the research.
• 7.) Regardless what your Arcnet level is you must have Arcnet+1 "qualifying" labs to research a tech. If you have not unlocked Arcnet then your Arcnet=0, therefore, Arcnet+1 = 0+1 = 1

• Also assume you have labs on every planet (order is irrelevant and just an example)
  • Planet1 Lab=10
  • Planet2 Lab=2
  • Planet3 Lab=7
  • Planet4 Lab=8
  • Planet5 Lab=6
  • Planet6 Lab=6
  • Planet7 Lab=5
  • Planet8 Lab=4
  • Planet9 Lab=3

Example 1

If you have ArcNet 1 and want to research Warp, the Tech requirement is LAB 7

Research multiplier = Arcnet+1 so we can use 2 labs.

You begin research on Planet 1 or 3 or 4

Why? Because they have met the research lab requirement

Example 1-a

If you start on Planet 1, Planet1 and Planet4 will count. Arcnet uses the lab you start at plus the top "qualifying" labs first.

Example 1-b

If you start on Planet 3, Planet1 and Planet3 will count. (Planet 4 is unused in this scenario)

Example 2

If you have ArcNet 2 and want to research Warp, the Tech requirement is LAB 7

Research multiplier = Arcnet+1 so we can use 3 labs.

You begin research on Planet 1 or 3 or 4

Why? Because they have met the research lab requirement

Example 2-a

If you start on Planet 1, Planet1, Planet 3 and Planet4 will count. Arcnet uses the lab you start at plus the top "qualifying" labs first.

Example 3

If you have ArcNet 1 and want to research Arcnet, the Tech requirement is LAB 10

Research multiplier = Arcnet+1 so we can use 2 labs.

You begin research on Planet 1

Why? Because Planet 1 has met the research lab requirement

Example 3-a

If you start on Planet 1, ONLY Planet1 will count. Arcnet uses the lab you start at plus the top "qualifying" labs first. Since you only have the one level 10 lab, you do not get any benefit from Arcnet

Previous Discussions

still learning the game

I am still learning the game for the first time, so I want to ask a question about the ARCNet. According to the information contained here each colony has the same research capabilities and levels of your homeworld. So, why would anyone ever bother to build a research lab on one of their colonies? It just seems like a waste of time and resources. So, if you don't have any other research labs other than your homeworld, why would you ever need the ARCNet??

Bob

• You have the same tech base on all your planets. This means that if you research Warp drive on your homeworld, then all of your colonies have access to warp technology. You don't need to research it on every planet.
• You must have a lab on a world in order to research there. If you have widely dispersed colonies, it could be time-prohibitive to ship your resources back home all the time to do research. A lab on a far flung colony would allow you to do research there, with the resources there.
• If any one lab is busy, they are all busy. This means that if you are building a lab on one world, you cannot build a lab on another world at the same time, nor can you research anything until all the labs are idle. However, without ARCNet only the actual lab on the planet you initiate the research from does any useful work. The others get on the Interwebs and kibitz?
• ARCNet allows you to reduce the time required to research technology by reducing the time required. But in order to do that, you have to build additional labs on your colonies. Check the equations to see the effects.

--Rob 17:45, 16 December 2009 (UTC)

Here's another question, and this isn't answered on the page (not directly, anyways): do research labs that have been added via ARCNet also add any workers that they have in them? That is, if I have a level 10 lab with 2 workers researching something and ARCNet level 1, and another lab that's level 5 with 2 workers, will all four workers count to reduce the time spent researching, or just the two from the level 10 lab? --Drake 19:35, 30 December 2009 (UTC)

I just tested this question - I added a worker to my level 8 additional lab (with Lvl 1 ARCNet), and it did not reduce research time in my main lab. So only droids in your main (highest level) lab help with research times. --Jesse 13:29, 31 December 2009

One small correction to what Rob said. You can BUILD multiple labs at the same time on different worlds, as long as none of your labs are researching. --Charles

Participating Research Labs

Is there a limit to the number of added labs with Arcnet? Will each research lab with high enough level be added, or only the highest one?

Umm... I think it's pretty clear: "Each level of ARCNet researched allows scientists from one extra Research Lab to join in. ... There is no benefit to researching ARCNet beyond Level 8." --Rob 16:57, 16 December 2009 (UTC)

Okay, One more question regarding ARCNet. I had it in my mind that by researching ARCNet that I would be able to research multiple different technologies simultaneously in different labs accross my colonies (the number of different labs based on the level of ARCNet that was researched). Upon reading the description again it doesn't mention being able to do simultaneous research, but only decreasing the time required to complete research projects. Did I misunderstand that before, or is it written somewhere else? Thanks, Bob

so what does this mean "Each level increases the number of labs that can simultaneously develop and upgrade technologies provided the lab's level is sufficient for the given technology."??????

TAZ

I might have been possible to research different techs on separate planets at one time, but not now. I don't remember for certain if this was true, but I do remember having the same misunderstanding -- 1373644207 18:14, 11 February 2010 (UTC)

For instance.. With L1 ARCN, two labs work on the research. With L2, Three labs.. ETC, up to 8 Labs at L7 I only have 3 labs, so researching ARCN past L2 isn't useful for me.

Resources

Can the participating lab help fund the research as well as decreasing the time, or will I still need to gather all the necessary resources on the planet where I start the research?

kiml42

The resources must all be on the planet that starts the research. -- Jesse

so what the heck does this mean "Each level increases the number of labs that can simultaneously develop and upgrade technologies provided the lab's level is sufficient for the given technology." this arcn thing seems like bs to me...... how does it work???????----TAZ

If you don't mind waiting say 72 hrs. to research Warp 6, then you do not need ArcNet. But if you want to get the research done in half that time or better, then ArcNet accomplishes this by cutting the time.

Question about time.

According to the main page the research time is calculated based on the resources required, and the total of all contributing labs.

I understand this.

So if 3 labs contribute, level 10, 8 and 8. Total lab level 26, why does the level 10 lab say it will take 26 hours, and the level 8 lab says it will take 32 hours, when it's also said that ARCnet will automatically use the highest lab to get the lowest time? Starting the research on the level 8 lab will make ARCnet "do it" on the level 10 ten lab, so starting it on the level 8 lab will take 26 hours, so why does it say 32? CONFUSED!

- There may be a difference in the workers? I just checked mine, having ARC3 (so 4 labs will be counted) and 3 level 10 labs and two at level 9. The times shown are the same when the level 9 and level 10 labs have the same workers, but the times shown by the two level 9 labs are different from each other (one has no workers)... Also note that the lab on the planet you are starting from is ALWAYS used. So if you have ARC1 (thus 2 labs counted) and have labs at level 10, 10, 8... the level 8 lab will have an effective level of 18 while the 10's have an effective level of 20. Silver Gate Squadron 16:30, 2 July 2010 (UTC)