Advanced Research Communications Network

The Advanced Research Communications Network, or ARCNet for short, allows scientists on multiple planets across your empire to work together on a new technology collectively. Each level of ARCNet researched allows scientists from one extra Research Lab to join in the research.

Effect

When researching a new technology, the time required is as follows:

Time(hours) =

Ore Cost + Crystal Cost 1000 * (1+Research Lab Level)

Without ARCNet, the level of the Research Lab which initiated the technology is used. With ARCNet, the levels of all qualifying labs are added together and used.

Example A player has a Level 10 Research Lab on their Homeworld and a Level 8 Research Lab on a colony. They wish to Research Level 10 Armor Tech (cost of 512,000 Ore) from their homeworld. Without ARCNet the time required would be:

Time(hours) =

512,000 1000 * (1+10)

T= 46.54 hours.

With ARCNet Level 1 (making the effective Research Lab Level 18 rather than 10) the time required would be:

Time(hours) =

512,000 1000 * (1+18)

T= 26.95 hours.

Important Notes

• ARCNet will automatically use the highest available Research Lab Level to help decrease times.
• With ARCNet, only Research Labs with levels high enough to research a tech can be included. For instance, Shield Tech requires a Lvl 6 Research Lab to research, so no Research Labs of level 5 or below will be included in researching any Shield Tech, regardless of ARCNet's level.
• For each additional level of ARCNet, you must have an additional research lab to take advantage of the bonus. The level of the additional lab is added to the part of the equation labeled "Research Lab Level". In the example above, another lab at level 8 would make the "Research Lab Level" 26, in turn lowering the research time to 18.96h.
• Adding workers in your additional labs does not reduce research times. Only workers assigned to the lab you begin research in will reduce research times.
• You will only be able to research from one lab at once.

Costs

Level	Ore	Crystal	Hydrogen	Additional Labs	Time to level
1	150,000	200,000	80,000	1
2	300,000	400,000	160,000	2	57:15:00
3	600,000	800,000	320,000	3	109:27:16
4	1,200,000	1,600,000	640,000	4
5	2,400,000	3,200,000	1,280,000	5
6	4,800,000	6,400,000	2,560,000	6
7	9,600,000	12,800,000	5,120,000	7
8	19,200,000	25,600,000	10,240,000	8

There is currently no benefit to researching ARCNet beyond Level 8.

The hours required to advance ARCnet should be listed here (or someplace on this page) as well. For example to advance it to level 3 a total 109:27:16 hours (4.5 days real time) is required. Remember during this time no other research can be conducted.

Requirements

• Research Lab Lvl 10
• FTL Tech Lvl 7
• AI Tech Lvl 8

Still Confused?

1. ARCNet reduces research times. The reduction times are set forth in the original article, and it is basic algebra. Plug in the numbers.
2. You can only research one technology at a time.
3. Only the lab workers in the lab that INITIATES a particular research count to reduce the time.
4. The reason that there is no benefit to researching ARCNet beyond lvl 8 (like any of us will do that), is that only ONE tech -- ARCNet itself -- requires a level 10 lab. You can only have 8 colonies. So, practically speaking, there is no benefit to researching ARCNet beyond level 6, and that (in my opinion) is cost-benefit prohibitive. The highest research lab tech you need (except for building ARCNet itself) is level 7. ARCNet 6 gives you that with 7 total labs operating, all of which labs should be at level 10 to get there.

ARCNet is extremely useful. But it is truly a case of diminishing returns. Build up your ARCNet to level 4-5, and then work on the stuff that matters, like the speed of your ships, their armor, their shields, and their weapons.

One last note: If you're tackling a heavy research project, don't forget to re-assign your live-people crew members to your initiating lab. If you don't have any, invest in lab droids and assign them.