I was thinking and maybe came up with an idea that could improve the research feature by giving it a little bit more predictability. Research could be changed into something more similar to prototype/concept building. When we start research, this would have the same progress as normal development and will take some time to reach Finished.
Reaching Finished, would mean that the designers have come up with a new concept or prototype. Then, the research can be finished, just like any other development. However, finishing a concept won't mean you've improved your research level. It would depend on a number of factors, just like normal development. We could be able to see whether we've got progress or not, through a news item. (ex. Our designers have finished working on a new concept of rear wing. During testing, it has been discovered that this concept is better than what we have now or the opposite).
That would leave a little bit of risk in research but make it more predictable because we have an indication of what's going on and not just paying money for nothing. Research improvement through laps won't be affected by this change.
Dan and Dan have hit the nail on the head there if you are trying to raise your research level to good with a bad designer then it just inst possible, the level will decrease slowly to settle at its new maximum. I have hit peak level with my crappy designer on quite a few parts now.
Um i was under teh impressin that research wasnt limited by your designer. I thought it worked that if you have a supurb level for research and a good designer then you will get a good level of the supurb. r another example if you had a good research level adn good designer you would produce parts that are a good level for good research. I also didnt think that the research has any baring of parts that are already created. I thought it was just for new parts
How many of you here actually have Superb/Superb designers? Some of you might only have Good/Very Good. Or your team special skills might not be set to design, it might be commercial or pit times etc. Lots of other variables that all add up to what your teams design ability may be.
The max you are going to get potential wise is Good/Very Good with some of your staff.
You've been making parts before that might have been beyond the capability of these staff, giving an impression they are better than they really are maybe.
And the drops you see? Maybe that's just the team settling down so the parts now appropriately reflect their ability relatively speaking.
That's probably why so many people are seeing sudden drops and pouring money into a hole where the staff can't actually do anything about it lol.
I don't know how much of a relevant benchmark this is, but I still have not spent a penny on research. My levels dropped on a few parts again this week because I designed a few items. They went from Unsure to Bad; Good to Unsure etc.
I just made a very good front wing with just an unsure research level; and okay sidepods with a bad research level. Try and work that out!
I am running a superb designer, and two juniors. Maybe that has more of an effect than staff research levels? In a week, they will jump up again. I will invest NOTHING into research, just let them level out.
Yes, some take longer than others. But they are going up eventually. I do a small chunk of testing with all my drivers as well, usually full race distance stints.
I am not designing or producing many parts all at once either. Ever thought that might have something major to do with it all?
Focus on two or three parts at once, excel at them alone, and you'll see results.
I suspect there is no black and white way of doing things, but various combinations of little things. Too many of you are looking for the one holy grail.
The aim of research was to decrease the effect a Superb designer, if I understood correctly, would have on the team's performance so I can't totally understand how a Superb designer should increase his research by itself. At a minimum, we need more information and documentation about this feature. Currently, there are too many different assumptions and thoughts.
As if by magic I have research level increases! Did Frank do some tinkering in the background?
EDIT: Although I may have spoken too soon, one of them just dropped back down to Okay (6/10) with the hour update. With no development happening, what is the process for this dropping back down? (currently 10 people working on research for that part, designer has decent stats).
The levels could possibly be linked to other team's levels, it would explain a lot. I seem to remember development levels in PW1.0 dropping as other teams pushed the top level up...
The research level will generally wear off slowly, but it will also drop whenever a new development project is started. The research level can only be improved by doing a research project or by doing laps (but it's a very low improvement) in any session. I've decided to take it slow with the wearing off to make sure there are no developing dramas. After a season I'll evaluate how the average research levels are, and see if the drop in level should be stronger as initially intended.
