Research Tools

Research Tools is one of two researches which affect your CR production bonus. Maximal level initially capped at 8; however, it can be further increased with World Supply DM research.

Research cap: 8 (+12 World Supply) (The cap is also raised by 1 for each Vortex)

Initial price: 325 RP

Price formula: $$\color{Sepia} \pagecolor{Melon} 325 \times 3.25^{ResearchLevel}$$

Price formula for sum of first 'x' levels: $$\color{Sepia} \pagecolor{Melon} \frac{325}{2.25} \times \left ( 3.25^{x}-1 \right ) $$

Effect: for each CR level you will gain $$\color{Sepia} \pagecolor{Melon} +((ResearchTools+1) \times 0.2 \times (PrivateDonations+1))%$$ to your energy production multiplier.

Trivia
Example:
 * While it may appear from the CR bonus formula that Research Tools and Private Donations provide the same effect, they do not effect CR bonus equally. The additional bonus of increasing either Research Tools or Private Donations depends on the current research level of the other. Therefore, it is not always recommended to get cheapest of these two upgrades.

At the 300 CR with Research Tools at level 18 and Private Donations at level 10, the current CR bonus would be:

$$\color{Sepia} \pagecolor{Melon} 300 \times ((18+1) \times 0.2 \times (10+1)) = 12540%$$

Increasing Research Tools by 1 level increases the CR bonus to:

$$\color{Sepia} \pagecolor{Melon} 300 \times ((19+1) \times 0.2 \times (10+1)) = 13200%$$ at a cost of 531,843,503,404 RP

Increasing Private Donations by 1 level increases the CR bonus to:

$$\color{Sepia} \pagecolor{Melon} 300 \times ((18+1) \times 0.2 \times (11+1)) = 13680%$$ at a cost of 1,000,000,000,000 RP

At these levels, utilizing Private donations costs 877,193 RP per percentage point gained. Utilizing Research Tools costs 805,823,490 RP per percentage point gained. Even though Private Donations costs nearly twice as much, it provides additional bonus at a fraction of the cost.

However, since the RP cost is nearly double, the time required to gather the extra RP could take much longer. Therefore, it is recommended to consider the relative cost of each upgrade as well as the time required when determining which upgrade to purchase.