Research Institute and Scholars – Best Practice
If you set the Research Institute in Anno 1800, you will be confronted with numerous new functions and possibilities within a short time. The Research Institute is run by scholars, who earn „research points“ for you, with the help of which you can unlock certain addons and use various options. You’ll be able to develop items, move oil wells or clay pits, produce blueprints for special ships, or use docks that have much faster clearance (especially interesting for the New World). So you are very well advised to set a research institute when it is possible and to provide for the corresponding research points.
Research points as currency
Research points are the currency used within the research institute to explore certain (new) possibilities. And also here applies, as so often in the Anno 1800 world: much helps much! The more scholar houses you have set and the better their needs are fulfilled, the faster your research points increase and the faster you can make use of the new opportunities that the research institute offers you.
First, however, it must be set. Similar to the World’s Fair or the Skyscraper Tower, the Research Institute can only be built in stages. Electricity as well as a warehouse in the vicinity are therefore the prerequisites. At the same time, various resources need to be provided from stage to stage so that it can be built.
Step 2: View the research institute and learn its properties
There are three main areas available to you in the Research Institute: „Research Areas“, „Item Development“, and the „Breakthrough Discoveries“.
Research areas in the research institute
In the research areas you have the possibility to research items. Of course, you can also buy numerous items from your AI opponents, etc., earn them through expeditions or win them through tasks – but it is even nicer to be able to develop all the items from Anno 1800 on your own. To do so, however, they have to be researched first – and that takes time – a lot of time. Furthermore, you have to pay research points, which build up very slowly and depend on how many scholars you have. In the area of research you can choose between cultural studies, technological progress and talent development. In all areas you will find numerous items to be researched, which can be of relatively high use to you once you can produce/manufacture them on your own. You will now have to gradually „click through“ the available areas and unlock the individual items for creation.
Item development in the research institute
The consequence is obvious. Once you have painstakingly identified the items you want to develop (research areas), you can develop the corresponding items.
You can see that in our example a lot of legendary items have already been explored, which can now be laboriously developed. Attention: This takes time! Sometimes it takes up to 90 minutes to develop one of the coveted items. However, you can speed up the time by assigning engineers from your island world to participate in the research. Note, however, that they will no longer be available for normal work. So you should have enough manpower in this area to shorten the time it takes to develop items.
In our example, there are over 12,000 engineers available, of which we have assigned an additional 10,000 people to develop the item. Now this works relatively fast, so that (in the worst case) you only have to wait 30 minutes per item to develop it. Epic or rare items, for example, can be developed even faster, so that some of them are ready to be used in your island world after only a few minutes.
Groundbreaking Discoveries
First of all, this is the classic: the permission to expand the campus. This is important so that new scholar houses can be placed, which in turn ensure that you earn research points more quickly and advance your research accordingly. Furthermore, the building permit for the Great Eastern, the building permit for the expansion of the pier as well as the research case belong to the areas at this point.
When it comes to nature control, you can move clay deposits, move oil wells, adjust the ore type of the mine or the fertility. Manufacturing processes can also be changed in this area: You can initiate a coffee production in the old world, produce rum also at Cape Trelawney or start a large cotton production. All this is possible, but it costs development time and, of course, research points.
Donate to science
If you have items that you don’t need, use the short code „Ctrl+D“ to donate the item directly to science. This way you will gain research points that will speed up your project. Attention: The item is irrevocably gone afterwards. Therefore, think carefully about which items you want to donate.
Step 3: Place scholar houses
In order to gain research points in general, you should now place scholar houses. Tip: Ideally, you should choose your own island for this purpose, because over time a relatively large number of houses can „accumulate“, which of course also require a corresponding amount of space.
A scholar’s island should always be equipped with a storehouse city, since important and necessary goods can be traded via the storehouse city, which you may not be able to produce directly or whose production chains are particularly complex. Furthermore, an oil port is necessary on this island, since scholars require electricity. A suitable oil route with uninterrupted supply should therefore be secured before the first scholars move in.
Increasing needs as the number of scholars increases
As the number of scholars on your island increases, so do their needs and desires. If scholars can be satisfied with just a university and some electricity at the beginning, they will need canned meat, tailored suits, seafood stews, telephones, and a radio tower over time.
If you want to increase satisfaction beyond that, you have to do much more and provide the appropriate goods: Rum and phonographs are certainly still among the easiest goods to provide, since they are needed in the Old World or Cape Trelawney anyway: But leather boots, melons and hibiscus tea have to be produced first. In addition, tapestries and clay pipes are also in demand over time. Goods that cannot be produced „in a hurry“.
Trade via Speicherstadt
Since the goods in question can hardly be produced independently without a great deal of effort, we recommend trading them in via Speicherstadt. Therefore, try to produce as expensive a good as possible, for example steam engines, and exchange it for the corresponding goods in demand.
With the Speicherstadt and a „Star-Gut“ you will be able to satisfy the demand accordingly and can ensure a high satisfaction of your scholars. This will result in a lot of research points being earned and you will be able to push item development or breakthrough findings. If you place a radio tower right in front of your scholars, they will be even happier and enjoy their raison d’être.
Placing scholar houses optimally
Place your scholars‘ houses in the same way as your peasants‘ and workers‘ houses – preferably in a block of 8 or 12, depending on what you like better. This way you will ensure a very good supply. Ideally, plan beforehand in the blueprint so that you can estimate how many inhabitants will fit on your island and „what lies ahead“.
Conclusion
Clearly, the research institute is as important as it is necessary. You should set it as soon as you can. Attention: The development of Enbesa is one of the basic requirements. Only when a certain number of „elders“ have moved in, you can place the research institute in the old world. The general placement is not important. It is only important that you choose a sufficiently large island for your scholars and if possible research the item development from time to time. Also, make sure that you have a large supply of the required resources in your storage city, so that the research points can be earned as quickly as you want them to be.