Knowledge/belief

[El-Flex0r]

I might be a little too late with this, since the game entered Beta, but I want to give it a shot.
There are several ways it could be used:

1. Knowledge of technology: Your researchers can't unlock you gunpowder weapons unless they know of gundpowder. Same with electricity and a few more.

2. Knowledge of locations: Outposts, quest-locations and so on.

3. Knowledge/belief: Some people believe the world is flat, others disagree strongly.
    Some tribal people think the strange stuff some factions have works by magic, while others believe in electricity (interaction with 1.)

Knowledge could spread by social interactions and/or be teached.
These were just a few ideas to keep the post short.

Even it's not used much in Vanilla, I expect modders could use it in many ways.

[VincentJ]

Yes, it could be very interesting, gaining tech points by having relations with visitors, it would be more realistic than a poor pawn thinking hard all the day on how living conditions or weapons could be upgraded.

example : to begin reserches in the medieval research board, you must at least send observers on a medieval town.

Me I was just thinking on reading. Reading a book could give you technology points, or experience in a skill, like in an Elder Scrolls game.
But it would be very expansive, obtain such a book.
Once you would have found informatics, you could gain technology or experience by a global data network.

It could be a very fun improvement to the game, an easy thing to realize.

[sick puppy]

i kinda disagree.
with the exception of the tribals most starting people at the very least know of the existance of most things you can research. i look at my researcher as a guy that tries to figure out how he could introduce electricity or whatever to the colony, not actually being the guy that parallel to other inventors actually invents that stuff. legit inventions dont just happen all the time and all over the place. that shit needs inspiration and the ability to think outside of the box in a great way, aside from an understanding of all topics that flow into it.
pretty sure less than one in a billion people actually have what it takes to legit INVENT electricity if they havent seen anything similar before (with the exception of lightnings). there's a reason why inventors and creators nowadays have so many rights. it is easy to copy and hard to create. so a guy coming up with a way of how to get wifi with a used cooked ravioli can is almost infinitely less likely to happen in a day or two than a guy trying to copy this invention he saw in the tube tv a week earlier and manages to do so in a weekend.

sorry about the wall of text. to keep it short, if you wanna implement something like this, please dont make it vanilla but a mod, except if you ONLY wanted to implement it for tribals. but there the tribals already need a multitude of the time to research many projects. it is safe to assume they havent seen many of the inventions they make. still weird how they can invent gene manipulated devilstrand out if dust, but i guess that is more of a lore problem than anything else. (or just make devilstrand spacer tech)

[VincentJ]

Hey ! I was sure the idea was mine, but it wasn't ! And belief is mentionned in this subject, which is pretty cool.

I don't understand the reasons why a project like this could be refused.

Nobody loves to wait hours until your scientist find that damn ****** technology you need, to feed the colony or properly dig that sweet mountain.
And you don't have a lot of manpower, do you ?

So I've been more extreme in my reflexions. I'd like a mod that refound completely the research system : no more poor scientist locked down behind his/her desk, losing their muscles and sending the remains of his/her social life to the ground.

You only gain technology points by observing the nature (giving you tech points in animal husbandry or agriculture technologies), observing the ruins (watching a stone wall gives you tech points in stonecutting), speaking with visitors, watching them use their items, visiting their towns. For example, you see a medieval company using crossbows around your town, you get technological points in medieval warfare technologies.
And when you visit a town, you get a big boost.

Other boosts are acquired whith special events : an ermit comes to your settlement and grants you immense knowledge, if you feed him naturally. The probability of this event should be as important as an alphacastors' invasion. You can't play more than 6 months without have it.
When you capture a prisonner and your jailor become friend with him, you can learn a lot of things about other technologies. Most of all, if he or she comes from a more elevated era.
An industrial or a spacer prisonner is required to gain spacer or industrial technologies, if you're just tribal start.
A missionary event : a missionary comes to talk about their religion. It could give you technology points if you have a place of worship, I know there's no worship place in the game, but it could be as useful as a desk to gain new technologies, so why not ?
And a place of worship could diminish the pain your pawns feel when one of them die.

There would be two huge breaks in the acquisition of technologies : writing and computering technologies.
Books, there's mods that allow you to make it, for example additional joy objects. Now books could give you technology points by reading them.
(joy if it's a bible and if your pawn likes the bible)
The point is : are your pawns able to read ?
Vast issue.

Once they developped microcontrollers or processors, I can't remember the name the technology, you can build a computer and acquire technology more easily.
And the last step, of course, you build a big antenna on the roof of your base, so you can communicate whith the whole universe ! Cause internet is good, it brings happiness and wisdom to the people who use it !
(and it brings porn too, but it's included in happiness)

[sick puppy]

+1 for porn