What is the timeline to be become Proficient or Good at being an Researcher?

General Discussion
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I’m not sure if this is intentional, but Researcher seems like a very challenging role to get into. For example, when learning how to play a medical role, all you have to do is read the wiki, then memorize colors, some names, and surgical steps, and you’re practically platinum-level skilled. The researcher’s role isn’t like that; instead, the wiki has a dictionary’s worth of information and new custom game mechanics. If you want to learn Botany, it isn’t the intuitive plant seeds, pour with water, spray with fertilizer, and grow the plants; instead, you need to use a complicated customized step sheet to get the optimized amount of plant growth so you can create the chemicals needed to complete more complicated orders. While you’re trying to figure this all out, the match is still progressing, xeno bodies are piling up, and you’re still reading the thought-out guide on the forum on how to grow these plants. You still don’t know how to make stems, and basically, I’m saying, how long is it supposed to take you to learn how to become good at this?

To me, the role seems really cool, but I feel like I need to study it like a university prerequisite class to play it. I don’t know, maybe I’m not the player that the role is for, but the learning curve seems so extremely high that unless you dedicate time to studying it, you’ll be lost.

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You have aptly described one of the problems with research. The debate has been ongoing for years.

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Uhhh, come back to me when you find out I have 175 hours of research, and I still do not think I am good at it.

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I’m glad it isn’t just me lol. Someone should fix that so more people can play it, don’t have to main it, and don’t have to dedicate 70 hours to it before deciding if they like it or not. By achieving a good enough understanding of the game mechanics.

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Research has been in the process of being reworked for years. It is The Gordian Knot of the server.

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If you want a actual answer as someone who has almost 300 hours in research realistically if you mean “good” as in someone who can make a stim and or something else useful by themselves without the help of another researcher probably like 20-30 hours maybe less if you have some other experienced researcher teaching you every round. If you mean “good” as in able to capitalize upon everything by themselves ie every contract, every botany chem, every body, and every IO paper and do it quick enough to not get overwhelmed then like solidly 100-150 hours if not more/never I know some plat researchers who aren’t very good or quick at botany simply due to not caring to learn to do it better or not liking it at all to do it very often.

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