7.2 Scientists

Updated: v2026.01.30

Scientists are named characters who lead research projects in Aurora C#. Each scientist has unique attributes that determine their effectiveness in specific research categories. Managing your scientist pool – recruiting, assigning, and leveraging their strengths – is central to an efficient research programme. Scientists are one type of commander (see Section 16.1 Officer Generation).

7.2.1 Scientist Generation

Updated: v2026.01.30

Scientists appear in your empire periodically, offering their expertise to your research institutions. Their attributes are randomly generated, creating a diverse pool of talent with varying specializations.

How Scientists Appear:

• New scientists are generated periodically based on your empire’s population and research infrastructure.
• Larger populations produce scientists more frequently.
• Scientists appear with a notification in the event log.
• There is no direct way to “recruit” a specific type of scientist – you work with what becomes available.
• Scientists have a limited lifespan and will eventually die of old age (or can be killed in certain events). Plan for succession.

Scientist Attributes:

Each scientist has several key attributes:

• Name: A unique identifier for the character.
• Research Field: The primary category in which the scientist has expertise (e.g., Power and Propulsion, Energy Weapons, Defensive Systems, etc.). This determines their bonus multiplier.
• Research Bonus: A percentage bonus applied to research in their specialty field. Higher bonuses are rarer and more valuable.
• Secondary Field (if any): Some scientists have a secondary research field with a smaller bonus. This makes them versatile but not as specialized.
• Administration Rating: Determines how many research labs the scientist can effectively oversee. Labs up to this number produce full output; labs beyond it have reduced effectiveness.
• Age: Scientists age over time. Their age at appearance varies, and they have a finite lifespan.

Attribute Ranges: (unverified — #711)

Attribute	Typical Range	Notes
Research Bonus	5% - 50%	Higher = rarer
Administration	5 - 45+	Always a multiple of 5; max labs at full efficiency
Starting Age	25 - 55	Affects career length

Note: Naval academies also produce officers and crew (not scientists). For academy training quality settings and crew output rates, see Section 16.1 Commander Overview.

Scientist Quality:

The quality of scientists is random, but population size increases the chance of producing exceptional ones. A scientist with a 40%+ bonus in a critical research field is extremely valuable and should be assigned immediately to their specialty.

Tip: When a new scientist appears, check their attributes immediately. A scientist with a high bonus in Power and Propulsion or your primary weapon category should be assigned to priority research right away, even if it means reassigning an inferior scientist from that project.

7.2.2 Research Bonuses

Updated: v2026.01.30

A scientist’s research bonus is the primary way to accelerate research progress. Understanding how bonuses work and interact with other factors is key to maximizing research output.

How the Bonus Works:

The scientist’s research bonus is a percentage multiplier applied to the total research output of all labs assigned to their project. A scientist with a 25% bonus in Energy Weapons increases the effective output of their assigned labs by 25% when researching Energy Weapon technologies.

Formula:

Effective RP/year = (Number of effective labs) x (RP per lab per year) x (1 + Scientist bonus)

For example:

• 10 labs at 200 RP/lab/year with a 30% bonus scientist \hyperlink{ref-7.2-3}{[3]}:
• Effective output = 10 x 200 x 1.30 = 2,600 RP/year

Field Matching and the Quadruple Bonus:

When a scientist researches a technology in their specialty field, their research bonus is quadrupled.\hyperlink{ref-7.2-1}{[1]} This is not merely a preference – it represents a substantial productivity difference.

• Primary field: Bonus is quadrupled (e.g., a 20% bonus becomes effectively 80%, giving a 1.8x multiplier)
• Secondary field (if the scientist has one): Standard bonus applies (e.g., 1.2x for a 20% bonus scientist)
• Unrelated field: Standard bonus applies with no quadruple multiplier

Example calculation:\hyperlink{ref-7.2-2}{[2]}

A scientist with a 25% base bonus:

• Working in their specialty: 25% x 4 = 100% bonus, so RP output is multiplied by 2.0x
• Working outside their specialty: 25% bonus applies normally, so RP output is multiplied by 1.25x

Note: There is no “out-of-field penalty” that slows research. Working outside a specialty simply means the scientist’s bonus is not quadrupled. The substantial difference comes from missing the quadruple bonus, not from any additional slowdown.

Because of the quadruple bonus, it is almost always better to assign a scientist to their matched field. A scientist with 15% bonus in their specialty (effectively 60% = 1.6x multiplier in-field) outperforms a 40% bonus scientist working outside their field (1.4x multiplier).

Administration Rating and Labs:

The administration rating determines how many labs a scientist can supervise at full efficiency:

• Labs 1 through Admin Rating: Full RP output
• Labs beyond Admin Rating: Reduced output (exact penalty unverified)

This means a scientist with Admin Rating 10 supervising 15 labs gets full output from 10 labs and reduced output from the remaining 5. It is generally not worth assigning significantly more labs than a scientist’s admin rating unless you have no better use for those labs.

Stacking and Multiple Scientists:

Only one scientist can be assigned to a research project at a time. You cannot assign multiple scientists to the same technology to combine their bonuses. Each project = one scientist leading it.

However, you can research multiple technologies simultaneously by assigning different scientists to different projects, each with their own set of labs. This is the primary way to parallelise your research programme.

Bonus Distribution Across Techs:

When deciding assignments, consider:

• High-cost technologies benefit most from high-bonus scientists (the time savings are proportionally larger).
• Low-cost technologies complete quickly regardless of bonus and may not need your best scientist.
• Match scientists to their specialization fields whenever possible – the bonus difference is substantial.

Tip: Never leave a high-bonus scientist unassigned. Even if there is nothing urgent in their specialty field, assign them to something useful. An idle scientist generates zero research points, which is always worse than any alternative.

Research Wealth Costs (v2.6.0):

Added: v2026.01.28

Research projects consume wealth in addition to requiring research points. As of v2.6.0, the wealth cost per research point is modified by the inverse of the species research speed. \hyperlink{ref-7.2-4}{[4]}

Formula:

Wealth Cost Modifier = 1 / Species Research Speed

Examples:

Species Research Speed	Wealth Cost per RP
100% (default)	1x (baseline)
50%	2x wealth cost
200%	0.5x wealth cost

This mechanic means that species with slower research speeds pay proportionally more wealth to achieve the same research output. Conversely, species with faster research speeds enjoy reduced wealth costs per research point.

Note: This affects budget planning significantly for non-standard species. A species with 50% research speed not only takes longer to complete research but also pays double the wealth cost over the project’s lifetime. Factor this into long-term economic planning.

7.2.3 Assignment and Management

Updated: v2026.01.30

Effective scientist management involves assigning the right scientist to the right project with the right number of labs, and adjusting assignments as priorities change.

Assigning Scientists to Projects:

1. Open the Research window.
2. Select a research category.
3. Choose an available technology from the list.
4. Assign a scientist from the available pool.
5. Allocate research labs to the project.

Assignment Best Practices:

• Match Specialties: Always assign scientists to their primary field when possible. A 25% bonus scientist in their specialty outproduces a 40% bonus scientist working outside their field.
• Match Labs to Admin: Assign labs up to (but generally not far beyond) the scientist’s administration rating for maximum efficiency.
• Prioritize High-Impact Techs: Your best scientists should work on your most important research priorities.
• Avoid Idle Scientists: Any unassigned scientist is wasted potential. Assign all scientists to projects, even if the projects are secondary priorities.

Reassignment:

You can reassign a scientist to a different project at any time:

• Research progress on the old project is not lost – it is retained and can be resumed later.
• The new project begins from wherever it was left off (or from zero if it is a new project).
• There is no penalty for reassignment (no lost progress, no delay).
• Reassign freely as priorities shift or better scientists become available.

Lab Allocation:

Research labs (see Section 7.3 Research Facilities) can be reassigned between projects freely:

• Adding labs to a project increases its RP output (up to the scientist’s admin cap).
• Removing labs slows a project but does not lose progress.
• Labs are shared across all projects on a colony – the total lab count is fixed by how many you have built, and you divide them among active projects.
• You can allocate all labs to one project for maximum speed, or spread them across multiple projects for parallel research.

Note: Scientist Lifecycle

• Scientists age and eventually die. There is no way to extend their lifespan.
• Plan for succession by identifying and training replacement scientists for critical research areas.
• A scientist’s death mid-project does not destroy research progress. Assign a new scientist to continue the work.
• High-bonus scientists are rare – when one appears, clear their path to their ideal project immediately.
• Active scientists gain skills slowly over time, potentially improving their research bonus or maximum lab capacity. (unverified — #711)
• Changing a scientist’s specialization cuts their bonus by 75% initially, but future improvements apply fully to the new field. (unverified — #711)

Managing Multiple Projects:

A productive research programme typically involves:

• 3-6 active research projects, each with a dedicated scientist and lab allocation.
• Priority ranking among projects (give more labs to higher-priority work).
• Regular review of completion times and priority adjustments.
• Immediate reassignment when projects complete, so no scientist or lab sits idle.

Note: Research Queue

You can set up a research queue so that when a project completes, the scientist automatically begins the next assigned project. This prevents downtime between completions:

• Queue technologies in order of priority within a scientist’s assignment.
• The scientist moves to the next queued project upon completion.
• Labs remain assigned unless you manually change them.
• As of v2.0.0, queued project research time estimates include ancient construct bonuses in their calculations. (unverified — #711)
• As of v2.7.0, the “Assign New” status for research projects carries forward to any queued projects for the same scientist. \hyperlink{ref-7.2-5}{[5]}
• As of v2.7.0, research project highlighting extends to the entire research queue, making it easier to track related projects across the queue. \hyperlink{ref-7.2-5}{[5]}

Pausing Research (v1.13.0+):

As of v1.13.0, paused research projects are held at the race level rather than the individual population level. This means pausing a project preserves its progress globally rather than being tied to a specific colony’s research infrastructure. (unverified — #711)

Tip: Review your research assignments every few years of game time. As technologies complete, new options become available. A scientist who finished a Power and Propulsion project may now have access to a more advanced technology in the same field that should be prioritized. Stale assignments waste research capacity.

UI References and Screenshots

Updated: v2026.01.29

• Research Window Layout — scientist assignment and skill display

Related Sections

• Section 7.1 Technology Tree – The technologies scientists research
• Section 7.3 Research Facilities – Labs that scientists oversee
• Section 16.1 Officer Generation – Scientists as a commander type
• Section 16.3 Assignments – Managing commander assignments
• Appendix A: Formulas – Research output calculations

References

\hypertarget{ref-7.2-1}{[1]} Quadruple bonus mechanic verified via Aurora Wiki (aurorawiki2.pentarch.org) and community sources.

\hypertarget{ref-7.2-2}{[2]} Example calculation verified against Aurora Wiki research mechanics documentation.

\hypertarget{ref-7.2-3}{[3]} Base RP per lab per year = 200, verified against AuroraDB.db FCT_Race.Research=200 for default races. Correction: An earlier version of this example used 100 RP/lab/year, which was incorrect.

\hypertarget{ref-7.2-4}{[4]} Aurora Forums — https://aurora2.pentarch.org/index.php?topic=13463.0 — v2.6.0 changelog. “Wealth cost of research now modified by 1 / Species Research Speed.”

\hypertarget{ref-7.2-5}{[5]} Aurora Forums — https://aurora2.pentarch.org/index.php?topic=13814.0 — v2.7.0 changelog. “‘Assign New’ status for research projects will be carried forward into any queued project for the same scientist” and “Extended highlighting of research projects from selected field to the research queue.”