Introversion

I'm getting bored of the normal research tree, and would like to see an option in the game setup where I could have my Warden start with some amount of research already done.

It strikes me that certain research topics might be far more beneficial to have early than others -- and that this might lead to save scumming to try to get a Warden with the "best" research. So I'd say maybe let players choose one research topic, or have a random 2-3 that is balanced toward the weaker researches or something? Maybe it could be based on the amount of hours it takes to research the topics, so like, if you get Education (12 hours), it could be the same as if you got Maintenance and Finance (6 hours each).

Alternative: Give a player X time units to spec out their Warden, e.g. five or ten hours, and you can place them into the research of whatever you want, before the game starts. And maybe if you just hit Randomize, you get one additional hour than if you spec it yourself.

Anyway, it'd be nice to be able to start the game with some sense of the Warden having actually been a Warden elsewhere, and having amassed some level of knowledge that applies to the new situation. And it'd be the same sort of game-customization option as deciding whether to deal with certain problems (such as gangs or guard needs) or the like -- a way to let the player focus on the type of problems they actually want to deal with.

Okay, came up with potentially a better idea.

When you sell a prison and start a new one from the money, your warden has some experience. This is counted as time units, perhaps six hours (four or five would also be acceptable numbers). So the more times you keep building functional prisons and move on to new prisons, the more experience you gain and the less research you have to do -- the more research carries over from one build to the next.

So say that this update happens, and I sell a prison I was working on before. Now I start with 6 units, and stick them into security, so I get a Security Chief right from the get-go, and he can start researching things faster. Then I whip through a functional prison and sell it to start again; now I have 12 units. So I buy security and the foreman right away. After selling this prison, I get 18 units to work with; perhaps I want to get started on Education just in time for the prisoners to start classes on their first day, so I sink points into security, the psychologist, and then three points in maintenance and three points in education -- half the time to research maintenance, and 3/4 the time to research education after that.

You could spend the time units at the start, or you could save them up and spend them when you realize you need some sort of research really quickly. It's just calling upon research your warden has done before, thus ensuring that each playthrough is a little less onerous with the "chores" aspect -- and that your research goes faster in step with you having more money to spend.

I'd love to see some other lasting effects, like that prisoners who were in your old prison and show up in your new prison remember you somehow, and how you treated them -- a factor of how they felt when they left the prison, or whatever. But the main thing is the research.