Speed up production with research and initiatives
Production runs can now be made faster through production-time research and two new initiatives, and every running batch shows how long it has left and why. Runs now finish exactly when their time is up instead of at the next midnight.
Production-time research is a new R&D track. Choose a product one of your recipes makes: each completed research cycle shortens that product's production runs, up to 30% in total, and each cycle is worth a little less than the one before.
Two new initiatives speed up one product or a whole product category:
- Process Optimization Sprint — at one production business, 12% faster for 5 days.
- Operational Excellence Drive — from headquarters, 8% faster for 7 days at every business you own directly.
A run that only partly overlaps an event gets a matching share of the speed-up. Research and initiatives combine, but together never shorten a run by more than 44%. Speed-ups are fixed when a run starts.
Exact run timing. A run now takes its full duration from the moment it starts, so a run started late in the day no longer finishes at midnight. Runs already in progress keep their old timing. A faster run also occupies its line for less time, so it carries less labour, rent and line wear per batch.
Each running batch now shows its time left next to the progress. Click it to see the recipe's standard duration, every speed-up applied when the run started, and the resulting total.