Researching or stealing research?

[Fisherking]

The key is that anything above 3 gentlemen in a school does not add anything to the research speed. So, if you have extra gentlemen you might as well try to use them to steal techs. The chance of success is small, but rewarding if you succeed (at some point).

As I mentioned earlier, you can be researching one tech while trying to steal others. Especially, in the early game, if you start with a high-star gentleman, you can significantly boost your "research breadth" by stealing. A 4-5 star gentleman will have around 40-45% chance to steal level one techs. Of course, you will need repeated attempts to succeed.

I have not seen gentlemen gaining stars, but they do get extra character traits that boost research in a certain specialization. So, if a gentleman succeeds in stealing military tech, he is likely to get a boos to his military research (and stealing). Before 1.3, it was possible to just "visit" a foreign university and at times, gentlemen would pick up character traits just from sitting in foreign universities. Post 1.3, there are only two options though: steal or duel.

The only time that having more than two Gentlemen in a school has an effect is if they all have 4 or more stars. Otherwise two is all you can really use.

[FactionHeir]

Add more and they always have an effect, its not based on their stars in a certain research area.
Every tech has a certain number of points required. Adding more gents who have a low skill level may not visibly decrease the number of turns needed, especially for higher end techs. And of course diminishing returns after the 3rd gent, not the second.

Gents can get traits which boost all research (tenure, librarian etc) and traits that boost a certain area. Note that the trait gain for specialties is not entirely dependon on the research at that school. YOu can be researching enlightenment and getting agriculture traits for instance. This only seems to be the case for those 2 research areas tough, military gives military only (except for ancs, you can get anti military ancs while studying military).

Note the cap of 12 for any agent type.

[Obadiah]

What are you guys doing to get so many gents????

[Xipe Totec]

I always build as many schools / colleges / universities as possible even if it means dismantling more profitable factories or happiness buildings. I don't keep / build religious buildings unless the province has a high religion unrest. Gentleman are spawned one per s/c/u/ plus one per observatory so build them in preference to opera houses / museums etc. Schools are best built in provinces with many towns or with buildable internal structures i.e the observatory to offset the clamour for reform.

Government type is crucial for a rapid technological advance: Republic is the best for research and low clamour, Constitutional Monarchy is next best and Absolute is pants (high unrest and slow research rate). Beware though that becoming a Republic will make you a lot of enemies, as France found in 1789. CM is best for lowering industrial unrest and has less of a diplo hit.

If you can get your gents to the German minors early in the game there are many universities in a small area. One gent can steal a tech faster than you can research it, so it makes sense in the early game to roam around thieving as much as possible. I haven't seen a diplomatic hit for being caught, and if your gent dies on the field of honour he will soon be replaced. It also helps to see the state of research of your neighbours and enemies in an easier way than through diplomatic 'pretend tech trading'. Later in the game you should be ahead of your rivals in most lines of research so there will be less opportunites to profit from pilfering. With enough universities you can saturate the tech tree, so your gents would be better employed speeding along the key discoveries which unlock buildings and unblock other lines of research.

Technology means better ships, better guns, better troops, more money, faster growth and more fun visuals , but it can make the game way too easy (percussion shells especially). Well, we are not playing this game to lose are we?

[Slaists]

What are you guys doing to get so many gents????

Build observatories in all cities where you can. Each observatory yields a gent. + All universities yield one too. I believe, there is a cap of 12 gents max though.