Not sure if Alexis et al read these forums at all, but thought I'd throw this out there and see what people think.

Research

First things first - the research mechanics are significantly improved in the current beta compared to the current release version (and they've fixed that issue where stuff stayed researched even when upgraded).

Second - the new HQ mechanics are pretty cool - especially how they interact with the research.

Third - The new research mechanic actually has uses for the top-level skills (or in some cases, some additional uses), which is definitely welcome and makes attaining those much more rewarding.

It's also pretty cool how one always has choices on how to proceed - even with the tougher high-end research - but these either require a HQ of the appropriate type, the appropriate top-level skill, or you can do something a touch riskier. The riskier stuff tends to roughly equate to what happens with some of the curses (and the risk is about the same I think?) - except for the ones that "breed". Those breeders are a cool idea - if this mechanic were used a touch more, it could make the game challenging again (this sort-of happens with the apostles).

"Secret" HQs

Of the two other things (apart from helping out in research) that HQs can do, is to create a low-level influence of a specific type (dependent on the HQ), and potentially enable "secrecy".

This second part is only available on the "secret" HQs (should be sort-of obvious before you move into it if it's a secret HQ or not, despite the fact that this isn't actually shown until you do the move).

The influence generation thing is nice, since having options for influences can be a good thing - especially for new players who may not know where to get certain influences from - but for anyone somewhat familiar with the mansus (and it only takes a half-dozen dreams with a "way" to get a good idea of what to expect from that location), I found it to be a waste of time and money (why pay for something crappy when you can dream for something better for free?).

The "secret" part is IMO potentially much more useful - it has a 30% chance of triggering a reputation-magnet, which hangs around for a fair while (180 seconds or so?).

Unfortunately, in order to even have a chance of triggering the rep-magnet, one needs to actually USE the HQ in something. Which currently means: using it in research; generating an influence; or betraying a follower. The first only occurs during research (obviously), and even then only for the top-level lore, and even then only for specific ones; generating an influence is mostly pointless, unless you really need a specific one and you don't feel like playing Mansus RNG; and while betraying a follower definitely has its uses, I prefer to utilise my cultists to do "cult business" to that effect (if nothing else, there is very little that most cultists actually DO - this is one of the few ways I get to enjoy being a leader of obsessed nutjobs doing my bidding).

Sure, if you betray followers a lot it can be useful, since roughly 30% of the time, you'll end up rermoving the notoriety you generate (and if you have a need for bodies but your cult isn't great with acquiring said bodies, this is definitely the best path). Of course it's only guaranteed to remove notoriety if you don't have any mystique on the board - like a hunter, the "secret" isn't picky about the type of reputation, though I'd hope that it doesn't absorb corpses at least (since these are technically "reputation" cards too).

So, unfortunately, it will never trigger on "cult business" since that uses the "society" card and not the HQ card - which is a shame, since that's something I tend to do a fair bit throughout the game (and it's especially useful for two of the original ascensions).

So, I was thinking: maybe "cult business" could be changed to use the "HQ" card instead (even if it's only an option). Currently, the "society" card doesn't actually change anything related to cult business - the "business" is decided entirely based on the aspects of the cult member you're talking to. So there's actually no real need to use the "society" card for this - and, since all cults will invariably have a HQ - why don't we allow the use of the HQ instead? That way, the HQ can act as a sort of "safe house" or "hideout" for your minions after the deed - and since they usually bring something (or someone) back, it makes sense that they bring this back to your HQ.

Anyway, I probably should have edited this wall of text down - but hey, CS fans love reading, right? ;)

Thoughts? Comments?

(BTW if you haven't tried the latest beta yet - I encourage you to go for it. I hate Galaxy but activated it only for this game - totally worth it).