Yes, in the current system if you inject enough money you're virtually certain to receive a patent. Otherwise you wouldn't play again... But, there's no guaran

Yes, in the current system if you inject enough money you're virtually certain to receive a patent. Otherwise you wouldn't play again... But, there's no guarantee of reward. Far from it, you've only got a letter of marque, not the ship or crew to profit from it with. In a reward system it'd be totally different. No applications, no licenses, just instant wide disclosure. If you don't tell people they can't use it and you won't get rewarded. And you could just document and teach someone else's invention and get rewards that way, in proportion to the value of the accessibility you added.