Nowhere is the zero-sum nature of research vs materiel clearer than in real-time strategy games. The fundamental choice is actually three-fold: you can spend yo

Nowhere is the zero-sum nature of research vs materiel clearer than in real-time strategy games. The fundamental choice is actually three-fold: you can spend your economy on growing the economy, researching better units or building units. It's like choosing a constant in front of a first- versus second-order DE. Of course the choices vary over time, and the curve is complicated and interesting, at least in well-made games.