The game doesn't make it clear. I'm at a position where I could either get extra scientists, money, or a new Captain depending on which abduction mission I take. Help, y'all?

I believe you need a certain amount of scientists to research certain stuff, and the more you have, the quicker research is. I think the later is true, but the former I have little confidence about. But either way, the more the better, theres gotta be a reason.

Like @Sumbog said the more scientists you have the faster you complete research. Also there are some items that do require a certain number of scientists to start. If you are into the meta game aspect there is also an achievement for having 80 scientists.

I'm currently in the endgame and always choose engineers over everything until you have like 50 of them. Then you go with the money until you have more than you know what to do with as you should be building as many workshops as you can on the right side of the base. Power should always be ahead of your construction as you don't want to be limited through that.

Scientists will come as you launch your sats. New people should be your last option. Panic reduction is priority unless you can use a sat to reduce it after you make the choice going for your preferred reward.

They do speed up research, but you will not need the speed boost very much. Depending on your situation, I would take the money or the Captain if you are having trouble in missions.

Faster research. That's it.

@Karkarov said:

Also there are some items that do require a certain number of scientists to start.

No. There are no minimum requirements for research.

I should point out that I currently have about 60 scientists and nothing left to research and I only built one lab. I can potentially start the endgame now, but I'm going to keep playing until I have the weapon fragments to build everything in the foundry. At this point it's just avoiding the end and a lack of scientists was never a problem.

@Tennmuerti said:

@Karkarov said:

Also there are some items that do require a certain number of scientists to start.

No. There are no minimum requirements for research.

*head scratch* Could swear I saw that somewhere. Maybe it was engineers for foundry projects.

Damn, you guys are helpful. :) Australia's the one whose panic reduction will rise to 3 if I don't help, and they'll offer 200. I think I'll take that. I'm damn near broke. Personnel isn't a problem; funds are.

@Karkarov: I'm pretty sure you need a certain amount of scientists to build laboratories, and that's it. I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure.

They only speed up research times. There is no Scientist requirement for research, so their only use is to decrease the time it takes to finish research projects.

Like everyone said, quicker research. I cracked 100 scientists and was able to do late-game research in a day or two. The captain is probably more valuable since you get new scientists at the end of each month.