[Question] Number of recommended brainers

[new_civilian]

I started a campaign some days ago and I wonder what others might recommend in terms of brainers. At the start I had seemingly a few too much as I almost ran out of research topics, so I layed off some off them to save money, now I am getting more research topics again and I had to hire brainers again. So, in a nutshell, what is your recommended number of brainers one should hire/have and when? Or ist just "as much as you can afford"? 

Right now I have 12 brainers and I am i daresay beyond the initial phase of the campaign and for now it seems to be ok, but I am a bit unsure.

[Rince Wind]

As many as you can house for the most part.

[new_civilian]

Ok, thanks. That woul mean 3 more atm. Do you have any numbers on how many brainers one usually has at the end of a campaign? Just that I can plan accordingly...

[Rince Wind]

At the end you'll probably hit upon some bottlenecks. I need Star Gods and some other captives for example (and there were only novices on that cruiser, dammit).
So I kicked out the brainers in one secondary base. Could probably do the same in the other one (I used to have brainers in 3 bases), but kept all the brainers in the main hideout (33 in my case). So after a patch or when I do get something new to research it is reasonably quick.

[Gremlion]

Get as many as you can get, finishing research gives you infamy = money, brainers pay for themselves.
In the late endgame during bottleneck time you can fire them and rehire when needed, money wouldn't be an issue for a long time.

[Rubber Cannonball]

You would probably be fine to peak out at around 50 brainers plus or minus 10 or so.  Early on put a brainer everywhere you can.  Feed the the scattered brainers prisoners, almanacs, decrypted discs, pillow books, any short duration research topics.  Let your dedicated research base focus on longer duration or essential research topics.  In mid game build up 2 or 3 research bases (redundancy to protect against losing a base).  Once the easy topics dry up, consolidate your brainers to 1 or 2 bases to focus on the long duration projects. 

[Dakkdakk]

I once used less brainers due to their maintenance costs but then I realized that research basically pays for itself. As long as you can keep yourself out of the red and have your soldiers healthy and stocked with weapons, you should be hiring brainers left, right and center.

[new_civilian]

Many thanks for all the advice! Atm (after I unlocked several new mission types) I am flooded with new research topics and even my now 15 brainer-gals struggle a bit with those, I will see what I can do to maximize their numbers this weekend.