How can I spend my science in smaller increments?

I'm at what I assume to be the midway point of the game where I've just built some oil wells and a calciner, so now I'm making my own titanium. The issue I'm running into is that while I'm collecting science not through scholars but through "rare astronomical events" that are happening multiple times each season (for about 6-8K science/year), I'm still maxing out my science and I have nothing to spend it on. I need to build up more scaffolds and steel so that I can create new buildings and raise my max science (since I've already researched/unlocked everything I can with 60K science), but I feel like I'm wasting the science since it maxes out and I have nothing I can do with it.

Is there a way to spend the science in smaller amounts to keep it below the max level (like I can with wood -> beams or iron -> plates), or do I just need to let it sit there (and miss out on astronomical events) until I raise my max enough to have something new to do?

Solution 1:

You can craft compendiums. You may not have a tech to spend them on, but there is no cap on them, and you can turn them into blueprints as needed later (needed for both later techs and several important buildings). As a very minor fringe benefit, each compendium also adds +10 to your science cap. You just need to build up enough manuscripts to where bleeding off the excess science is easy on a whim, so anything that gets you fur (to convert to parchment) and culture would be important. If the compendiums pile up, start converting them to blueprints, which also bleeds off science, although much more.

You can also spend science on Academies, whose largest cost is mainly science (with a bit of wood and minerals), and which also increases your science cap. It also isn't hard to max out the building this way, so unfortunately this will only take you so far. Observatories cost Science as well - you may think they will just increase your stellar events, and put you in the same situation, but more star charts is never a bad thing in the long run. It's just, as you said, building up the wood, which can drag on for a bit.