Can you use research and development with just Europe?

@D511:

Also is it worth using?  Has anyone tried it and does it work?

The answers to these questions are extremely subjective (and you also have to be more clear on what you mean by does it work).

If you ask the person who spent 5 on a single roll turn 1 and gets Heavy Bombers or Shipyards, then yes, it is worth it.  If you talk to the person who spends on one or more rolls every turn and gets nothing (or ends up with War Bonds), then no.  It comes down to how much you enjoy having your games influenced by luck.  If you elect to use the tech tokens rule, you can minimize the luck dependency to some degree, but it will remain high.

Personally, I would be very unlikely to play a tech game if the outcome mattered to me since I am one of those easily frustrated by uneven dice results.

If you want to then you can. I played with just Europe using tech and it works just fine.

@Eggman:

Personally, I would be very unlikely to play a tech game if the outcome mattered to me since I am one of those easily frustrated by uneven dice results.

same here.

BTW, I think the best part of the game is the Europe half and I don’t know if I would even want to bother with Pacific if I played face to face games.  Online you’re kind of stuck with both.

Yeah, I kind of agree with you Variance. Europe is where most of the action is. Plus, if you just play Europe, it takes up a lot less space on the table.
Yet, every time I think, let’s just play Europe, I already start to miss the Japanese. I just can’t seem to get into a game without the Japanese making trouble on the other side of the board.