Do you need a romantic relationship in order to be happy?

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I can't answer the question directly, because I find happiness elusive regardless of relationship status. I can say that I am as okay with being romantically alone as I am with being alive (which you may take as you will), and have made a point to be so for long enough that I know I can be comfortable and content with living my life alone. That said, I believe it would be far preferable to have someone to share my life with, but only if it was a person with whom I could connect. A relationship for the sake of being in a relationship does not appeal to me on any level.

To answer the questions:
1. Sex I can live without and do. I would prefer not to, but it is not a primary motivator in my life. As for sexual satisfaction being received outside of a relationship, that is not something everyone is capable of finding satisfying (or remotely appealing/enjoyable).
2. Emotional support: I do well enough without. It would be wonderful but is not necessary.
3. Financial assistance: Irrelevant to the conversation.
4. Validation: I don't really understand. I have nothing in need of stamping.
5. What can a romantic relationship add to one's life? These things are mostly emotional and therefore difficult to quantify or explain logically.
-Being accepted totally for who you are, "quirks" and all. Loving someone for who they are, "quirks" and all.
-Someone to share your journey with. How you share it may vary from partaking in adventures together to intimate conversations to an understanding glance--the medium will undoubtedly vary from one couple to the next (and one day to the next) and is largely irrelevant.
-The security of knowing you have someone you can trust and rely on, should you need it. The pleasure of offering this security to a person you care about.
I'm sure there is more, but these are the ones that come to mind.

Looking at romance logically will always fail.

That's because there's nothing logical about romance.

Romance is an idea of how things are supposed to be like between two people who are in a (sexual?) relationship. It's an illusion, it's impractical, etc. It's also one of those things that seems nice on the surface but that turns out to be disturbing once you really sit down and think about it.

Not really, but people usually can't be happy without it.

No.

I'm the "talks too much" brand of whatever it is that's made me different my whole life, so being alone a lot can be kind of frustrating. I'm also a giving person, so to me, a good experience is usually made better when I can share it with someone I care about, and who cares about me.

On the other hand, there are also times when I've had good experiences made worse by virtue of having unfortunately been in the company of the wrong person. In those instances, I'd rather have been alone.

That last part sounds more obvious than it really is.. I know *lots* of people who'd rather be with somebody -- even if that somebody is wrong for them -- than to be alone.

That ain't me.

I can't really answer this question legitimately. Whenever I didn't have one I was fine. I wanted one but it wasn't an all consuming need. But when I finally got one... Wow I felt like holes in my soul I didn't know were there were filled. It felt incredible to feel love and give love. After that I never thought I could live without it.

If I'm looking at it from the viewpoints of sex and emotional connections, yes.

I would say 40% of my happiness comes from relationships. I can only be 60% happy by myself, a relationship can only make me 40% happy for any significant length of time. Probably half of that 40% comes from sex and all the physical aspects that I could technically get outside of a relationship. The 60% is cars and money though. I haven't had enough of that since I was 17.

I've heard that happiness comes from within, and also that you must love yourself before you can love someone else. If you feel really lonely if you are not in a relationship, then yes, I would suggest trying to find a mate. Personally, I'm really shy, so I usually do better with meeting someone online first, then meeting in person a few months later if things go well.

Sometimes romantic relationships don't bring happiness. Abusive relationships are the best example of relationships that don't bring happiness. If a person treats his/her partner like crap, then there should not have been a romantic relationship to begin with. Even if some do get into a relationship, their comes a time when they would want to be alone again and would push their partner farther away. If you saw the divorce rate in the US, it's about 50%. Best to show that not everyone is happy in a relationship. Don't get me wrong, relationships are good and I want one too. You just have to find the right person. That's all. Once you do, you will be happy.