I don't feel like there are enough interesting technologies, particularly at the higher levels, where there seem to be lots of poorly differentiated techs. Here are some ideas for new techs:



Tier 3

Battlefield Reclamation

Improved supply chains allow dedicated post-combat teams to rapidly identify valuable resources among the detritus and ship them to the capital for reprocessing.

Whenever you win a battle, decommision a building, or destroy a city, you gain strategic resources equal to half the resources used by the army or building(s) destroyed.

Rationale: Allows an alternate method of generating strategic resources, particularly useful for when no trades are available (and also, if you are Cultists); creates a useful passive in a tier without enough passives; permits dramatic reversals against strong military opponents.



Tactical Meditation

Through constant training, your units maintain their focus regardless of the overwhelming horrors of the battlefield.

Your units have a chance to ignore negative status effects equal to their morale divided by 6.

Rationale: Counter to game-changing stun effects, particularly those of Ardent Mages; military passive in a tier without sufficient passives.



Tier 4

Civil Service

The transition to peacetime life is rarely uncomplicated, but benefits await those that abandon violence.

Allows building Civil Administration (600 Industry, 5 mithrite): Your garrisoned units (not including militia) gain 0.5 xp less per turn, but contribute to the population of the city they garrison for purposes of FIDSI generation.

Rationale: Gives a viable alternative to military expansion or counterattack; encourages defensive play over offensive play.



Barter Economy

The absence of any common currency complicates trade on Auriga, but it is still possible through the cultivation of diplomatic relationships.

Eliminates the influence cost of including luxury or strategic resources or dust in diplomatic agreements with factions with whom you share a trade route.

Rationale: Gives a reasonable alternate avenue of trade.



Dust Conduits (Broken Lords only)

While some sort of shell is necessary to house the animating force of the Broken Lords, dust conduits allow the transfer of dust to more perfectly packed polyhedral shells during rest periods, permitting massively increased population density.

Allows building Polyhedral Dust Shells (600 industry, 40 glassteel, 5 mithrite): The costs to increase population in this city depend only on empire-wide population; high population in this city will not increase the cost.

Rationale: Encourages or allows tall play; gives a tech to a faction that, due to absence of food techs, has fewer technology choices than other factions.



Tier 5

Caste System

An era of war has created a culture dominated by an elite military caste.

Allows building Armory (1000 industry, 40 palladium, build once per empire): Units recruited here enter play with one extra accessory slot.

Rationale: No military specialization builings; provides continuing demand for lower tier strategic resources; allows late game military to compete with existing, experienced armies; provides use for palladium for Broken Lords.

I'd like to see a mid game economic tech that would allow you to trade more than 10 of a resource in the markets, and a late game tech that would up the district lvl cap by one.

These are well thought out. I like them a lot.



The Battlefield Reclamation and Dust Conduits are must haves.

The Tactical Meditation I don't see myself using very often.

I like Civil Service but seems OP. Maybe in the form of a building you have to make for each city?



I disagree on the Caste System tho. All high tier food buildings use Palladium. In a non BL economic game I actually thought Palladium was over used.

While the building idea is interesting, (just guessing here) it might be hard to implement.



(Edited to include tech names instead of numbers for clarification)

Thanks for your comments. I've made some edits based on them and further reflection. (Dust Conduits -> tier 4 with increased cost, more general language for Tactical Meditation) and added Barter Economy to my original list.



I've pretty much settled into a groove with Broken Lords (and customs based on them) so I forgot about palladium food buildings. Still, it's the right resource for that type of building, considering the military buildings it competes with, and Broken Lords can easily drown in palladium.



I suppose Civil Service would encourage too much swamping of naked units, and a building for it would be appropriate. I'll edit it in a second.

Caste System seems like it would be a pain to implement seeing as unit equipment is handled on an empire wide level before the unit itself is built; how would you equip them? You'd have to have a separate unit template for "units built in city with armory". Perhaps instead the armory could reduce strategic resource costs per unit in that city? The end unit is the same, just produced more efficiently.

Wow, these are all great ideas. I hope the devs see them ^^.



I really like all of them, except the last one. Like ladygolem said it doesn't seem probable that they would jump through so many hoops to implement it.

Ladygolem wrote:
Caste System seems like it would be a pain to implement seeing as unit equipment is handled on an empire wide level before the unit itself is built; how would you equip them? You'd have to have a separate unit template for "units built in city with armory". Perhaps instead the armory could reduce strategic resource costs per unit in that city? The end unit is the same, just produced more efficiently.

Good point. I hadn't thought of that. Reducing strategic costs of creating a unit in a new city isn't very appealing to me, though, because it reduces the demand for strategics instead of increases it, and still leaves late game recruits far weaker than experienced units. I'll meditate on it a bit.

A long time ago, I made a post discussing the possibility of adding more economic buildings and techs. Here it is:

/#/endless-legend/forum/6-game-design/thread/3375-more-buildings-and-building-requirements-terrain-population-and-more



We can add technologies in Era 3 that allow you to build improvements in extreme terrain, such as:



1- "Solar Focus": ((Description: Exposing Dust to focused solar radiation results in exponential growth of energy reserves. Can only be built in desert biome)). Gives +1 on Desert (arid) tiles. +15% when constructing buildings. 2 Dust maintenance



2- "Meltdown Hydroponics": ((Description: Careful expansion of underground hot springs has allowed the production of vast pools of icy water, suitable for the cultivation of resilient polar plant life. Can only be built in Snow biome)). Gives +1 on Ice and Snow tiles without forest. +10% in Winter. 2 Dust maintenance



3- "Floating Villages": ((A lack of sufficient living space means small island dwellers willingly accept the possibility of living afloat on huge platforms connected by bridges and ferries. Can only be built if City tile has 2 or more nearby Coastal tiles)). +1 per worker. Gives +20% when producing units and stockpiles. 1 Dust maintenance



The Defensive Buildings sound interesting as well. Here are some more:



4- "Tunnel Network": The city must have a mountain and/or 3 cliffs in exploitation. All your Armies in this region can now move through cliffs and mountains. Moving through mountains cost 3 movement points. Armies in mountains can not be attacked. The militia of connected regions with Tunnel Networks will reinforce each other regardless of distance. Trade Routes can bypass blockade by 50%.



5- "Shrine of the Endless": ((A construct that serves as both a temple to the ancients as well as a research facility to study fallen artifacts from the stars. Can only be built near mountain/ridge)). Gives +5% and +5% Influence per mountain tile in exploitation.



6- "Camouflaged Turrets": Militia units defending this city have +2 Attack and Damage per Watch Tower in this region, and another +2 attack and damage for every watch tower advancement technology you have researched.



7- "House Reinforcement": Militia units defending this city will gain +2 Defense per Level 1 district, +3 Defense per Level 2 District, and Level 3 districts grant an additional rank of the "Block" ability to militia up to a maximum. Militia units also gain +2 movement points.



4 and 5 are unlocked with an Era 4 technology called "King of the Hill"



6 and 7 are unlocked with an Era 2 or 3 technology called "Partisan Engineering"

Hi there:

I'm still fearly new to the game, so this is the opinion of a beginner



- Solar focus seems interesting, I could see myself research it.

- Meltdown Hydroponics is good too, but I wouldn't had the +10% in winter. A city in a cold environnement could still have acces to lake/sea/river that already permit boosts similar to this (and come former era). Moreover, having a tech making extreme cold viable seems like it's already a lot.

- Floating village: seems good, but isn't +20% a lot?

- Tunnel network: I'm quite uncertain about this one. At first sight, it doesn't seems to useful, an era 4 research that permit better movement trough mountain and cliffs that I tend to avoid anyway (unless there is an easy access near), but the renforcing militia part of it kinda feels like it could end up snowballing with cities sharing a huge network of militia for no cost (it's not the TP of the vaulters, and it's just militia, but hell). Maybe if the helping militia died or if there was a cost, it would feel more balanced

- Shrine of the endless: okay but very similar to other tech from the same era, kinda feels redondant.

- Camouflage turret: I can definitely see myself get that... but a bit later in the game, where a have more time to install a lot of watchtower. I think era 3 would be the best of your two idea

- House reiforcement: seems good, maybe the bonus shouldn't be applied to the reinforcement to avoid reinforcing the snowball effect I was talking about sooner.



all in all, they all seems pretty cool with some détails to modify (in my opinion )

Schell wrote:
Hi there:

I'm still fearly new to the game, so this is the opinion of a beginner



- Solar focus seems interesting, I could see myself research it.

- Meltdown Hydroponics is good too, but I wouldn't had the +10% in winter. A city in a cold environnement could still have acces to lake/sea/river that already permit boosts similar to this (and come former era). Moreover, having a tech making extreme cold viable seems like it's already a lot.

- Floating village: seems good, but isn't +20% a lot?

- Tunnel network: I'm quite uncertain about this one. At first sight, it doesn't seems to useful, an era 4 research that permit better movement trough mountain and cliffs that I tend to avoid anyway (unless there is an easy access near), but the renforcing militia part of it kinda feels like it could end up snowballing with cities sharing a huge network of militia for no cost (it's not the TP of the vaulters, and it's just militia, but hell). Maybe if the helping militia died or if there was a cost, it would feel more balanced

- Shrine of the endless: okay but very similar to other tech from the same era, kinda feels redondant.

- Camouflage turret: I can definitely see myself get that... but a bit later in the game, where a have more time to install a lot of watchtower. I think era 3 would be the best of your two idea

- House reiforcement: seems good, maybe the bonus shouldn't be applied to the reinforcement to avoid reinforcing the snowball effect I was talking about sooner.



all in all, they all seems pretty cool with some détails to modify (in my opinion )

1-



2- Most people agree with you that +10% in winter seems out of place. I added it cuz it sounded unique to me, and very few buildings give bonus in winter only (except for Vaulters)... I suppose it can be removed or replaced



3- +20% for units and Stockpiles only. I agree with you, it could be too much for units. Maybe it should be +15% or +20% for Stockpiles only? I added this because it would encourage players to use Stockpiles more often. Right now, they are very expensive to build anyway...

Also, remember that coastal cities usually don't have a lot of



4- I agree that reinforcing Militia that die in combat will also disappear from their original city. I have edited that part in my comment. I added the mountain and cliff movement benefits in order to increase player interaction with the unique terrain in Endless Legend. It will also encourage players to vary their city-building patterns a little bit more than just "going after the most anomalies and rivers". Also, if you build your city that is surrounded by Mountains and cliffs and has Tunnel Network, it will be easier for you to defend it and your armies will be able to reach it faster than your enemies, so you can protect it. I thought it would be a cool mechanic to encourage defensive playstyle with militia (since EL rewards offensive playstyle much more, right now). This way you can let your militia defend the cities with only a small fast army while your main army is invading someone else. (It will protect you against "back-stabbing" ). And finally, the Trade Route blockade breaking (50%) can be useful if you rely a lot on trade routes



5-Yeah I did not think about this one too much (maybe we could change the numbers and/or bonuses?). I just wanted to invent some improvement that would make mountains useful in specific situations. Indeed, in Civ 5, if I was playing for Science victory, I would seriously consider building multiple cities next to mountains in order to build Observatories (+50% Science). Also there are other wonders that can only be made next to mountains... So I thought, why not also in EL? It would add more terrain interaction

(Also, even in Age of Wonders 3, mountains are useful for some races, like the Dwarves... More terrain interaction >> better imo)



6-

7- Yes this one applies only to the garrison army and milita, not the reinforcements (just like the City Defense points buff)



It think it would be smart to make these buildings in the same technologies. At least 2 in 1, so we don't spread them out too much and result in too many redundant techs. (The idea is to make these new stuff very tempting to players in various situations)

KrimsonVagus wrote:


3- +20% for units and Stockpiles only. I agree with you, it could be too much for units. Maybe it should be +15% or +20% for Stockpiles only? I added this because it would encourage players to use Stockpiles more often. Right now, they are very expensive to build anyway...

Also, remember that coastal cities usually don't have a lot of

I think it would definitively be better if it was only applied to stockpile, as you said, it would become another good incentive to use this particular tech.

KrimsonVagus wrote:


4- I agree that reinforcing Militia that die in combat will also disappear from their original city. I have edited that part in my comment. I added the mountain and cliff movement benefits in order to increase player interaction with the unique terrain in Endless Legend. It will also encourage players to vary their city-building patterns a little bit more than just "going after the most anomalies and rivers". Also, if you build your city that is surrounded by Mountains and cliffs and has Tunnel Network, it will be easier for you to defend it and your armies will be able to reach it faster than your enemies, so you can protect it. I thought it would be a cool mechanic to encourage defensive playstyle with militia (since EL rewards offensive playstyle much more, right now). This way you can let your militia defend the cities with only a small fast army while your main army is invading someone else. (It will protect you against "back-stabbing" ). And finally, the Trade Route blockade breaking (50%) can be useful if you rely a lot on trade routes

to the idea of reinforcing defensive playstyle, I'm in the middle of a hard game and it feels like playing Total War:Shogun 2 . I'm just worried about the balance: building and exploiting a city in the mountain is hard, but the natural protections are already pretty good. I wonder if the idea of small & fast army with a main army working somewhere else wouldn't quickly become extremely hard for other players since it could lead to one of them harrassing very easily (since there are less risks of back stabbing, as you said). All in all the idea seems interesting tough, so I guess it kinda depend on the balancing of the values.

KrimsonVagus wrote:


5-Yeah I did not think about this one too much (maybe we could change the numbers and/or bonuses?). I just wanted to invent some improvement that would make mountains useful in specific situations. Indeed, in Civ 5, if I was playing for Science victory, I would seriously consider building multiple cities next to mountains in order to build Observatories (+50% Science). Also there are other wonders that can only be made next to mountains... So I thought, why not also in EL? It would add more terrain interaction

(Also, even in Age of Wonders 3, mountains are useful for some races, like the Dwarves... More terrain interaction >> better imo)

Well, maybe Shrine of the Endless could be something like this:

- X% OR :, + X% . This way, it's still a bit different from the other tech and make use of the other ressources that you have too much of.

KrimsonVagus wrote:


It think it would be smart to make these buildings in the same technologies. At least 2 in 1, so we don't spread them out too much and result in too many redundant techs. (The idea is to make these new stuff very tempting to players in various situations)

Agreed ^^



By the way, I'm only seeing now how many horrible grammar and spelling mistakes I did in my previous post. Sooooo, even though it's quite late: sorry for my poor english >_<

this is great thread. would like to add Tier 4/5 The Shining City allows lvl 3 city center and lvl 4 to the Cultist. City must have pop level of ?? (I am thinking 16).