Currently the only real use for luxury resources is to construct empire developments, causing the player to have a constant demand for a large quantity of a small number of types of luxuries. Additionally, it seems peculiar that there is no way to spend dust or production or to otherwise purchase happier pops, when you would think that it would be feasible to invest resources in trying to make them happy, but you would have to keep doing so in order to sustain those bonuses. The pops in your empire should be hungry and should want things which you can potentially give to them. 


I propose the creation of a new category of item in the marketplace- goods. Goods are more like the Stockpiles in Endless Legend in that they are consumed upon use.



Defining Types of Goods


Goods are manufactured automatically out of structures which produce Goods. Importantly, it always costs resources to manufacture goods, whether luxuries or strategic resources. The resource costs of goods depend on their types. 


Goods production is unlocked with the same technology that unlocks the marketplace. This will unlock only one slot for one type of goods.


Then, in the trade and commerce screen, the player can choose empire development, and should also be able to choose the compositions of goods. A player that has a quantity of Jadonyx but not enough to use for empire development might choose to use Jadonyx for their type of goods. The boost from the goods could be production-related, but need not be the same as the empire development. 


Goods may incorporate multiple resource types, creating more advanced goods when more resources are used. They may also incorporate strategic resources. 


Combining goods together does not result in flat addition of effects; rather, a central "primary" ingredient is modified by successive ingredients. Each ingredient type has two effects; one effect if it is the primary ingredient, and a second, different effect if it is an ingredient. For example, Redsang might have a primary effect of +2 Food/pop when used in a good. However, if used as a secondary ingredient, it might instead have the effect of increasing the primary effect by +25%.


Players can also choose from among basic boosts which cost Industry to manufacture. A level 1 good may choose only one of these boosts, with basic features like a small Happiness boost or such bonuses.


Once defined, a type of goods cannot be modified. However, it can be deleted in order to be replaced with a newly created type of goods. Unlocking more slots for more types of goods opens up more options for how to exploit the luxuries that are currently available which the player does not wish to use for empire development.



Manufacturing Goods


Goods are produced using structures on a planet which are constructed for the express purpose of manufacturing goods; Factories.


Each Factory has a Production trait, which indicates the quantity of input resources it can consume. A factory with a production rate of 1 will consume 1 unit of Jadonyx and Redsang, using the good defined above. A larger factory with higher production capacity might have a production of 6, and consume 6 Jadonyx and 6 Redsang to produce six times as many goods. A more advanced tech might unlock a superior factory type, or directly increase the output of all factories. 


The ratio of luxuries/strategics is not 1:1- goods use a much smaller unit size (and variable size), meaning a single factory consuming 1 Jadonyx and 1 Redsang might produce 10 units of goods. If a player does not have enough resources to convert them into goods, production will stop, or will proceed at a reduced rate using the resources that are available. 



Consuming Goods


The purpose of goods is to provide a temporary boost to your pops. One unit of goods is sufficient to boost one pop for one turn. This means that goods provide large boosts, but unless they are continuously being manufactured or purchased, the goods will quickly be exhausted. 


However, unlike boosts in Endless Legend, player input is not required to "activate" the boost from goods. In fact the player cannot prevent any goods in their empire from being consumed immediately by any pops with demand for them. 


A large empire is going to need to consume a large quantity of goods. However, an empire can only ever consume a quantity of goods equal to its number of pops- surplus goods are stockpiled for later, and can be sold on the market or traded diplomatically. 


Goods consumption stacks only with different types of goods. Each pop can only consume 1 unit of each type and gains no benefit from additional copies, however it can consume any number of different types of goods.


The goods are assumed to be spread out across the empire. If there are fewer goods than there are pops, every pop will receive a proportional share of the total boost. So, if an empire with 50 pops has 25 units of a certain type of good, then every pop in the empire will get one half of the bonus from the good. 



Trading Goods


The key inference about this system is that each empire will have a nearly bottomless appetite for as many types of goods as possible. 


Therefore, two empires who are each over-producing their respective goods will mutually benefit from trading their excess goods with one another. 


This also creates a robust incentive to remain on friendly terms with an empire that is producing goods you need. As soon as relations sour the stream of goods will be cut off. It also means that players are incentivized to upgrade the goods they produce, and to choose types that will be desired by others, to make their own goods in greater demand than those of other empires. 


Additionally, trading companies should treat goods production as though there were luxury producers in that system. Thus, trade companies can be used to further increase goods output, potentially of types of goods which are being produced by other empires. 



Leveling Up Goods


A type of goods will "level up" when the player produces a large enough quantity of it. Each successive level requires a larger quantity to be created than the previous level. 


Higher level goods will be created more rapidly and at higher volumes for the same resource cost. The same factory will produce a larger number of goods but will have the same resource input. 


Leveling up goods creates an incentive not to replace a type of goods that the empire has been producing in huge quantities for a long time. But for a recently-created type of goods, it makes sense to replace it after expending all the available resources used to create it. 


Higher level goods can select additional "vanilla" boosts, increasing the Industry cost of the goods but without increasing their resource costs. Additionally, research, curiosities, or other sources might unlock new types of goods features that can be attached to goods. Research might also upgrade some or all of the boosts available to your goods, increasing their effect and their Industry cost.



Conclusion


Goods production gives players a compelling purpose for luxuries other than their empire development resources. And it is both more strategically interesting and less finicky than a manually activated boost, because an empire will always automatically consume as much as possible, up to its maximum possible consumption of that type of goods.


Moreover, the fact that each empire can only consume a quantity equal to its own pops will place a cap which drives diplomacy and sharing by limiting the types of goods a player can produce. An empire that is producing a large quantity of its goods would rather have a diverse selection of goods from many different empires, pushing them to trade with others.