Choose new Resources in System Developpement Project

Enchanteur

Senior

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Enchanteur

Senior

24 700g2g pts

5 years ago

Jul 29, 2019, 8:59:30 AM

From the beginning I've been playing Endless Space 2, there's one thing I find regrettable about the luxury resource system.
They are used very little, and a large part is just sold on the market.
In Endless Legend, luxury resources are all attractive and serve a lot thanks to the boost system, even if they are sometimes a little too powerful.

In Endless Space 2, the player is forced to choose very precise resources, which he must have and produce in very, very large quantities, if he wants to improve all his systems. As a result, the other resources he has are no longer useful to him (and are eventually resold).
At most, they can be used to increase a population or to calm a revolt, which is anecdotal.

One could imagine a game mechanics that would allow these resources to be used in other ways, such as Endless Legend boosters, but instead I will propose an idea that adapts to the gameplay of Endless Space 2, and can be very easily implemented.

Rather than having a choice of development system chosen forever, the player must be able to redefine the resources used.
This can be an authorized action according to technological research, for each system level for example.

I think this idea would greatly improve the gameplay of Endless Space 2, for several reasons:

- By doing so, the game would offer a greater diversity of resource use. They would all be useful and usable.

- When the player loot a resource that he does not produce, he will probably never use it, because it means that he could improve one or two systems, but no more. Unless you have to buy this resource on the market, if it is available and at an affordable price in large quantities! Here, the player could at least use this resource on one system. Looting a luxury resource would no longer be disappointing.

- The player could adapt the System Developpement Project to each system. For example, he does not want to use resources that promote influence because it is of no use to him in large quantities. On the other hand, it has a system specialized in the production of influence, which would find it useful to have this System Developpement Project in one copy.

Updated 10 days ago.

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GrilledChicken

Space Refreezerator

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GrilledChicken

Space Refreezerator

13 700g2g pts

5 years ago

Aug 16, 2019, 6:25:41 PM

I agree with the post. There might be concerns about players drastically changing their playstyle by suddenly switching out luxury ressources for their systems, but these changes could be hidden behind tech or ressource cost restrictions.

There are several issues with the current system (on top of the currently mentioned ones):

Some factions heavily rely on the spaceport. Cravers&Vodyani especially, but it's also relevant to riftborn&horaito.

The problem currently is, that if the tier 1 ressources are bad, the players are forced into either:

-choosing a (borderline) useless upgrade to access a different function

-not accessing the needed mechanic of a spaceport

Another problem:

Even if you choose desired system developments, other players and the AI do not. Sometimes, the more logical action for you, rather than taking over a system, is razing and subsequently colonizing it. Why? Just because they built dumb system developments that are useless to you. In the middle to lategame, this takes so long (15+ turns), that it's not really useful to do, and you instead decide to take systems which have been "scarred forever" in some sense.

The same dilemma as above sort of happens with autonomous administration. It's the one tool that's supposed to allow you to go wide, but it's intended to be behind a paywall of investing into tech, needing influence, and getting your systems developed. A fair deal. But you (once again) have to choose between downgrading your systems for the long term or leaving that game mechanic be until you found your perfect luxury ressource, which might involve first discovering the entire galaxy, probing everything, and taking over those particular systems that hold it.

Same thing with the quest to get a system to level 3, which sometimes gives magnates council (did i spell that right?).

While i agree with being able to refit systems and your empire ressources for the long term, i also know that it heavily affects game balance. Currently, people can already go for endless factories for all their system developments if they want to, but if they desire this (very powerful) boost, they have to make sacrifices for it by leaving system developments alone for the majority of game time.

But i think this issue could be adressed by properly balancing the cost of doing such a change. It could come with influence cost, turn timers, tech requirements, turns in the build queque, etc. And it would be reasonable to make the cost different depending on what you want to change. For example, changing a tier 1 ressource like jadonyx to a tier 3 ressource like endless factories, could cost more and require more tech than changing a tier 1 ressource to another tier 1 ressource.

Updated 5 years ago.

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GrilledChicken

Space Refreezerator

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GrilledChicken

Space Refreezerator

13 700g2g pts

5 years ago

Aug 16, 2019, 6:29:05 PM

GrilledChicken wrote:
I agree with the post. There might be concerns about players drastically changing their playstyle by suddenly switching out luxury ressources for their systems, but these changes could be hidden behind tech or ressource cost restrictions.

There are several issues with the current system (on top of the currently mentioned ones):

Some factions heavily rely on the spaceport. Cravers&Vodyani especially, but it's also relevant to riftborn&horaito.

The problem currently is, that if the tier 1 ressources are bad, the players are forced into either:
-choosing a (borderline) useless upgrade to access a different function
or
-not accessing the needed mechanic of a spaceport

Another problem:
Even if you choose desired system developments, other players and the AI do not. Sometimes, the more logical action for you, rather than taking over a system, is razing and subsequently colonizing it. Why? Just because they built dumb system developments that are useless to you. In the middle to lategame, this takes so long (15+ turns), that it's not really useful to do, and you instead decide to take systems which have been "scarred forever" in some sense.

The same dilemma as above sort of happens with autonomous administration. It's the one tool that's supposed to allow you to go wide, but it's intended to be behind a paywall of investing into tech, needing influence, and getting your systems developed. A fair deal. But you (once again) have to choose between downgrading your systems for the long term or leaving that game mechanic be until you found your perfect luxury ressource, which might involve first discovering the entire galaxy, probing everything, and taking over those particular systems that hold it.

Same thing with the quest to get a system to level 3, which sometimes gives magnates council (did i spell that right?).

While i agree with being able to refit systems and your empire ressources for the long term, i also know that it heavily affects game balance. Currently, people can already go for endless factories for all their system developments if they want to, but if they desire this (very powerful) boost, they have to make sacrifices for it by leaving system developments alone for the majority of game time.

But i think this issue could be adressed by properly balancing the cost of doing such a change. It could come with influence cost, turn timers, tech requirements, turns in the build queue, etc. And it would be reasonable to make the cost different depending on what you want to change. For example, changing a tier 1 ressource like jadonyx to a tier 3 ressource like endless factories, could cost more and require more tech than changing a tier 1 ressource to another tier 1 ressource.