This is the third of a set of five related ideas.


The Trade Clearing Bureau is presently a mutually exclusive empire competition -- there can be only one winner and everyone else has sour grapes (they only get a dust refund).  I haven't run into it in my games yet, but I think you can already capture the Trade Clearing Bureau in the present game.  That being said, I propose that this counterplay should be expanded similar to my ITER and ERP ideas.


1) The system on which the TCB (Trade Clearing Bureau) is built already has an icon above it.  Easy peasy.


2) If the system is captured, a solo quest is presented to the new owner with options similar to the following.


2.1.0) Part 1 of 1: Militarist: No one should have it.  The TCB tax rate goes back to the default of 10% and the ability to view transaction details is disabled.  Disassemble the structure and obtain half of the construction costs: 62.5 adamantium, 62.5 antimatter, TBD dust equivalent to 4680 industry.  Hold the system for six turns (or whatever half of a full occupation would take according to the current game mode: 8% occupation per turn = 12.5 turns for full occupation -> half would be six turns).  On completion, can have some fancy quest epilogue that says "The deed is done and this wonder is now lost to the galaxy forever".

2.2.1) Part 1 of 2: Industrialist: We should move it.  The TCB tax rate goes back to 10% and transaction details are disabled.  Disassemble the structure by holding the system for six turns.

2.2.2) Part 2 of 2: Industrialist: Build the structure again, but for half the cost: 62.5 adamantium, 62.5 antimatter, 4680 industry.  On completion, your empire now controls the TCB.

2.3.0) Part 1 of 1: Neutral: We can hold it.  The TCB's effects stay active and it stays bound to the current planetary system.  Note that by not moving the TCB like in option 2.2, this gives the former owners the chance to take back the system.  I would argue that if they do take it back, they should also be given the same choices to destroy/move/keep the TCB now that it has changed hands again.


3) Since this is a tier four deed, I think that empires should be forced to build this somewhere other than their home system.  From a lore perspective, you can say that intergalactic commerce leaders demand some independence from your empire's galactic reach.  I would still flag the structure as unique, but also make a hard requirement that it can't be built in the same system as a Galactic HQ.  For example:


+50 dust if Unique (Unique system improvements hinder other unique system improvements.  The Galactic HQ of an empire's home system also counts as a unique system improvement.)

+100% Star System Trade Value

(Can only be built once per galaxy and cannot be moved with an Ark.  Can not be built in the same system as a Galactic HQ.)


Note that unlike my ITER idea, the benefit of building this on a unique system is only the 50 dust bonus.  The logic behind this is that since this is a tier four deed, the empire probably has multiple systems under control.  With the hard requirement of not being the home system in place, I don't think any other severe penalties should be imposed.  That being said, the unique identifier is still in place because if the empire has the ITER and/or ERP, building the TCB on top of those should impact the effects of those improvements as a tradeoff.


4) Squashing bugs ahead of time:

4.1) Make sure that the TCB stays protected against other player actions -- they can't manually scrap it, it doesn't die accidentally during ground invasions, it isn't removed when a system is razed/vacated.

4.2) Make sure that corner cases for multiple possession changes don't break things.  For example, Player B captures the TCB system from Player A, then on the same turn without clicking any of the solo quest actions, does a diplomatic exchange and sells the system to their ally Player C.


5) As an added bonus, the TCB should be made into a structure visible on the star system management and planet view just like how the academy is visible.  Not sure how you'd decide which planet to attach it to though.  Does the game keep track of which planet was the original outpost in every system?  That would be my first choice.


6) If the TCB can be assigned to a specific planet, can make destroying that planet with a core cracker automatically trigger 2.1.0 above.  It would be a great way to make late game core crackers more impactful.


-HP