The stratetic resources (like Titanium-70) are hidden as long as the related tech is not researched. I suggest doing the same thing with the luxury resources, too. I don't see the point in being able to see the luxuries without knowing how to exploit them.

IMHO, both the strategic system and the luxury system are worthwhile. I like the fact that they are different. The hidden strategic resources bring a little tension -- "If I never find any T-70 then I can't build cruisers", for example. For the luxury resources, I think the huge abundance (monopoly) benefits such as +40% invasion strength or +60% movement speed affect my planning. It is useful to plan out which systems I will need to get the abundance. For example, if I see 2 hydromiel on a good planet, 1 on a marginal planet and one in a system which is otherwise useless, I keep in mind that getting one more hydromiel somewhere would be very useful in the future. I think hiding luxury resources would remove that useful/fun aspect.

I agree with davea, it's very useful being able to see where luxury resources are. It helps a player to plan out which way they'll expand, especially since you can't colonize-rush without taking some approval hits. And not all of the luxury resources are visible right away. Some of the upper-tier ones remain hidden until they are researched, I believe. or, that's what I've noticed in my games anyway. There are some luxury resources I can see without the tech to exploit them, and some that only appear after I have the tech.

I don't believe any *luxury* resources are ever hidden. Can you confirm?

Um...I'll play a new game tonight and check, but I've thought some were hidden. I could be mistaken, though, and simply not paying as much attention in-game when new things show up as I should be though. I'll get back to you on this.

davea wrote:
IMHO, both the strategic system and the luxury system are worthwhile. I like the fact that they are different. The hidden strategic resources bring a little tension -- "If I never find any T-70 then I can't build cruisers", for example. For the luxury resources, I think the huge abundance (monopoly) benefits such as +40% invasion strength or +60% movement speed affect my planning. It is useful to plan out which systems I will need to get the abundance. For example, if I see 2 hydromiel on a good planet, 1 on a marginal planet and one in a system which is otherwise useless, I keep in mind that getting one more hydromiel somewhere would be very useful in the future. I think hiding luxury resources would remove that useful/fun aspect.

I see your point and in fact I'm playing likewise. But nevertheless I feel, that you shouldn't have full knowledge of luxuries right from the start. Maybe it would be a good idea to show that there are luxuries on a planet, but not show which ones they are actually. What do you think?

I think we will have to agree to disagree. I like the current system.