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Resource System Expansion

Posted: Wed Nov 18, 2015 6:03 pm
by sven
A draft of the expanded resource model is currently up on 'dev', and should be migrating to stable sometime this week.

There's a large number of changes associated with this update, and I’m not going to attempt to list them all here. But, feel free to ask questions about any obscure details that may catch your attention ;)

At a high level, the big news is that farms, mines, and (with appropriate tech) markets are now in the game. In most cases, I'm hoping that their interactions will be fairly intuitive. The in-game docs have also been updated, and clicking on your planet's resource production icons should explain the whys and hows behind the new numbers.

Note that the "City Planning" activity is now available on all worlds from the start of the game. It should boost your population growth significantly, but, it also increases food consumption.

Note also that planet’s metal productivity varies from planet to planet. Right now, a planet’s mineral rating can be hard to find (it shows up along side the other “fluff” stats in a planet’s description). We’re working on some overlay icons for mineral ratings that should make unusually high or low mineral planets easy to spot.

Similarly, farm productivity will vary by world type. There’s one rather interesting special rule here -- Iceball worlds are typically terrible farming sites, unless you happen to have Orthin colonists, in which case, your farms suddenly become far more productive.

Theory-crafters may notice that the rules around “staffing” improvements have changed. You can read up on the current system by clicking around in the docs. In the near future, hovering over an improvement type in the choose production dialog will give you a preview of the effects of building that improvement on the current planet.

The current build on ‘dev’ should be pretty stable. Just be aware that I’ve still got some tech mechanics to plug in. And, of course, there’s lots of additional balance work to be done. Hull metal costs, in particular, really need some adjustments.

That said, from the bit of playing I have done with the new system, the new mechanics are feeling like a promising change. You can reap real advantages by cultivating a collection of “feeder” worlds to supply one or two big industrial hubs, and there are some potentially interesting choices to be made in terms of just where you put your focus in the early game.

Re: Resource System Expansion

Posted: Thu Nov 19, 2015 1:47 pm
by echo2361
Sounds interesting! Once I've got some time I'll dive into the changes and give you my thoughts.

Re: Resource System Expansion

Posted: Fri Nov 20, 2015 6:41 am
by evil713
I am thinking the ai does not share this system at the moment, or is it normal for the phidi to have a dozen scout ships and transports early on. have uploaded logs.

Re: Resource System Expansion

Posted: Fri Nov 20, 2015 2:27 pm
by sven
evil713 wrote:I am thinking the ai does not share this system at the moment, or is it normal for the phidi to have a dozen scout ships and transports early on. have uploaded logs.


In dev, the AI is cheating egregiously, and have a huge metal bonus that means they effectively don't need to worry about mines. Um... should be fixed soon. The AI may still cheat -- but, the level of cheating that's happening right now is excessive.

Re: Resource System Expansion

Posted: Fri Nov 20, 2015 7:41 pm
by evil713
Having production switch to none when you run out of resources like metal is annoying. I get that I am running at a deficit right now but a work stoppage is better that it going poof.

speaking of poof, do I get the invested metal back if it goes none on me?

Re: Resource System Expansion

Posted: Fri Nov 20, 2015 8:03 pm
by Arioch
evil713 wrote:Having production switch to none when you run out of resources like metal is annoying. I get that I am running at a deficit right now but a work stoppage is better that it going poof.

speaking of poof, do I get the invested metal back if it goes none on me?

Yes, you never lose production or resources due to work stoppage.

Re: Resource System Expansion

Posted: Sat Nov 21, 2015 5:15 am
by evil713
I'm liking the resource system, you need to build worlds to there strengths and it makes the game longer. Because of the need for ore and food production and research constructions are more centralized and limited, making it a lot more strategic. It would be nice to move some of these resources into space, food and ore station moduals, if the construction and science moduals could generate actual industry and science that would help as well.

Still need a better refit system. With the slower pace refitting is now a doable thing and possibly necessary.

Re: Resource System Expansion

Posted: Sat Nov 21, 2015 8:25 am
by Arioch
evil713 wrote:Still need a better refit system. With the slower pace refitting is now a doable thing and possibly necessary.

Agreed.

Re: Resource System Expansion

Posted: Sat Nov 21, 2015 4:18 pm
by sven
The expanded resource system is now posted to "stable".

A few important changes went in last night -- most of the Planetology techs that had been marked as "unimplemented" should now be functioning as intended. Bionomics, Cloning, Longevity, and Arcologies should now all be working, granting quite considerable boosts to pop growth and caps. As the numbers are set right now, these 4 techs may be over-powered, but, investing in Planetology can be a significant strategic sacrifice, and I feel that if it's going to compete with weapon or construction techs at similar price points, the effects need to be pretty compelling.

The Social techs have also seen some adjustments, mostly related to markets and trade capacity. However, they're probably underpowered for their research costs. And that will likely remain the case until the morale system goes in.

I've also made some structural adjustments to the planetology and social trees -- here's an updated tech chart.

Re: Resource System Expansion

Posted: Sat Nov 21, 2015 4:47 pm
by evil713
are defense satellites implemented? im asking because humanity does not have an escort cruiser.

Re: Resource System Expansion

Posted: Sat Nov 21, 2015 6:23 pm
by sven
evil713 wrote:are defense satellites implemented? im asking because humanity does not have an escort cruiser.


Nope. More varied fixed defenses are something we'd like to do eventually, but, they're not a high priority.

Re: Resource System Expansion

Posted: Sun Nov 22, 2015 1:39 am
by halftea
I have to say, the resource system is actually having me build Star Bases. Before there wasn't any pressing reason except for experimentation. Now with the lesser metal expense, many times its worth the trade off of the higher build costs.

Re: Resource System Expansion

Posted: Sun Nov 22, 2015 5:29 pm
by Unbroken
I'll definitely take a look at the new system when I have a chance to. Good to see things are still moving ahead!

Re: Resource System Expansion

Posted: Sun Nov 22, 2015 8:13 pm
by echo2361
I have to say my first impressions of the new resource system are very positive! The early game is now full of key decisions to make on how best to grow my empire. I have to balance between healthy population growth, production output, metal production, and so on right from the start. I'm immediately finding myself planning out which colonies are going to be my breadbaskets, which ones are going to be pure mining colonies, and which ones I'll be using as forge worlds to focus on production.

This system adds a whole new layer of complexity to the game that was much needed. Before, every colony felt pretty much the same and losing a few wasn't a big deal. Now, if the enemy appears in the skies over my key agricultural world I'll be scrambling to save it to prevent the starvation of my empire. Keep up the good work guys!

Re: Resource System Expansion

Posted: Mon Nov 23, 2015 10:30 am
by evil713
I don't know if it's just me but I am finding that the artificial intelligence is researching speed technology more than I am. I mean to the extent that I think there are maxing it out early and I have put it on the back burner.

I and up having a very slow empire compared to all the AI races.

Also I'm not sure but I think they're doing that nothing but missiles thing again.