Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Update#61 : Moon Rise

Wow! I can't believe it's already been a week since I started on moons, it feels like only 3 days!

Well, it's done now, and that's what counts. I think Asteroid belts will be easier and faster to make, but only time will tell.

Overall I'm happy with moon formation, though I've recently gotten an idea for something to add to the game that I can add that I think might be good or bad, which would affect the early game for any player. The issue stems from the fact that 'Earth-like' habitable planets are rare (not by design; just the result of natural planetary formation ends up making them rare!) so if these alone are supposed to be the starting homeworlds for all players, there might be very few start locations. If so, even a very large galaxy might not have many potential homeworlds.


Idea : There would be two 'difficulty' modes: Easy and Normal.

Easy
> Starts on an Earth-like world, having moderate-good starting resources and lower building costs.
> Starts with basic research levels.
> Starts with a civilization just starting to join the galactic community...


Normal
> Starts on a random colonizable world, having decent starting resources.
> Starts with moderate research levels and a few free levels that can be custom-selected.
> Starts with a civilization just recovering from a past cataclysm which reduced it to one colony...

I think (and hope) that most people would choose 'normal' because they want to start with better technologies... Did I mention that research can be expensive? Well I am now, and I will during signup.


Input/criticism wanted!


9 comments:

  1. i would pick easy..
    i dont agree with high starting tech cz they wil become lazy to research.

    no challange no fun :)

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    Replies
    1. it will not be high starting tech, just highER than 'easy'

      there will be many research topics and they will not have equivalent cost or effect to research in other games; even if you start with higher levels, there will be many techs to unlock and improve

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  2. There's a lot to consider on how this would impact early-game. It would have to be tested a lot, and balanced perfectly. If building up a base is anything like AE in terms of solar energy, fertility, area, and metal then then the starting planet for normal difficulty couldn't be "random" but perhaps a step down from Earth-like worlds.

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  3. I agree it would need some testing for balance, but I can promise that building up a base won't be anything like AE.

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    Replies
    1. I guess it would make building up a good account a little more strategic. Would this difficulty feature also impact starting credits (or whatever Universe uses as currency)?

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    2. It's a new and untested idea, so I haven't decided yet about starting resources.

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  4. Normal mode... Though I would make it two differant servers once I make some head way

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    Replies
    1. unfortunately for that thought, an important distinction for me in this game is that there would only be one main server

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    2. Then normal way is the only way to go

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