adamb1011

I wasn't trying to dispute your math. Im sure its right :) All I'm trying to do is assert that this is a fairly nasty economic issue/exploit - and one that can have some fairly gamebreaking consequences in mid/late game, while still being strong earlygame. For example, about 70-80% of my worlds are specialised production, since I really only need 2-3 research worlds and 2-3 wealth worlds. Normally only one of those worlds is actually actively pumping research/wealth - th

Here's some screenshots showing the issue. In this game I'm maybe 2/3 through the lab/factory tech tree path, with a few relics, 5 starbases and "ancient". Class 16 homeworld playing with Altarian tech tree. This isnt even remotely optimised. 1060% manuf, 1044% research. Total output = 2404 RP. Its late so my math might suck :) The key issue is how the research project interacts - it is added as raw research before other percent bonuses are added . This

You are right, there is a minimum about of +% needed before this is true. However: 1) Your assumption that there are no starbases really understates the problem. 5 economic starbases is easy to achieve. +res/manf techs add to it. And relics... etc. 600% is really easy to get. 2) Factories have all sorts of other bonuses - for example, at turn 30, you will have a much more developed world if you build 50% factories 50% labs, compared to if you went 100% labs from the st

Also - Please let us change hull type of a ship thats already been designed! So many times I start out building a medium hull ship and end up building something that looks more like a huge hull, and visa versa.

Lighting definitely. Resource system feels kind of weird right now. Its strange that you can trade a resource for a one-off improvement. Maybe make them more like civ5 resources - that is trading is an ongoing act, not a one-off thing. It would be even cooler if you could somehow unify the trading and resource system. Ie, I want to trade a durantium for a hyperstone. Would be kind of cool if I literally had to make a trade ship, send it from one world to the other.

Also the AI REALLLY undervalues resources. Often trading them for a low level tech or some cash. As a player, if you are willing to dump some tech to the AI, grabbing all the resources (nanites, hyperstones, etc) can give you a massive lead. Individually they aren't great, but buying every single one off every single AI gives you a huge advantage. Nothing like having ships with +100% capacity compared to the AI :) Bet they regret trading me all their Helios Ore for a

The AI is generally really bad at economic and planet management, and that screws them mid to lategame. You need to write some code to get them managing their economy reasonably well. Specialising planets, terraforming, economic starbases, etc.

androshalforc is completely right, and unknown touches on the problem. Hyperspecialisation (building all labs/banks) is literally the worst thing you can do in the current game setup. It really should be the best, but right now it isnt. Its a huge design flaw in the economy. Currently, the best way to specialise

SMAC is leagues ahead of the competition. Just so much polish in that game. The videos for all the wonders, the endless amount of lore, the massive tech tree that still managed to stay interesting, the realism (as a physicist, the tech tree is surprisingly realistic and features real concepts), the huge possibilities of terraforming, the unit customization... the list just goes on and on. Otherwise, Civ series Galciv2 (3?) - the ship designer really is amazing

I really love those organic ships.

My latest ship - the Valhalla Class Missile Cruiser <img src="http://i46

Coming from a physicist - the whole game is unrealistic - so don't worry! But Maiden666 is right - sensors should have a combat bonus. I think the whole targeting sensors thing should be taken out, and have accuracy added as a bonus to standard sensors. The counterpoint to accuracy should probably be jamming and sub-light speed. This makes clear sense lore-wise and also gives a practical reason to put sensors on war fleets. After all - you cannot shoot at what you cant see/track.<

If you go down the "research project" route yes. If you just build using the obvious strategy, no.

I dont understand this. The choices exist already. Ie, lets say I can choose between minimization, range, or cost. I pick minimization, because small is good. Currently, I can either go back and pick range, or continue along and pick up the next tier of weapon. That is a real choice. The opportunity cost of going back and filling in range and cost is that I reach the next tier of weapon just that much more slowly. That decision might come

I also forgot to mention - you will need farms at some point too. Just remove 1 factory and 1 lab, replace with farms. Generally you want to cluster your buildings next to one another for the bonuses, so plan out where you want your labs, factories and farms to go.

From there on, you probably want a second and maybe third research world, using the same build order etc. The reason for this is because the one weakness of the above strategy is that every time you gain access to a new building your tech will stop entirely while your world upgrades. If you bring a second or third research world online, then every time you research a building upgrade, upgrade 1 planet first (while manually forcing the other to not upgrade and continue with resea

Research in the game is too easy. Here's how to ensure you are #1 by a very long way. Its not even close to perfectly efficient, but you will substantially out-research the AI. Turn 1: Check out your homeworld. Go into colony management screen. Set slider to 100% production. Build factories on exactly half of your squares - normally about 5-7 depending on the class of your homeworld. They should pump out at 1 per turn. As you build them, scale back the slider to research,

One last thing - as it stands right now resources are pretty insane - particularly the value the AI places on them. AI will trade a resource for a low-level tech, which is crazy. I usually just go and trade away half my early-game tech with the AI just to bag all the earlygame resources, which leave you with huge bonuses across the board. At the very least, the AI needs to value resources far more. That said... The resource trading probably needs to be implemented civ-5 style

Sorry, to be clear: "building (roughly) 50% factories + 50% research/wealth buildings on basically any planet over class 12 and then building research/wealth project " I guess I just find it stupid that the "jack of all trades master of none" strategy is the best at each point in the game. Its best early, because early on factories are essential to expansion and building other tiles quickly, so you need them anyways. So you fill

This is broadly good news - a few suggestions though: You mentioned that there is a tradeoff between stable/smooth performance, AI, map size, etc, for a given PC. Let players make that tradeoff... Allow players to choose if the AI cheats - almost as a performance setting. In a similar way to the way we currently configure graphics settings based on what card we have, allow players to configure the AI based on their PC. Literally just add a new section in the game setup window,

I don't know if they fixed this yet, but you also need to save the game beffor the ships to save

I think your idea sounds much more balanced. The t1 option restricts most abuse. I would change it slightly to "For 35 turns, no UP member - including you - may send a military ship or constructor across your borders. Your borders may not culturally expand during this period". The tier 4 sounds reasonably balanced.

Larsenex I broadly agree - it makes sense to have a neutral trait that prevents war. The problem right now is that because it is t1, it is way too easy for non neutral players to access. Furthermore, it can become abusive late game. I like the idea of being able to declare war with some severe diplomatic penalty. Like say, being thrown out of the UP and all races of neutral and opposite ideology to you declare war. Or something similar

I just think limiting it to early game will prevent 90% of the abuse which typically occurs mid to late game. For example, culture pushes like that described would be quite hard to do in the first 100 turns - or at least nowhere near as effective. But at say, turn 100 or so, picking up 100 turns of midgame immunity could be really brutal. It also needs to be an investment. For example, even if limited to the first 100 turns, if it is a tier 1 pick

I mean. I don't mind it's existence. It is just so powerful that I feel like you should be forced to make an early game sacrifice to get it. Which right now just isn't the case