AI War Beta 4.023 Released!

[x4000]

Yes, cutlasses are on my list for things to do today.

Regarding the economic command stations, they are still useful especially in multiplayer or in situations where you're really territory limited, but previously to really play well they were ALWAYS needed, and that's no longer the case.  If you unlock them when you don't really need them, you'll wind up with a huge surplus.

Still, a goal is for us to have enough income-sponges to always suck up any surplus if you desire, but not all of that's in place yet.  Of course, when you look at those Trader items now...

[keith.lamothe]

Yea, I played a game recently where my first two unlocks were econ station mkII and econ station mkIII   I had to buy a ZPG on my homeworld and unpause its construction whenever my resources got too close to the cap.  But a full cap of mkI engineers working on a ZPG can solve your surplus problem real fast.

[Vinraith]

Yes, cutlasses are on my list for things to do today.

Regarding the economic command stations, they are still useful especially in multiplayer or in situations where you're really territory limited, but previously to really play well they were ALWAYS needed, and that's no longer the case.  If you unlock them when you don't really need them, you'll wind up with a huge surplus.

Still, a goal is for us to have enough income-sponges to always suck up any surplus if you desire, but not all of that's in place yet.  Of course, when you look at those Trader items now...

First of all, re: cutlasses, BLESS YOU SIR. I feel like I've been harping on that one, but it was really messing up my current multiplayer game and we had been really jazzed to be playing the new version up until hitting that obstacle. Anyway, as always, thanks for being so very responsive to community requests. You guys rock.

As far as the economic stuff, yeah, I think it's just that we followed our usual 3.189 habits and now we're swamped in resources. I think this is one of those "we need to adapt" situations, rather than something where the game needs a change. Though it'd certainly be nice to have some really expensive toys for those times when you DO go the econ station route, so I'm looking forward to some income sponges.

Yea, I played a game recently where my first two unlocks were econ station mkII and econ station mkIII Wink  I had to buy a ZPG on my homeworld and unpause its construction whenever my resources got too close to the cap.  But a full cap of mkI engineers working on a ZPG can solve your surplus problem real fast.

Heh, I bet! For some reason the traders in our current game hate us, they're almost never in our systems. Damn random walk patterns being, err, random.

[x4000]

In thinking about this more, though, I'm realizing that the economy is balanced correctly for the start of the game, but not at all for later on in.  Granted, the higher-mark command stations shouldn't be a requirement, but right now they aren't even advisable in general.  I... am doing a pretty hardcore change to the costs of higher-mark ships that I think should solve that.  The economy might need a few more buffs after that, we'll see, but the progression of how much stuff costs should be a lot more sensible and more in line with other RTS games I've liked.

[Vinraith]

Oh dear, now players are going to show up at my door with torches and pitchforks. I'd better go prep the ballistae...

Seriously though, that sounds pretty good to me. Econ stations would no longer be an early game must-have (or even an early game should-have) but would be of great value later in the game.

[x4000]

That's the goal!

[orzelek]

X4000 please take into account cost of various starships - since they are currently considered more mainline units and they get expensive when rebuilt;)

[x4000]

Indeed, I'd reduced the mark I starship costs a bit to make sure the higher-level ones make sense.  They are more expensive than before as you go up the chain, but most don't go beyond mark III anyhow, which means that it's a pretty small effect overall.  It's in keeping with the changes to the fleet starships, anyhow, and the serious buffs that already happened to the player economy.  No worries!

[x4000]

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