I don't like the reactor per planet thingie.
Started a game, in the beginning it was slighty annoying, mid-game onwards it was meaningless. And I don't see the point of 'defending reactors'. I defend the wormholes && my command station, so my reactors are auto-defended.
For me it does nothing. It doesn't add interesting decisions cause the algorithm to select a planet for the next power plant isn't exactly quantum physics It's super simple. I guess even Sins AI could do it *grin*.
I don't get it but maybe that's just me. However by all means 40% efficiency loss is way to high. In the beginning (and it's only relevant in the beginning) it's not me who wants to turtle. It's the AI splattering the near vicinity with fortresses and Mk3 stuff. It might turn a difficult situation in a hopeless one.
my -.02 € cent...kind regards..Pia Kraft
Hi Pia, thanks for registering your thoughts with this. There has been a lot of discussion about this, and this was what was decided on by a number of the players. I'm definitely interested in hearing what everyone thinks now that they see it in practice. If a lot of players hate it, then I'll change it.
Spreading your reactors across multiple planets is not meant to cause extra strategic decisions, but rather another defense point. On the higher difficulties (or raider AI types), the AI is quite good at slipping wormhole defenses, and well-timed strikes against these energy reactors can bring down all your force fields, turrets, tractor beams, etc.
Basically, it was far too easy for the players to previously just build all of their reactors on one highly-defended planet before, which led to perfect protection unless the game was actively being lost. This meant that the only way to really have the energy balance go negative was through the overuse of parasites or something similar. This new method of handling it is not super different overall, I don't think, but it creates many more potential chinks in the players' armor, which can lead to some interesting gameplay situations. That's the goal, anyway!