What exactly does "Cap" mean in the game?

[swizzlewizzle]

So as I understand it, all ships, squads, etc.. are balanced around the concept of a "cap".

When a "cap" is referred to in the game, are we talking about "the full capacity of a single ship type"? This is the basis for all balance in the game correct?

If this is correct, then it follows that higher mark's of a ship simply get their extra "power" (and metal/energy cost???) from whatever balance_mark_level they are set with, correct? In this case, setting the balance_mark_level of a ship increases all of it's stats.. but it's cost and other things as well..

I've been looking at the golems, and it seems they are also balanced using this "cap" system, even though they cannot really be built... with a balance_strength_multiplier of 10 applied. However, the balance strength multiplier only improves the ship, and does NOT increase it's cost at all... I guess that is one of the things that separates the golems from normal buildable ships?

Anyways, I suppose most of this is understandable by just reading through the code.. just felt I would post this here as a discussion on how the core of the game is balanced. It's definitely not a type of balance I have ever seen in any game.. very interesting for sure.

*Edit to add: it's very interesting how the different marks progress in terms of cost vs strength.. I suppose this is going to really play into the later balancing where the importance of higher mark research comes in

[keith.lamothe]

When a "cap" is referred to in the game, are we talking about "the full capacity of a single ship type"? This is the basis for all balance in the game correct?

Yep. It's basically just a measure of granularity. When the stats are talking about fighters, we're talking about 10 units (squads, each of which happens to be 20 ships, but that's a relatively minor point balance-wise). When the stats are talking about golems, it means 1 unit.

If this is correct, then it follows that higher mark's of a ship simply get their extra "power" (and metal/energy cost???) from whatever balance_mark_level they are set with, correct? In this case, setting the balance_mark_level of a ship increases all of it's stats.. but it's cost and other things as well..

Have you read GameData/Configuration/Balance_MarkLevel/KDL_VanillaMarks.xml ? It should indicate the effect each mark has on strength, metal cost, power/fuel cost, and science cost.

I've been looking at the golems, and it seems they are also balanced using this "cap" system

Granularity is a better word from the modder perspective. Cap is a decent word from the player UI perspective.

with a balance_strength_multiplier of 10 applied. However, the balance strength multiplier only improves the ship, and does NOT increase it's cost at all...

Right, "balance_strength_multiplier" is basically the "cheat" field: setting that to > 1 means "I want to make this more powerful than it otherwise would be". The same technique is used for turrets rather than try to work "immobile" into the formula as something that significantly increases all the other stats.

That said, Golems and such may get a new power-cost tier defined for them, and the science-cost model is likely to change to better reflect the difference between researching a fleet ship, a starship, a turret, a fortress, etc.

It's definitely not a type of balance I have ever seen in any game.. very interesting for sure.

Welcome to the Lumber Mill! We've found a strong correlation between "searching for rational explanation" and "loss of multiple limbs"

[swizzlewizzle]

Great to hear.