Research feedback

[Chancellor]

<+guyman> damn infrastructure limits
<@Chanc|zZZz> boring tech tree
<@Chanc|zZZz> if you ask me
<@Chanc|zZZz> they should rationalize away some of the research that doesn't add depth. HCT research is OK, since it forces you to predict your landing success, but construction speed is static, hence the tree is a static and boring part of the game

My 2 cents about infrastructure research.

Anyone got any other suggestions about the technology research?

[MrLobster]

The tech tree has been made simple for easier understanding by the new players.

But this also means that it changes very little from one round to the next.

The linear progression is pretty dull, and i would like to see a return to a type of R3 tech tree.

I have previously stated that Research should be used to find new tech (ships/Scans), not to unlock limits (HCT).

Perhaps now it might a chance to remove races, and be given a standard base set, with special tech (steal/emp/cloak) being uncovered by the tech tree.

The problem we have now is that the PATeam and owners of PA are trying to open up the game to even more people. So I doubt that PA will become less linear.

[Mzyxptlk]

Originally Posted by Chancellor

My 2 cents about infrastructure research.

Anyone got any other suggestions about the technology research?

Though static, it puts pressure on the player. For example, if I'm at the limit of both my HCT and infra, I have to make a choice. The fewer research paths, the fewer of these choices we'll have.

Originally Posted by MrLobster

The tech tree has been made simple for easier understanding by the new players.

The tech tree is the way it is because it's always been this way (at least since PAX, probably longer), not because of some deep-seated game design principle.

Originally Posted by MrLobster

The linear progression is pretty dull, and i would like to see a return to a type of R3 tech tree.

I have not played the early rounds of PA, how was the tech tree in R3 different from the one we have now?

[HaNzI]

The techtree was not very different the early rounds of PA.

Main difference was to choose between Science and war, meaning you wanted cloaked and EMP ships, or brutal killships. Both sides were fairly well balanced against eachother so it was never really a question which one was IMBA!


Science had wraith/ghost/tarantula/spectre all costing extra crystal leading to mass Interceptors to get rith of spare metal

War had Phoenix/war frigate/star cruiser/Dreadnaught, costing extra metal leading to mass spiders.

Kinda funny balance really, that war had mass EMP spiders and science had mass killer interceptors, although both sides built spiders.

It was pretty straight forward, there was no HCT research or constructions that needed to be done, all you had to do was to research ships and travel as fast as you could, because without all classes you were defenceless. Sometimes people researched PDS early because it was pretty awesome thanks to the the fact ships cost crystal/metal and pds cost crystal/metal/eonium, AND it fired first!

The techtree took ages to complete though, with most researches taking 72 ticks to finish, so you could not expect BS class incs the first 500 ticks! Rounds were longer back then though.

[MrLobster]

Thanks HanZi.

PA was never as loved as it was before PAX (X being the roman numeral for 10, so it was round 10 when this all started).

Some of PAX (which i'm going to include from round 10 to the current round), i really think have added to the game, while others are a waste.

Research
It feels like "realistic" research, I feel this is a great addition. Its up to you to decide how to distribute your population. I still would like to see it where you have to take population away from an area to increase in another (e.g. -50% on production times to put +50% in Mining).

Construction
Turning this from a research based item to a physical item was a far better solution, and adding the ability to lose construction adds a lot more strategy to the game. However I feel that the construction limits need to be removed from the tech tree, and a Power Plant construct be used where by every building need power (similar to the command and conquer series).


Most of my ideas have been placed into the latest PAOL (for testing obviously) and I found that they do add something new to the game without any major change.