Constructions

[The Real Arfy]

I don't like how constructions are currently done.

Its going into micro management, and hopefully it will be the first step towards a more complex game (yes, this is good).

Lets have an unlimited amount of space to build upon instead of just 150 constructions because its easier to "get". Hell, you could even go as far as renting space on other planets. Each building has several factors, for example: upkeep, space, capacity, efficiency, construction time. You could have silos, small, medium or large. Light, medium, heavy factories - again, small medium or large. You could choose to build them underground, protecting them from SKs, you could choose to have extra security, preventing covert ops.

There are so many external factors that aren't included right now that we should be taking advantage of.

Lets take a look at say, your choice of light factories:

				CT	CC	UK	AR	BE	
Small light factory	2	500	1	3	90	
Medium light factory	6	3000	6	6	80
Heavy light factory	12	24000	60	24	70

CT = Construction time; CC = Construction cost; UK = Upkeep; AR = Area occupied; BE = Basic efficiency.

We can now apply things such as racial bonuses for example:
* Terran, having stronger armour, may use better construction techniques and upkeep is reduced by 90% and armor is higher.
* Cathaar, being the clever guys they are, to have +10% efficiency on each building.
* ETC...

The table above was just a small possiblilty of the factors that can be applied.

Finally, there are a few other things I can think of while I'm on the subject:

Allow constructions to be either demolished for salvage, or a similar sized construction to be altered for a different purpose (e.g. turn a refinery into a factory).

Silos may only carry a certain amount of resources. Factories may only produce a certain number of ships at any one time (a great way to balance the stockpiling tactic). Buildings can be turned off to save power, or increase efficiency in another. Buildings require power.

Now I'm sure you're thinking "great, sim city", but quite honestly the game is so mind numbingly boring and is a case of who you know (unless you are a really good xp-whore).

Seriously finally, I realise there will be many replies regarding "lower ranked planets won't be able to afford the upkeep" etc, well that's just something that we'll have to adapt the rest of the game to, and produce a proper tutorial (not manual)

Thanks!

P.S. Its probably best if we get a reply from PaTeam before much discussion goes into this as I remember a similar thread a while back that resulted in some great ideas and no response from the developers. Is this feasible? Can you be bothered? Will it happen?

[Shyne]

I will just say this - you have some really good ideas Arfy and I think you would do well to make your own browser game.

[The Real Arfy]

Thanks

If I had the skills/attention span I probably would!

EDIT: Oh and, if there was any positive response I've got ALOT more to bring forward. As it stands I can't really be bothered to go to the effort of writing posts like the one above when it gets one reply after 5 days - and that is telling me to take it somewhere else (in a nice way ofc )

[Alki]

i really like that, it actually made for good micro management, which i really adore in games. You're right the game needs to be more complex and it is ****ing boring at the moment. I suggested a similer more complex way of how combat should work with piggies.

But i really actually like this idea, and lets face it pa needs to be alot more stimulating than the state its in now, you may aswell program bots to do what we do, because its that simple at the moment

[qebab]

This is a really good idea. I'd like to see someone from the team comment on it, if it isn't too much to ask.

[Kal]

The reason for a cap on construction is to force people to make long term decisions about their constructions. Your proposal has a similar effect and would vaguely fit into our plans for the game. There will hopefully be some changes in r21 that have significant implications for the game in terms of the kind of ideas it will be possible to develop in terms of micromanagement. So I think its fair for us to keep largley quiet on micromanagement proposals until then.

[The Real Arfy]

How does keeping quiet help anyone? Its not like ******** mods will read them and think "ooh yeah lets take that" and even if they do I doubt anyone would go play that instead.

Is there any reason for a suggestions/discussions forum when everything is either ignored or given such a generalised response about your "plans for the game" which can't be disclosed?

[Wandows]

Great idea this! nothing to add to it (apart from all the other similar options in micromanagement that can be combined with this).

[offtopic]
its funny actually, i think it is the common believe from either Jolt or whoever the mastermind behind PaTeam that mods would not steal any idea untill they know its actually being implemented in PA (cuz surely if PA implements it, it must be some super awesome feature). We are however long past the point where PA was a leading MMOG in the html-game branch, so like you said i doubt many ppl who are building a game like PA will even look here, or they actually may cuz they know 99.9% of the good ideas/suggestions posted here will never be coded into PA anyway at current rate.

Instead of realising there are actually generally smart and helpfull ppl playing will to help the game develop to something even remotely interesting, they rather stick with a tiny crew, spent far to much time debating what should be done rather than actually developing ideas with a detailed implementation design, resulting in tiny 'improvements' in the end. But we all already knew that :/.
[/offtopic]

[Kal]

I meant we in PATeam should keep quiet on micromanagement suggestions until we have built our new micromanagement platform - as any comment now would be largly irelevant as things won't necessaily fit together well. I have no problem with people suggesting ideas, and I'm sure they will contribute to what we are doing, but we can't say whether an idea will be implemented or not.

[Wandows]

But surely it would help if you gave some impression of how far and in which direction you want things like micromanagement to go? There are almost endless posibilties with it and i'm sure there are things you atm don't feel confident about.

It would make it alot easier for others to do suggestions that would fit with what you intend to make, rather then having just post suggestions for the sake of it and the you ignoring 90% of the topics in the end. The only reason i can really think of why you wouldn't post anything about your intentions is because you are afraid ppl will (again) criticise whatever it is you plan to do. At this stage i think a open discussion about major features is the only way to go forward. Players are getting more and more fed up with the boring stagnating game we have now and giving them more insight on what you plan to do for the future might actually get them to stick around for a bit longer (eventhough as usual i believe development is far to slow in PA).

[The Real Arfy]

Wandows said it better than I ever could have

[Kal]

We want more micromanegemnt features in the game - this is clear from the announcement we gave at the end of last year about this year. Many of the recent suggestions (from Arfy in particular) could work, but they will need twekaing in the context of our plans for r21.

Historically we have had lots of internal and occaisonally external discussions about featues etc. For R21 we have decided just to let the development team get on and code things - this means that with some luck there will be substantial changes in the game next round that will provide a solid base for adding additional micromanagement systems. (Note this will mean we will need considerable user feedback once the changes are coded to balence them etc.)

Another thing we are very keen on is an incremental approach - so for example it is unlikely that a given round would see a major change in multiple features. This is why I keep referring to the R21 changes as a foundation for future micromanegement systems - the changes will primarilly replace one of the current pages within the game, but will provide additional flexibility to revamp just about every other feature in the game with varying degrees of micromanagement.

Given the fact that we will need to test things properly and that we are operating with short rounds with short gaps in between - it won't be long until all is revealed.