[PvK]

Originally posted by PDF:
PvK,
In fact I have two issues :
* While slow progress is perhaps more realistic it is also just plain boring ... 100 turns ahead research progress some 20%, while research costs rise fourfold, so tech goes slower and slower. I just NEED something to go faster

I feel your pain. But seriously, I know what you mean. Use Low research cost, and/or mod the research facility abilities. I think I will add some more facs though.

* But the main point is "facility space usage" in Proportions. My colonies often have only 5 to 10 spaces, my HW are full of CC since start, so what can I do ? I just cannot specialize any planet in anything : either I put "general purpose" settlements/cities etc that produce a little of everything, and the specialized ones are pure crap, even 10 of them doesn't produce much !

Well, the specialized ones don't produce much compared to entire freaking continental space age civilizations, not surprisingly, to me anyway. I would submit that the proportion there is about right, give or take. However compared to the standard game, the total amount of production for a mid-to-late game empire is a lot smaller. That, though, can be changed by editing settings.txt planet values, and you can change the relative values of homeworlds compared to colony worlds there too. Malfador means to change the 250% limit on homeworld values, too.

I am thinking though that the production facilities should probably all be jacked up so that building a facility provides more that you can do with it. I would increase the cultural center amounts by essentially the same factor, though.

Additionnaly the facilities limit comes weird : I can put only 5 small research labs, but (supposing I can produce them) 5 Col CC on the same world will take the same space !

Well the SE4 model of facility space isn't something I can change. However notice that a cultural facility is generally the equivalent of several ordinary facilities at once - it's not that it "takes the same space" - it's that space is NOT the limiting factor. Planetary development, and the limits of what can be done with just building labs on a planet without any infrastructure, are the limiting factors. Don't take the facility "space" literally.

So I really think that bigger specialized facilities, for colonies as well as HW. These should be on an "upgradable" path to the smaller ones to speed up the process (and let AI handle them).
/rant

Ya, I'll look into adding something like that.

One idea :I'm thinking of using "multiplier" facilities for "cultural" simulation (CCs): what about some expensive facilities that would set production, research or Intel to 200-500% instead of producing a (big) flat resource output ? That would give a comparable result (HW will produce much more than colonies for long) but be simpler to handle for AI (no need of bogus abilitie !), and closer to original SEIV design as well.

Yes I've been thinking of trying this again too, but it will take some thought and work to do right. I believe that only the highest planetary production multiplier applies, so it becomes a problem trying to do something like this to a meaningful degree without also making all of the high-tech facilities that do this obsolete or pointless.

Of course, what you can do is use a homeworld slot for something that multiplies production of a particular kind.

PvK