Balancing Race Construction

[Phoenix-D]

"But a 20% empire wide bonus to production is still nothing to snif at. Not when it is so easy to get, and costs you nothing in racial points"

Actually only a 10% bonus IIRC. Emotionless gets you Happy effect. Assuming that wasn't changed too?

Phoenix-D

[geoschmo]

Originally posted by Phoenix-D:
Actually only a 10% bonus IIRC. Emotionless gets you Happy effect. Assuming that wasn't changed too?

Well, as a matter of fact you are right. And I think that is really stupid but emotionless populations do in fact get the 10% bonus as if they were happy. I had assumed they got no modifier as if they were indiferent.

So I guess my whole point is very nearly been made moot. Although I would still never spend 3000 points for it when I can keep my people jubilant for nothing (in racial points anyway). I suppose if it were made cheap enough in a mod it would make some sense, but even then likely not. I guess it just depends on if the 10% empire wide production bonus is worth it to you that you don't mind a little the little bit of micromanagment it takes to make your people love you. To me it's not.

Geo

[PvK]

BUMP!

People are talking a lot about this lately, and I was just doing a search to find prior discussions for my "PvK Balance" mod which I'm working on. So, I thought I'd bump this up so interested folks could check out the old discussion.

PvK

[PvK]

Oh, I should add a reply to Geo's later Posts on this thread.

The two 200-planet empires at war, one Emotionless. If the Emotionless one loses any number of planets or ships, it will keep on producing and constructing normally with the remaining planets. If the non-Emotionless one ever has a setback and loses a fair number of planets and/or ships, it will be vulnerable to having ALL of its remaining planets go to rioting and produce and construct nothing. That's pretty valuable (unless you always win ).

PvK

[TerranC]

Originally posted by PvK:
Oh, I should add a reply to Geo's later Posts on this thread.

The two 200-planet empires at war, one Emotionless. If the Emotionless one loses any number of planets or ships, it will keep on producing and constructing normally with the remaining planets. If the non-Emotionless one ever has a setback and loses a fair number of planets and/or ships, it will be vulnerable to having ALL of its remaining planets go to rioting and produce and construct nothing. That's pretty valuable (unless you always win ).

PvK

But what about Urban Pacification centers, Temporal Vacation Facility, Fate shrine, and medical labs which keep the populace happy? Large troop garrisons? Home Fleets? Or just happiness bonuses?

[PvK]

They don't do it fast enough to prevent the riots from Lasting at least a few turns. The side-effect of empire-wide riots for even a few turns in a large empire at war can be very important to the outcome of the war. If the losses continue frequently enough, the riots won't clear, or not enough to help.

PvK

[Cheeze]

I have to add something on this. In a PBW where the top player (who had about as many ships as we had combined, and most of them in the dreadnought/baseship range), my ally and I staged a surprise attack. We targeted his spaceports (that player and I had a partnership treaty) and as many valuable planets as possible from our borders. Anything we couldn't take, we glassed.

Basically, between cutting our treaties with this player AND the damage we caused did severely cut his income, but it was the rioting that reduced his own ability to produce anything. Even after two turns of comparatively unopposed strikes, he still had enough firepower to hit us back hard and he had more than enough planets to sustain his forces. It was the rioting which removed his ability to build ships and keep current ships fighting.

Would we have won if his population was emotionless? Probably. But the emotionless trait would have allowed him to stay strong and counter-attack, and he might have disrupted our happiness. Our attack plan relied on rioting his population first and foremost.