Ideas....

[Lemmy]

quote:

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Originally posted by Nitram Draw:
... I don't think techs can restrict techs...

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you're right about that, you can only modify what tech levels are needed not what you can't have.
But i think it should be possible with minor hardcode changes, when the game checks what tech a player can research it automatically checks what techs the player already has, so instead of making it possible to research a tech, it should be made impossible...
Probably easier said than done
But if this is changed then the AI would also have to be able to handle this which means lot's of more work for aaron and the modders... maybe for se5

[dmm]

Generally, I don't like the idea. (Sorry.) It doesn't seem realistic to me, and I don't like artificial restrictions. The current system does seem realistic, in that you are restricted from researching everything due to economic factors, rather than someone else's arbitrary choices. Makes for more variety.

However, I would be in favor of increasing research costs overall, and then giving discounts to players who are specializing in an area. For instance, if you've got two physics techs already, then the third one would be easier to research. Or maybe divide techs into categories like offensive, defensive, and infrastructure. This would encourage specialization without requiring it. Also it would make trade more interesting, because you wouldn't necessarily know how much each tech cost each player.

Or maybe research labs should be specialized. That would be more realistic. A bio lab isn't going to discover shields, and a physics lab isn't going to discover plague bombs. Or perhaps specialized labs should just get a bonus over general research facilities for certain techs, but a penalty for all other techs. So then the player has to decide what kind of labs to build. Think of what that would do for trading and strategy.

Also, I would like to see more incremental advances. "Hmmm...should I research more powerful weapons or longer-ranged ones or easier aiming or faster reloading or less supply usage or cheaper build/maintain cost?" Again, more strategy.

Lastly, there should be more techs. This would also encourage player-initiated specialization. (Because there would be too many techs to research them all.) Biology, in particular, needs to be fleshed out. (Sorry, couldn't resist that one. ) Where is genetic engineering?

[Nitram Draw]

I think the MOO2 system provided more variety even if there were less total techs to choose from. You had to make an irrevocable choice. After that, trade was they only way to get additional techs.
I've played many games where I have basically run out of techs to research, even to the point of researching "useless" techs fully. It doesn't take much once you have 100-200k of research.
More techs would be nice but I think restricted techs would also be great. Maybe in SE5 as mentioned before....

[Baron Munchausen]

The arbitrary restrictions in MOO and especially MOO II were really annoying. Why would you be unable to research a certain level of combat sensors just because you researched a particular weapon? I much prefer the idea of a discount for related tech areas. Add an extra field to all technologies named something like "Field:" or "General Category:" and have some sort of compensation to your tech costs according to how much research you have already spent on techs in this same field. You would naturally tend to go for things that were related and easier to research. This would lead to "evolved" racial traits as well as inherent ones at game start.

DMM: I suggested just that sort of 'specific research types' idea a long time ago. It would make much more sense to have to build a particular sort of laboratory for a particular sort of research. Then techs could require various amounts of general sciences much like components require various amounts of resources. I suspect that this is too much change to be included in SE IV, though. Maybe SE V.

[This message has been edited by Baron Munchausen (edited 31 May 2001).]

[Nitram Draw]

That's a good idea. I also like the suggestion of branching research trees for items, like higher ranged, more accurate or more damaging weapons.
Anything that gives the game more variety is good in my opinion.
The MOO research basically made for a greater variety of ships later in the game where as in SE4 you can pretty much guess what you will face late in the game, there aren't many surprises. I don't mean it's not challanging just somewhat predictable.

[capnq]

It seems to me that the current racial tech system is more for play balance than realism. I prefer the suggestion of discounts for related tech, too.

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Cap'n Q

The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the
human mind to correlate all of its contents. We live on a placid
island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was
not meant that we should go far. -- HP Lovecraft, "The Call of Cthulhu"

[This message has been edited by capnq (edited 31 May 2001).]

[dmm]

quote:

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Originally posted by Nitram Draw:
I've played many games where I have basically run out of techs to research...

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You need to raise the research cost to "high" in a large game, if you want to avoid that.