@SuperDave SuperDave kicked my big fat hairy green a** again!
On further analysis, we agree that the Weapons are still a bit too strong. So we are not sure if Weapons should be fixed (Level3 seems to be a “reasonable” defensive bonus) or as I have proposed to Jay that we have a new Research option called “Exponential” as method of de-tuning Weapons:
I.e. research costs are incremental, so at Crazy Expensive, to advance each level, it costs:
1->2 360 2->3 720 3->4 1080 4->5 1440 5->6 1800
I would propose a new definition called “Exponential” that would look like this:
1->2 500 2->3 1000 3->4 2000 4->5 4000 5->6 8000
I.e. since it is exponential (rather than just a constant increment), it scales much better as you get more Science. So the idea being that when you finish a level, you don’t just leave your research on weapons all the time, but are more inclined to research another tech.
I’m sure in one of the Avenger movies there’s a line that says “whatever you do, don’t poke the Hulk.” I’ve done it twice now with 2 victories. May there be mercy on the next player who battles him as he’s ready to rampage!
Our game was a pleasure. Hulk is a great player and I’m happy to hold my ground with him.
I look forward to the next tournament as we get more players involved. I think the serious turn-based players looking for a challenge will really like the mirror epic-size galaxy with $2000 starting. The only thing left, as Hulk said, is that the science of weapons still seems too valuable. I went 6 cycles without HYP 2, Terra 2, Exp 2 or Scanner 2, but I got to weapons 4 about 4 hours before he did and that made up for it. Since I had a lead on ship count (from my initial thrust on industry), I was able to take out all his ships around me in that 4 hour difference and then advance. That turned the momentum of the whole game quickly. It’d be nice to find a way to make the other sciences more valuable and the chase for weapons less. That way a game can go into more advanced stages…i.e. with warp gates, developing weak planets, longer jumps, sneaky extended scanner range, etc.
I think there’s exponential scaling on research it’s in proteus which wouldn’t be super hard to implement. I like the idea of weapons being locked, either at level 2 or 3
Yea, the challenge is an additional level of Weapons is a BIG step-function that at that exact tick, dramatically alters the power balance. LOL that in my most recent game with @SuperDave, he (correctly) so timed several carrier hits right at that tick with several others en-route that hit 1, 2, and 3 ticks afterwards. I got W4 at 4 ticks … so didn’t help me on defense … but I had (of course!) sent my ships to hit at that point also.
No other tech has such as dramatic impact.
So exponential research can help by delaying this step function (and perhaps make it worthwhile to research other techs), but am wondering if starting Weapons at level4 would be a reasonable reduction in the step function (33% to 25%) but it does end up reducing the defensive bonus.
Or maybe Weapons should just be locked as @TheLastHero is suggesting.
I agree either level2 or 3 is about right.
The dynamics of a 1v1 match are a different than a multi-player galaxy.