Not that I’m currently signed up for premium, but I think it would add some balance to the long term by giving a chance for any victor of a battle to gain a technology advance in the form of points toward a specific research field at end of a battle.
For example
The winner might have a percentage chance to gain research points in a field where the loser had a tech advantage.
So, here’s a really rough (basically bullshit) mathematical sketch (numbers and would clearly need to be played with in a spreadsheet so that it’s neither too powerful nor pointless when implemented).
If LoserTechLvl > WinnerTechLvl (Eg winner of a battle had Terra 4, loser had terra 5, loser would have a small chance to gain).
Below I’ve sketched out some possible objects that could be used to calculate a tech boost.
[Spying ability modifier] – I haven’t thought the math through, but it makes sense that spying ability should modify the points gained.
TechChanceModifier - Random roll at battle end for each tech where loser’s tech level is greater than winner’s.
Random 0-1.0 - Results :
0-.2 = 0
.2-.4=0.2
.4-.8=0.4
.8-.95=.5
.95-1.0= 1.0
LoserTechDif = [Loser Tech + 1] / [Winner Tech lvl] ?
[TechChanceModifier][LoserTchDif][Spying ability modifier] = Research Points Gained
Now clearly, just looking at this super-simplistic math, this probably wouldn’t give reasonable numbers. I was just trying to put together a set of variables that would modify each other to output a possible research gain at the end of a battle. This is just to hopefully just toss out a possible method for this to work, should you also think that battles and war should affect technology gains as it might in a real war.
If this idea has any traction, someone with more time on their hands can plug in real values…