I think the developers would greatly benefit from a monthly player vs player tournament of some sorts set up officially by Paradox to obtain a better scope of the balance and state of the game after reading the balance changes.
Steam charts show 64k daily players, and there are only (maybe?) 20 people or so that are loud about the state of synths on this forum, not a proper representation of the community or state of the game in comparison. The numbers that I have seen posted as supportive arguments to the state of synths have not impressed me and simply are not competitive by any standards, unfortunately this is all Paradox gets to read as a guideline when taking things into consideration from the community as the competitive players typically spend more time playing than writing an essay on the forum (like I'm doing right now
). I say put the pedal to the metal and let the players settle it out on the battlefield to determine the state of the game and true balance Sounds like a good time to me and competitive scenes put games in the spotlight on social media so good advertisement.
Looking at the notes I was confused at what was trying to be accomplished, as a competitive 4-8 multi-player gamer for Stellaris I noticed they buffed synths by making their robot production more efficient mineral to mineral using 2 minerals less overall per job encouraging you to overload your alloy production even further. To some it seems like a nerf, but when you are competitive and need to be as efficient as possible stacking multipliers is huge and late game this could mean an entire ecumonopolis being supplied by the extra minerals you now have freed up to not only replace the alloy used in robot production, but also support an even larger fleet acting as a force multiplier. Some food for thought, as bio empires tend to never have trouble with alloy early anyways since their colony ships/outposts are cheaper and the alloy building should be your first constructed building by default. So synth efficiency was buffed in this first example.
In the second case they nerfed The Flesh is Weak, so a nerf following a buff? Interesting indeed as to if this was to offset the first buff, or a double nerf was intended? The only reason I wanted to bring this part up is that it was kindof pointless with how the game is right now. Synths are getting their shorts handed to them across the world competitively and it just kicked them further down the line, when the most obvious solution to the population growth issue is to simply allow bio empires to use their cloning vats the same way machine/synth empires do and make it closer in strength. I know I have seen the community ask for it many times, and while I disagree with some other points made that have less experience this IS the correct answer to the elephant in the room universally agreed upon. Instead of boosting moral and buffing bio pop growth, we got nerfs, which always results in saddened players while the ones complaining about robot growth are still not satisfied. No one won.
To show what it looks like to be having a close game going badly for you in multiplayer to any developer who somehow made it this far through this essay, the first pic is an example of a 2.6.2 game as a hive mind who just ate the shorts off of a synth player federation 2v1 against me. I lost half my fleet sure, but these were very coordinated players who should have beaten me if they were as op and easy to use as claimed by the 20 out of 64k daily players that are directing your attention and lack the competitive experience. And now I have an even greater advantage for the next multiplayer game because they are gimped further despite not doing well competitively.
The second picture is just before the 2.6 update so when I booted it up the admin cap is messed up, civic slot is gone, and income is reduced from deficits including science which I remember being over 150k but now isn't I'm assuming because of a deficit. Nothing a habitat or two filled with bureaucrat jobs wouldn't fix. That is what you are supposed to look like in multiplayer pvp end game, many divided 1-2 mil fleets strategically placed to lockdown starbases and prevent rebuilding ships with your core economy within a single jump so you can actually defend yourself. I have not seen anything relatively close to this on here for you guys to see as an example for what happens regularly for multiplayer and what numbers are commonly hit at what times and by what types of empires. So if the question is balance, I HIGHLY recommend using official tournaments to gain valuable data that your most competitive players simply don't have time to share because well, they are enjoying your very fun game within their own discords and communities.
The final picture is of course just an example of a normal bio empire teaming up with another organic to swap psi/genetic pops to create super-pops. This is without the worm, or any special modifiers and anomalies, no pacts from the shroud, it could be much, MUCH, higher. Yet from looking around I was not able to find a single number coming even relatively close from any screenshots here of a synth empire, despite the outcry from their 30% robot output and no one can show an example of synths beating a mediocre mid game bio pop? Not even those who support the synth op argument and have the most to gain from it? Food for thought Keep up the good work, keep those bug fixes coming improving multiplayer stability, take the monthly tournament competitive scene into consideration, and have a great week!
Steam charts show 64k daily players, and there are only (maybe?) 20 people or so that are loud about the state of synths on this forum, not a proper representation of the community or state of the game in comparison. The numbers that I have seen posted as supportive arguments to the state of synths have not impressed me and simply are not competitive by any standards, unfortunately this is all Paradox gets to read as a guideline when taking things into consideration from the community as the competitive players typically spend more time playing than writing an essay on the forum (like I'm doing right now
). I say put the pedal to the metal and let the players settle it out on the battlefield to determine the state of the game and true balance Sounds like a good time to me and competitive scenes put games in the spotlight on social media so good advertisement.Looking at the notes I was confused at what was trying to be accomplished, as a competitive 4-8 multi-player gamer for Stellaris I noticed they buffed synths by making their robot production more efficient mineral to mineral using 2 minerals less overall per job encouraging you to overload your alloy production even further. To some it seems like a nerf, but when you are competitive and need to be as efficient as possible stacking multipliers is huge and late game this could mean an entire ecumonopolis being supplied by the extra minerals you now have freed up to not only replace the alloy used in robot production, but also support an even larger fleet acting as a force multiplier. Some food for thought, as bio empires tend to never have trouble with alloy early anyways since their colony ships/outposts are cheaper and the alloy building should be your first constructed building by default. So synth efficiency was buffed in this first example.
In the second case they nerfed The Flesh is Weak, so a nerf following a buff? Interesting indeed as to if this was to offset the first buff, or a double nerf was intended? The only reason I wanted to bring this part up is that it was kindof pointless with how the game is right now. Synths are getting their shorts handed to them across the world competitively and it just kicked them further down the line, when the most obvious solution to the population growth issue is to simply allow bio empires to use their cloning vats the same way machine/synth empires do and make it closer in strength. I know I have seen the community ask for it many times, and while I disagree with some other points made that have less experience this IS the correct answer to the elephant in the room universally agreed upon. Instead of boosting moral and buffing bio pop growth, we got nerfs, which always results in saddened players while the ones complaining about robot growth are still not satisfied. No one won.
To show what it looks like to be having a close game going badly for you in multiplayer to any developer who somehow made it this far through this essay, the first pic is an example of a 2.6.2 game as a hive mind who just ate the shorts off of a synth player federation 2v1 against me. I lost half my fleet sure, but these were very coordinated players who should have beaten me if they were as op and easy to use as claimed by the 20 out of 64k daily players that are directing your attention and lack the competitive experience. And now I have an even greater advantage for the next multiplayer game because they are gimped further despite not doing well competitively.
The second picture is just before the 2.6 update so when I booted it up the admin cap is messed up, civic slot is gone, and income is reduced from deficits including science which I remember being over 150k but now isn't I'm assuming because of a deficit. Nothing a habitat or two filled with bureaucrat jobs wouldn't fix. That is what you are supposed to look like in multiplayer pvp end game, many divided 1-2 mil fleets strategically placed to lockdown starbases and prevent rebuilding ships with your core economy within a single jump so you can actually defend yourself. I have not seen anything relatively close to this on here for you guys to see as an example for what happens regularly for multiplayer and what numbers are commonly hit at what times and by what types of empires. So if the question is balance, I HIGHLY recommend using official tournaments to gain valuable data that your most competitive players simply don't have time to share because well, they are enjoying your very fun game within their own discords and communities.
The final picture is of course just an example of a normal bio empire teaming up with another organic to swap psi/genetic pops to create super-pops. This is without the worm, or any special modifiers and anomalies, no pacts from the shroud, it could be much, MUCH, higher. Yet from looking around I was not able to find a single number coming even relatively close from any screenshots here of a synth empire, despite the outcry from their 30% robot output and no one can show an example of synths beating a mediocre mid game bio pop? Not even those who support the synth op argument and have the most to gain from it? Food for thought
Keep up the good work, keep those bug fixes coming improving multiplayer stability, take the monthly tournament competitive scene into consideration, and have a great week!
.png){kind=avatar}
