(Thinking to myself) Oh boy, could this finally be the patch to nerf Synth Ascension?
* Added extra crisis strength x10 and x25.
Now that is a great change! Many people agreed the crisis was too easy. The more content gets added, the more eventual power-creep gets added aswell. I am very happy about this option and I can't wait to try it out!
Cybrex War Forge now increases empire alloy production by 5% and allows building Cybrex Warform armies at your capital. Its active ability now converts 10000 minerals into 5000 alloys on a shorter than normal relic cooldown.
Finally the dreaded pop growth machine has been nerfed! I am very happy about this. Now this relic remains strong, but its no longer useless for Empires without Robots. The alloy production makes sense given its name and the added bonus of being able to build a special army type is a cool side effect. Thank you so much for listening to the community and change this relic into something nice.
The Flesh is Weak assembly bonus reduced from 33% to 10%.
Another great change! Cyborgs and Synth Ascension has been the go-to for every non-Gestalt empire since around 2.2.6 and the big buffs to Synth Ascension. While it might dissapoint players that their favourite playstyle is now nerfed (its my favourite Ascension aswell), this was an important change that needed to happen. Flesh is Weak is still incredibly powerful thanks to the habitability bonus and preventing AI rebellion. Bringing the power of Biological, Psionic and Synth Ascension closer together is a much needed change and one that enhances the variety and fun in the game for everyone. It was really no fun playing multiplayer and 90% of players choosing Materialists and turning into Robots eventually.
I am still of the opinion that biological pop growth should be nerfed for empires which completed Synthethic Evolution, similar to how it works for Machine empires like Driven Assimilator. But I haven't seen the pop growth numbers with the new changes yet. Atleast 16.6 Synth pop growth is no longer possible with the old Warforge + adding Lithoid or Biological popgrowth ontop of it.
Roboticists now have 2 alloy upkeep instead of minerals.
Another great change many players talked about. Now you will have to make a decision about filling your early colonies with Robot Factories since it is a heavy alloy investment during a time in which you are limited by building slots for alloy output. Building the Robot factory at 5 pops is no longer a no-brainer.
I am very happy that balance is finally much better than in the previous patches. You have adressed Hivemind problems, most of Machine Empires overpowered stats and now finally you have adressed balance problems with the Synth Ascension path. I know there are still people who don't care about balance at all (which I can never understand since balance affects everyone in a good or bad way). To those players we can simply repeat what we always say: Balance is possible without making everything have the same stats. Balance is needed because without it, the game will become boring as one strategy or in this case Ascension path or Empire Pick will always come out on top. As it has been from 2.3 till 2.5 when Machine Empire dominated every game until Synth Empires hit the playing field.
I hope this has been a littlebit of a lesson to you as developers aswell. Please don't forget these changes you just did and don't add something like a Cybrex Warforge immediately again with the next DLC. There can be interesting content without slapping a 50% pop assembly bonus ontop of it, you have just proven it with the new Cybrex Warforge.