[MOD] Relativity - a balance and content mod
- Thread starter Naselus
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Except that, on some planets and asteroids, precious metals are as common as copper and tin, even in our solar system. If there were a futuristic currency, I doubt it would be hard money. It would almost certainly be a fiat currency or have some sort of digital backing.
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Oh yeah, don't get me wrong - not saying the gold standard's the alternative (arguably it's been redundant on Earth for over a century, let alone in space). Anyway we should stop this! Sorry Nas!
Energy Credits are out, energy has been separated out. I'm playtesting now. I'll put out a release tonight. The balance will be absolutely shockingly awful, but I'd like some feedback.
To finish the currency debate, the mod uses credits, which are an universally accepted fiat cryptocurrency given value purely because they are universally accepted. They are not backed by energy, and the energy used to make them is purely caused by the extreme power requirements of the banking sectors, which use enormous amounts of power to speed up communication (allowing them to break relativistic comms problems) and so increase the efficiency of economic investment.
To finish the currency debate, the mod uses credits, which are an universally accepted fiat cryptocurrency given value purely because they are universally accepted. They are not backed by energy, and the energy used to make them is purely caused by the extreme power requirements of the banking sectors, which use enormous amounts of power to speed up communication (allowing them to break relativistic comms problems) and so increase the efficiency of economic investment.
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In regards to the power needed to run things, we do already have an upgrade chain for that. Fission -> Fusion -> Cold Fusion -> Antimatter -> Zero Point. I don't see why you couldn't use that for power plants too, you could even add a final level where you siphon energy directly from another dimension, it would be dangerous tech and could lead to a planetary invasion or something.
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Universally accepted fiat currency so who owns the central bank? This fluff seems a bit weird. Still better than trading batteries though!
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Tbh I'd recommend not fleshing it out in detail - just abstract it away. "credits" is a shorthand for whatever combination of local currencies, empire-wide fiat currency, international galactic reserves, precious metals or other commodities etc lumped all together because the details are far beyond the scope of the game. The less precise you are, the harder it is to poke holes in - easier to just accept that it's an abstraction than try to come up with some backward rationalisation for it.
And depending on what empire you're playing, you can pretend that your 'bank' buildings are commercial districts, intergalactic stock exchanges, precious metal mines, export manufactories, tooth farms, tax offices, royal mints, pheremone extractors, whatever you like
And depending on what empire you're playing, you can pretend that your 'bank' buildings are commercial districts, intergalactic stock exchanges, precious metal mines, export manufactories, tooth farms, tax offices, royal mints, pheremone extractors, whatever you like
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Yup less specified might be a good bit better for things like credits
It's a cryptocurrency. No central bank. Just a block chain or some equal mathematical chicanery which ensures it's above reproach. Maybe it's backed by pi. Sure, why not, it's a pi-backed currency.
Yeah, it's not like I'm writing it in. I was mostly hoping that some meaningless economic jargon would be obscure enough to get rid of the debate before we start quoting paleo-exchange experts at each other
It's about as accurate economically as most of the other techs are to real physics, after all.- 2
Can it at least be pie backed currency so it is less prone to fluctuations?
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I am fairly certain a pie backed currency would be more prone to fluctuations. After all, there's only so much pie we can eat, and then the production will become exponential. The last thing we need is runaway pie-flation!
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Subbed this and I like where this is heading.
All I can give now is my support and hopefully, when you release, some feedback.
All I can give now is my support and hopefully, when you release, some feedback.
OK, for the super-adventurous, here's a playable build.
Balance is probably absolutely horrible. AI performance is completely unknown. Pacing is likely to be close to non-existent. It is completely incompatible with other gameplay mods (I just c&p'd the whole friggin common folder), but will work with almost any grpahical or map mod (I recommend the 2k stars mod). There's some fixes for vanilla bugs included, and everything seems to work without my computer crashing or catching fire 50 years in.
But I make no promises of a great experience at this time - this is just so you can see what I'm doing and where we're headed. If you want to play a solid game, then do not download this. I'm not even bothering to put it on the front page. Instructions for installing it are not being provided, because if you do not already know how to write and install a mod yourself then you probably don't want to try this version. But there's some fairly cool ideas and code people may wish to use in their own mods already in there (if I say so myself, though I do think I've kinda earned the right from my previous efforts), which you are entirely permitted to nick and use if credit is provided in your changelog.
If you DO choose to play this, then any and all feedback is welcome. I am aware it is presently shit, hence the 0.1 version number. Stating that to me is, surprisingly, not news. However, if you outline exactly what shitness you see, and how you think it can be improved, and you can have a small reward, like a picture of a bucket of sloths you could easily google for yourself with your name mouse-written underneath in Paint.net BY THE AUTHOR HIMSELF (wow, awesomeness, amazeballs).
Changelog:
My own thoughts from a quick 10 years or so are that creds are way too hard to get and minerals are a little easy. Not had an actual batle yet, and I'm fairly sure that the initial corvettes are for reasons unknown spawning unarmed, but some feedback on how the combat changes work would be highly welcomed.
Also, if absolutely ANY bulk influence costsre reported, I'd appreciate it. Bulk inf costs need to die so I can switch it to non-accumulative.
Balance is probably absolutely horrible. AI performance is completely unknown. Pacing is likely to be close to non-existent. It is completely incompatible with other gameplay mods (I just c&p'd the whole friggin common folder), but will work with almost any grpahical or map mod (I recommend the 2k stars mod). There's some fixes for vanilla bugs included, and everything seems to work without my computer crashing or catching fire 50 years in.
But I make no promises of a great experience at this time - this is just so you can see what I'm doing and where we're headed. If you want to play a solid game, then do not download this. I'm not even bothering to put it on the front page. Instructions for installing it are not being provided, because if you do not already know how to write and install a mod yourself then you probably don't want to try this version. But there's some fairly cool ideas and code people may wish to use in their own mods already in there (if I say so myself, though I do think I've kinda earned the right from my previous efforts), which you are entirely permitted to nick and use if credit is provided in your changelog.
If you DO choose to play this, then any and all feedback is welcome. I am aware it is presently shit, hence the 0.1 version number. Stating that to me is, surprisingly, not news. However, if you outline exactly what shitness you see, and how you think it can be improved, and you can have a small reward, like a picture of a bucket of sloths you could easily google for yourself with your name mouse-written underneath in Paint.net BY THE AUTHOR HIMSELF (wow, awesomeness, amazeballs).
Changelog:
Code:
Version 102.0.1
* Added Linear Happiness mod by dskod1
* re-added ethic difference happiness modifiers
* Increased base tech alternatives to 5
* Increased pop tech cost to 3% (from 2%)
* direct planet control increased to 75
* Base number of sectors increased to 20
* Influence costs removed from buildings
* flat influence costs removed from planetary edits (now cost inf-per-turn).
* Removed influence cost and maintenance from Forntier Outposts.
* Split basic science lab into 3 separate buildings
* Gave lower-tier capitals some influence output
* Removed off-sciences from advanced science labs - so a physics lab gives just 2 physics, nothing else.
* AI now uses all sector types.
* Military sector AI now builds warships (just destroyers and corvettes)
* included unofficial bug fixes by Ramiel (changelog included with credits)
* Maximum possible fleet size increased to 10k
* Removed growth bonus for food surpluses
* Combat balance changes:
* Autocannons now fire very quickly.
* Mass drivers ignore 50% shields.
* Kinetic Artillery ignores 100% shields.
* Point Defense has had it's accuracy reduced to 25% (from 40%) and it's rate of fire has been reduced (from 7 to 10).
* Range and flight time of missiles improved.
* Doubled MTTH of neighbour introductions.
* increased MTTH of not-neighbour introductions to 25 years.
* Changed 'minerals' to 'production' and 'energy credtis' to 'credits'.
* Added 3 tiers of power - Power, High-energy plasma and Energon.
* Addede 3 tiers of metals - Tritanitum, Adamantine and Omegadine.
* T1 buildings are free. T2 buildings need power. T3 buildings need High energy plasma. T4+ buildings need Energon.
* Added new mines to produce Tritanium, Adamantine and Omegadine.
* Added new mineral processing plants to convert tritanium adamantine and omagedine into production. Tritanium goes 2,4,6,8,10. Adamantine goes 4,8,12,16,20. Omegadine gives 8,16,24,32,40.
* Added Nutrients and Luxury Goods. These are used by capital buildings.
* Farms now produce nutrients.
* Capital buildings are now the only way to produce food.
* Colony capitals now consume Nutrients.
* Added banks which consume power and produce money.
* Added 5 more mineral processing technologies.
* Changed deposits to make resources more common
* removed all mineral, food and energy deposits
* Added despoits of metals and energy sources.
* Added a bank and a Tritanium mineral processing planet to starting planets.
* localized a bunch of stuff. I hate localizing.
* Incorporated v 1.2 of Craftomega's More Spaceport modules. Have made some major alterations to bring it into the new economy.
* switched all spaceport modules to the new economy model.My own thoughts from a quick 10 years or so are that creds are way too hard to get and minerals are a little easy. Not had an actual batle yet, and I'm fairly sure that the initial corvettes are for reasons unknown spawning unarmed, but some feedback on how the combat changes work would be highly welcomed.
Also, if absolutely ANY bulk influence costsre reported, I'd appreciate it. Bulk inf costs need to die so I can switch it to non-accumulative.
Nas, what if instead of slowing down the technology of large empires with the pop modifier, you slowed it down by requiring a special input for labs? This input could be hard to come by except for on homeworlds (tracked with the empire capital modifier). Or maybe influence? That way the player isn't being punished for succeeding at taking new worlds.
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Might be tricky to balance without ending up completely choking science. I do want people to be able to go science-focused if they want to; the trick is to make it consume a similar % of your empire's output to develop a tech (hence using POPs to do the scaling, since they form the main unit of labour). The economic tweaks may actually cover that, if enough of the population is consumed in resource production. Stellaris' main problem is material post-scarcity.
In truth, I'd eventually like to see something CK2-like happening with tech, where the capital generates tech and it spreads out to nearby worlds; this would give the ability for an empire to have sleek Ian M Banks-tech worlds alongside outright Tatooine backwaters. It could also be used to encourage the use of sectors (rather than penalizing the player for not using them, encourage him to make use of them) - each sector would have a 'capital' research hub, making your tech spread more effective.
I think this is possible using hidden events and planet modifiers; will need to investigate further though.
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As far as I can tell, a bunch of weapon systems have 1-1 damage and a range of 0; missiles seem to be working fine though.
Okay, I just played with this mod in for about an hour, and I have a few observations:
EDIT: Just noticed that you said Planetary Edicts have a cost per turn. In that case, I much prefer that design choice, but it doesn't seem to be working.
- First, the very shallow: the Basic Engineering Lab is still named "Basic Science Lab I", minerals are still showing up as "minerals" and not "production", and your custom resources don't show up as green when being collected (though they are greyed out when not being collected).
- Military Strength seems off. My fleet started at 659. On the other hand, Void Clouds have only 1.25 Military Strength and Crystalline Entities have just 3.75.
- I don't have ANY embassies available to place. My AI neighbor, on the other hand, apparently does because they sent me one. They are a regular AI start (not advanced) and Fanatic Pacifist/Xenophiles. I am playing Fanatic Materialist/Pacifist.
- Tritanium is plentiful. Of the systems I fully surveyed (which was admittedly not all that many), only one had <6 Tritanium available and that system still had two sources of Tritanium.
- I have to say I'm not a big fan of Planetary Edicts being free. There is no reason to ever not have all the good ones going on every single one of your planets at all times.
EDIT: Just noticed that you said Planetary Edicts have a cost per turn. In that case, I much prefer that design choice, but it doesn't seem to be working.