In Society Research, there are 4 technologies at or below a base weight of 40 in Tier 2, according to the wiki. These technologies are Arcane Deciphering, a rare tech that provides options for using minor artifacts with a weight of 22.5, Subdermal Stimulation, a rare tech that provides a new living standard of limited use at a weight of 37.5, Gene Banks, a rare tech that provides a cheap disposable army at a weight of 35, and Thrall-Worlds, a normal tech (erroneously listed as a rare tech on the wiki) that redefines how entire planets function and is near-mandatory for any slaving empire with a weight of 35.
There is one other rare tech in Tier 2, Xeno Diplomacy, which has a base weight of 85, more than twice that of Thrall Worlds. I went back and checked in-game, this is also erroneously listed as a rare tech in the wiki, my bad.
Yes, Thrall Worlds can be boosted to a weight of 43.75 if you have a scientist with Expertise: Statecraft on the tech, but that's nowhere near good enough. Not when it's competing with techs that have base weights as high as 200, as well as many other techs that also have their weights raised by Expertise: Statecraft. By the time you see this tech, it's likely you've advanced several tiers past it, bogging down your chances of seeing it even more.
If it was a more niche thing, like Penal Colonies or Resort Worlds, where you might only really need one or two for an entire empire thanks to their empire-wide bonuses, I'd be more understanding. But, especially for empires that want to conquer and enslave other empires, which is just about every empire in the Authoritarian or Xenophobe ethics, these planets are anything but niche. And since you have to completely rework the entire build of planet in order to turn it into a Thrall World (thanks to their very strict building and district requirements) it's almost prohibitively time consuming to turn an already-settled and built-up planet into one.
So I say again, given its importance to Authoritarian and non-genocidal Xenophobic builds, the Thrall-Worlds technology is far too rare as it currently stands, and needs to be made more common for these playstyles.
Yes, Thrall Worlds can be boosted to a weight of 43.75 if you have a scientist with Expertise: Statecraft on the tech, but that's nowhere near good enough. Not when it's competing with techs that have base weights as high as 200, as well as many other techs that also have their weights raised by Expertise: Statecraft. By the time you see this tech, it's likely you've advanced several tiers past it, bogging down your chances of seeing it even more.
If it was a more niche thing, like Penal Colonies or Resort Worlds, where you might only really need one or two for an entire empire thanks to their empire-wide bonuses, I'd be more understanding. But, especially for empires that want to conquer and enslave other empires, which is just about every empire in the Authoritarian or Xenophobe ethics, these planets are anything but niche. And since you have to completely rework the entire build of planet in order to turn it into a Thrall World (thanks to their very strict building and district requirements) it's almost prohibitively time consuming to turn an already-settled and built-up planet into one.
So I say again, given its importance to Authoritarian and non-genocidal Xenophobic builds, the Thrall-Worlds technology is far too rare as it currently stands, and needs to be made more common for these playstyles.
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