Unique Capital DISTRICT

[OnyxAbussos]

So, in another popular thread, @Peter34 proposed changes to Capitol Designation thing, which gave me a thought. But I didnt want to derail their thread, so I'm making this separate. But really it's kinda just a diff approach to exactly their idea, right? So they should get like 90% of the credit for this. Here's their suggestion.

The Capital Designation bonuses are:

• +5 Stability
• +10 Amenities
• +100% Governing Ethics Attraction

The problem here is that the +5 Stability specifially encourages using the Capital for those Buildings/Districts/Jobs that benefit from the higher Stability, namely:

• Alloys
• CGs
• Primary Production Districts (EC/Food/Minerals)
• Science
• Unity
• Trade Value (this last as an indirect effect)

Some of those are good. I like the effect of the Unity bonus and of the TV bonus, because it's plausible to see an interstellar polity's Capital planet have lots of commerce (TV) Buildings, or have lots of Unity Buildings (secular/corporate/religious). That's the "look" that one would to expect to see, in a more-or-less realistic space opera setting.

But it's somewhat less immersive to almost always see lots of Science Buildings, or lots of Farms, Mines or Generators, or CG/Alloy Districts.

It makes sense for some polities, e.g. a Technocracy might have lots of Research on their capital, because that's their thing, and an industrial empire might have lots of Mines or Generators, or lots of Industrial Districts. A Lithoid polity having a lot of Mining Districts on their Capital could represent a long-standing tradition of silicon-based "haute cuisine", with a great variety of differently tasting minerals being extracted from the underground.

...It just shouldn't be the standard to have "production"-based Capitals. Sadly, it is. The interacting game mechancis encourages players to converge towards that look.

The real problem is those constructions which we do not see, because they do not benefit from the Capital Designation: Administrative Offices. The player is encouraged to not construct those on his Capital, but instead construct them on other planets, where he can choose the favourable Designation, ideally in an Administrative Sector with a Governor with the appropriate bonus.

We're already seeing a slight move in the right direction, with the 2.6 update forcing us to construct the Embassy +1/+2 Envoys Building on the Capital only. That's good. That's one step closer to what a Capital ought to look like. But the Capital Designation needs to be changed to also encourage constructing Administrative Offices.

This is the effect of the Bureaucratic Center Designation:

• +2 Administrative Capacity from Bureaucrats
• −10% Bureaucrat Upkeep
• −20% Pop Ethics Shift Chance

So I suggest updating the Capital Designation to give the following:

• +3 Administrative Capacity from Bureaucrats (a bigger bonus than BCD)
• +25% building/upgrade speed for Administrative Offices (a different bonus from what BCD gives)
• +10% Unity from Jobs (for the benefit of Unity-based builds)
• +5 Stability (unchanged)
• +10 Amenities (unchanged)
• +100% Governing Ethics Attraction (unchanged)

This encourages Capitals to gradually come to look more like Capitals ought to look like, and I am personally fond of the switch from reduced Job Upkeep to instead the highly specialized bonus to build/upgrade speed. Clearly capital Bureaucrats live in greater relative luxury, compared to Bureaucrats out in the provinces.

If there is some hardwired law saying that Planet Designations can only have 5 effects, then drop the specialized Build Speed, or if they can only have 4 effects then drop both the Unity and the Build Speed. The most important part is the bonus to Admin Cap per Job.

But please fix!

It's so annoying. I want to see planets that look like planets ought to look, with stuff arranged the way it ought to be arranged, whereas the current game mechanics encourage a different arrangement, one that would not occur very often in an actual realistic space opera setting. I want to have some encouragement to make my Capital into an administrative center, instead of being actively discouraged from doing so!

(The real problem is that Planet Designations haven't been iterated on for a long while. If they were given an open-minded look-over, including the Capital Designation, then it's fairly obivous that "hey, since we added the Bureaucrat Job somewhat recently, we really ought to tweak Capital Designation so that it - somehow - interacts with those Jobs".)

EDIT:
I've made several very minor changes to this post, after sending it in, but the substance is unchanged.

SO HERE'S MY IDEA that obviously is a variation of theirs:

I think part of what you're getting at is that Capitals need a...

UNIQUE CAPITAL DISTRICT

Governmental Quarter / Palace District / Capital Complex

Something along these lines:
+ 3 Housing, goes up to 5 with Tradition & Tech unlocks
+ 1 Ruler Job (of appropriate type for civics), goes up to 2 with traditions
+ 1 Bureaucrat Job, 2 with traditions
+ 1 Clerk Job, 3 with tradition & tech
* Counts as a City District for Ecumenopolis purposes.
* Unlocked with Tier 3 or 4 Cap buildings maybe?
* Should it REPLACE Capital City Districts, or just be a different District altogether?
* Yes, I intentionally made it a lower housing bonus than City. By analogy of "planets are like cities," just look at Washington DC compared to New York or Chicago. Or State capitols vs their respective mega cities. Cap cities usually have lower population AND lower density than other cities.
* YES, later Cap Districts wont provide enough housing for the jobs they have. So the planet will either need some City Proper districts or some Luxury Housing buildings. Quite intentional. Which seems appropriate I think maybe?

The Ecu Version if it gives
* Same Values, doubled, or times whatever multiplier depending on calculations. 2.5? 3? 4? Some number. Or perhaps each job would get a different multiplier, so that you get like 3 Rulers, 6 Bureaucrats, and 5 Clerks, or whatever numbers.

What y'all think?

I mean like, within Earth's capitol cities, the governmental stuff isnt just a few unique buildings. It's like a huge section of the city with entirely different zoning. To be *just* a building in an otherwise normal city, it would have to be like right in the mix of other buildings. Next door to a grocery store, a bowling alley, and an apartment building. But it's not. Its surrounded by many square miles of planned gardens, monuments, and other bureaucratic structures that look pretty. Right? It's like several districts worth space. Even if you look at Medieval cities... The castle / palace is like 40% of the total city space. Right?

 

[OnyxAbussos]

Turns out I dont know how to use the spoiler thing. Sorry. Was trying to make it condense. Oh well.

 

[HFY]

I love the idea of distinct districts for Empire Capital / Sector Capital, but IMHO the planet can't start out that way. When the game starts, the capital world should just be a regular planet.

Maybe a variant Ecumenopolis which is for administration (not industry)?

Maybe after you get some of the capital upgrade techs, you get a decision to change your capital's districts? Like when you research System Capital Complex, you can "terraform" your empire capital into a better administrative complex.


This might pair nicely with removing Administration buildings from non-capital worlds -- then you'd need to upgrade your Empire Capital and your Sector Capital colonies to get more Bureaucrats. But that's a separate change.

Turns out I dont know how to use the spoiler thing. Sorry. Was trying to make it condense. Oh well.

Looks fine, the forum auto-shrinks the quote box anyway.