Hello everyone!
I'm happy to announce that I've finished rebalancing the gameplay (EXPERIMENTAL BRANCH).
Why it was needed: Players have repeatedly reported that even at the highest difficulty levels, technologies are researched too easily and lose interest because of this. At the same time, the easy difficulty levels should remain so that novice players can get comfortable.
Two options that significantly increase the complexity:
1. Alternative research mode.
2. Planetary deposits consume resources.
The essence of the alternate research mode is that you can't directly research any technology. When the AI gains enough experience to level up, you are offered a choice of three technologies for which all predecessors have been researched. This adds an element of unpredictability and makes the choice much more meaningful. By choosing one of the technologies, you reduce the chance of the roll of the other two. Each subsequent technology requires more memory than the previous one. In contrast to the normal mode, the memory deficit is felt more strongly. In the face of severe limitations in available memory, this leads to situations of difficult choice. Go for nuclear power to end the global energy shortage, or take on more powerful munitions to push back the attacking faction, even if the next chance for nuclear power comes in many rolls?
The second option "Planetary deposits consume resources" makes it necessary to use asteroids to the full extent. A planet does not automatically start resource mining immediately after its capture, until you have supplied it with resources of constant demand. At the beginning of the game, there will be a total lack of resources. They will need to be distributed literally bit by bit. Until you level up the planet, the exchange will go 1:1 / 1:2. In the middle and end of the game, you need to be careful not to cascade production shutdown. And if this happens, there is a chance your management talent to restart your incredibly complex production mechanism.
The harder the game, the sweeter the win, right?
What has also been made more difficult:
Faction battles.
In this game, the emphasis is not on manual control and single battles, but on the economic component of the war and the automatic control of fleets leading several battles at once. For this, there is the logic of a shipyard (non-stop construction of ships), ammo carriers, and the fleet management tool so that you can send many ships from one sector to another at once.
Factions, on their part, after the start of the war, build attack fleets on their planets and send them to capture your sectors. The fewer sectors remain under their control, the faster they prepare new ships. The closer you get to destroying a faction, the harder it gets.
What you need to win:
1. Produce armor with the correct type of resistance, depending on the faction's weapon type.
2. Produce the most advanced ammo of the type that deals the most damage to the armor of the selected faction.
3. Organize fast and uninterrupted production in the required volumes.
4. Have enough energy to capture enemy sectors.
5. Strategically choose sectors to attack, considering that a faction becomes more aggressive the fewer sectors it has left.
Recent changes have made the yellow faction the most difficult to defeat. Most likely, you will need to deeply research the technologies of lasers and living metal in order to win. These technologies are the most difficult to obtain.
Ammo has been rebalanced to make early fights viable.
If you have a lot of experience in the game and are looking for a challenge worthy of your abilities, I recommend the "Master" setting. The additional option "Long Run" increases the difficulty even more.
But don't limit yourself. The game can be assembled brick by brick from a large number of settings.
Want faster gameplay? Disable upgrades of planets and deposits.
Do you want to build a lot of machines and not experience resource constraints? Turn on "Abundant Resources".
Are you for peace and hate violence? Add "Peaceful Mode" to "Master" difficulty mode (maybe with "Long Run" if you like). It's your game.
Enjoy!
And please let me know what you think of the latest changes.
Always yours,
TaosX
P.S. How to activate the experimental branch:
Right click on the game in the Steam Library -> Properties -> Betas -> Update 2.1