davidlallen
Deity
This thread is for discussion of a redesign for the late game tech tree.
Some recent changes and discussion at this post.
Some previous issues mentioned in the issue spreadsheet:
AHR84. Its still way too easy to buy units far ahead of your tech; beelining a single tech suddenly lets you purchase a ton of advanced units.
AHR85. Low energy vehicle should probably require desert industry (too easy to beeline otherwise).
DA186. What is the point of the Sand Farms tech? It is a dead end that is not a prereq for anything and its bonus is (in my opinion) of limited value. Could it maybe be made a prereq for Arrakis Transformation or Planetary Ecology (seems thematic) and have its bonus made +1 commerce on insect farms, dewtraps and plantations instead of +2 commerce on plantations (a bit more generally useful instead of a large concentrated bonus)? Stochastic, succession game 2 thread #74
DA191. Remove line crossings on tech tree near Mentat Logic
DV2. One of the things that is important in a tech tree is that the techs are conceptually different and clearly defined. A couple of examples of this not being the case are Spice Industry/Desert Industry/Industrialism and Water Conservation/Water Discipline. I think there is not an obvious distinction between these techs. When you are trying to find art for things, items where there is not a clear conceptual distinction tend to stand out.
There are probably some other recent comments in random threads to be collected.
One project I had planned, but never executed, is to study the difference between the x position of a tech on the tech tree, and the number of total prereq techs. This is the basis of comment AH84 above. For example, tech A is at x coordinate 10, but there is empty space to the left of it, and you only need 6 techs in total to be able to research A. While tech B is at x coordinate 8, but it has several OR prerequisites and those have prerequisites, so you need 15 techs before you can research B. You can get this information by starting a game and clicking on any tech in the tech chooser. The game will compute the path of techs you need to research to get there, and number them for you. So the number displayed on the tech, after you click, is the total number of prereq techs (modulo your civ starting techs).
Today the era changes based strictly on X position, and your access to homeworld reinforcements is based strictly on era. So there is an unusual possibility that a tech like A (which may have nothing to do with weapons in the first place) may grant access to very advanced homeworld units.
Some recent changes and discussion at this post.
Some previous issues mentioned in the issue spreadsheet:
AHR84. Its still way too easy to buy units far ahead of your tech; beelining a single tech suddenly lets you purchase a ton of advanced units.
AHR85. Low energy vehicle should probably require desert industry (too easy to beeline otherwise).
DA186. What is the point of the Sand Farms tech? It is a dead end that is not a prereq for anything and its bonus is (in my opinion) of limited value. Could it maybe be made a prereq for Arrakis Transformation or Planetary Ecology (seems thematic) and have its bonus made +1 commerce on insect farms, dewtraps and plantations instead of +2 commerce on plantations (a bit more generally useful instead of a large concentrated bonus)? Stochastic, succession game 2 thread #74
DA191. Remove line crossings on tech tree near Mentat Logic
DV2. One of the things that is important in a tech tree is that the techs are conceptually different and clearly defined. A couple of examples of this not being the case are Spice Industry/Desert Industry/Industrialism and Water Conservation/Water Discipline. I think there is not an obvious distinction between these techs. When you are trying to find art for things, items where there is not a clear conceptual distinction tend to stand out.
There are probably some other recent comments in random threads to be collected.
One project I had planned, but never executed, is to study the difference between the x position of a tech on the tech tree, and the number of total prereq techs. This is the basis of comment AH84 above. For example, tech A is at x coordinate 10, but there is empty space to the left of it, and you only need 6 techs in total to be able to research A. While tech B is at x coordinate 8, but it has several OR prerequisites and those have prerequisites, so you need 15 techs before you can research B. You can get this information by starting a game and clicking on any tech in the tech chooser. The game will compute the path of techs you need to research to get there, and number them for you. So the number displayed on the tech, after you click, is the total number of prereq techs (modulo your civ starting techs).
Today the era changes based strictly on X position, and your access to homeworld reinforcements is based strictly on era. So there is an unusual possibility that a tech like A (which may have nothing to do with weapons in the first place) may grant access to very advanced homeworld units.