Padmewan said:
Sounds good. The "Natives" are so far off I'm not even sure what to think of them yet, so please keep thinking up more! I've been reading up on hypothetical silicon life and they don't sound all that interesting. Recently I've been thinking of them more as collections of nanomachines, like ants, but synthetic. (See the spoilers re: Intelligent Design).
Agreed! Part of what could be neat is that any species can have any destiny -- some options are more synergistic than others, but why can't Borg be freedom-loving hippies? I'm about to update one of the top posts with some civics ideas.
Great ideas
woodelf and I have been kicking this idea back and forth for a while... it makes sense. One of the game-balancing issues is that this doesn't go out of hand, because in the vanilla game, you "build" people (with food) so they can in turn "build" other things (production, money). I have yet to answer "Why can't that be the same mechanism for buildings?" but so far don't have an answer, other than when I've added buildings that generate (rather than multiply) resources, somehow the game goes out of balance.
btw, have you ever gotten a city down to -1 hammer? Suddenly, it can build anything in one turn!
But running with your idea: A Borg city in its purest form could be a one-pop city that has nothing but buildings, each costing about the same as one pop point to build (so, logrithmically more expensive) that each produce, I dunno, 2 hammers. Maybe to balance it out more, the bigger ones have a 1% chance of nuclear meltdown or similar catastrophe???
Any thoughts on whether that would work or not?
Well I think the biggest problem is getting an AI that has chosen the Borg 'species' to fit that mold.... Which means in terms of How much Farming is done, and what type of population it should have, It's probably best if a Borg city 'looks' like any other city. (population, terrain around it) This would be because the AI seems to have a fixed plan.
Now if the AI's plan can adjust how many farms it builds based on how much food is available, then the best plan for the Borg would be food buildings (Artificial Life Support, Cybernetic Links, etc.)...once a city has enough food from buildings, the Farms will be 'naturally' be replaced with Mines/Boreholes by the AI. (This might indeed be the case, as the City AI governors seem to allocate to maintain that 2 food surplus.)
As for buildings Instead of population, I don't think the AI could handle that well,... I was thinking more of extra factories (+% to production) for the Borg..... They just don't have extra 'Libraries' like the Cyenid, or 'Theaters' + 'Granaries' like the Mutagens, or 'Banks'+'harbors' like the Natives.)
Assuming that you are using a 1 specialist per species model, where the 'specialist allowing' buildings come in three types
1 requires proper tech only (say gives max of 1 at a high tech)
2 requires species present (say 1 as early as the species)
3 requires species to be official (allows 2 as early as the species, with some special midtech 'cathedrals' that allow an additional 3)
A few ideas for the Genomy Civics, the ones you have:
1. Tolerant... No state Species,...+1 food, +1 Health per specialist, can build 'Missionaries' without 'Monasteries' (you can only have about 1-2 specialists of each kind, but they are cheap and easy to get)
2. "Chauvinism".. (High Maintenance) One that eliminates City Distance Maintenance+Gives a Production/Commerce Bonus to the Capital. {Sort of an Organized Religion}
Probably 2 civics for 'Pure Breeding'.. both allow a Building that eliminates all non-state non-Holy city Species
1=Pure Breeding (No state Species, +2 unhappy for all non-State Species Present, Experience Bonuses, Unlimited Human Specialists for all cities)
2=Transhuman (+2 Unhappy for non-State Species Present, GPP bonus...aiming to "perfect the species")
Species Specialist ideas
1. Generics: +2 Energy, no GPP
2. Humans: +2 Happy? if possible?, GPP
3. Cyenid: +3 Research, GPP
4. Mutagen:+2 Health, +4 Psi, GPP
5. Borg: +2 Production, GPP
6. Natural: +3 Gold, GPP
Each "Great Person" can
1. Discover Tech of their type
2. Trigger a Golden Age (just one GP to begin with)
3. Becoms a Super Specialist (Mutagen=+Food+Culture, Borg=+Production, Cyneid=+Research, Natural=+Gold+production, Human=+Happy+Health)
4. Found the "Shrine" for Thier Species (Different shrines having different effects on the Per city effect and Different Base Effects, Natural/Borg=+1 Gold, Cyneid/Mutagen=+1 Research)
5. Do some OTHER special thing (Mutagen=Psibomb, Cynoid=Academy+Scotland Yard, Borg=HeroicEpic+Westpoint, Natural=Bank+Hospital, Human=Forbidden Palace+Happiness)
Hopefully all of those could be allowed
Some Government Civics ideas
Democracy (Medium Maintenance)
+1 Energy 'Cottages'**->'Towns'
Psychohistorical..(Low Maintenance)
Building Bonus, +Happy from 'Courthouses'/'Schools'/ or 'Jails'
Contractual..(No Maintenance)
+Unhealth, Faster 'Cottage'->'Town' Growth, Unhappy for non- Contractual
Collective.."Thought Control" (High Maintenance)
-% WW (enough to eliminate with buildings/Wonders), No Trade Routes (or -enough so they don't appear), +Happy Military Unit
Market Ideas
Planned: No Foreign Trade Routes, +Worker Rate
Automated:+Trade Routes, +10% Gold
Singular: +Military Production, +Production per Farm/Energy collecter
Society Ideas
Free: +1 Food per "Cottage"->'Village', +1 Happy for each "Town"
Selfless: Slavery+Drafting allowed
Equilibrium: Health bonus, +Production per "Town"/"Village"
Evolutionary: +Food and Commerce Per Lattice (as well as 'Watermills' that can only be built by the lattice if it counts as river too) , +Unhappy per Borehole, Terraformed tile
Agenda Ideas
Community: +Psi, +Happy per Terraformed tile
Discovery: +2 Energy per "Town", +10% Research
Power: Extra Millitary Support, +Military Experience
Ascendance: Free Specialists, -10% Energy
**I'm thinking of Cottage->Towns as starting at -2 Food +1 Energy (Cottage), and working thier way up to +1 Prod +3 Energy (ie with Several steps in between, and relying on a few techs).. essentially independent Habitats.
-2.0.1
-2*.0.2
-2*.1.2
-1*.1.2*
0*.1.2*
*=+1 with tech