swordoflight86
Warlord
How many tiles would 100 energy get you? That is the best use I can think of, if what you say about 100 energy being so little is true. Buy a tile, have a little energy in the bank.
I do think the bonus should be upped a bit (maybe 150?), but at the same time I don't think it's as weak as you are making it out to be.
Remember, the Fusion Reactor goes in the "Spaceship" slot, which is about information about the planet and arguably the weakest slot (or at least "most likely to be weakest"). You're not comparing the 100 energy to a worker or soldier or clinic. You're comparing it to knowing about the coastlines of your planet, or knowing where terrestrial strategic resources are early, or other similar bits of knowledge. Taking the Fusion Reactor is basically saying "I don't need or want that energy, I can do just fine with a classic Civ start with no knowledge of the world and explore manually" and getting some bonus resources for it.
In short, it's the min/max or munchkin option, the Civ equivalent where the guy in your DnD game trades the ability to speak for +1 strength. You forgo your early knowledge of the planet to try to get a building or worker or soldier up for cheap later. I still It does need to be bufed a bit, but it's not nearly as weak as people are making it out to be.
Another way to handle the Fusion Reactor is to include other bonuses with the +100 Energy like +50 research +50 production or something like that, the argument being they dismantle the reactor upon landing, gain tech from reverse engineering it, production from leftover components. Obviously the numbers might need balancing, but it would be like completing an instant quest when you land.
I noticed on Maddjinn's Livestream that tiles in the second ring cost 50 energy as long as they aren't rough terrain. At some point I will try starting with the Fusion Reactor and a free worker and see how much of an advantage it would be to start with 2 extra basic resource tiles.
That's an enormous plot hole from SMAC. You arrive on another planet in a fusion powered ship, then spend half the game learning how to build fusion plants. How can you reverse engineer something you already know how to build?Another way to handle the Fusion Reactor is to include other bonuses with the +100 Energy like +50 research +50 production or something like that, the argument being they dismantle the reactor upon landing, gain tech from reverse engineering it, production from leftover components. Obviously the numbers might need balancing, but it would be like completing an instant quest when you land.
I noticed on Maddjinn's Livestream that tiles in the second ring cost 50 energy as long as they aren't rough terrain. At some point I will try starting with the Fusion Reactor and a free worker and see how much of an advantage it would be to start with 2 extra basic resource tiles.
View all dig sites (though I can't think of a handy term to justify this)
That's an enormous plot hole from SMAC. You arrive on another planet in a fusion powered ship, then spend half the game learning how to build fusion plants. How can you reverse engineer something you already know how to build?
Scan for artificial structures?
Scan for artificial structures?
I can think of several sci-fi scenarios that answer the question:
"The colonists are in deep sleep during the flight and a number of casualties happened due to cryo pod failures. Unfortunately, bad planning led to many of the expedition's physicists sharing the same electrical circuit in the cryo room and the failure took out 3/4 of them all at once, greatly diminishing practical experience in the science team."
or
"Arriving on the planet, the colonists find out that the fusion plant's design specs and digital blueprints were archived in a set of servers that suffered a massive fault in their cooling circuits. A sleeping watchstander aboard the mothership had failed to note the problem and the heat buildup in the server memory cores spread to nearby backup server cores, (ill-designed by the lowest IT bidder back on earth,) causing them to fail as well. Reverse engineering the fusion reactor was the only way to obtain the tech specs necessary to replicate it for other cities."
See? Problem solved.
Hey, as the pilot said after he crash landed, "I didn't design the &^%-$%^+ thing, I just fly it."
Lets stop getting sidetracked over lore and get to the nitty gritty, i.e. what do you think of a mixed reward for fusion reactor as I was suggesting above, i.e. a flat +50 Energy, +20 Beakers, +20 Hammers? No matter how you justify its presence, it would be a fine 1st turn bonus to choose from.
Other alternatives to the fusion reactor more in line with the other options:
View all mountains (and craters and/or canyons?)
View all dig sites (though I can't think of a handy term to justify this)