ThisNameIsTooLo
Emotion Lord
- Joined
- Sep 14, 2012
- Messages
- 213
I'm not sure if this would be better suited for the Suggestions thread, but I think it's a good solution to fixing the problem addressed by the OP, where you can "prep" a Tech before letting the Eureka moment finish it off.
It may seem counter-intuitive, but I think the best way to stop the Eureka mechanic from being used in a gamey manner would be to make it even more pervasive, to the point of nearly choking out the traditional Science points system.
Imagine that the Tech Tree is as we know it to be, but different in the following ways:
Most Technologies would have one or two Eureka moments, one time boosts worth substantial amounts of
toward that Technology, but then they would also have the lesser Aha moments, repeatable boosts worth small amounts of that nonetheless add up quickly if you actively pursue them.
For instance, the base cost for researching Bronze Working would be a whopping 160, way more expensive than any other Tech available at the time. However, it would have two Aha boosts and a couple of Eureka boosts, which would allow Bronze Working to be discovered mainly, if not exclusively, through Barbarian hunting. The first Aha would give 8 for discovering a new Barbarian camp; the second Aha would give 8 for each Barbarian killed; the first Eureka would give 56 upon killing your third Barbarian; and the second Eureka would give you 24 upon killing your sixth Barbarian.
Now, you could research it with Science alone, but unless you are a scientific powerhouse with few Barbs nearby and already well into the Classical Era, that's not particularly feasible. You could also do a little "prepping" to fill it to 15-20% progress before filling the rest with Aha and Eureka boosts, but the Aha and Eureka boosts are just so much more efficient that it's not really worth spending the beakers.
And that's the important thing: your Science output would still be very valuable. I said before that most Technologies would have Eureka and Aha moments, but some Techs (past the very first tier) would have none at all, requiring you to research them through pure Science. In particular, Astrology, Education, Chemistry, and Computers would have no means to boost them, and yet remain just as expensive as other Techs available around that time. With keystone Technologies like these so hungry for your beakers, you may not want to waste them on "prepping" the Techs with lots of boost opportunities.
(Meanwhile, I would suggest the exact opposite approach for the Civics tree; remove most of the Eureka moments, have no Aha moments, and require civics to be researched mainly with Culture points, thus making Civics research a highly distinct activity from Technology research.)
It may seem counter-intuitive, but I think the best way to stop the Eureka mechanic from being used in a gamey manner would be to make it even more pervasive, to the point of nearly choking out the traditional Science points system.
Imagine that the Tech Tree is as we know it to be, but different in the following ways:
Most Technologies would have one or two Eureka moments, one time boosts worth substantial amounts of
toward that Technology, but then they would also have the lesser Aha moments, repeatable boosts worth small amounts of that nonetheless add up quickly if you actively pursue them.For instance, the base cost for researching Bronze Working would be a whopping 160
, way more expensive than any other Tech available at the time. However, it would have two Aha boosts and a couple of Eureka boosts, which would allow Bronze Working to be discovered mainly, if not exclusively, through Barbarian hunting. The first Aha would give 8 for discovering a new Barbarian camp; the second Aha would give 8 for each Barbarian killed; the first Eureka would give 56 upon killing your third Barbarian; and the second Eureka would give you 24 upon killing your sixth Barbarian.Now, you could research it with Science alone, but unless you are a scientific powerhouse with few Barbs nearby and already well into the Classical Era, that's not particularly feasible. You could also do a little "prepping" to fill it to 15-20% progress before filling the rest with Aha and Eureka boosts, but the Aha and Eureka boosts are just so much more efficient that it's not really worth spending the beakers.
And that's the important thing: your Science output would still be very valuable. I said before that most Technologies would have Eureka and Aha moments, but some Techs (past the very first tier) would have none at all, requiring you to research them through pure Science. In particular, Astrology, Education, Chemistry, and Computers would have no means to boost them, and yet remain just as expensive as other Techs available around that time. With keystone Technologies like these so hungry for your beakers, you may not want to waste them on "prepping" the Techs with lots of boost opportunities.
(Meanwhile, I would suggest the exact opposite approach for the Civics tree; remove most of the Eureka moments, have no Aha moments, and require civics to be researched mainly with Culture points, thus making Civics research a highly distinct activity from Technology research.)
