[Feature] Late game content and building changes

[Lokki242]

Maybe I can also make a civ3 like palace viewer with the same methods. So you can design your own palace.

Do you know how happy eight year old me would be if you did this?

 

[Ani Taneen]

Personally I like the idea of having to transport the modules to a launch site, this allows the civs with industrial complexes too north of the minimum (or south, but lets be realistic, too far north) to build the materials and then take them to the launch site.

Also, maybe a fun option is to have "launching rights" option. This allows a civ to use another civs spaceport to assemble and launch their materials. Though I doubt we could get the AI to use this option.

 

[JHLee]

Personally I think that the easiest, and most realistic solution, is to make it so that corporations spread the bonuses after some research is unlocked. This means that late game civs have a trade off between providing you with that bonus, but also spreading that bonus globally. The difference is that the tech gives it to all your cities, and other civs only benefit if that corporation is there.

Oh yeah, I like this idea.
One quick question: does the 'limit on number of cities one resource can benefit' rule apply on corporations as well?
Cause that would more or less cripple the yield of corporations.

 

[Leoreth]

It does not. Corporations themselves are already limited.

 

[borhap88]

What about a medical project that provides drugs (antibiotics, but maybe antivirals or vaccines) that could be traded giving +1health?

 

[merijn_v1]

I created this as a concept model for the Mars base on particular section of the martian surface.

Spoiler :

It has some potential. But there are some technical drawbacks.
This time I used the screen.addBuildingGraphicGFC() function. This is the same function that shows the image of buildings in the pedia. I used this function because that creates landscape background. But this has 2 disadvantages.
1. The function requires the integer of a real building as input to get the art file. This requires a dummy building to represent the base.
EDIT: I think this can likely be bypassed by using the art of any currently existing building and setting the scale to 0. Basically making it invisible. Then place the art of the base over it.
2. It does have a green background, instead of a martian red color. This cannot be changed without changing the background of buildings in the pedia too.

 

[cmakk1012]

Do you know how happy eight year old me would be if you did this?

Do you know how happy current me would be if he did this?

 

[Leoreth]

Forget the throne room, we need Civ2 style advisors.

2. It does have a green background, instead of a martian red color. This cannot be changed without changing the background of buildings in the pedia too.

Hm, that's a problem, but otherwise it looks good.

 

[Leoreth]

How about this for the renamed colony modules?

Mars Airlock (Automation)
Mars Greenhouse (Biotechnology)
Mars Framing (Supermaterials)
Mars Power Source (Fusion)
Mars Extractor (Nanotechnology)
Mars Habitat (Artificial Intelligence)
Mars Laboratory (Unified Theory)

 

[Publicola]

Mars Airlock (Automation)

I'm not sure 'Airlock' needs to be a separate module, or at least, I'm not convinced it fits well with 'Automation'. I'm wondering if we could follow The Martian's lead, and use the automation technology for a project to 'prep the site' -- send automated diggers and drones to set things up for the modules to be installed (either as a prerequisite or a slight bonus to production). Alternately, 'automation' could unlock a project for an automated workforce -- diggers to set up mines and chemical analysis, etc.

Mars Greenhouse (Biotechnology)

Not sure 'greenhouse' fits futuristic idea -- perhaps 'Mars Biolab' or something similar?

Mars Power Source (Fusion)

Would 'Mars Reactor' work? I'm assuming the 'power source' in question would be some sort of reactor, probably nuclear.

 

[Leoreth]

I wanted to leave it open so it could also be solar panels which would look nicer in the art.

 

[Leoreth]

I'm not sure 'Airlock' needs to be a separate module, or at least, I'm not convinced it fits well with 'Automation'. I'm wondering if we could follow The Martian's lead, and use the automation technology for a project to 'prep the site' -- send automated diggers and drones to set things up for the modules to be installed (either as a prerequisite or a slight bonus to production). Alternately, 'automation' could unlock a project for an automated workforce -- diggers to set up mines and chemical analysis, etc.

Another alternative would be to put Mars Habitat on Automation and Mars Control Center at Artificial Intelligence.

I also found a lot of Mars related buttons in C2C, their intent is a bit more futuristic than for our purposes but they could work here.

Also, I think the Space Race should include a Mars Rover portion as the final requirement. It's not part of the traditional space race but makes sense as a prereq for the colony (for all civs). It still makes sense to race for the Lunar Landing to get the Golden Age.

 

[Ani Taneen]

How about this for the renamed colony modules?

Mars Airlock (Automation)
Mars Greenhouse (Biotechnology)
Mars Framing (Supermaterials)
Mars Power Source (Fusion)
Mars Extractor (Nanotechnology)
Mars Habitat (Artificial Intelligence)
Mars Laboratory (Unified Theory)

So here is an idea. How about sending settlers to the launch platform. And colonizing mars. Each module increases the chance that your settlers survive. Get 3 settlers and you win. Sending mars expeditions reduces the chances of failure.

Maybe I'd go with:
Automation: unlock the mars colony project with both the Martian colony module assembler project ( launched will open up the mars colony screen ) and also a world wonder, the "Phobos asteroid mining project", which reduces the cost of Martian modules.
Biotechnology: Greenhouse sound great
Super materials: unlocks the "Martian recidential quarters"
Fusion: Martian power source sounds right
Nanotechnology: this is where I'd put the Martian medical facility, but Resource extractor makes sense too
Artificial intelligence: here I'd put something like "Martian habitation control module" with a description about an AI that monitors the anxiety, boredom, and stress levels of the astronauts.
Unified theory: here, I'd have the "Martian xenophmorphication project". Settlers produced at this city have a 90% chance of survival.

 

[Leoreth]

I don't want to change the mechanics around this too much. As it currently works, you have some modules that cut down the travel time (i.e. waiting time until you win) and others that influence your success chance (being safe from failure only if you have all five). Both of these only take effect after the launch button is pressed. I think this can be replaced with a "Make Self-Sufficient" button for the colony which stops the implied supplies coming from Earth, with the current state of the colony influencing how long it takes and what its chances of survival are.

 

[Leoreth]

Quick detour from all that space stuff: can we brainstorm the Flight tech for a bit? It's one of the most barren techs right now and I think it's because "Flight" is a bit too narrow of a concept. Even Artillery is already a stretch for a tech with this name.

Best idea right now: rename Ballistics to Rifling and Flight to Ballistics. I think we can take early flight as being covered by the principles of Ballistics and then Artillery fits much better, but the tech still has the same number of effects.

I am also considering adding a Skyscraper building that benefits larger cities and it would be great if it also fit with that tech. It would make sense to have a physics related tech for Skyscrapers considering the construction challenges involved, but Ballistics also doesn't really makes sense for this. Any ideas?

 

[cmakk1012]

I don’t know that I like the idea of a single “Skyscraper” building to represent modern urbanization. What about an “Urban Reconstruction” or “Urban Renovation” building to represent grand reconstruction of cities like Haussmann’s in Paris? These giant projects were city wide, as opposed to just one building (lol), and really had major impacts on the cities in which they occurred.

 

[Steb]

I kind of like "Flight" as opposed to a more abstract name.

I don't have the tech tree in front of me right now (does anyone know how to generate a full picture of the tech tree for easy reference?), but I recall thinking there were too many siege units in quick succession there. It's artillery at Ballistics, howitzer at Flight and mobile artillery at Computers, right? Not sure if two columns between each is enough to really make use of each. Maybe merging artillery and howitzer into a single unit at Assembly Line would be better. In that case it would make sense to rename "Ballistics" to "Rifling" and keep the name "Flight".

To make Flight more interesting, you could move the free Great Engineer there to represent the Wright brothers and the feat of creating a heavier-than-air aircraft. I think it'd be more iconic than a Henry Ford type at Assembly Line.

 

[Leoreth]

I don’t know that I like the idea of a single “Skyscraper” building to represent modern urbanization. What about an “Urban Reconstruction” or “Urban Renovation” building to represent grand reconstruction of cities like Haussmann’s in Paris? These giant projects were city wide, as opposed to just one building (lol), and really had major impacts on the cities in which they occurred.

All buildings in the game are "just one building", and it can generally be assumed that they represent multiple entities in the actual city in most cases.

I kind of like "Flight" as opposed to a more abstract name.

I don't have the tech tree in front of me right now (does anyone know how to generate a full picture of the tech tree for easy reference?), but I recall thinking there were too many siege units in quick succession there. It's artillery at Ballistics, howitzer at Flight and mobile artillery at Computers, right? Not sure if two columns between each is enough to really make use of each. Maybe merging artillery and howitzer into a single unit at Assembly Line would be better. In that case it would make sense to rename "Ballistics" to "Rifling" and keep the name "Flight".

To make Flight more interesting, you could move the free Great Engineer there to represent the Wright brothers and the feat of creating a heavier-than-air aircraft. I think it'd be more iconic than a Henry Ford type at Assembly Line.

The outcome of that would be to make Flight even more empty.

 

[Steb]

The outcome of that would be to make Flight even more empty.

Yeah, I know, I was suggesting removing a game element after all. I guess the more general argument is that Flight is an iconic and meaningful tech, so I would like it to be kept, and moving the artillery part of the tech elsewhere makes things more elegant. By compensating with the free Great Engineer, it makes the tech more desirable for at least one civ. It would be a good idea to find another thing to add to the tech, though.

Here's one idea: add a wonder (or more appropriately a project) about the first nonstop Atlantic crossing (Lindbergh) or some other appropriate aviation feat. The reward would be something like a free promotion to all air units, or +1 to their range, similar to the circumnavigation for ships.

Also, maybe part of why Flight is underwhelming is that air units are themselves underwhelming. Personally, I almost never use them.

(does anyone know how to generate a full picture of the tech tree for easy reference?)

By the way this was the most important part of my post!

 

[Leoreth]

Even if you care about Flight units, the more interesting ones come with Aviation.

About the tech tree picture, I would love to have one. I guess the best way is to make some screenshots and then stitch them together. I don't know if there are tools that can combine images according to some content they are along the edges but it seems like a common enough use case to look for one.