Minor Annoyance
Deity
I like this game. I've gotten $15 worth of entertainment out of it so my suggestions are to improve the game that exists now at a $15 price, rather than overhaul it into Master of Orion 4 at $50. That's not what this game is or was supposed to be no I'm not going to suggest it me made into something else. These are the things I think should be changed to make the game better.
Dual Command - Is toooo good. How good is it? It's as good as two other wonders but more versatile. Cloaking has stealth always active and Damage Control prevents critical hits. You can use your extra action to activate stealth or repair critical hits. So it's both those combined plus more! That's cray. So it needs to be toned down. My idea's are: Two actions if you don't move. Two actions if you don't fire weapons. Or go the other way with it. Change it so you can fire both cannons and lasers in the same turn, at different targets. A key reason dual command is overpowered is you can do anything with it. Cloaking, Hyperlaunch, Convergent Light etc. require you to invest heavily in their corresponding systems to get the most out of them, but two actions is good for anything. Two weapons firing might still be too good, but it would require you to equip ships with both weapon types for it to be useful
Redundant Systems - Not sure if this is overpowered in practice, but on paper it seems too good. An alternative could be to have it be an activated ability. So you have to lose a chance to fire to repair your ship. Assuming Dual Command is changed. Also I think this and Damage Control should switch names.
Cannons vs. Lasers - Cannons do seem to be quite a bit better, although they should be better in damage output because to make good use of them you need the cannons plus engines and shields and armor. Although I have had good results with laser stealth ships, it can be very slow to get a clear shot considering the amount of asteroids usually on the field. Currently, Convergent Light makes lasers not lose any damage over long distances. I would make that the default behavior of lasers and have Convergent Light cut down on damage lost due to asteroid interference.
Stealth and sensors - I rarely ever need sensors because the A.I. doesn't use stealth enough. Even with the cloaking wonder. I have had a stealth heavy fleet a couple of times but the AI rarely seems to have adequate sensors. If you build a stealth heavy fleet that should trigger the AI to put some energy into sensors. Although my issue with sensors not having enough value would be solved by the AI making better use of it, the could be given a second effect. If a sensor scans a non- cloaked ship, have it gain a 'locked-on' status that reduces the loss of damage from longer distance shots.
Torpedoes and fighters - At first I tried creating specialized missile ships and carriers. It's hard to hit something with a missile because they can just get out of the way and there's rarely a time when a ship is boxed in enough that they can't get out of the way, and other than missions where they have to get to a specific location you never have that serious a need to deny the enemy moving in a specific area. An area small enough to be cornered by one torpedo at least. It's much better to have several torpedoes in the air (vacuum) at the same time so they cover a large enough area to force movements or prevent escape. Thus you'd want them spread over several ships so you can fire them all at once. It's also cheaper due to the way costs increase the more you put on one ship. For the price of putting two torpedoes on one ship and firing one a turn you could three torpedoes on three ships and fire them all at once.
When I made carriers I found that by releasing one fighter a turn I was just losing one fighter a turn. Again, spreading them out and launching them all at once would overwhelm the enemy. And doing that cost less energy. Better and cheaper.
This are my idea on fixing that:
Swap technology and module bonuses - So more modules would give you better fighters and stronger torpedoes and the tech bonus would be to increase the number you can use per-battle.
Front load the cost or weight - Have the first torpedo on any ship cost 300 and each one after that on the same ship cost 100 (not increasing). You could get more total torpedoes by putting them all on one ship. Could also have the fighter bay have weight equal to the total weight of the possible 8 fighters on a ship all come from the first module added so putting fighters on every ship would slow all of them down, while having a dedicated carrier puts all the burden on one ship. Also, I'd make the first fighter 300 energy to start. Modules cost 100 energy each and a base fighter is three module so I just like the math.
Have the cost of new fighter and torpedo modules be based on the total you have in your fleet rather than just the ship your adding it to - This make some sense in that you aren't just adding a weapon, you're also maintaining a supply of the weapon which needs to be replaced each battle. This would mean accepting having torpedoes and fighters be things you spread across a whole fleet, and just maintain the cost increasing function that every other module has.
Those don't all necessarily work together though but one would be good.
I think that's all I've got.
Dual Command - Is toooo good. How good is it? It's as good as two other wonders but more versatile. Cloaking has stealth always active and Damage Control prevents critical hits. You can use your extra action to activate stealth or repair critical hits. So it's both those combined plus more! That's cray. So it needs to be toned down. My idea's are: Two actions if you don't move. Two actions if you don't fire weapons. Or go the other way with it. Change it so you can fire both cannons and lasers in the same turn, at different targets. A key reason dual command is overpowered is you can do anything with it. Cloaking, Hyperlaunch, Convergent Light etc. require you to invest heavily in their corresponding systems to get the most out of them, but two actions is good for anything. Two weapons firing might still be too good, but it would require you to equip ships with both weapon types for it to be useful
Redundant Systems - Not sure if this is overpowered in practice, but on paper it seems too good. An alternative could be to have it be an activated ability. So you have to lose a chance to fire to repair your ship. Assuming Dual Command is changed. Also I think this and Damage Control should switch names.
Cannons vs. Lasers - Cannons do seem to be quite a bit better, although they should be better in damage output because to make good use of them you need the cannons plus engines and shields and armor. Although I have had good results with laser stealth ships, it can be very slow to get a clear shot considering the amount of asteroids usually on the field. Currently, Convergent Light makes lasers not lose any damage over long distances. I would make that the default behavior of lasers and have Convergent Light cut down on damage lost due to asteroid interference.
Stealth and sensors - I rarely ever need sensors because the A.I. doesn't use stealth enough. Even with the cloaking wonder. I have had a stealth heavy fleet a couple of times but the AI rarely seems to have adequate sensors. If you build a stealth heavy fleet that should trigger the AI to put some energy into sensors. Although my issue with sensors not having enough value would be solved by the AI making better use of it, the could be given a second effect. If a sensor scans a non- cloaked ship, have it gain a 'locked-on' status that reduces the loss of damage from longer distance shots.
Torpedoes and fighters - At first I tried creating specialized missile ships and carriers. It's hard to hit something with a missile because they can just get out of the way and there's rarely a time when a ship is boxed in enough that they can't get out of the way, and other than missions where they have to get to a specific location you never have that serious a need to deny the enemy moving in a specific area. An area small enough to be cornered by one torpedo at least. It's much better to have several torpedoes in the air (vacuum) at the same time so they cover a large enough area to force movements or prevent escape. Thus you'd want them spread over several ships so you can fire them all at once. It's also cheaper due to the way costs increase the more you put on one ship. For the price of putting two torpedoes on one ship and firing one a turn you could three torpedoes on three ships and fire them all at once.
When I made carriers I found that by releasing one fighter a turn I was just losing one fighter a turn. Again, spreading them out and launching them all at once would overwhelm the enemy. And doing that cost less energy. Better and cheaper.
This are my idea on fixing that:
Swap technology and module bonuses - So more modules would give you better fighters and stronger torpedoes and the tech bonus would be to increase the number you can use per-battle.
Front load the cost or weight - Have the first torpedo on any ship cost 300 and each one after that on the same ship cost 100 (not increasing). You could get more total torpedoes by putting them all on one ship. Could also have the fighter bay have weight equal to the total weight of the possible 8 fighters on a ship all come from the first module added so putting fighters on every ship would slow all of them down, while having a dedicated carrier puts all the burden on one ship. Also, I'd make the first fighter 300 energy to start. Modules cost 100 energy each and a base fighter is three module so I just like the math.
Have the cost of new fighter and torpedo modules be based on the total you have in your fleet rather than just the ship your adding it to - This make some sense in that you aren't just adding a weapon, you're also maintaining a supply of the weapon which needs to be replaced each battle. This would mean accepting having torpedoes and fighters be things you spread across a whole fleet, and just maintain the cost increasing function that every other module has.
Those don't all necessarily work together though but one would be good.
I think that's all I've got.
