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Suggestions / Research
« on: July 14, 2020, 06:04:11 PM »
I have been thinking about the data-packages strewn across the sector.
So I was thinking, perhaps make these a lot less common, but more powerful.
Enter, reverse engineering and research.
So I was thinking, perhaps make these a lot less common, but more powerful.
Enter, reverse engineering and research.
Spoiler
Assumptions
- Costly
- What you research needs to be picked apart and destroyed (weapons, systems, ships, at least one needs to be taken apart)
- Difficulty scales exponentially with size and tech level (figuring out how to make a light machine gun might take a month or two, while a capital ship takes many years)
- You need some sort of facility/industry to do research
- Research requires a hefty budget to do in reasonable time
How then to research?
Option 1 - The simple way (Linear model)
Allocate a budget (like your growth budget) and then you have a data package for the thing in a specific amount of time.
Option 2 - Making life difficult (Breakthrough model)
Instead of just having the amount of money allocated play a role, you also have to battle with "breakthroughs" and "progress"
Various items require a certain amount of breakthroughs*, something that might happen 50% each month at an average budget on a Size 5 world.
If you don't get a breakthrough, you get an additional +10% for the next month (i.e. you have some progress).
* Examples of Breakthroughs required:
Small Weapon 1
Medium Weapon 2
Large Weapon 4
Ship System (equal to cost for a Frigate level system)
Frigate 8
Destroyer 16
Cruiser 32
Capital 64
Low Tech x1
Midline x5
High-Tech x10
Civilian Hull x0.5
D-mods present on researched specimen x1+N (N= number of D-mods percent on reverse-engineered hull, because you have to figure out a fix to it)
So if you want to be able to build High-Tech Capital Ships it would be 640 breakthroughs, and if the one you are studying is a mess with 5 D-mods, it would require 3200 breakthroughs, which would take more than 250 years if you're making a breakthrough per month. A Light Machine Gun however, would take just 1 breakthrough and might be figured out in a month or two.
Example of Facilities
Technologistry (Level 1 - Facility)
A meeting place with dedicated workshops and expert systems.
Engineering Works (Level 2 - Industry)
Dedicated heavy industrial machinery and plants for tearing down ships and other large pieces of technology.
Research Institute (Level 3 - Industry)
Provides additional facilities for some of the sectors more sought after technologists.
Nanoforge - Reduces cost by 20% or 50% depending on sort
AI - Reduces number of breakthroughs required for a project
Colony Size - Increases number of breakthrough chances per month
Theoretical Support - In case you have more facilities, but allocating less than one artefact for each (or an artifact is pirated in transit), then they only produce at 50%
One could also imagine of giving this chain of buildings a similar bonus as the Industry Skill to finding more rare finds, but from Tech-Mines. Again though, they should be one of the most expensive buildings to keep.
Just some thoughts.
- Costly
- What you research needs to be picked apart and destroyed (weapons, systems, ships, at least one needs to be taken apart)
- Difficulty scales exponentially with size and tech level (figuring out how to make a light machine gun might take a month or two, while a capital ship takes many years)
- You need some sort of facility/industry to do research
- Research requires a hefty budget to do in reasonable time
How then to research?
Option 1 - The simple way (Linear model)
Allocate a budget (like your growth budget) and then you have a data package for the thing in a specific amount of time.
Option 2 - Making life difficult (Breakthrough model)
Instead of just having the amount of money allocated play a role, you also have to battle with "breakthroughs" and "progress"
Various items require a certain amount of breakthroughs*, something that might happen 50% each month at an average budget on a Size 5 world.
If you don't get a breakthrough, you get an additional +10% for the next month (i.e. you have some progress).
* Examples of Breakthroughs required:
Small Weapon 1
Medium Weapon 2
Large Weapon 4
Ship System (equal to cost for a Frigate level system)
Frigate 8
Destroyer 16
Cruiser 32
Capital 64
Low Tech x1
Midline x5
High-Tech x10
Civilian Hull x0.5
D-mods present on researched specimen x1+N (N= number of D-mods percent on reverse-engineered hull, because you have to figure out a fix to it)
So if you want to be able to build High-Tech Capital Ships it would be 640 breakthroughs, and if the one you are studying is a mess with 5 D-mods, it would require 3200 breakthroughs, which would take more than 250 years if you're making a breakthrough per month. A Light Machine Gun however, would take just 1 breakthrough and might be figured out in a month or two.
Example of Facilities
Technologistry (Level 1 - Facility)
A meeting place with dedicated workshops and expert systems.
Engineering Works (Level 2 - Industry)
Dedicated heavy industrial machinery and plants for tearing down ships and other large pieces of technology.
Research Institute (Level 3 - Industry)
Provides additional facilities for some of the sectors more sought after technologists.
Nanoforge - Reduces cost by 20% or 50% depending on sort
AI - Reduces number of breakthroughs required for a project
Colony Size - Increases number of breakthrough chances per month
Theoretical Support - In case you have more facilities, but allocating less than one artefact for each (or an artifact is pirated in transit), then they only produce at 50%
One could also imagine of giving this chain of buildings a similar bonus as the Industry Skill to finding more rare finds, but from Tech-Mines. Again though, they should be one of the most expensive buildings to keep.
Just some thoughts.
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