TAR model: Theories only require other theories?

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Vezzra
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Re: TAR model: Theories only require other theories?

#46 Post by Vezzra »

Oberlus wrote: Mon Feb 11, 2019 3:39 pmLet me see if I grasp correctly the difference between functional and themed approach:
- Stuff related to production increase: functional.
- Stuff related to underground (mines: production; habitation space and food production: pop; infrastructure for defense; ...): themed.
- Stuff related to empire logistics and organisation (industrial center: prod.; empire's logistics: supply and stockpile; interplanetary academic network: res.; meter regeneration; ...): themed.
- Stuff related to minds and brains (mind reading: spy; mind control; influence; use of brains as computing power: res.; ...)
Correct.
Subterranean hab., orbital hab., and n-dim hab. could be in three different trunks outside of growth (as they are now except for sub. hab.). Sub. hab could be within Underground Engineering (if we can get enough techs to fill such a trunk with several tiers and several apps per tier), Orb. hab. could be in some orbital industry themed trunk (with microgravity industry, staff regarding planetary defenses...), and something like that for N-Dim. hab. Should we place the three of them in the same trunk, that would be a functional category, right?
Exactly.
Distributing wisely the different effects so that there are many subsets of trunks that you can focus on for a good strategy could be a challenge but very rewarding for gameplay.
Yes, that's definitely the challenge when designing such a tech tree. Especially getting the balance between the different trunks right, so you do not end up with obvious optimal choices. It's probably impossible to make each and every trunk equally important, but at least there shouldn't be any trunks you absolutely need to research, nor any trunks that only offer stuff so unimportant/weak that no one ever bothers with them.

It's probably ok for some trunks to only make sense if you decide to pursue a specific strategy (e.g. like wanting to play a stealthy empire).

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Re: TAR model: Theories only require other theories?

#47 Post by Oberlus »

Vezzra wrote: Thu Feb 14, 2019 2:23 pmEspecially getting the balance between the different trunks right, so you do not end up with obvious optimal choices. It's probably impossible to make each and every trunk equally important, but at least there shouldn't be any trunks you absolutely need to research, nor any trunks that only offer stuff so unimportant/weak that no one ever bothers with them.
Indeed. That will be the main objective in design.
Vezzra wrote: Thu Feb 14, 2019 2:23 pmIt's probably ok for some trunks to only make sense if you decide to pursue a specific strategy (e.g. like wanting to play a stealthy empire).
That's a relieve!
Ophiuchus wrote: Wed Feb 13, 2019 8:23 am @Oberlus if you can come up with the tiers contents i think i can generate the prototype using a script (e.g. you can use some spreadsheet like xls). Columns would be tech name as in FOCS (e.g. SPY_DETECT_2), prerequisites in current FOCS format (should be a tech name single entry like SPY_DETECT_1 ) and tags (it should suffice if you write THEORY for those entries which are a theory and REFINEMENT for refinements).
I had that in mind. The excel I'm working on will have one field for each one in the FOCS files.
The problem I see for now is with organising the techs (the ones we have now and any others we can come up with) into meaningful and properly balanced categories/trunks. I'll be posting dilemmas.

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