So as the discussion seems to start to wrap up, i try to imagine this from the implementation viewpoint.Oberlus wrote: ↑Sat Apr 20, 2019 7:29 pmThis.Krikkitone wrote: ↑Fri Apr 19, 2019 1:03 am I think the simplest way to balance the cost is to have a
Total tier # cost boost, on top of the base costs of techs
So each tech has a base cost that is roughly proportional to its benefits
Then you have a cost increase for Any research based on your total number of tiers in all themes....
so level 5 Bio + level 3 Cyber+ level 2 Mech, means you have a +300% cost increase for any tech (whether level 6 Bio or level 3 mech or level 1 Energy)
If you have level 10 Crystal, you also have a +300% cost increase (whether for level 1 Energy or level 1 Bio)
I'll work with this idea. If it's not good enough and there are balancing problems regarding wide/tall research strategies, we can add on top of it the extra cost per extra theme proposed by labgnome.
For implementation I guess it is possible to implement this without backend changes by factoring in the number of unlocked tier-techs (the ones the app techs depend on) in the RP calculation macro. Possibly without having to enumerate all tech names.
Shifting by tier instead of multiplier will be bit more difficult but should also be possible.
Restricting penalties to a theme should also be a bit more difficult, but it could involve enumerating all the tier-tech names of the theme (which would be ugly implementation- and maintenance-wise; and horrible for external extension). On the other hand empire meters per theme should work without enumerating the tech names.
Counting RP spent on a theme would probably mean a lot of enumerating tech names or introducing empire meters per theme.
Ordered themes (first unlocked theme becomes primary theme, second unlocked theme becomes secondary theme) would be not hard but awkward to implement. Probably using an empire meter per theme and maybe magic numbers and maybe an empire meter to track the number of unlocked themes.
Implementing bubbling-up ordered themes (like i suggested) would maybe be possible but probably ugly and messy and a little nightmare.
Another approach with an easy implementation: instead of basing the penalty on the number of themes base it on tier levels. For this calculate or watermark the highest researched tech tier. Base the penalty on the difference of that highest tier to the tier of the tech you want to research. E.g. your highest tier is 6, now you want to research a tier-1 tech - it costs now five (6 - 1) times as much as the regular cost.
This would mean that efficient multi-theme research would evenly advance tier levels. Could of course also be combined with a multi-theme penalty.