Blueprints & Tech
Posted: Sun Jul 05, 2009 10:21 pm
As part of my recent tech-related info dumps here on the forums, let me make a brief mention of blueprints and how they relate to technology.
In 2E, players will be restricted as to the kinds of technical information that they can exchange with one another. Players will likely be able to exchange unit schematics, but with limitations on how they can build or operate them (those rules are up in the air).
For the most part, however, two empires that wish to exchange technologies will do so via blueprints. A blueprint will represent the transfer of basic technical knowledge about a technology field at a given tech level. For example, an empire that has already research Anti-Ship TL 7 could provide another empire with Anti-Ship blueprints up to TL 7.
What blueprints do is reduce the recipient's cost to research that technology. This total cost reduction is variable, and is based on a comparison of your empire's current TL in that field to the TL of the blueprint you were provided. When calculating the cost of a tech level increase, take your current TL in the field divided by the blueprint's TL and multiply the result times the normal tech advancement cost, rounding fractions up.
To illustrate how blueprints work, let's set up an example scenario. Your empire has achieved Anti-Ship TL 4 and the aforementioned power has just given you a TL 7 blueprint. The cost reduction for researching Anti-Ship TL 5 would then be 4/7. If our empire has 23 Census, the final cost would be:
(5 + 23) x 10 x 4/7 = 160 TP
The cost to research Anti-Ship TL 5 is reduced from a normal cost of 280 down to 160, a savings of 120 TP!
If you then research Anti-Ship TL 6, the cost would be:
(6 + 23) x 10 x 5/7 = 208 TP
If you then research Anti-Ship TL 7, the cost would be:
(7 + 23) x 10 x 6/7 = 258 TP
Now that the empire has reached Anti-Ship TL 7, the blueprint is discarded because the recipient has increased its tech level in this field to that level.
One thing that players may have inferred from the above tech formulas is that the cost to increase a tech level is as follows:
(Next TL + Total Census) x 10 = Tech Advancement Cost (in Tech Points)
Also, "Total Census" has a minimum value of 10, in order to prevent a very low-population empire from making rapid tech advancements.
Census is used in the new tech equation in order to scale tech advancement costs to empire size. Larger, more populous empires will require proportionally more Tech infrastructure and Tech Points in order to increase their technology. The intent is to reduce the rate at which larger empires can gain an unassailable technical advantage over other, smaller powers. This is a problem in most 4X games, especially in ones where tech costs are more or less fixed so that empires with larger economies can always out research smaller empires. With the above formula, small empires at least have a chance to maintain parity for awhile, although chances are the larger power will overtake them eventually.
Another "bonus" side effect of including Census in the tech cost formula is that it provides a mechanic to somewhat simulate the increasing lethargy or decay that large, well-entrenched empires oftentimes succumb to. If the costs of modernization (i.e., tech increases) becomes too high, the empire's advancement may slow or stop altogether. It also means that conquerors will run into problems once they start overrunning their rivals, as their tech costs will become increasingly untenable. [ed: It shouldn't be too hard to provide rules that would allow an empire to split off some of these assets as puppet government, ala Hearts of Iron 2.]
Also, to allay some fears probably caused by the tech costs above, most empires will have a total amount of Tech infrastructure equal to their Total Census. That means that the 23 Census empire from the example would be generating about 20-25 Tech Points per campaign turn. Tech infrastructure isn't tied to Census in any way, either, so it can be purchased at 0 Census colonies (outposts or military bases) at the player's discretion. That means that, unlike VBAM 1E, in 2E you will be able to establish small science outposts like you saw in Star Trek or Mass Effect (or most space opera, for that matter) in your territories. The downside to doing so, of course, is that it is still another colony to defend and can still have Morale problems later on, so there is a non-trivial cost associated with maintaining such colonies.
-Tyrel
In 2E, players will be restricted as to the kinds of technical information that they can exchange with one another. Players will likely be able to exchange unit schematics, but with limitations on how they can build or operate them (those rules are up in the air).
For the most part, however, two empires that wish to exchange technologies will do so via blueprints. A blueprint will represent the transfer of basic technical knowledge about a technology field at a given tech level. For example, an empire that has already research Anti-Ship TL 7 could provide another empire with Anti-Ship blueprints up to TL 7.
What blueprints do is reduce the recipient's cost to research that technology. This total cost reduction is variable, and is based on a comparison of your empire's current TL in that field to the TL of the blueprint you were provided. When calculating the cost of a tech level increase, take your current TL in the field divided by the blueprint's TL and multiply the result times the normal tech advancement cost, rounding fractions up.
To illustrate how blueprints work, let's set up an example scenario. Your empire has achieved Anti-Ship TL 4 and the aforementioned power has just given you a TL 7 blueprint. The cost reduction for researching Anti-Ship TL 5 would then be 4/7. If our empire has 23 Census, the final cost would be:
(5 + 23) x 10 x 4/7 = 160 TP
The cost to research Anti-Ship TL 5 is reduced from a normal cost of 280 down to 160, a savings of 120 TP!
If you then research Anti-Ship TL 6, the cost would be:
(6 + 23) x 10 x 5/7 = 208 TP
If you then research Anti-Ship TL 7, the cost would be:
(7 + 23) x 10 x 6/7 = 258 TP
Now that the empire has reached Anti-Ship TL 7, the blueprint is discarded because the recipient has increased its tech level in this field to that level.
One thing that players may have inferred from the above tech formulas is that the cost to increase a tech level is as follows:
(Next TL + Total Census) x 10 = Tech Advancement Cost (in Tech Points)
Also, "Total Census" has a minimum value of 10, in order to prevent a very low-population empire from making rapid tech advancements.
Census is used in the new tech equation in order to scale tech advancement costs to empire size. Larger, more populous empires will require proportionally more Tech infrastructure and Tech Points in order to increase their technology. The intent is to reduce the rate at which larger empires can gain an unassailable technical advantage over other, smaller powers. This is a problem in most 4X games, especially in ones where tech costs are more or less fixed so that empires with larger economies can always out research smaller empires. With the above formula, small empires at least have a chance to maintain parity for awhile, although chances are the larger power will overtake them eventually.
Another "bonus" side effect of including Census in the tech cost formula is that it provides a mechanic to somewhat simulate the increasing lethargy or decay that large, well-entrenched empires oftentimes succumb to. If the costs of modernization (i.e., tech increases) becomes too high, the empire's advancement may slow or stop altogether. It also means that conquerors will run into problems once they start overrunning their rivals, as their tech costs will become increasingly untenable. [ed: It shouldn't be too hard to provide rules that would allow an empire to split off some of these assets as puppet government, ala Hearts of Iron 2.]
Also, to allay some fears probably caused by the tech costs above, most empires will have a total amount of Tech infrastructure equal to their Total Census. That means that the 23 Census empire from the example would be generating about 20-25 Tech Points per campaign turn. Tech infrastructure isn't tied to Census in any way, either, so it can be purchased at 0 Census colonies (outposts or military bases) at the player's discretion. That means that, unlike VBAM 1E, in 2E you will be able to establish small science outposts like you saw in Star Trek or Mass Effect (or most space opera, for that matter) in your territories. The downside to doing so, of course, is that it is still another colony to defend and can still have Morale problems later on, so there is a non-trivial cost associated with maintaining such colonies.
-Tyrel