OK admit it, who else has changed their designs

[Shark7]

To be sure that you can take advantage of the new research and scenery bonuses without having to have 15 different station designs?

I've finally just given up and put 1 of each extractor and 1 of each lab on my resort bases. I also put labs on my mining stations. That way I can still use the left side quick menu and not have to manually go to each location, pick an unbusy constructor and order the right base manually.

[Larsenex]

Shark can you please explain what/why and how? I am just using the default designs on auto and think I can be doing a better job with custom bases.

[Shark7]

ORIGINAL: Larsenex

Shark can you please explain what/why and how? I am just using the default designs on auto and think I can be doing a better job with custom bases.

Easy, I take the resort base and stick extra cargo bays and a gas, mining and luxury engine on it.

with the mining stations I stick 1 each of the weapons, energy and high tech labs on.

[gmot]

I've done that with the resort base, but not with the mining stations. I don't alter the private designs beyond upgrading them to the latest components - I like to keep them feeling separate - as if the private sector was determining what they need to build and wouldn't want to put on these weapons/labs etc, as it would cut into their profit margins. All in my head I know...

[Data]

But not only in yours....i do the same thing and for the exact same reasons
It may be less efficient but I enjoy the diversity and my non involvment in the affaires of my citizens

[James009]

I change my designs all the time. I TRY not to specialize anything too much because I feel like I'm overdoing it, however, I occassionally find a research station that I also place mining facilities on or a resort with gas but only if they need it. Otherwise, it's an unnecessary expense. I always put a few weapons and shielding on mining facilities to ward off pirates (which helps) and usually extra cargo space. I also have a specialized "refueling" station for certain, strategically located gas mining stations.

[Shark7]

Gonna post 2 screenshots (cropped for size) in the next 2 posts to show this in action...and what I think is wrong with it. I won't be doing this again, it simply makes the research arm of my empire too powerful.

One thing you will see is that by being able to add lab components to the mining stations, I have a ton of extra capacity.

First, the research summary:

[Shark7]

This next post shows the basic nil effect on my economy. As you can see, my empire is quite robust economically. For reference, this is with 99 colonies.

[Shark7]

Now then, I'm going to make a proposal to fix what I see could be called an exploit. It took me playing the game with it like this for me to see the problem. The labs simply do not cost enough to make a dent in the economy of the private sector to make this an unattractive choice.

Research Lab components need to be restricted to being loaded onto Research or Starport stations only. Or rather, define all other ships/bases as:

• must not have research lab components

[Setekh]

Gotta agree with shark on this.

[Lord_Astraios]

I change every design,  the only one i leave and just hit the upgradebutton is the private ships.

Mining stations by law will carry weapons.

Exploring ships are armed but with basic mount.

I actually make custom ships and bases apart from the type description like:
-Research station with every lab on it up to 100k each,  i think is 100k,  since i put 5 of each, plus armed to the teeth
-From the Cruisers i vary the type same as in Capital ships,  Since in my designs i specify a Cruiser,  Battleship,  Dreadnought keeping the sizes according a scale and what i can buy in the shipyard.
- Cloaked ships,  non cloaked,  Torpedo or Ballistic ships only,  Carriers protected to its teeth but with less weapons.
- At my homeworld and only my homeworld, i build the mighty starbase, dare to enter and you will be butter.  It is bigger,  weapons to its teeth,  armor and shielding top notch,  costs a lot and longer to build,  Omega Class Star Base or Pendragon Class Star Base.

I would love to see a mod or something to edit or an addition to have a Rail Gun on a ship,  big in size so you wont be able to put many on it,  but with a rail gun on a ship to shoot a shot of high velocity and when it detonates or impacts creates a large shockwave,  but accurate like 50% because of the speed and difficult to evade.  I mention of this because in my Fiction writing i have a ship with one and i have a story for it.

[Data]

Wow, Shark, impressive demonstration......this indeed needs to be fixed, it takes the fun out of planning your research locations

[Shark7]

ORIGINAL: Data

Wow, Shark, impressive demonstration......this indeed needs to be fixed, it takes the fun out of planning your research locations

yeah, I've already caught up and surprassed the research of the empires that I set 2 tech levels above me at game start. And this game is only since yesterday afternoon, ~ 8 hours of gameplay.

[BigWolfChris]

Personally I only ever put research labs on research bases and my large Starports (which I would usually only have 1 per 25-ish colonies), and even then I go miles ahead of the curve (but then my empire tends to become 2-3 times larger than 2nd place with relative ease anyway)
But yeah, that's something that defiantly needs balancing

[Litjan]

Hmm, I am not quite sure I understand. I thought for all it matters you could build a million research labs - if you don´t have the population to produce those points, it wouldn´t matter? The boost I see on your screenshot stems from "bonuses", that means having labs at special locations.

So while I totally agree that labs should cost more, I don´t see anything fundamentally "exploitive" about spamming labs on everything [:)]

Jan

[Data]

takes one topic out of the micromanaging list
you just modify the design for the mining station for example and the constructors do the rest automatically

[caerr]

That's correct, your empire can only make use of so many research modules.

I think what Shark7 is going for, is to eliminate need for specialized research stations. That way when your constructors build a mine at a location with a research bonus, you will hit two birds with one stone so to speak.

Edit: this would be easy to fix by restricting labs to research stations and starports.

[Data]

yap, when i first saw Shark's screenshots i wanted this fixed for the fun of the game
now i want it fixed so that we can stop Shark himself [:)]

[Shark7]

ORIGINAL: caerr

That's correct, your empire can only make use of so many research modules.

I think what Shark7 is going for, is to eliminate need for specialized research stations. That way when your constructors build a mine at a location with a research bonus, you will hit two birds with one stone so to speak.

Edit: this would be easy to fix by restricting labs to research stations and starports.

Quite the contrary, what I'm going for is not being able to have 200 of each lab due to sticking them on every station that exists.

Even though I hit the cap, and as you can see I have a ton of unused potential, the AI can't/won't do this, so it is still a huge advantage.

And while I do have a bunch of bonuses, I'm still outstripping the research level of all of the AI empires. I'm so far ahead of them that none of them have any tech to trade to me, and the tech I could trade to them is running around 20 million in cost to them (I'm using 999k research level).

But what I do want you got right, research labs need to be restricted to the research stations and starports only, rather than being able to install them to any design.

FYI at the time of that screenshot, I had 134 of each lab type from mining stations alone...not counting dedicated research bases and my 99 starports. I personally think it needs to be fixed so you can't put labs onto the civilian stations...just my humble opinion.

[Shark7]

ORIGINAL: Data

yap, when i first saw Shark's screenshots i wanted this fixed for the fun of the game
now i want it fixed so that we can stop Shark himself [:)]

I cannot be stopped! I am just too awesome! [;)]