game balance

[Kayoz]

ORIGINAL: feelotraveller
So I should leave my starting bases in my home system with small cargo bays, small fuel cells, no shields, no armour, and maybe pulse blasters or seeker missiles for the whole game?

I don't think that's what he was suggesting. You did write...

ORIGINAL: feelotraveller
Short on cash? Just retrofit a bunch of mining bases (e.g. from one type of cargo bay to another). [Exploit: When they are done, retrofit them back and do it again.] No resouces are consumed, it does not require a constructor or any maintenance - free money out of nowhere.

... which is abusing a game mechanic. Just don't abuse it, and it won't be a game-breaking issue.

[feelotraveller]

ORIGINAL: Kayoz

ORIGINAL: feelotraveller
So I should leave my starting bases in my home system with small cargo bays, small fuel cells, no shields, no armour, and maybe pulse blasters or seeker missiles for the whole game?

I don't think that's what he was suggesting. You did write...

ORIGINAL: feelotraveller
Short on cash? Just retrofit a bunch of mining bases (e.g. from one type of cargo bay to another). [Exploit: When they are done, retrofit them back and do it again.] No resouces are consumed, it does not require a constructor or any maintenance - free money out of nowhere.

... which is abusing a game mechanic. Just don't abuse it, and it won't be a game-breaking issue.

I'm just raising the (non-exploititave version of the) mechanic as a game balance issue. Game breaking may be overstating it as I have not got to the end of a game yet, however at least in the early game I am raking in large amounts of cash by legitimate retrofitting. Assuming that the long term economics of retrofitting do not 'break' the game does not preclude effects on the game balance. For example the player who constantly retrofits their bases to the latest weapons will shift a lot more money from the private sector to the public coffers than the player who just installs fighter bays and then leaves them be. Besides being somewhat counter-intuitive this is clearly an effect on game balance. Or to look at it another way, the constant retrofitter can gain the same income with substantially lower taxes which means higher growth which means...

[Kayoz]

ORIGINAL: feelotraveller
Assuming that the long term economics of retrofitting do not 'break' the game does not preclude effects on the game balance.

Granted - it's a problem. But since the computer also benefits in the same way, the benefit you see as a player should be comparable to the computer's benefit. So it can more or less balance out. How unbalancing this can be to a normal player who isn't trying to exploit the mechanic is something that would require debug logs to see how the computer is affected - and that's something only Elliot can do. It should have been done. But has it? I wouldn't bet that such an analysis was done.

I'm sure there are other issues as well. I was just pointing out the most egregious balance issues which should have been addressed before release.

[turtlefang]

ARMOR, in theory, should impact more than rail guns, just provide better defense against rail guns that other means. I would rather it act like it says it should so that it works on more than just rail guns. Otherwise, it is not that useful.

As far as the sprint goes, have tried, works fine if you attacking. Doesn't work at all if you are defending, which is where most of the action is early in the game where rail guns are the primary weapon. The opposition is blizting the base or spaceport and your ships don't have time to "build up speed". And fleet stances aren't working correctly, even if you have 12 ships around a spaceport, only two or three fire at the attackers.

So when you combine all of these issues - armor, rail gun impacts, and poor fleet stances, the attacker has a huge advantage if you have to defend something. These three work together to snowall the impact of any one of them.

As far as wonders, I prefer it the way it is due to the strategic options but it doesn't bother me that much either way.

And I will take your word on it for the high growth races. Just haven't played as much to see that impact yet.