Randomised technology tree feels punitive

[Thurgret]

I understand the potential appeal of randomised technology, but never progressing beyond basic mining feels needlessly punitive. Perhaps all technologies should at least be allowed progress a step or two?

See below for reference. That's all I get in my mining and energy tree.

[btd64]

It is possible to steal the tech or discover it through repair or salvage....GP

[Thurgret]

I don't think it should be necessary to have to steal low-level technology to progress at all. However, if that's an intentional design choice, I suggest that the fixed technology tree should be the default option, and will be using it myself from now on.

[BTAxis]

It is possible to steal the tech or discover it through repair or salvage....GP

Salvage, yes. Stealing it, no. You can only steal techs you can research yourself. If you didn't roll a tech, the ONLY way to get it is by taking it through salvage or invasion, as far as I know.

Mind you, it's possible there is another route to the next tier mining tech - though it's not that likely. Sometimes the techs are linked from higher tier techs.

And yes, the random tech tree can really shaft you. I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing though. Roll with the punches, etc.

[fnix]

And yes, the random tech tree can really shaft you. I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing though. Roll with the punches, etc.

It seems the randomness should be at least somewhat bounded by race (and maybe government). It'd be strange to play as a commerce-and-diplomacy oriented race and not get any advanced tech in those fields while e.g. sporting cutting-edge weaponry.

[BTAxis]

That's true. Right now the randomness is completely race independent. Per-race weights would make a lot of sense, and make each race feel more distinct to boot.

[Cadune]

I just started my first play through.
I looked....for an hour to find assault pods so I could invade....only to find out the random tech had removed it.
Luckily i just found a 'friend' who was willing to provide the data free of charge.

Not fully understanding random tech and being my first place through.....thing could have definitely been better explained.

[BTAxis]

The random tech tree never removes Ship Boarding. It's a core tech that has a 100% chance of showing up. Maybe you just missed it?

[Cadune]

What's it under in the tech tree?
I checked every tech I had available and nothing was called "ship boarding".
Strange.

[BTAxis]

It's available via maneuvering engines.

Ship Boarding.png (179.72 KiB) Viewed 2401 times

[Cadune]

yeah looked like this for me.

snip.png (277.2 KiB) Viewed 2372 times

[BTAxis]

You didn't actually research Starship Maneuvering. Until you do that, Ship Boarding doesn't show up.

[Moltrey]

It looks like a design choice that essentially means as a new player you need to have ALL techs displayed until the player gets familiar enough with the tech tree and which techs are tied to each other, prerequisites etc.
I am not sure if there is another way around it.

[Xirael]

I am stuck with basic armor, normal tractor beams and the normal research labs. The latter is especially punishing since without structured research and the buildings it is harder to get to the reaseach bonus thresholds. I only noticed when I got the notifcations that the other empire build the lab. But I am not that far into the tree..maybe they pop up later on...question is how much they help then.
I generally like the feature, but if whole techs are not there at all, then I think I will switch this option off in the future.

[StormingKiwi]

Is it a random tech tree per empire, or is it a global random tech tree per game?

[BTAxis]

It's the same rules for everyone, so everyone has a different tree. You are guaranteed to get your racial techs though.

Actually come to think of it, I don't know for sure if the AI has randomized tech trees...

[SirHoraceHarkness]

Not fully understanding random tech and being my first place through.....thing could have definitely been better explained.

This is an area that modders will put some attention into since there is good potential to make each race more unique technology wise on a given playthrough. These are early days yet for the game and if the original is any indication more and more features will come in down the line since this is basically a one man operation with some helpers and not a huge studio that can dump hundreds of workers and millions of dollars of budget into it on a whim.

[SgtBootStrap]

Well Damn. I had not tried the "Random" Tech Tree Option but one assumed that "Random" Tech meant the placement of Techs on the Tree itself, not the total removal of some of the Tech options....????

Good to know though. No way in hell I will take a chance on losing out on a Tech, or hope to Steal/Reverse Engineer a Specific Tech...

[SirHoraceHarkness]

Well Damn. I had not tried the "Random" Tech Tree Option but one assumed that "Random" Tech meant the placement of Techs on the Tree itself, not the total removal of some of the Tech options....????

Good to know though. No way in hell I will take a chance on losing out on a Tech, or hope to Steal/Reverse Engineer a Specific Tech...

I think its meant as more of a way to make tech trading and reverse engineering tech more viable and immersive for those that want to play that way. Thats why its an option.

[swizzlewizzle]

I think instead of completely removing/blocking off certain research in randomized research, instead, perhaps it would be better to just give those research projects a 5x cost instead... so you *would* have access to it, but it would be much better to try stealing it/salvaging it instead. That way you can have the game forcing you to try different pathways, but without *totally* blocking you off randomly.