Architect Archive
Thread: Week One Top 5 List
A very excellent top 5 Zarcath. 
If you were to increase list to 7 items, I would include also...
6) Adding one lot for each level in construction. This would add 4 lots total to architect class, and be very fair. But since there is almost no way the developers will do this, I don't blame you not putting it as a high priority.
7) Making the medium and largest harvesters moredesirable - either by making them (easier to use/place) and (cost less to maintain), or by making them (harvest greater amounts).
Thanks Zarcath! 
Oh also, would like to see a re-emphasis on #5.
Salvage might be interesting later if developers add decay and destruction to player structures, so that they need repair.
But for construction purposes, I would like to instead see something along the line of "NO Failure Whatsoever on Final Step."
Several very well written posts have argued very persuasively that there should be no critical failures on houses and factories and big harvesters, and I agree with them wholeheartedly.
Scenario: I build all walls okay, I build roof ok, I build electrical system ok, I build plumbing ok, oops the whole house fell down. This just doesn't wash.
Please oh please change emphasis of #5 to reflect this view.
I know thesemight be small butthere annoying, hopefully you can mention themasit shouldnt take too long to correct mostly just renaming a few items.
Fix the 12 struct small bldgs to reflect a unique name.
Fix the factories to reflect the crafting stations, it just makes more sense. FOod AND chemical factory, weapon, droid, and general factory(instead of equipment) etc.
Add either a numeral ( I, II, or III) to furniture types that are different but have the same name, like armoire, armoire II, cafe table, cafe table II etc..
These are more typos than anything but it would go a long way in helping us classify items we sell.
5. Critical Failure - I doubt that they care. They want it so that there is a risk. With critical failure in the game like it is, people have to sell house/harvesters for a profit or they could go out of business. I have critical failured 2 large houses in the last week, I just deal with it
The fact that critical failures exist is not the issue. We all understand there is risk in any crafting. The problem is that critical failure affects architects to a much greater degree (an order of magnitude actually in terms of lost time and resources) than other crafters.
Given that architect items are not in game more valuable than say a set of Chitin armor or vibroknucklers it is even more punitive. This fact is probably unexpected. I imagine the developers though a house would sell for many times a weapon due to the difficulty in collecting the resources needed. In practice it has not worked out that way. Right now architecture is high risk vs moderate reward when it probably should be moderate risk vs moderate reward like other crafting professions. Just turn the knob down a bit...
As to "deal with it", of course we all deal with it. We also deal with manufacturing problems with power cores and a construction tree that serves no useful function but that does not mean those problems should remain.
I for one an glad #5 was included as I think addressing the issue will make architecture more fun and if some of the suggestions were implemented would add more gameplay to crafting which IMO is a good thing. If done properly the salvage could spawn an entire sub profession in a career tree that appears to have a set lifespan.
Baronis wrote:As far as structure decay goes, I don't think a blanket decay on all structures is the way to go. I can see decay being reasonable on some items(harvesters and factories), structures that people don't develop attachments to.
Aparently you have not made yourself any heavy mineral harvesters. I have given all three of mine a unique name and they are already developing personalities. :-)
Here is my thought to the structures decaying. Set structures so that they are targetable with a special weapon. Make this weapon VERY expensive to make, and have a VERY limited use. I am thinking something of a disposable rocket launcher. Give structures a giant wad of hit points and have them only repairable by an architect with the appropriate tools and skills, and resources. I don't know about others, but this would help immerse my character into the GCW which is supposed to be going on all around us and across the galaxy. Sometimes a structure takes a really bad hit and gets flattened, and others it only requires minor repairs. I cringe at the thought of my city being attacked and flattened while I was off sleeping, or at work, but come on, if there is truly a GCW, then lets feel some of that war. Right now it equates to a bunch of kids playing laser tag around the cloning center in the Theed square. And no, dont take that wrong, I am not saying every fight in Theed is by a bunch of kids. I am just trying to state how trivial I feel the GCW is right now, it doesn't affect me one bit. Attack my city, hit my PA hall, destroy my wifes house with all her clothes in it, make my life chaotic as an architect, you bet I am going to have a interested hand on striking back at the scum that hit us.
I'd like to add that the factory issue isn't just isolated to architects and power cores. It is from a couple of factory bugs. One of them is factory's odd behavior regarding components in input hoppers-- it tends to ignore 1 of each kind. The other bug is how a factory will eat some resources before deciding it can't finish an item. These are what is causing the problems with power cores, but also affect a lot of other people with other different items and should be fixed.
I dunno about house decay, I do agree that eventually there just won't be any more sales,but itreally is an expensive item to have decay on, and doesn't really make sense (i've seen 50+ year old homes that are in incredible condition).
Maybe only allowing a house to be redeeded so many times would be the answer, eventually you'll have to sell the house where it is, or destroy it entirely.
Thats not to say I think extractors should have a limit on being redeed 
we have to move them around WAY too much as it is.
Also if thedecay idea goes in, maybe an architect could also get the "renovate" skill to repair structures of decay, there's food for thought.
This list is pretty lackluster. In fact, I think a lot of the "fixes" on here are downright bad ideas. And its missing the major problems to boot!
#1 This is a small issue, while it should be fixed it should not be the first bug sent in because it only affects master architects making guild halls (as far as i know nothing else takes identical power core units) which is such a small minority of the architect population.
#2 I have never heard of the maintenence timer being broken...ever.
#3 Another minute change that could go either way. In the end it may hurt architects more than it helps us.
#4 This is a terrible idea for architects. To say it would help home sales is completely asinine. How would this help anything? In reality it would reduce homes sold by a huge amount because everyone would just share housesto dump alltheir crap on the floor. So, instead of selling 4 houses to a group of 4 people, we'd sell 1 and theyd all just share it.
#5 This is a bad solution to a problem that doesnt exist. On average critical failures dont have that large of an effect on your resource base. Its more of a frustration thing than anything, plus it makes it exciting. Every time you press the assemble button your heart skips a beat.
The only thing that this list shows is that you are neglecting the only major problem that architects have. There is no self-renewing system to keep the economy going. All structures are permanent. So unlike weaponsmiths and armorsmiths we will see constantly increasing supply, and constantly reducing demand. Why dont you bring this issue up? This is the only one I am really concerned about.
I am very dissapointed with this list. The major problem with architects is not being addressed.