Architect Archive

There's a couple of ideas I want to rollup under this heading, actually.

The issues:

1. Crit failures are still too potentially extreme for Architects, given how resource intensive many of our schematics are


2. The experimentation tree is essentially useless


3. Need ongoing demand for products

Now, here are some solutions/suggested changes -- I'm sure at least some of these have been bandied about before, but I don't want to tag onto the end of a 14-page thread where this'll go largely ignored.

1 -- A couple suggestions: First, consider capping the amount of resources lost due to crit failure. Specifically, I was thinking 100% up to X resources, 50% up to Y (randomly drawn from the slots), perhaps with a HARD cap of Z resources lost across the schematic slots. X, Y and Z might be 1000, 2500, and 5000. Alternatively or in addition, consider having each *component* (not just raw resource slots, but sub-schematics) get a "saving throw" to surive a critical failure. Morever, components could now have a durability stat that factored directly into this saving throw. This factors into...

2 -- Again, a couple suggestions. One, I'd consider spreading assembly points across all 3 schematic trees, not just furniture. This sort of relates to #1, but I think it'd be nice. I'd also move the experiment points to be given alongside the assembly points. So, what would I use the extra tree for? A couple possibilities you could draw from. One would be additional lots as mentioned elsewhere -- call it a structure management line. We are the most resource-bound class, as far as I know, so it'd be nice if we had at least a moderately enhanced capability to gather resources. The other possibility (and you could use either or both of these) is a little more complicated, and addresses...

3 -- What I'd suggest here is the ability to "powerup" structures. This would be a hefty implementation task I imagine, but worth it. The kinds of powerups I imagined would powerup buildings for fixed intervals (perhaps how long is an experimented stat, perhaps not, but the magnitude of the effect WOULD be a la weapon powerups). For example, you might be able to powerup extractors with a ... I don't know what to call it, "extractor array" or something, that improves the harvester/generator's output by X% -- again, for a fixed duration, like the 100 shots for weapon powerups. Another might be an auxiliary storage module for houses that increased the number of items they can hold (I know, I know, DB space problems...). A duration on this might not make sense, so instead have it increase the house's maintenance cost (but NOT take an extra lot!). Heck, people are doing this already with vendor stockrooms... Finally, perhaps an auxiliary generator, which *reduces* maintenance and/or power costs on whatever type of structure it's placed on -- house, harvester, or factory. Limiting a structure to having one of these at a time would certainly be ok. I'm sure y'all can come up with other types of structure "add-ons" as well...

What's nice about the powerups is that (the duration-based ones) would be an ongoing source of business, but the alternative to having them (having a factory or heavy harvester wear out completely) wouldn't dismay the playerbase nearly as much.

Thoughts?

/bump

Can I get some feedback on this, even if it's "No, you've got it all wrong and here's why...."

One last Request For Comments...I'll let my comments die on the vine if there's still no interest.