Architect Archive
Thread: Structure Power-Ups?
I've seen some hints at this idea in other threads, but I don't think the idea has been fully developed (as far as I know, forgive me if I'm repeating an existing idea).
Anyways, I think a big problem architects face is that we don't have many items that we can sell in the "medium" price range. Most of our products must sell for more than 10k for us to feel we've made a decent profit for the time and energy we put into them. It would be nice if we could produce a product that was:
A)High in demand
B)Less expensive (and less risky) toproduce than medium and large structures
C)Could be resonablypriced at1 or 2k, and
D)Generated repeat busines.
Furniture fills this role to some extent, but since furniture doesn't degrade we don't get a lot of repeat business from the same customers after their houses have been furnished. Plus, furniture is (for the most part) a luxury item that doesn't add significantly to game play or provide a worthwhile benefit other than being pleasing to the eye.
I think it would be really cool to be able to produce Structure Power-Ups, similar to what exists for weapons. These would be one-time-use items that, when applied to a structure, provided an added bonus or benefit for a certain period of time. Structure Experimentation could effect the bonuses provided by these power-ups, as well as the material quality the items themselves are crafted from. Power-ups may only be applied to structures one at a time (no stacking), but may be removed at anytime (resulting in the destruction of the power-up).
Here are some example ideas (with fixed percentage bonuses, just for demonstration purposes):
High Efficiency Drill Bits - This power-up, when applied to a Mineral Extractor, increases the collection rate of the extractor by 50%, butincreases maintenance costs by 25%. This power-up has a duration of24 hours.
Nano Repair Droids - This power-up, when applied to any extractor or collector, decreases maintenances costs by 30% for 48 hours, but increases power consumption by 10%.
Solar Panels - This power-up, when applied to any extractor or collector, decreases power consumption by 35%, but increases maintnances costs by 10%. When applied to an energy collection device, it increases the collection efficiency by 25%, but increases maintenances costs by 10%. This power-up has a duration of 48 hours.
High Capacity Storage Gel - This power-up, when applied to an energy collection device, increases the maximum storage capacity of the collector by 50%, as well as increasing collection efficiency by 15%. This power-up has a duration of 96 hours. (NOTE: If the power-up expires while energy reserves are above the default storage capacity of the collector, the collector will become "over-charged," and surplus reserves will be slowly lost over time. While in this over-charged state, maintenances costs increase by 100%)
PowerAmplifier - This power-up, when applied to any collector, increases collection efficiency by 75%, but increases power consumtion by 85% and maintenance costs by 50%. This power-up has a duration of 24 hours.
Hopper Expansion Compartment - This power-up, when applied to any extractor or collector, increases the maximum storage capacity by 50% (cannot be applied to energy collection devices). This power-up has a duration of 96 hours. (NOTE: If the power-up expires whileresource reserves are above the default storage capacity of the collector, the collector will become "over-burdened," and surplus reserves will be slowly lost over time. While in this over-burdened state, maintenances costs increase by 50%).
Refining Unit - This power-up, when applied to any extractor or collector, grants the extractor or collector the ability to refine the resources it collects, resulting in a 10% improvement in the quality of resources collected. The cost of this refinement is a 65% loss in extraction efficiencyand 100% increases in maintenance and power consumtion. This power-up has a duration of 12 hours.
Data Repeater Antenna - This power-up, when applied to any harvestor or collector, allows the user to remotely monitor the levels of power, maintenance, and hopper conditions of that structure (users cannot operate their machinery remotely, only observe conditions). Also, in the event that the harvestor or collecter stops harvesting resources (due to power loss, resource depletion, etc.), the Data Repeater will send an automated e-mail to the user at the moment the harvester/collector stops (including the reason why it stopped). This power-up has a duration of 48 hours and increases power consumption by 5%.
HomoginizingTool - This hand-heldunit grants the operator theoption of putting similar resources of different qualities in thedevice and merging them, resulting in a resource quality consisting of an average of theresource qualities merged. CAUTION: Depending on the quality of the Homoginizing Unit, there is a small chance of overall quality loss of the final resource. Due to the intense strain of merging resources, this tool has a maximum of 10 uses.
Housing Storage Module - This power-up, when applied to a house,increases the item storage capacity of the building by 50%, but increases maintenance costs by 65%. This power-up has a duration of one week. (NOTE: If this power-up expires while the building holds more items than its default maximum capacity, maintenance costs are increased to 300% the base rate while "over-stored".)
Production Accelerator - This power-up, when applied to a factory, increases production speed by 30% at the cost of a 25% increasein maintenance costs. This power-up has a duration of 24 hours.
Temporary Re-Zoning Notice - This power-up increases the maintenance cost by 25% tothe large house or PA Hall it is applied to, as well as reducing the maximum item storage capacity of that structure by 25%, but reduces the Lot cost of that structure by one, effectively freeing one Lot normally used by the structure for other use. WARNING! This power-up has a duration of96 hours. If, when this power-up expires, the user is over the default 10Lot limit,one structure belonging to that player will be randomly selected and destroyed (this includes houses and halls!).
So yeah, those are just some ideas to think about, some good, some need tweaking. I realize that many of them are probably too demanding from a coding and server-load perspective, but I can still dream. I personally would LOVE to see something like the Data Repeater Antenna, even without the e-mail feature, but that's just me.
Any thoughts or suggestions?
Temporary Re-Zoning Notice - This power-up increases the maintenance cost by 25% to the large house or PA Hall it is applied to, as well as reducing the maximum item storage capacity of that structure by 25%, but reduces the Lot cost of that structure by one, effectively freeing one Lot normally used by the structure for other use. WARNING! This power-up has a duration of 96 hours. If, when this power-up expires, the user is over the default 10 Lot limit, one structure belonging to that player will be randomly selected and destroyed (this includes houses and halls!).
I liked all the ideas but this one... the penalty is too severe to be random... It should delete whatever you placed in the lot you gained from the powerup.
I think that power-ups are the best way to produce recurring revenue for architects, differentiate skilled from unskilled architects, and make playing an architect more interesting (hunting for uber resources is fun). And, as a bonus, this will make our customers happy (their harvesters get buffed) instead of angry (their harvesters wear out and blow up).
Having structures decay solves one problem (recurring revenue), but does nothing to make experimentation and resource quality interesting, and while it is good for us, it is BAD for every other class in the game and we can hardly expect them to be enthusiastic about decay.
In addition, the useless 'construction' column could be used for power-ups.
Please, everyone - back this idea. Realistically its our best hope.