Energy

[geordie]

I thought about two other buildings, but it's slightly exaggerated:
- no Klingon Recycling Centre without at least one Matter Furnace
- no Romulan Organic Regenerator without at least one Organics Plant (not sure if it is possible in practice)

[Iceman]

Yes, that's a bit too much, as PFs can be activated and deactivated.

[geordie]

Nevertheless, I would ask you to add at least the Recycling Centre to the list - I mean: not listed if no Matter Furnace (active or not is a player choice, so irrelevant).
I found that playing the Klingon game I had quite often no need to build the Matter Furnace - you can check that in my last save uploaded a couple of days ago in the Diplo thread. After some turns when I saw the Recycling Centre available I was repeatedly checking if it was sensible to have it built.

[Iceman]

Nevertheless, I would ask you to add at least the Recycling Centre to the list - I mean: not listed if no Matter Furnace (active or not is a player choice, so irrelevant).
I found that playing the Klingon game I had quite often no need to build the Matter Furnace - you can check that in my last save uploaded a couple of days ago in the Diplo thread. After some turns when I saw the Recycling Centre available I was repeatedly checking if it was sensible to have it built.

Ok, added both.

Most if not all of those colonies where you don't have MFs have no defences and only a basic SY though.

Should we decrease the output of Charge Collectors and Thermal Tethers

[geordie]

I think it happens mostly in the Klingon game.
No need for a change just now.
There are more factors to that. I am not defending colonies in the middle of the empire. Some buildings are (for now) for the border colonies. I start building some after a war declaration. I do not expect any war because my fleet (built for the Borg war) doubles other empires. The game AI in future may force me to do that differently.
I have some thoughts how to make the defense technologies more or wider useful, but I will propose that in a separate post.
I think the Thermal Tethers might deliver too high energy output, but only because they are available a bit too late - especially for central colonies as not too much to build there then.

[Iceman]

I think it happens mostly in the Klingon game.

For any particular reason?

If this is so, we don't want the Klingons to be able to redirect their energy pops to research.

I have some thoughts how to make the defense technologies more or wider useful, but I will propose that in a separate post.

I have a couple of ideas too, we can discuss this, yes.

I think the Thermal Tethers might deliver too high energy output, but only because they are available a bit too late - especially for central colonies as not too much to build there then.

Should be mostly for the fleetyard, and shields.

[geordie]

For any particular reason?

I do not see any reason, but it really happens in Klingon games.
I think you could add the Imperial Hospital or... rather the Imperial Wound Recovery Centre for Klingons.

Ok, added both.

I found one more, if you could add...
No Maturation Chambers listed after reaching the optimal drone capacity

[geordie]

I have a couple of ideas too, we can discuss this, yes.

Definitely some war building or technologies are useful only in border systems and useless in the centre of the empire. I mean, scanners, shields, batteries etc.
I thought that some of them or a combination of them could prevent some special events. For example:
- shields and scanner should prevent effects of solar flares
- shields + scanner + batteries (one in the system or one for every planet?) should at least reduce damages made by asteroids or comets.
- probably some more similar might be found. Some, like supernova eruption still will be deadly threat.
You could force players to use such defence by increasing frequency of some special events in advance game.

[Iceman]

- shields and scanner should prevent effects of solar flares

Yes, I guess shields could prevent planetary structures from being deactivated (though should a single shield be enough for that? and at any charge level?).
What about the scanner? Why would it be necessary? And would *both* have to be active to prevent the effects?

- shields + scanner + batteries (one in the system or one for every planet?) should at least reduce damages made by asteroids or comets.

Ok, but that would require a formula for damage reduction.
And probably a SitRep for damage prevention (the previous point too).

You could force players to use such defence by increasing frequency of some special events in advance game.

I think that that increase would have to be very substantial in order to make those defences worth it. And it would probably make the events boring/repetitive.

[the6the]

That's an interesting idea geordie!
I'm guessing the idea behind the first idea is that the pop on the planet detects the solar flare with the scanner, and does something with the shields (maybe direct the shields toward the flare, or certain places) to minimize the effect of the solar flare.
Similarly to the previous, the second idea also utilizes the scanner to see incoming comets/asteroids and uses the batteries to reduce their size, so that more of the substance they're made of burns up in the atmosphere before hitting the planet, effectively reducing the damage to the planet. I'll leave the formula to someone smarter.
I wouldn't perhaps increase the frequency in the end game, as, since the player has a larger number of systems, there would be a larger probability it happening to one of their systems in the end game anyway.
But I like the idea of making players think whether they should utilize their energy for defense

[Iceman]

I'm guessing the idea behind the first idea is that the pop on the planet detects the solar flare with the scanner, and does something with the shields (maybe direct the shields toward the flare, or certain places) to minimize the effect of the solar flare.

The scanner is a *subspace* scanner, not long range sensors - colonies have the latter by default.
I'm not shooting down the idea, I'm only justifying my question about the scanner being needed.

As a side note, if this would apply to solar flares, shouldn't it also have some effect on bombardments? (and no, I'm not suggesting that it should have )

I wouldn't perhaps increase the frequency in the end game, as, since the player has a larger number of systems, there would be a larger probability it happening to one of their systems in the end game anyway.

Actually, the frequency is somewhat fixed, regardless of size of empire - though making it dependent on size of empire is on my list, though it might make the events boring/repetitive, like mentioned above.

But I like the idea of making players think whether they should utilize their energy for defense

There's still a yet to be implemented random event - Pirates - that can trigger an attack anywhere in your empire. We now have the pirate ship model. It's not a very trek-ish event though.

[Iceman]

One of the pending ideas is +%GroundCombat buildings adding their bonus to the (intel output based) security level (against terrorism attacks) of the colony. And maybe to recruitment rate too.

+%GroundDefense could prevent some pop casualties from Asteroid Impact / Comet Strike / Climate Shift. Not sure about Earthquake and Plague, as those already involve +%PopulationHealth buildings.