Postby c'g~ » Wed Oct 22, 2008 3:29 pm
A greeting to fellow European, Italy is not so far away from here, you know?
So Jaadre, when I checked your ideas for MoO2 here I reached the conclusion that we are very alike: open minded, somehow naive (no offence here toward you) and very creative human beings (you even renamed Tech Fields and some Techs like I did in EXPa!!).
My firs message on this forum was similar to yours: at that time I was sure, that everything is simple like that. But harsh reality was far more depressive than I thought: not many people was even willing to try to understand what I’m implying and even less people want to contribute their thoughts about it in constructive way.
So, I want to help you somehow, because I like you style and you remind me myself. But please – be patient and rational, what I will say next may be not so pleasing to hear (for example I was taught something like this in much harsher way). So please don’t hold a grudge towards me.
So about your ideas…
First of all, the MoO2 is competitive game, so it has its own metagame, which dictates the RULES of viable choices.
A bit complicated I think. Hm, simply what I want to say is: in competitive gameplay you MUST make effective decisions, which is based on metagame, which is based on competitive players and game features themselves (in terms of MoO2 it’s mostly Tech Tree and Tech themselves).
So referring to my little speech, let’s look at your interpretation of MoO2 Tech Tree.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Let’s start with Chemistry.
Extended Fuel versus RHull – on first glance everything alright here: rush based races or expansion (production/population) based races will pick Extended Fuel, while research based or “late game” races will pick RHull. But, in reality only rush based races will pick Extended Fuel, because they need it for ability to reach their opponent fast and without additional expenditure (and rush races don’t need RHull because of timing and suddenness of their attack). Every other race WILL pick RHull, because it’s literally suicidal in late game to have disadvantage like not having Rhulls.
Moreover, what about first Colony ship – starting on advanced level (which is most balanced way to start with) you have 2 frigates and 1 Colony Ship, but with ExFuel not in Prewarpal anymore you will not have them in your pocket already, thus you can’t fly to far, so it’s really slow down the pace of the already slow game, but most importantly it can destroy one of the players right of the bat, when his first Colony Ship will not reach any nearby Star System.
While Productive races can somehow do well without ExFuel with building outpost ships, but unfortunately for Research races they just can do this at the beginning – so this tech field is practically killing blow to research based races.
In conclusion, without any other modification to tech tree (which can be done, because I can predict them) this field must be redone or scraped.
Tritanium versus Deuterium – it’s obvious, everyone will pick Deuterium – it’s one and only Fuel Cells Tech which you will need in the game. Moreover, soooo early placement of Zortium just confirm this – you easily can skip Tritanium and go for 900 Zort (in fact Zortium is much much effective compared to Tritanium, Trit can’t compete with Zort at all).
In conclusion again, this field must be redone or scraped.
Merculite Missile versus Pol Proc. Again, it’s practically one and only anti pollution tech, what you will use the whole game. It’s very effective, fast to tech, easy to build, low maintenance and most of all – it’s only available anti pollution tech in the beginning. On the other hand, you can skip Merculite Missile because of wide choice of other weapon systems in the game (and other more powerful missiles later on).
Obviously without any other early anti pollution techs Pol Proc is only choice here.
Zortium versus Heavy Armor versus Iridium Fuel. Like I said earlier – Deuterium it’s all what you need, so Iridium can be discarded right from the bat. So it’s Zort vs Heavy Armor. The choice is obvious: With Heavy Armor and Titanium (you will not have Tritanium because of Deuterium Fuel choice) you will have for Battle Ship 150/50. While with Zort you will have 200/200 without any amount of used ship’s Free Space. Yes with Heavy Armor you will have invulnerability to Armor Piercing, but with free space used and with so less health compared to Zort it’s no cost effective. Moreover zort directly influence HP of Fighters and Ground Combat Ratio which is matter.
Edit: type of Armor does not influence HP of missiles (thanks to Cabman for info).
So, Zortium all the way.
Pulson versus Nano disassemblers. I’m sticking with chosen tech path, thus player will need powerful missiles (because Merk was skiped). And with pol proc disassemblers will not be so drastically effective. In other hand if player will remain without advanced Missile – he will be as good as dead in that case.
So, Pulson here.
Neutronium Armor vs Urridium – choice was made already at the beginning, we don’t need anything except Deuterium. Thus Neutronium Armor.
Zeon Missile vs Microlight. At this level player will have MIRV Pulson and that is more than enough. So Microlight.
Adamantium vs Torium. I think I do not need to say something here. Adamantium.
Recyclotron vs Molecular Proc. I’ll explain it with example: Recyclotron will add from 20 to max 35 Prod based on population (so for effective use you need to build it on planets with big population). The Mol Proc tech will reduce pollution to nothing. So late in the game when you will achieve this tech you will have 250-300 prod from planet and pollution can be something about -150. So you will gain 150 additional Prod.
I think numbers tells for themselves – Molecular Proc here.
End of analysis.
In fact when I finished analyzing Chemistry I noticed another Tech path which can be taken: RHull > Deuterium > Poll Proc > Heavy Armor > Disassemblers > Neutronium > Zeon > Adamantium > Recyclotron. It’s a bit risky (late advanced armor and missile) and suits more for Tech races and late game dominance, but it can be done.
In the end I want to say, that I tried to be as much constructive as I can. All my statements here is based on experience, which was adopted from more experienced players and/or was acquired from real or test MoO2 games and of course do not forget experience of modding. But of course, something may be off, mostly because of lack of other Tech Tree branches modded by you (so I count it like other branches is unmodded).
Anyways, I like what I see here – if you add there deeper knowledge about metagame and Game itself, will gain some experience you WILL be able to shine. I’m absolutely positive about it – you have what it takes.
Best wishes and more importantly Inspiration in creating (next time I’ll talk about Genetics),
c’g~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~>
Last edited by
c'g~ on Thu Oct 23, 2008 3:59 pm, edited 3 times in total.