Postby Melonwheels » Sun Jun 25, 2006 9:21 pm
I think the food bonuses should cost alot less. The marginal benefit of an additional point of food productivity just plunges. For example, if productivity increases from 6 to 7, that means your required farmers go from 1/6 of population to 1/7, a 2.3% advantage.
Perhaps the monetary bonuses could be a bit lower too, but that's really just me. I see prod races as socialists and money/tech races as free market liberals.
EDIT:
Here's a better way of looking at it: quasi-game-theory.
Suppose a population of a hundred divided into farmers and workers, where industrial output is maximized while every person has to eat one unit of food.
At the first stage, productivity is at 1 food unit / 1 person and 1 industrial unit / 1 person. With each subsequent stage, the player chooses where to allocate one point of productivity increase so as to maximize production.
Stage 1: Hunter gatherers
Food: 1/p, 100 farmers req.
Industry: 1/p * 0 workers = 0 production
Stage 2: Agricultural revolution
Food: 2/p, 50 farmers req.
Industry: 1/p * 50 workers = 50 production
(otherwise, 0 production)
Stage 3: Industrial revolution
Food: 2/p, 50 farmers req.
Industry: 2/p * 50 workers = 100 production
(otherwise, 66 production)
Stage 4: 1900s
Food: 2/p, 50 farmers req.
Industry: 3/p * 50 workers = 150 production
(otherwise, 132 production)
Stage 5: WW2
Food: 2/p, 50 farmers req.
Industry: 4/p * 50 workers = 200 production
(otherwise, 198 production)
Stage 6: Mad dash for cities (governments begin subsidizing due to the agricultural lobbies)
Food: 3/p, 33 farmers req.
Industry: 4/p * 67 workers = 268 production
(otherwise, 250 production)
Stage 7: Lean production techniques (where we're at presently)
Food: 3/p, 33 farmers req.
Industry: 5/p * 67 workers = 335 production
(otherwise, 300 production)
At this point I guess MOO2 begins.
Stage 8:
Food 3/p, 33 farmers req.
Industry: 6/p * 67 workers = 402 production
(otherwise, 375 production)
Stage 9:
Food 3/p, 33 farmers req.
Industry: 7/p * 67 workers = 469 production
(otherwise, 450 production)
Stage 10:
Food 3/p, 33 farmers req.
Industry: 8/p * 67 workers = 536 production
(otherwise, 525 production)
Stage 11:
Food 3/p, 33 farmers req.
Industry: 9/p * 67 workers = 603
(otherwise, 600 production)
Stage 12:
Food 4/p, 25 farmers req.
Industry: 9/p *75 workers = 675
(otherwise, 670 production)
At this point, it's fairly MOO2-like, and the 4/p farming will probably remain optimal for a while. As for research, I think it's more complicated, since that is more of a time dependant variable, since it amounts to "how much earlier can player 1 increase his productivity by 3 points per worker". Creative isn't necessarily 200-300% better either, since one technology you may never use, and the other is perhaps 50-75% as good as your original 'easy pick'; it amounts to a more 'immediate' (due to fighter bays and such) democracy research bonus.