[Openme-developers] Racial Abilities/Traits

[Justin S. <jus...@ho...>]

To Respond to some of aos' comments...


I didn't come up with the Alignment differences idea (BRUTICUS came up with 
everything to vary I just balanced the #s).  There are only a few abilities 
we can change without alot of coding.  One of these is alignment.  Of all 
the 5 races the one I think most associated with evil is Xollian.  Most 
Xollian players have chosen that race because they want to hunt.  So I don't 
think it will be too much of a problem to have Xollians hunting to try to 
get their alignment back up (I played Xollian last game and the race I 
killed most was Xollian).  So at the start alot of Xollians may hunt each 
other if they want to be Good.  The Military payment variance isn't really 
that much (2%).  Yes that is 2 million on a 100 million ship, but really 
that is chump change to a KEA player.  The reason Mawlor gets more Military 
Payments is to show that the Mawlor Economy is based on war and the KEA 
Economy on trade (would be silly to have it the other way around).  150% 
Weapon Production Cost is not really that much.  H gun costs ~3 million.  
Producing guns is half price (1.5 million).  So a KEA player would pay 2.25 
million to make a H gun.  Still a discount over buying them.  But if a KEA 
player wants he can just buy the guns from the shops at full price and not 
really suffer much from it (thus near elminating their penalty).  Also 
buying forces at 90% of cost more then makes up for that.  You make 6-7 guns 
per ship, but how many CDs do you go through and how many mines do you go 
through in a game?  I did do some math to come up with these #s.

Again Mawlor has higher Military Payments cause it goes with the race (and 
again it isn't that huge of a benefit 2.5% is 2.5 million on a 100 million 
ship).  Considering Mawlor has the worst efficiency tradeships (Duke is 600 
@ 5.5TPS) and a Penalty to race relations they suffer at trading.  Also they 
have building penalty (everyone will build no matter the penalty for EXP) so 
a Mawlor will have to spend more money to gain the same EXP as anyone else.

There is really no need to modify build/research/production times or EXP 
gained.  We can just modify the money needed to do those things and that 
will allow people to do more in that area cause they won't have to spend as 
much and be able to build/research/produce with less interruptions.  So Zyck 
will gain more EXP from building and Mawlor less.  As it is a Mawlor spends 
5% more money to get the same EXP as anyone else.  A Zyck player spends 90% 
of the money another player spends to get the same EXP.  KEA, because of the 
relation bonus which allows them to trade anywhere despite war and because 
they have the best Trade Ships already WILL get the most EXP from trading.  
They don't need a bonus on top of that.

Think of the Mawlor/Zyck exp difference this way...

Mawlors are Warriors, so they live by the Sword and die by the Sword.  Ie 
they get great reward and prestige from making a kill, but get knocked down 
the ranks harder for dying.  Just as with their low accuracy high damage 
weapons (and variable damage Combat Drones), Mawlor life is risk.  Great 
reward comes with luck and skil, but if you are unlucky (or unskillful) 
you'll find yourself at the bottom of the rankings.

Zyck are only a part of the whole.  The individual doesn't matter as much as 
the whole.  Therefore a Zyck player must fight against this to raise in the 
rankings.  But also failure isn't noticed as much on an individual level.  
So a Zyck player gains less reward from making a kill, but also suffers less 
from dying.

Note also this:  with 1 on 1 combat Mawlors make more juicy targets since 
everyone will want that extra 5% EXP from them, just as a Zyck player can 
hide since they make less juicy targets then the norm.

With a little bit of thinking, alot of logic and some math you can balance 
anything.  That is how I balance the world on the pinpoint of my intellect.

Carnaugh - that last line was a joke (I think?)

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