As previously argued, I think 'no' on this one, but could be convinced; I simply don't see a positive reward for this.emrys wrote: [Open questions:
Randomly block out different techs each game or not?
I view this question less as 'many or few' and more as 'specific or broad' - that is, HoI-style specific categories would give us, for example:Many categories (10+) or fewer (6-8 )?
Starfighters
Corvettes & Destroyers (Light Capital Ships)
Cruisers (Medium Capital Ships)
Battleships and Carriers (Large Capital Ships)
Xenobiology (Diplomacy/Assimilation)
Land Warfare (Infantry/Tanks)
Espionage
Military Infrastructure (Shipyards, Missile bases)
Civil Infrastructure (Banks, Govt.)
Industry
..and so on. In this sense, the 'categories' are to the individual techs as the theories are to their applications; they are fairly specific 'parents' to which everything belongs. Whereas a MOO2 style, broad category list such as:
Physics
Biology
Electronics
Propulsion
with one or two others -- that is really the choice. We could choose specific categories and still only have 6 or 7, or we could have 14 or 15. This number won't be finalized for quite some time, I suspect, but that's the decision I'm trying to get out of these threads.
I could be convinced about having an OR pre-requisite, but I think we sould establish a system and then play by it; offering 'ways around' the rules is tricky both in that it's an added layer of rules for the human player to remember, and its difficult for the AI to adapt to those rules.Will it be possible to develop applications without knowing the theory, if all the prerequisites have been met, maybe at some kind of penalty?
I should say yes on both; which categories exactly and by how much we would have to balance later.Should we have techs that reduce the cost or time of research generally (or for particular categories). ?
No. With a large tech tree, this would get ungainly as you would have to program in every tech to which the first tech is 'related' to; people would argue relationships where none should be and vice versa; all in return for which we are breaking the 'could not be operated by a human in a boardgame' rule for marginal returns.Should developing related (but not prerequisite) techs reduce the cost /time of developing a tech?
I'm not sure I understand this; if it's 'should the tree be visible,' then I'd say yes.Do we want to repeat the outline of the tech tree to extend the research game?
This is fairly HoI-specific and generally relates to the HoI concept of 'organization' in battle. I don't think it applies to us.Should we have separate practical and doctrine categories a la HOI, or merge them together? (is this important?)
HoI grants bonuses to categories based on the ministers you have in your government. Specific techs could be tricky as an easily mod-able tech tree could change techs around and render whole races inoperable. I would say, at least, allow bonuses to categories, and keep our options open for bonues to specific techs. But right now I can't think of a compelling reason why we would need to.Should we try to hardwire choices with race bonuses to particular techs, or try and make it dependant only on strategic position.
I'm not sure I understand this. I think each race and/or each starting strategic position should have preferred paths, but several of them.Do we want to achieve multiple paths by balancing all techs perfectly, or by deliberately introducing several 'prefered paths' or tech families?
See previous posts.How can we produce genuinely alternative gameplay styles and support this with the tech system?
Two rules of thumb: KISS and Steal, Steal, Steal!How do we do this whilst keeping things relatively simple and fun?