Policies that affect other Empires

For what's not in 'Top Priority Game Design'. Post your ideas, visions, suggestions for the game, rules, modifications, etc.

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LienRag
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Policies that affect other Empires

#1 Post by LienRag »

The bug in the sixteen multiplayer game that affected the Propagande Broadcast Policy (giving an influence bonus to everyone instead of just the Empire adopting the Policy) actually opens interesting ideas : what about Policies that affect not only one's Empire but the others too ?

Obviously a Policy that would give the same bonus to everybody is a bad idea; there's no way to make it interesting for an Empire to use, except in very rare situations.

Geoff apparently decided to make the revised Propaganda Broadcast Policy give a small malus to enemy Empires in addition to the bonus it gives to the owner Empire.

Though I approve his creativity, it seems to me to be a bad idea, as it makes this Policy nearly a no-brainer (especially since adopting it prevents the malus from enemy propaganda).
The only way it can be somehow strategically interesting is that this malus makes more difficult to adopt this Policy once an enemy has adopted it itself (since one's Influence production will be diminished), making a viable strategy to rush it.
Though : - The adoption cost of this Policy is (for good reasons) quite low, so a player being Propaganded by enemy will not actually in most cases have trouble adopting this Policy himself
- Considering how this is an early Policy, starting luck (Good Influence vs Bad Influence starting Species, and more importantly Good Research vs Bad Research, in order to get that Social Slot) will be much more determining than skill or strategy in this race towards Propaganda.

Though one may imagine malus-inflicting Policies that do not suffer from these flaws (and I again insist that they will be difficult to balance), a much better idea imho is to have Policies that gives a bonus to the Empire adopting it, but also boni to other Empires.
As said in my second paragraph, it can't be the same bonus: it has to be either a smaller bonus, a different bonus, or/and a bonus to only some other Empires (if the code allows that).

That way, while still advantaging the Empire adopting it, it would require much more strategic thinking and planning to use this Policy efficiently, as it would need to take into account relative advantages and choosing this Policy would be interesting only if the adopting Empire can make a better use of the bonus than its rivals (like, getting a bonus to Research in order to rush a military technology, in order to be able to militarily crush one's opponents before they themself can use the smaller research bonus to their advantages; or getting a bonus to production on small planets because you have the Influence production to settle more planets than your enemy, so that you'll benefit more from that bonus than him).

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Oberlus
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Re: Policies that affect other Empires

#2 Post by Oberlus »

Not a no-brainer at all.
It's a mere +5 IP empire-wide (-1 IP to enemies) for a social slot, that are not abundant early game.
Removing the -1 IP doesn't make it significatively less interesting.

wobbly
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Re: Policies that affect other Empires

#3 Post by wobbly »

Yeah it was an interesting change. I think this is fine as long as there is sufficient competition for that slot. Cheap colonizers seemed strong when I tried it in single player and there's also a research booster that goes in that slot. Research is always good. I suspect it will be ok as long as the size of the boosters is right. Its only a no brainer if the other options are clearly weaker.

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Geoff the Medio
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Re: Policies that affect other Empires

#4 Post by Geoff the Medio »

wobbly wrote: Wed May 19, 2021 4:37 amIts only a no brainer if the other options are clearly weaker.
It's also intended that even if a policy is an obvious choice on turn 10, another policy might be the obvious choice on turn 35 because of how the effects or bonuses scale. The interesting decisions are then about when to make the switch, and whether to prioritize either policly over other policies in other slot categories or planet focus settings or research options that would compete with adopting a policy as soon as possible.

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LienRag
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Re: Policies that affect other Empires

#5 Post by LienRag »

You may be right, I had only a few test games... I probably still lack experience.
Time will tell, I guess !

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