That would quite drastically change balance/dynamics.Krikkitone wrote:Well then revert them to max meters... or possibly make them max meters for focus switching only (ie when you switch focus all meters are reduced to their maximum under the new focus.)
The "target" meter stuff is supposed to convey the idea of a gradual switch in a colonies focus. The meter values kind of represents the industrial/scientific/whatever infrastructure that has been build up, when you switch the focus from industry to research for example, the gradual growth of the research and decline of the industry meter simulates/represents the "rededication"/"repurposing"/"re-equipment" (or whatever you want to call it) of all those buildings and structures making up the industrial infrastructure to a "research and development" kind of infrastructure.
Having both the increase of the one and the decline of the other meter happen at the same rate simulates the fact that usually you won't do such a switch by totally levelling your existing infrastructure and then rebuild from scratch, but to gradually replace one with the other.
I think that model works quite nice, and it allows you to reconsider your decision to switch focus at any point without having to suffer extreme setbacks. IMO that's an interesting and fun mechanic. If we decide to set back current meters to their max meters all the time when the focus gets switched, that dynamic is lost. Instead we have the "totally level your existing infrastructure and rebuild from scratch" approach, and each focus switch becomes a very serious/difficult decision, as the costs can be extreme, particularly if you have a maxed out meter.
Which means, aside from the changes dynamics, you also have the problem that the costs for a focus switch can vary greatly, depending on the level of the current meter that will drop in case of a switch, the scale of the meters involved in the switch, etc. It would make switching from the logistics to the industry or research focus much less costly then switching from industry/research to logistics. Meaning, making a switch from logistics to industry isn't a big deal if you want to switch back shortly after, but in the opposite case it would be a huge issue. I don't think I like that very much.
A fixed, moderate, well balanced influence cost for a focus switch would be much preferable to that, IMO.