Summing up desirable characteristics of the tech tree:
- Visibility: Techs are shown more "tighly"/"packed up", making a better use of the screen and allowing with few or no extra clicks to know how to get to a given tech. A pseudo-tiered system seems the best option.
- Replayability: several "tech pathes" to get to advanced researchs (different list of techs = different set of effects at different times in the sequence = different strategies). Example: getting these applications or these other applications or that theory.
- Do-nothing theoretical techs (for one way to unlock the next tier) are an option, but keep them in the low numbers.
- Anything else?
Geoff the Medio wrote: ↑Wed Jan 30, 2019 12:45 pmI'd still keep the option to just spend research points to unlock a tier, without having to research the previous tier's applications.
So we have these ways to unlock apps of tier X+1:
- Research theoretical tech (tier unlocker) with no effect.
- Research a subset of apps of tier X (if the subset is the whole set of apps of tier X, then this is just one way, if not all apps are required then there are much more alternative pathes).
I'd probably balance this by having it cost about as much as researching all the required applications to unlock the tier, but having a low minimum research time, so the tier can be unlocked faster if an empire has very high RP output.
Assuming there are M+N applications, {a, b, ... n}, with an average cost of P0 RPs and T0 turns each, and you require to unlock next tier (its apps) the next theoretical tech, u, or M applications of this tier (a subset of M elements of {a..n}, unless N=0). Then, as of your suggestion, cost of u should be M*P0.
I think it can work, but will need balance. The point is it must not be a no-brainer, i.e. there shoul be effective choices at different situations.
If I have low RPs I assume the commonly good choice would be to go for as much apps of this tier as possible, so that you get effects much sooner. Once enough apps have been researched, you can start researching next tier apps saving yourself the M*P0 RPs of the theory. But even if a next tier app is really necessary for further expansion and none of the current tier apps will give you a useful benefit at this point of game you will go for the apps instead of the theory because you will require the same or time either way but going the apps path you save yourself the RPs from researching the theory and you get the current tier apps (that will have some use later on). Therefore, maybe theory should cost less than the sum of the apps that will also do the unlocking.
If I have enough RPs to go for the theory in its minimum time T1, I also have enough RPs to go for all the M apps simultaneously in some more time T2 but getting all the effects. This seems more of a choice. If going the theory, I get to unlock the next tier apps and then I have to research one of them. Assuming the next tier apps are comparable in cost but greater time (again T2) than the current tier theory (T1), then I'll be getting an expensive app in T1+T2. Going the apps way I'd be getting all effects in T2 and then one expensive effect at T2+T2, that maybe is a 20%-50% slower than going the theory. So if I need some of current apps effects (or are going to boost your research), it'd be better to go the apps path, and the theory path if I only need that special effect of next tier. If theory costs less (as comented in previous paragraph for low RP empires) then high RP empires could be going the theory and some of the apps of a different tech branch (category) at the same time, or the theories of two different branches.
Summing up, I guess the theory way to unlock next tier apps would be a choice whenever there is urge to get to some next tier app for both low and high RP empires. I guess that is good. Carefully allocation of the effects among the tiers should do the trick to allow for interesting choices in different situations.
Geoff the Medio wrote: ↑Wed Jan 30, 2019 12:45 pmconsider having a tier be highlighted to mean that that tier has the conditions met to unlock the next tier, ie. that tier is finished and you can move on, and the checkboxes for a tier refer to the items in that tier, not the tier below.
I'm not sure I understand this.
If no explanation was added, from The Silent One's mockup, I think I would assume that a theory, once highlighted, unlocks (allows to invest RPs into) the apps below/under it (in its "column") as well as the theory tech of the next tier. And the checkboxes within a theory, I expect them to be the indication of what is missing to bypass the theory (hovering the mouse over it would shop an informative popup).
Note that with "bypass" I refer to the unlocking of the tier via the previous tier apps, which effectively renders useless to research that tier theory and so it should appear as highligthed (researched) although no RPs were invested on it.