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Author Topic:   how about this

ForcePacifist posted 09-24-99 12:56 PM ET
instead of a base making all parts of a unit, what about if they just made the chasis or the weapon or the armour. other bases could be charged with assempbly and when you get the ability to have two special abilities on your units, you can have bases that both manufacture a type of unit component & assemble units.
( though it'd be to late to latch this on to smac-) i think it would be interesting handling the logistics of (more realistic) distributed manufacturing in a game. the problems alone would be more interesting
scenario:
a hostile faction has just taken over the East- where most of my armour plating is manufactured- now i have a shortfall, what do i do. it'll take at least ten turns to configure other bases to take up the demand- but i need them to build my chasis and weapons-
*to add to this idea, maybe i could buy my armour from a friendly faction! the friendlier the faction, the closer to the cost of building the components myself (+ sophistication charges). the faction i want to buy the components from must have built the advance Inport/Export infrastructure b4 they can start trading this way. 16 credits for 10 armour components at advance level 6 or something.*
now, back in the scenario, i decide to buy in a few armour comps from my loyal allies, the Spartans, to tie me over till i recapture the East. now i best stay friends with them, bcos i depend on them industrialy. maybe bfore the east fell, i sold the armour i built there to- the Gaians, representing 20% of my former income.
distributed manufacturing, and the resultant units being supported by a state military/civil budget seems to me to have plenty of gameplay potential.
i hope all this gives you the jist of what im tryin to suggest here.
wadya think?
Darkman posted 09-24-99 02:43 PM ET
This would go a long way to creating a more interesting and dynamic economic gameplay. When you add technology factors it gets more interesting. Say I have a tech another faction lacks, I can produce better components than they can, at a premium of course. Or if you have a better facility, tech or racial abilities you can produce parts cheaper than another faction. So they might purchase parts from you instead of making them themselves.
Y posted 09-24-99 06:41 PM ET
I think that's the best idea I've EVER heard. Why don't you email Brian Reynolds?
ForcePacifist posted 09-27-99 10:11 AM ET
after readin your reply twice Y, i have decided i detect no trace of sarcasm.
(im enlish )
so do you know what BRs email is?
laurens posted 09-27-99 10:20 AM ET
Good idea.
But I think it's too complicated for the computer to handle that, 'efficiently'.
Cheers
Biddles posted 09-27-99 10:37 AM ET
I think you would be surprised at what the AI can do, believe it or not they are getting smarter.
I think that this is an area of the game that has to be developed more. The same thing happened with government, with AC introducing SE. This was a great leap forward in the government area. I think what you are proposing (esp. the buying and selling of components) would be absoloutley fantastic. I agree with Y, give Brian Reynolds a mail. Maybe they will give it a thought.
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Author	Topic: how about this
ForcePacifist	posted 09-24-99 12:56 PM ET instead of a base making all parts of a unit, what about if they just made the chasis or the weapon or the armour. other bases could be charged with assempbly and when you get the ability to have two special abilities on your units, you can have bases that both manufacture a type of unit component & assemble units. ( though it'd be to late to latch this on to smac-) i think it would be interesting handling the logistics of (more realistic) distributed manufacturing in a game. the problems alone would be more interesting scenario: a hostile faction has just taken over the East- where most of my armour plating is manufactured- now i have a shortfall, what do i do. it'll take at least ten turns to configure other bases to take up the demand- but i need them to build my chasis and weapons- to add to this idea, maybe i could buy my armour from a friendly faction! the friendlier the faction, the closer to the cost of building the components myself (+ sophistication charges). the faction i want to buy the components from must have built the advance Inport/Export infrastructure b4 they can start trading this way. 16 credits for 10 armour components at advance level 6 or something. now, back in the scenario, i decide to buy in a few armour comps from my loyal allies, the Spartans, to tie me over till i recapture the East. now i best stay friends with them, bcos i depend on them industrialy. maybe bfore the east fell, i sold the armour i built there to- the Gaians, representing 20% of my former income. distributed manufacturing, and the resultant units being supported by a state military/civil budget seems to me to have plenty of gameplay potential. i hope all this gives you the jist of what im tryin to suggest here. wadya think?
Darkman	posted 09-24-99 02:43 PM ET This would go a long way to creating a more interesting and dynamic economic gameplay. When you add technology factors it gets more interesting. Say I have a tech another faction lacks, I can produce better components than they can, at a premium of course. Or if you have a better facility, tech or racial abilities you can produce parts cheaper than another faction. So they might purchase parts from you instead of making them themselves.
Y	posted 09-24-99 06:41 PM ET I think that's the best idea I've EVER heard. Why don't you email Brian Reynolds?
ForcePacifist	posted 09-27-99 10:11 AM ET after readin your reply twice Y, i have decided i detect no trace of sarcasm. (im enlish ) so do you know what BRs email is?
laurens	posted 09-27-99 10:20 AM ET Good idea. But I think it's too complicated for the computer to handle that, 'efficiently'. Cheers
Biddles	posted 09-27-99 10:37 AM ET I think you would be surprised at what the AI can do, believe it or not they are getting smarter. I think that this is an area of the game that has to be developed more. The same thing happened with government, with AC introducing SE. This was a great leap forward in the government area. I think what you are proposing (esp. the buying and selling of components) would be absoloutley fantastic. I agree with Y, give Brian Reynolds a mail. Maybe they will give it a thought.