5/18/2017
Topic:
Combat Damage Distribution
Vulpex
|
Yeah doesn't work that way.
In my experience the combat algorithm looks a bit like this....
First it assigns criticals,
Then it looks at what you are shooting at - and assigns the proportion of damage based on the relative size of your targets.
Then it looks at your units and applies the damage from each unit, scaled both by the proportion of damage a unit takes due to size and by the amount of damage that a given unit takes from it's attacker. Plus or Minus damage from criticals which cause extra damage to be taken.
Which means that yes - a unit can be overkilled. I recall situations where units were overkilled by a lot while others were left standing (though damaged).
When you have 40-50 units per side things get interesting. |
5/18/2017
Topic:
Welcome to the Barons of the Galaxy Forum
Vulpex
|
The interface has had numerous upgrades to make management of units easier - the best one in my opinion in case you missed it was the ability to save unit orders and then either load them up or append them to an existing unit's order.
Lot less clicking that before, more time to focus on economy and randomly blowing things up. |
5/19/2017
Topic:
Moon Charter - Principles
Vulpex
|
Goal of the moon charter –
The goal of this charter is to establish the principles on how the artifact resources of the moon are to be used in for the benefit of the expansion of mankind.
In order to achieve this it is important that an agreement be reached on the use of the moon so as to –
· Eliminate conflict over artifacts
· Ensure artifacts are used for the benefit of mankind
· Optimize the output of Artifacts from the moon.
Unfortunately artifacts can be used both to provide great benefits to mankind for instance through geoboosters, or conversely to greatly damage mankind as a whole for instance through geoscorchers or virus deployment. Artifacts can furthermore be used to create powerful units or enhance the capacities of existing units which can result in a highly destructive wars when unleashed.
In order to do this effectively certain aspects need to be considered in particular:
Research facilities – who runs them, and how.
Artifacts – which artifacts are produced and for what purpose
Moon Defense – who is responsible for the defense of the moon and how are the defenses coordinated
Finally there is another aspect which needs to be discussed regarding the moon which is the question of reparations following the war on the moon, though not part of the charter itself a discussion of this is necessary to ensure a smooth transition to a working agreement on the moon.
It should be further noted that the goal of this charter is not to create a monopoly of any kind on artifacts in the moon – in fact it is widely expected that new and more productive sites will be discovered as mankind expand. Judicious use of the moon artifact resources will help in this expansion. In fact it is likely that as further artifacts are discovered the terms of the moon charter may come again under consideration and discussion.
I would invite comments on the principles behind the charter here – other discussions will be opened for the individual aspects of the moon charter.
edited by Vulpex on 5/19/2017 |
5/19/2017
Topic:
Moon Charter - Research Centers
Vulpex
|
The research centers on the moon are essential for mankind to enjoy the benefits of the artifacts from the moon. The question comes as to who should run these centers and how to most efficiently develop them.
Some basic principles apply namely:
· Research stations should be run by corporations which are capable of financing them and developing them.
· Output of the research stations must be controlled, to prevent tensions from escalating due to rising costs of exploitation leading to an unbalanced situation.
Corporations exploiting the moon – several suggestions have been brought to my attention.
First – the idea that the city rulers of Earth should be the ones which have the right to run the research centers. Intrinsically the rulers of the cities will be the ones with strong economies and support which should enable them to finance the running of the moon bases. Furthermore city rules can be expected to be producing artifacts for the benefit of their city which will stimulate overall growth of Earth.
Second – the idea that it should be certain guilds which should be allocated a number of research centers on the moon. At this stage ARK, the Mining Guild and Dogstar have all at one point deployed research centers on the moon. However it would remain to be determined exactly how many research centers would be present and how other guilds would be involved, as such this is potentially a contentious proposal as it still leaves open the possibility (though much reduced) of inter guild rivalry and conflict.
Third option – Caretakers of the moon. Under this proposal the companies on the moon will produce artifacts on demand for those who need them the most. Under this system there will be a public adjudication of the moon artifacts for those projects which are accepted by the caretakers of the moon.
Note that the last option can be used in conjunction with either option 1 or 2.
The second issue is on the output level of the moon resources.
The simplest solution for this would be to cap the size of the research centers on the moon. Somewhere around size 4-5 has been suggested to accommodate everyone involved.
Another option which can be complimentary to the first one is to cap the level of overcrowding which we see as acceptable on the moon.
Please express your opinions below on the two questions – how to decide who holds the research centers and also how to determine the level of exploitation of the moon.
edited by Vulpex on 5/19/2017
edited by Vulpex on 5/19/2017 |
5/19/2017
Topic:
Moon Charter - Use of Artifacts
Vulpex
|
Artifacts fall into several distinct categories:
1) Artifacts which are beneficial to the development of mankind.
2) Artifacts which are beneficial to the economy of a single company
3) Artifacts which are beneficial to the military power of a single company
4) Artifacts which are nefarious to the development of mankind.
The question at h and is to clarify where each artifact lies and whether certain artifacts should be banned or restricted.
As a starting proposal – I propose that the use of artifacts which are nefarious to the development of mankind be banned.
These would include geo-scorchers, supervirus and nanite swarms.
Anyone corporation using them would be removed from the moon and will no longer be allowed to purchase any kind of artifact.
Artifacts which benefit the military of a corporation include:
Cybertronic (excluding nanite swarm), Mysterious and Metaphysics artifacts, it will be worth discussing if such artifacts need to be restricted in some way.
Artifacts which benefit the economy of a single player are the dimensional artifacts, there is no reason to restrict these artifacts.
Artifacts which benefit mankind are the geoboosters. The development and use of these artifacts should be encouraged.
Please express your views below on how you see the use of artifacts on the moon.
edited by Vulpex on 5/19/2017 |
5/19/2017
Topic:
Moon Charter - Defenses
Vulpex
|
The artifacts on the moon are valuable and as such will need to be defended.
At the very least those companies entrusted with the managing of a research center should also contribute to the defense of the moon. The level of contribution would need to be determined and it is likely to evolve with time.
There is also the question as to whether further support troops may be stationed on the moon and in which conditions this should happen.
Please express your views below on how you see the establishment of moon defenses. |
5/19/2017
Topic:
Related to the Moon Charter - Reparations
Vulpex
|
In order to get to this point in the discussion on the future use of artifacts it was important to show the strategic importance of the moon. This happened when ARK essentially took over all existing moon assets moving everyone else out.
In that process infrastructure and materiel was regrettably destroyed.
So as to ensure the success of the moon charter it is necessary to consider what reparations need to be made and by whom to the companies which took damage in this incident.
Please discuss your thoughts on this below. We also need to put forward an itemized list of the damage which was caused so that there is no doubt what we are discussing. |
5/19/2017
Topic:
Research Points and Liquidation
Vulpex
|
When you liquidate you lose a LOT more than just 10% of your net worth.
You lose all your military power, you lose all of your assets and ability to generate revenue. You have to start again from scratch which will take time (probably a couple of weeks, even with the cash). When you factor in the opportunity cost that all this represent your actual loss is closer to 20-25% of net worth.
You are probably going to be working in a different production area altogether so it makes sense to reset the research points and it is not something easily abused. On the other side it's not too difficult right now to change the research points either so it feels like something nice to have but not a game breaking priority. |
5/19/2017
Topic:
Moon Charter - Use of Artifacts
Vulpex
|
EdwardBishop wrote:
I agree with the ban on artifacts of mass destruction. Other military applications should not be banned as they can aid in the fight against the pirates, aliens, and the machines.
You are right - that is why you don't ban the production of an artifact but rather it's use. If someone deploys a Geotechnical artifact as a scorcher - BAM ban. No more research facility and no more selling artifact to that corporation.
The same is true with the nanite swarm, in that the artifact which becomes a nanite swarm has other justified uses. The reason why I included the nanite swarm in this is because it can only be used to damage structures - i.e. defenses and production facilities. There is no defensive use at all you cannot stop an attack with it and it is at best used to retaliate, at worst used to destroy infrastructure. Remember the basis of the Moon Charter is to ensure growth and prosperity for Sol. |
5/19/2017
Topic:
Moon Charter - Research Centers
Vulpex
|
Ok so option 1 seems to be the one which is getting the most traction. I agree that making research allocation based on population seems too complicated especially since there can be a lot of changes in the population of a city.
As to when there is a change in the mayor of a city that situation becomes complex. You cannot actually sell a research station to another corporation so this gives two situations - dismantle the research station or set production of the research station to 0. Either way I would suggest that the owner of the research station may complete production of a tier 1 artifact, if he is already at least halfway.
I don't have a preference on dismantling or reducing production to 0 - in fact I think both can work at the same time. |
5/19/2017
Topic:
Related to the Moon Charter - Reparations
Vulpex
|
Replacing the used ACPs seems to be quite fair and ARK will do so to keep the peace.
As for the request for artifacts - that will depend on how things are decided on who gets to run research facilities on the moon. It may be that Furious George may simply get to open up his facility again. |
5/19/2017
Topic:
Moon Charter - Use of Artifacts
Vulpex
|
RadCavalier wrote:
Do we plan to have punitive measures for corporations that may not be aware of the treaty and then punish them for their ignorance?
You do realize that if they are not aware of this treaty they will not have a research base on the moon and therefore not have any artifacts to sell right?
So whoever has a moon base and sells an artifact to corporation which then releases a scorcher for instance, forfeits their research base on the moon. So yes, careful with what you sell and to whom.
edited by Vulpex on 5/19/2017 |
5/19/2017
Topic:
Moon Charter - Use of Artifacts
Vulpex
|
Hutton wrote:
An addendum to that, are we taking a stand on use of prohibited tech on the outer planets, or just on earth?
I propose to cover Sol but not any systems beyond that. |
5/20/2017
Topic:
ACP Changes
Vulpex
|
To be fair - ACPs are only a problem (because there is a shortage of them) right now in the first few weeks of the game. In a month ACPs will be trivial, as the industrial bases will be established and operating at full capacity. |
5/20/2017
Topic:
Distribution Centers
Vulpex
|
This happens because of an intrinsic quirk of the selling interface.
There are three inputs needed to sell a certain amount per turn:
You have to deselect selling max amount per turn.
You need to specify that the sale is going to happen once, not every turn.
You need to input the actual amount to sell.
These things need to be done in a certain order.
Before you can input an amount to sell you have to deselect selling max amount per turn, as the option to input an amount to sell is greyed out until you do.
Based on that there are several ways to go about this but...
Here is the kicker - you have to input the amount to sell per turn BEFORE you specify that the sale is going to happen only once, not every turn.
Otherwise for some reason the interface resets to selling an amount every turn the moment you input an amount of product to sell.
It's annoying because the fastest way to fill everything out is the one which leads to the wrong result. I always have to double check in the assets that the order has been correctly understood (you can see the sale order there) and it has in the past ruined many a production line for me too.
edited by Vulpex on 5/20/2017 |
5/21/2017
Topic:
ACP
Vulpex
|
I can confirm this - it explains why I have a stack of the things right now (5) when I expected only 2. |
5/21/2017
Topic:
Selling Structures
Vulpex
|
In Beta the moon base was called Ten - would that be better? Cities just have odd names.
The selling structures is good idea the name change ... I would rather not have cities changing names thank you very much it gets too confusing! |
5/21/2017
Topic:
Selling Structures
Vulpex
|
Moving an HQ does not affect the structures. On the other hand yes it makes it very easy to avoid the impact of a real corp liquidation. |
5/21/2017
Topic:
Moon Charter - Principles
Vulpex
|
As there has been no comments on this I assume that the terms herein have been approved and that the principles behind the moon charter are acceptable for all. |
5/21/2017
Topic:
Moon Charter - Use of Artifacts
Vulpex
|
As a conclusion to these discussions - It has been agreed that:
The deployment of geoscorchers or superviruses anywhere in Sol will be condemned by the signatories of the moon charters. Anyone supplying artifacts used for such purposes will be banned from maintaining facilities on the moon.
All other artifacts may be lawfully built and deployed by any corporation. Sale and transfer of artifacts is permitted so long as the first clause of this article is respected.
24 hours for final comments - at that stage this will be considered approved.
edited by Vulpex on 5/21/2017 |