Design cost for ships

from GalCiv2 Forums
One of my favorite games from the past was "Spaceward Ho!". Similar in a lot of ways to GalCiv, MOO, etc.

GalCiv2 includes basically everything from that game, except for 2 features:

1) Progress bar/line for ships headed to a destination, so you can see the routing, and also the time (I assume this will be in 1.1)
2) "Design cost" vs. build cost for ships. i.e. if you buy a given ship enough times, the cost gets cheaper per unit, and the cost of the FIRST unit of a given type is higher than for subsequent.

#2 could encourage some standardized colony/freighter/etc. ships, not reving the design on every minor improvement in engine tech unless necessary. It would also open up the "export" market for arms -- it would be cheaper for me to mass produce a ship design and trade it to my neighbor for his mass produced design, vs. us each producing our entire navies.

If I were selling ships, I don't think I'd want to necessarily sell them on the doorstep of my main shipyard, but rallypoint them out to some remote location and sell them there. This can be handled through the current UI I guess.
warfare
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Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
1) I'm not sure about a prograss bar, but in 1.1 it will show the path at least.

2) I don't like this idea.

One of the better things about GC2 is the variety in ships. Limiting yourself to a few models is a big backwards step, so you'd have to show that there's at least an equal benefit in moving forward.

Issues:
1) It favours making the strong stronger (they can afford specific ships made to task) and the weak weaker (have to use lousy stock ships faacing custom-built fleets from the opposition)
2) It creates another bias against diplomatically weaker races (nobody will sell them ships so they have to sink enormous amounts of cash designing every one of their own ships of pay over the odds for everything)
3) Who in their right mind would sell military ships to anyone but an ally?
4) What if the seller doesn't have enough of X ships available to sell? Would you have to put in place mechanisms to pay someone to build to order what they don't currently have?
5) It'd either become a non-issue late game, or cripple everyone early game. Early on you'll have 2 or 3 of each scout, freighter, basic defender, constructor, colony ship, at a minimum. That's a lot of design costs to swallow early on.
6) It takes away the strategic option of spending more money to get to a resource before anyone else. With everyone's colony ships and constructors being equal, it's nothing more than "the closest guy to it wins"

I just don't see any real benefit, but a whole load of headaches and removal of aspects of the game.
Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top
Don't liek the design cost idea myself.
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Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
It makes sense in an "actual" way, but it would make a GAME not as fun. Maybe when Stardock completely revamps the game so all you ever see is the "President's Briefing" every morning while talking to people about how the war is going badly, or well or whatever. THEN we can add dewsign costs.

I'm not meaning to be flaming, I can see the OP's point, I just don't believe it would work out well.
Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
2) I don't reflexively dislike the idea, It would all depend on implimentation, but it's kinda intriguing.

3) Who in their right mind would sell military ships to anyone but an ally?

ever had a pair of non-allies beating each other up and the "wrong" one seems to be winning?
Reply #6 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I was thinking of GCII vs Spaceward Ho! the other day. GCII could use some sattelites, nothing like a couple Caltrop defensive sattelites to secure the ol' homestead!

As I recall, Spaceward Ho! had a resource model based around metal. There was a finite supply in the universe and you needed to make an initial colony rush to grab planets for their metal resources. You researched miniaturization to get the most out of your metal, and were thankful when the AI attacked your planet because you could get salvage metal from the battle. The lack of metal was the real limiting factor in big fleet battles. You didn't throw away ships on hopeless or perhaps just plain old even odds. I think ship design and building was tuned around that premise, which doesn't apply here with GCII.
Reply #7 from Stardock Forums Top
I hope you not sugesting includign some sort of limiting factor in GalCiv2. BTW those spaceward guys are real toos, if I were runign out of metal I would detonate a star. All the metal you want!
Reply #8 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Nah, just stating that it was a different kind of constraint on shipbuilding for that game. I like Spaceward Ho, but it really didn't have that much replay value. GCII has much more depth.