Merging MP tech tree with Campaign
Posted: 21 Jul 2019, 15:06
I'm putting the mp tech tree in campaign and I'm noticing research upgrades do not automatically become available when prerequisites are complete. For example, the 2nd engine upgrade should become available after the 1st engine upgrade is finished. In mp this is the case but in campaign it is not. It's not intuitive.
I think the approach of declaring what tech is available and what can be researched for each mission is based on the false premise that the tech tree was never properly balanced. It's not supposed to be like this.
The entire tech tree should be available from the very start beginning in cam1B. The reason this isn't the case is because research will become very unbalanced after a few missions. I can fix this...
1. research is already much more expensive.
2. reduce the excess time on the mission timers. Players shouldn't be allowed to sit around for 30 minutes researching things forever
3. add more things to the tech tree. This is already done
4. get rid of excess power bonuses for winning early. I think I received 4000 or some insane number. 400 would be more appropriate.
this means the research choices and consequences of cam1 has a huge impact on cam2 and cam3 if players choose to play the whole thing. For example, if a player does not research cannons in cam1 then railgun won't be available in cam3 for use by the player. This is just like mp... if a player does not research cannons then they cannot use rail gun.
As it stands now, I believe the tech tree experience is exactly the same in campaign regardless of what choices are made. This will no longer be the case. The things available for research will be different each time a person plays the campaign depending on what the player chooses. I will ensure that there are more research choices available than what is possible to research. This means it's impossible to research everything so players will have to choose what they want. I'll calculate the max power theoretically produced in each mission and ensure the total cost of research is larger. This means even if a player spent 100% of power on research they still wouldn't be able to finish the tech tree.
There will be some certain hard checks on the state of research in the beginning of some missions to avoid impossible win conditions but generally speaking the state of research should be entirely up to the player. There might also need to be some cleanup of the research menu by completing certain antiquated tech to prevent too many things.
But I can't figure out at the moment why research items do not automatically become available when all of their prerequisites are met. I just want to explicitly declare all research is available for all missions and do away with specifying components and tech for individual missions.
I think the approach of declaring what tech is available and what can be researched for each mission is based on the false premise that the tech tree was never properly balanced. It's not supposed to be like this.
The entire tech tree should be available from the very start beginning in cam1B. The reason this isn't the case is because research will become very unbalanced after a few missions. I can fix this...
1. research is already much more expensive.
2. reduce the excess time on the mission timers. Players shouldn't be allowed to sit around for 30 minutes researching things forever
3. add more things to the tech tree. This is already done
4. get rid of excess power bonuses for winning early. I think I received 4000 or some insane number. 400 would be more appropriate.
this means the research choices and consequences of cam1 has a huge impact on cam2 and cam3 if players choose to play the whole thing. For example, if a player does not research cannons in cam1 then railgun won't be available in cam3 for use by the player. This is just like mp... if a player does not research cannons then they cannot use rail gun.
As it stands now, I believe the tech tree experience is exactly the same in campaign regardless of what choices are made. This will no longer be the case. The things available for research will be different each time a person plays the campaign depending on what the player chooses. I will ensure that there are more research choices available than what is possible to research. This means it's impossible to research everything so players will have to choose what they want. I'll calculate the max power theoretically produced in each mission and ensure the total cost of research is larger. This means even if a player spent 100% of power on research they still wouldn't be able to finish the tech tree.
There will be some certain hard checks on the state of research in the beginning of some missions to avoid impossible win conditions but generally speaking the state of research should be entirely up to the player. There might also need to be some cleanup of the research menu by completing certain antiquated tech to prevent too many things.
But I can't figure out at the moment why research items do not automatically become available when all of their prerequisites are met. I just want to explicitly declare all research is available for all missions and do away with specifying components and tech for individual missions.