Techs lost due to tech upkeep
Posted: Sat Feb 08, 2014 4:03 am
In v2.5, when tech upkeep and tech loss are enabled, it is possible to lose a random tech when the reserve of science bulbs are negative. However, the number of negative bulbs needed to cause the loss of a tech depends on the cost of the tech being researched, instead of the tech being lost.
I see this design problematic because the lost tech could be much cheaper (for example 100 bulbs) than the negative bulbs (for example -500 bulbs). In this case it would be better to lose the tech and to re-research it, than to pay the tech upkeep (in the example, you waste 100 bulbs to recover a lost tech, while you save 500 bulbs for not paying the upkeep).
I would suggest to handle the loss of techs in the same way than the loss of buildings: when the bulbs are negative, the value in bulbs of the lost tech (or a percentage choosen from 1 to 100%) is summed to the reserve of science. There could be a setting to choose this percentage (or set it to 50% like the sold buildings), but I think it should never be greater then 100%. I mean, a tech that cost 100 bulbs should never restore your reserve of bulbs from -500 to 0 as it happens now.
Actually, I'd suggest to implement it exactly the same than treasure, where buildings are sold until the treasure is positive again, so it is not possible to start the turn with negative gold nor bulbs.
By the way, is there any way to create a ruleset where the lost tech does not cause holes in the tech tree? I mean, that you can not lose a tech that is requisite of another one. Is it possible to use root_req for this purpose?
I see this design problematic because the lost tech could be much cheaper (for example 100 bulbs) than the negative bulbs (for example -500 bulbs). In this case it would be better to lose the tech and to re-research it, than to pay the tech upkeep (in the example, you waste 100 bulbs to recover a lost tech, while you save 500 bulbs for not paying the upkeep).
I would suggest to handle the loss of techs in the same way than the loss of buildings: when the bulbs are negative, the value in bulbs of the lost tech (or a percentage choosen from 1 to 100%) is summed to the reserve of science. There could be a setting to choose this percentage (or set it to 50% like the sold buildings), but I think it should never be greater then 100%. I mean, a tech that cost 100 bulbs should never restore your reserve of bulbs from -500 to 0 as it happens now.
Actually, I'd suggest to implement it exactly the same than treasure, where buildings are sold until the treasure is positive again, so it is not possible to start the turn with negative gold nor bulbs.
By the way, is there any way to create a ruleset where the lost tech does not cause holes in the tech tree? I mean, that you can not lose a tech that is requisite of another one. Is it possible to use root_req for this purpose?