quote:
The other proposal on the table is to make research very random, so even knowing as much as you can about the tech tree still won't allow you predict what you'll discover or when. This is more realistic, but could really unbalance the game. Imagine in a PBEM game where the research subroutine generates some bad numbers and you wind up with fighters, planet improvement, radioactives extraction, and chemistry 3 while your opponent gets meat-and-potatoes techs like propulsion, shields, and energy pulse weapons.
"Balance"...the single most over-rated 'Holy Grail' in all of gaming IMHO.
No game of this sort can ever truly 100% balanced. It simply can not "balanced" because of the games very nature of diversity of units and the playing field. The only type of game that can ever be 100% balanced a game like chess or checkers where every unit is exactly like a unit controlled by the other player...but wait who moves first?
Even games like backgammon are not balanced using the criteria you use above. What happens if you roll ones and twos over and over and your opponent rolls double sixes? Is that balanced?
Not to mention that randomness of a scale much larger than this already exists in SE4. The placement of planets, systems, atmosphere types and even the different players on the galactic map would have a much larger (and more direct) influence on the game then a system like I have outlined below.
Over coming adversity can be the most enjoyable thing about gaming. The games I remember the most and the most fondly are those in which I had to struggle my hardest to overcome adversity.
------------------
The Grumbling Grognard