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Author Topic: Scientist skill feature suggestion  (Read 9424 times)

larson

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Re: Scientist skill feature suggestion
« Reply #15 on: February 17, 2008, 10:32:35 pm »
I would not. I agree with eleazer, it would make researching much more complicated.

Furthermore, i dont like to be pushed into some direction by luck: I have my fixed and optimized research order right now. If i got the fitting scientist with the right skills...lucky me...if not...i would not care to change my priorities cause some research it just MUCH more important than other (e.g. research towards nanotech armor vs. infos about aliens).

Not much more complicated. A little bit... :-)

I can understand your ideas of having found the perfect way of research. You wouldn't have to change that a bit. Just look at your current science recruits and choose the ones that makes your path the fastest. Choose the guys with high ratings in "personal equipment (weapons and armor)" and skip the biologists. Later in the game when you have a bunch of aliens in hold, you can hire a team of biologists, and turn the bugs inside out. And in worst case, with random (pseudo random) assignments you should get at least the same research speed you have today.

Since we are choosing from the best of the best, spread could be from maybe 60 to 100%, with the level of todays scientists at 80%. And the average for one scientist is at that 80% with all skills counted. If he has a brilliant 100% in one area, then maybe he have 73% in the other 3. Or maybe a spread of 100, 80, 80, 60. In a general team of 10 scientists, the common skill in any subject would come very close to 800%, if you didn't get really unlucky in the picking. If you build a specialized team you should have 900% or more. Which means faster research for anyone that care to check the stats before he hires.

If you hire lots of scientists, and always want more than supplied, this might become a problem. But you can still make the best of what you have.

Offline tobbe

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Re: Scientist skill feature suggestion
« Reply #16 on: February 18, 2008, 12:10:49 am »
Just look at your current science recruits and choose the ones that makes your path the fastest. Choose the guys with high ratings in "personal equipment (weapons and armor)" and skip the biologists.

Sorry to disagree once more, but i dont think we are playing the same game. I normally play on normal/hard and on that level you need every scientists you are able to get. To SKIP even one would be simply stupid.

But I think you know by now that i disagree and dont like the idea. AFAIK no further discussion needed...


« Last Edit: February 18, 2008, 12:14:00 am by tobbe »

Woreczko

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Re: Scientist skill feature suggestion
« Reply #17 on: February 18, 2008, 09:35:46 am »
Since we are choosing from the best of the best, spread could be from maybe 60 to 100%, with the level of todays scientists at 80%. And the average for one scientist is at that 80% with all skills counted. If he has a brilliant 100% in one area, then maybe he have 73% in the other 3. Or maybe a spread of 100, 80, 80, 60. In a general team of 10 scientists, the common skill in any subject would come very close to 800%, if you didn't get really unlucky in the picking. If you build a specialized team you should have 900% or more. Which means faster research for anyone that care to check the stats before he hires.

If you hire lots of scientists, and always want more than supplied, this might become a problem. But you can still make the best of what you have.
I, for one, very much like the idea. It could be even simplier - just let each scinetist have an area of specialization (biology, equipment and intelligence for example). In an area of his expertise he would research at 100%, otherwise at 70% (or any other number). It won`t overload the player with numbers but will introduce a factor too think about.

And lastly - the limited amount of soldiers and specialist available for employent is quite silly - after all PHALNX is THE organization, which fights for humanity survival, it shouldn`t suffer from any manpower shortages.

Woreczko

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Re: Scientist skill feature suggestion
« Reply #18 on: February 18, 2008, 09:38:02 am »
I've been toying with a similar idea, but one that takes skills even further ;D Just have one "class" of employee (Agents) and have skills for Science, Medicine, Piloting, etc... "Dammit, all my soldiers just bought it. Dare I press my researchers into a Terror response unit and risk them getting killed?"

My suggestion is just blue-sky thinking Thanks for listening! :D
[/quote
This blue sky is so nice! :)

ufogio

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Re: Scientist skill feature suggestion
« Reply #19 on: February 18, 2008, 05:49:58 pm »
The idea of having a skill stat for scientists is good. If you are lucky, you get best scientists, like for soldiers.
The one of having different classes of researchers... well, it's a bit weird :) consider that I'm a biotechnologist.. it would be very funny for me having someone rating my skills in physics and astronomy and biology and put me in a different laboratory for this...
I think it would be best to keep things like they are now, it is not realistic, because 'generic' scientists don't exist, but you can't really improve that.

Offline Psawhn

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Re: Scientist skill feature suggestion
« Reply #20 on: February 18, 2008, 08:12:08 pm »
Thinking about it, in real life having different people from different backgrounds on a project has the potential to increase, instead, the research speed. With different backgrounds, they can look at a problem from many different vantage points and catch things the others wouldn't have thought of.

For example: the current description of plasma rifles. Sure, it seems like its all high-energy physics and magnetic fields and thermodynamic plasma fields and stuff. However, it'd likely be someone like a biotechnologist who discovers one of the key parts of the rifle: the spinners that make the plastic shells.

That's an argument against separate skills, but I do like the idea of separate scientist skills. I get the impression that the range would only be, say, 80% to 120% of average - so if you don't pay attention you won't notice a difference, but if you manage things right you'd get small bonuses to research production. In fact, if you only research one item at a time with all your scientists, there'd be essentially no difference at all. The only way to get this bonus would be to split projects up into teams.


Example:
Suppose there are two projects that need 800 research points to complete, but one is a biology project, the other is physics. You have four scientists: Two with 60bio/40phys, and two with 40bio/60phys.

In a four-man team, the scientists have a total of 200bio and 200physics, so researching each project would take 4 days. Researching both projects would take 8 days. This is the exact same situtation that we have now (each scientist gives an equal value).

In a two-man team the bioscientists would have a total of 120 bio points, and research the bio project in 6.7 days.
The same thing happens to your physicists: They can research 120 points together, and finish the physics project in 6.7 days.
In this case, the two teams will finish at the same time.

If the physics project was a vital armour that you need to get on your troops ASAP, you'd stick all four labcoats on it, so you can finish it in 4 days. However, the next project done will take another 4 days to complete.
If your goal is to research the entire tech tree as quickly as possible, then it's best to split your projects into smaller teams (even if you only have 4 guys available). You'd have to wait an extra couple days for your first tech to come out, but the second tech will be done a day ahead of of if you just tasked all your guys on them both.

This way, players are rewarded for thinking ahead and micromanaging, without forcing them to or penalizing them if they don't. In fact, it's a trade-off between getting a project done now, or getting more projects done sooner later on.