Syzygy

you're in.

Team: AQUA All current partners are reliable and have worked together for a long time. Unfortunately we lost some to deletions. Marble - FILLED Coal - FILLED Oil - FILLED Rubber - FILLED Wheat - FILLED Cattle - FILLED Fish - FILLED Iron - FILLED Water - FILLED Uran - FILLED Alu - FREE Lumber - FREE

If you win, insert a complete "White Flag". And everyone who sends a peace offer automatically wears it

This correct in effect, but the game works otherwise: You *still* get +$2.00 per point of happines you HAVE. But environment removes a part of your *total happiness*, which leads to basically the same result: If you buy a +5 happiness wonder, you don't see 5 adding up to your total amount, but only 4.93 for example. The 0.07 are gone because the environment is so bad. So, now that you know this, it should take no longer than a few minutes to find out how it is calculated

... yeah, and I am questioning the logic of this rule. Of course I know what the current rules are. But you could say: Why 200? Why not 150? Or 250? Or 300? Or 500? Thats the whole case: Its artificial, god-given, indoctrinated. It makes the system flawed and weak for attempts to trick and abuse it, is distorts strength reflection and serves no real purpose. If this rule shall "enforce" that only the "largest" alliances are sanctioned - then go and make the 12 "largest" alliances sanctioned or value membercount in the score formula just higher to ensure that large alliances always have a way higher score. An artificial number to pass just hurts, and does no good at all.

thats the problem I talk about. I could argue that an alliance of 2,000 nations with a total NS of 340,000 (= 0.170k avg NS) would be totally invincible because no one could attack them in all their weakness. Should they get a sanction even while being totally helpless? They had a score of 24.2, enough to get it. Thats exactly the point: membership is ALREADY part of the score formula, and a BIG one as you can see. Why is an additional border needed?

Or I just think a bit wider. After 1 week of war you have totally devastated the maybe 10 nations in your range, you could triple them all and kick them with 3 guys each stronger than himself. But, during that 1 week, your nations lose some strength as well, moving more people in their range (although *by far* not as much as the tripled ones). Also the guys of the other alliance who were only a few NS outside of your range grow as well. Fact is, the 199 could constantly cut down the top ranks of any alliance. Pinning down everyone who grows in their range, and funding billions over billions every 10days to known enemies of their opponent - you have more ways to 'fight' than direct engagement. They could take over every Team Senate they want, by just moving to that team and completely block the Top100 there and go wild with 15 sanctions every few days, even two complete teams at once, because there are always a few guys with disabled senate voting. Besides this, your view of the scenario is simply wrong, their lowest member (#199) would have +82.37k NS. That means, his declaration range goes down to: 61.79k NS. The in comparison strongest other alliances in the game would be: Grämlins: 47 nations in range NPO: 51 nations in range IRON: 61 nations in range TOP: 62 nations in range Fact is, they would clearly dominate - why denying them a sanction while an alliance 5x weaker with just 1 more member would get one?

I if makes "sense", please explain "how" it makes any sense to weight membership heavily in the score system itself and then use it *again* as artificial barrier? Just as example: The Top199 nations in the game have together: 19,395,764.30 NS - 97,466.15 avg NS - Score: 66.95 These 199 nations would obliterate *any* existing alliance in the game with ease. Now, you need only 24.20 score IF you have more than 200 nations. 6,569,000 NS - 32,845 avg NS - Score: 24.20 -> enough. Now explain please what makes sense in a scenario where Group A, that could obliterate *anyone* would get no sanction, but Group B which could be defeated by at least 15-20 alliances do get one? I see none.

Grats! You deserved that for a long time. Just sad that it gave Vox Populi another stage while demonstrating how flawed the sanctioning system is and how easily it can be exploited. If membership is soo much more important than strength, make the impact of nationcount stronger in the score formula and then get rid of any artificial requirements.

Good day dear audience, today is a special day. Why special? Because it is sad, funny, enlightening and maybe even constructive. "Why?" you may ask. Because today something happened what I predicted some time ago and what should finally make clear that the fix which had been put in back then has only delayed the problem. What I talk about? Alliance Sanctioning and the artificial Member Requirement of 200 nations. Vox Populi has started a campaign to infiltrate the AA of TOP (The Order of the Paradox). They have brought around 20 nations of very small size and/or in peacemode to this AA, without being legit members there, just to push TOP over the 200 nations mark for a sanction. TOP itself has currently, as far as I am aware, 174 legit members. Since all these nations are either in peacemode or just new/ZId they don't really care for any military "threats". There is simply nothing anyone can do, if they just insist on staying on that AA, and I don't doubt that they will find the remaining dozen members to finally get over 200. All TOP can do is to remove own members from the AA, either to allied AA's, CTC (Citadels Protectorate) or the TOP Applicant AA to lower the nationcount. But does THAT make sense? Allowing a group of scoundrels to force one of the strongest alliances in the game to dissolve their membership structure just to prevent a success for their offenders? So, what can be done? Remove the reason for such attempts once and for all. Get rid of any artificial borders. Sanction the Top12 alliances, no matter how you "count" that. By NS, by Score, if membership size is sooo damn important, please, even the Top12 alliances by membership count. No matter how much and often the system is tweaked, people will ALWAYS find ways to exploit and abuse it. That is part of the human nature. Just get rid of that, its just saving future trouble. Another interesting system would be to determine sanctioning the following way, but maybe it is a too drastic change, however, just food for thought: The first 4 Alliances are chosen by Total NS. The second 4 Alliances are chosen by Total Score. (if threre are some already among the first 4, the next in score gets the place) The third 4 Alliances are chosen by Total MemberCount. (if there are some already among the first 8, the next in membership count gets the place). This way you have 12 sanctions, but 3 different ways to get there, which allows more flexibility when building alliances. However, just an idea. Fact is, the current system is still flawed and Vox Populi gains another stage for gathering attention. And as long as there are any artificial borders, such stuff will repeat, one way or another. /Syzygy

Hello dear readers, this one will be a quick one - but with a request, a serious request. Over the last weeks and months I have noticed more and more people contacting me (via IRC, PM or even ingame) and sending me suggestions, concepts and idas. And then they asked me if I could not go suggesting them for them, because they felt that I somehow have magical influence on the admin, or that stuff just "looks better" just because I post it. That is not the case. Please stop doing it. At first: The admin does *not* particulary "like" me more than other players. In all our conversations our contact was strictly neutral and to expect anything else does good for no one. Second: No suggestion has *ever* been implemented without strict review from the administration. It does absolutely not matter if the suggestion is from me, from you or from anyone else. If it is not good, it will fail. Even IF it is good, you still have to convince the admin. Third: The game needs input from *many* players, not just a few. That is neither good for the game because it makes the trend of changes lopsided, it also is not good for the atmosphere in the suggestionbox. If you have a good suggestion, just go suggest it. That does of course not mean that I won't help to find flaws or give hints when asked. However, what I will NOT do is: - posting suggestions in your name - taking your idea and create a complete concept for you (do your homework alone ) - doing the math work for you - talking to the admin to "advertise" for your suggestion: do that yourself Last but not least: I. check out the last few pages of the suggestionbox if what you want is *already* discussed (or something very similar) - in that case participate there instead of making your own discussion II. check out the fixed links for help HOW to make good suggestions III. keep RL politics / beliefs or CN alliance politics OUT of suggestions. That will not lead to *any* results. Good luck with your suggestions, /Syzygy

Yes, its just a rough idea which had to be developed a lot before it could be implemented. Changing resources should probably require time to adapt the economy, so your trade partners would get an automated message like: "New Syzygia has begun to stop their production and exports of Oil, they will instead focus on producing Fish in the future." - 10 days later the trade is changed from Oil to Fish. The trade partner can either keep the agreement, or cancel and look for another trade partner.

this entry reminds me that you owe me me the answer on a PM

not that I know. However, 9 Tank levels (like for airforce) were once suggested, but never implemented. Same could be done for CMs and Soldier Equipment ^^

I can absolutely Agree with your changes. I disagree with the additional wonders, I would rather use these ideas to fill up the overwhelming number of empty improvementslots. Reserve Wonder Ideas to really unique effects. However, I agree that new wonders should have very few economical effects, rather more subtile benefits which are nice to have, but do not make the nation significantly stronger.

Hello again,since there is a lot of discussion in the SuggestionBox going on regarding wonders, forced disbandment during war (peace terms) and the 30days-clock, here are some thoughts and a possible solution.At first: The current system is (imho) horrible. It is even a DETERRENT for new players to create nations here or keep playing the game. The same goes for people who have been forced to destroy wonders.Why that? Because right now the old nations have not only an advantage in size (that is just natural, and you can catch up this difference mostly because small nations grow a lot faster than big ones) - but also in TIME. And not just nation age, but 30day-circles. No matter how good or skilled a new player is - the lack of wonders is an eternal disadvantage. He can never overcome this, because he simply has to wait 30days for his next wonder, but in that time everyone else before him buys another one as well. In the end, he will notice the frustrating point that competition is senseless - since you can never catch up that difference. Most of the guys before him will ALWAYS make more cash, because they have ALWAYS more wonders. He can only hope that someone deletes or is getting destroyed in a big war.Now, people have suggested that Wonders should be made "indestructible", so at least long term players are not left with a perspectiveless disadvantage, but implementing this would a) hurt realism (indestructible things are just bad) and B) exclude new nations also.A lot better would be a system where users had the options to build or raze wonders any time they see the need to do so. If their nation is just strong enough to afford them (= fulfilling certain requirements + having the cash to pay for the construction) - where should be the problem?In making the requirements for wonders very differently, this also allow players to build very individual nations, depending on what they want to do with their nation. Also, at all levels there should be some economically and some military wonders available, so the user has always the choice to first complete building all wonders he fits the requirements for - or to grow infra first to get access to the higher wonders quicker, but lack the basic ones.So, lets think about the requirements:Economical Wonders (ordered by Requirement):# Great Monument: 90 days of age, happiness > 50, not in Anarchy# Great Temple: 90 days of age, happiness > 50, not in Anarchy# National War Memorial: Requires 50,000 soldiers casualties.# Movie Industry: 500 infra, 100 technology# Federal Aid Commission: 1,000 infra, 100 technology, Foreign Ministry# Social Security System: Avg Gross Income > $200 per citizen, 250 technology# Internet: 1,000 infra, 500 technology, 5 Schools# Stock Market: 1,000 infra, 500 technology, 5 Banks# Agriculture Development Program: Requires 3,000 land purchased, 500 technology.# National Research Lab: 2 Universities, 2,000 infra, 500 technology# Space Program: 2,000 infra, 1,000 technology, 3 Satellites# Interstate System: 3,000 infra, 500 technology, 5 factories# Great University: 1,500 technology# Disaster Relief Agency: 3,000 infra, 500 technology, Foreign Ministry# Mining Industry Consortium: Requires 5,000 infrastructure, 3,000 land purchased, 1,000 technology.# Universal Health Care: Requires 11,000 infrastructure, Hospital, National Research Lab.# Nuclear Power Plant: Requires 12,000 infrastructure, 1,000 technology, and a Uranium resource, GovSetting for nuclear Technology.# National Environment Office: Requires 13,000 infrastructure.# Scientific Development Center: Requires 14,000 infrastructure, 3,000 technology, Great University, National Research Lab.Military Wonders (ordered by Requirement):# Pentagon: 100,000 casualties# Central Intelligence Agency: 5 Intel Agencies, Foreign Ministry, 500 technology# Foreign Air Force Base: Foreign Ministry, 50 Aircraft, 1,000 infra, 250tech, 500 land# Anti-Air Defense Network: 5 Missile Defenses, 500 technology# Strategic Defense Initiative: Requires 3 satellites and 3 missile defenses.# Manhattan Project: Requires 3,000 infrastructure, 300 technology, and a uranium resource.# Hidden Nuclear Missile Silo: Ability to build nuclear weapons.# Fallout Shelter System: Requires 6,000 infrastructure, 2,000 technology.# Weapons Research Complex: Requires 8,500 infrastructure, 2,000 technology, National Research Lab, Pentagon Wonder.This way, no 30days counter is needed any more. Nations can buy whatever wonders they can pay for, if they have the cash to fund that. In addition they can also plan which wonder they want to get next and how they can act best to work towards the requirements it has.Nations can decide freely if they want to save up to buy more wonders first, or grow infrawise first and buy wonders later more quickly with the better profits. Players who grow faster can catch up better, Players who don't take care will get wonders slower. Skill becomes more important thant just age.Now, I want to stress another point: Wonder Price. People mentioned (and rightly so), that the prices for wonders are not that expensive any more once your nation makes 9 or 12 or even more million daily proft. I agree with that and would introduce a simple system that is also realistic: Wonders get MORE expensive the more you grow. Why? Because your nation is larger and the Social Security system or the Research Labs have a lot MORE citizens to cover, more tasks to do, SDI has to cover a larger area, Fallout Shelter Systems have to cover more supplies and so on and so on. I usually wanted to make these cost-increases dependent on infra, but on the other hand infra is not even a requirement for some of the wonders. So, I simply suggest to increase the wonder-purchase price by +1% per 1,000 NS. That means: for people like me, the same wonder would cost 2.4x as much as it would cost for someone with 0 NS. Its logical, my wonder needs to supply a by far bigger nation. With that system (which I would also copy for Improvements), we don't need to worry if someone even tries to do wonder-switches or something like that, and also improvement-switches become less attractive.Last but not least, I suggest building time: You first pay for a wonder/improvement, and then it is "under construction" for a specified amount of time. I sugges 3 days for Improvements and 15 days for wonders here. Another move against "switching" which the admin wanted to remove a long time ago.After all, I feel that this would greatly enhance gameplay because it creates way more options for the players and way more alternative routes than just waiting 30days to follow the same wonder-guides like everyone else. And: more competition and importance of skill when planning and growing your nation./Syzygy

I cannot see how any of these suggestion would put more stress on the server than there currently is. For the server there is no difference in the bonusgoods or effects. Its all simple math that neither requires more CPU power nor more database queries nor more bandwith. When it comes to coding, the Changes to Microchips/Scholars/Wonders probably need 30minutes to be implemented. It is really just the changing of some lines in the code and some additional if-then-functions for the microchips-wonders-relation. The Resources-Change is a bit more complicated, but I won't expect more than one or two hours coding time for that. It is also very easy if/then and just counting days stuff.

Not quite. I own one of the largest navies in CN and the only use Lead has is as temptrade for billpaying. In any longterm setup I could import almost *anything* else and I would be better off than with lead. No matter how good the navy or military upkeep reduction is, all the military of a nation usually cost not even 10% of its daily bills. The effect looks big on paper but does almost nothing in cash-value. The choice between "collecting 500k more" or "saving 200k in upkeep" is obvious. FJ/AP/FF+wheat is good in the *very* early stages if you are on your own = don't get much outside aid, because that setup produces a good amount of cash. But the infra is damn expensive so you won't grow faster than with FJ/AP/Steel and outside aid (from techdeals or alliance aid) is invested with a lesser return-value in infra. I disagree, these changes would make the FJ/AP setups more attractive and the Microchips route (which is today absolutely crappy) also. It does not lead to a point where ALL setups are equal = but that is not even desired. But it does lead to a point where the right now totally underused features (=techreducers) get a purpose and will be used by some of the players for their advantage. And competition and diversity of options is always good. At least a lot better than the current situation. I fail to see why more options would make the game less interesting for those who don't want to deal with it? They simply don't need to care if they don't want to and go for whatever long-term setup they desire, not looking at its benefits or disadvantages. A lot of players do this right now anyway and they would hardly notice nor care for a change in the resource balance. But a lot of interested and motivated players would.

re-read what he said. it IS one day hangover.

Simple - they get, as new other nations, the chance to switch their second resource once a month to any agricultural one of their coice. If they do, they cannot switch back to a geological one. If they don't, they keep their second geological resource. If they currently have 2 Agricultural resources, they have the 1-time-offer (of course unlimited delayable) to "dig for resources" - doing so would switch out their first resource for a random geological resource. After that, they have the same choice like everyone else, produce an agricultural good and switch that once per month if they want. If they don't dig for geological resources, they keep the first agricultural resource and can only switch their second once per month.

No time. I have very irregulary free time to do some math or brainstorm some suggestions together and back them up with example calculations. I will simply use this blog to "offer ideas" and whoever wants (including the admin) can discuss them or just take them, rework them and or offer the admin to draft even code for it. See this blog as my personal drafting folder, free for everyone to use. For more, there is absolutely no time, however I have thought about a "Creativity Team" for the Game before (I think I once said so either in the suggestionbox or during a chat with the admin) where some of the players with deep insight and knowledge about the game mechanics can suggest and discuss changes and new features *en detail*, or improve good but fuzzy suggestions from the suggestionbox with math examples and formulae. Maybe one of my next blog entries will cover that, I wanted to re-suggest it for a long long time, but always forgot it. Thanks for the reminder!

Hello again, against my promises, today a slightly different topic, I am just in the mood to go away a bit from basic mechanics and want to write a few sentences about Resources, Bonusgoods and balance. Why? Because I still see people in countless posts and topics aim for horrible trade-circles or complain about how bad their resources are. This article shall help them and offer a simple solution for the admin to make the game a bit more interesting. Resources The current Resource system in CN is not that bad. Its easy and even totally newbies can manage to understand how Resources and Bonus Resources work relatively quickly. Now the bad part. The resources are not unique. That means, except for Uranium, you can simply exchange each resource for each other and you will still be able to do everything, just maybe a bit slower because you either earn less cash or things are more expensive. Where does that lead to? Simple: Some clever guys sit back, do some math and quickly find out what the *BEST* combination is. Put that into a guide, spread it and soon you have the situation we have in CN right now: Everyone is aiming for the SAME stuff, making some resources highly valuable and others nearly ruin a players day (not because he earns a few dollars less, you can live with that, but because you have to CONSTANTLY be afraid for your trades - just no one wants to trade with you for a long time...) - and thats annoying. Good games should have nearly no annoying parts. Now what is the solution? DEMAND. Create a demand for ALL resources. The best solutions currently: To help some of the rather unexperienced readers, a quick overview. There are lots of different Trade Circle offer around, but there are only a handfull really benefitial setups. Lets begin with the 3BG. 3BG means "3 BonusGoods" and is with "Construction+Beer+FastFood" a quasi-standard of CN. The resources you need for that are: Alu+Marble+Iron+Lumber (=Construction) +Wheat+Water (Beer) +Cattle+Pigs+Sugar+Spices (FastFood) +Fish+Gems/Uran/Silver/Wine (basically just make sure to fill the set with a good income booster or Uran if you want to go nuclear) That 3BG setup is considered the *BEST* if you have two of the resources needed for it. And since there are 15 of 21 resources available for it (except for nuclear nations, in that case its only 12 of 21 because Gems/Silver/Wine are not as good as Uran), a lot of people can go for it. If you can, do it and don't bother wiht *anything else*. You won't find a better setup for long term use, only with trade-swaps you can outperform it, but more to that later. Now, some people have Resources like Coal, Oil, Rubber... These are obviously not able to go for such a 3BG setup, because their resources don't fit in well. But, they have an alternative: the 5BG setup. They simply replace Pigs+Sugar+Spices with Coal+Oil+Rubber. You get with that: Steel+Automobiles+Construction+Asphalt+Beer. The other resources are the same. The 5BG setup is another quasi-standard for CN and provides a higher reducting in purchase and upkeep costs, but lesser tax income. On the lower levels (below 5,000 infra) it is still noticably weaker than the 3BG setup, because you have less citizens and with that less improvements. The higher you gow the lesser is the difference and above 10,000 infra both setups enable you to grow equally fast when just purchasing infrastructure. However, the 3BG still has an advantage when massing cash for a wonder or filling your warchest, the 5BG has an advantage during war because your bills are lower (less risk to be bill-locked) and your military replacement costs + soldier efficiency are better. So, if you have 2 of the resources needed for that setup, but cannot go the 3BG because one or both are Coal/Oil/Rubber - go for 5BG and stick with that. It won't get better without trade swapping. With these both setups we have already 18 of the 21 resources covered. What is left? Furs, Gold, Lead. These 3 resources are considered to be CNs "weakest" resources, but you can still put at least Furs and Gold to good use when going for an AP/FJ/Steel setup. With Lead you are basically screwed. Lead just sucks, it does have some minor advantages, but it is not usefuly for *any* long-term setup. But back to Gold and Furs. If you have Gold, do NOT make the mistake to go for an 8BG setup (5BG+Scholars+Microchips+RadiationCleanup). That setup is CRAP. Avoid it, at all costs. It looks good on paper but it is in most cases even worse than having 12 total random resources. Trust me, with that few population modifiers, you never have an income that enables you to compete with most other setups. Last warning: AVOID 7&8 Bonusgoods! [only exception would be a time where GRL is maximized at 5, then it is equal to the 5BG in growth]. If you have Gold and/or Furs + one of the other needed resources, you aim for FineJewelry and AffluentPopulation (FJ/AP/Steel). As addition Iron and Pop Boosters. You need for that: Coal+Gold+Silver+Gems (=FineJewelry) +Furs+Fish+Wine (AffluentPopulation) +Iron (Steel) +Cattle+Wheat+Uran+Water (but you can replace Uran and Water also with: Lumber, Spices, Pigs, Sugar if you want, doesn't change much, these setups are all almost equally strong). If you have that, you make even MORE cash than with the 3BG - but infra is more expensive also. That makes the 3BG still better, but you can definitely rival the 5BG setup. And you are BY FAR better off with it than the 7/8BG solution. Now, we have reduced the only REAL BAD scenarios down to: - You have Lead + something else - You have 2 Resources from complete different setups (Like Rubber+Spices or Furs+Marble) For both I offer a solution to fix that. ----- Solution for Nations with Lead: Strengthen the Bonusgoods which require Lead, which automatically creates a demand for Lead on the market. The first Bonusgood that requires Lead is Microchips. Currently a completely worthless Bonusgood because the +2 Happiness are nothing special (go for other stuff and you get that as well, together with a lot better value of the base resources) and the Tech Cost Reduction is useless because almost no nation purchases own tech any more, it all is imported via the TechDeal Market. Make the TechModifiers useful. - increase the effect of Gold from -5% to -10% - also increase the effect of Universities from -10% to -15% - also increase the effect of a Great University from -10% to -20% - also increase the effect of a National Research Lab from -3% to -10% - also increase the effect of the Space Program Wonder from -5% to -10% - increase the Tech Cost Reduction Effect of Microchips from -8% to -20% + double the reduction for all WONDERS if the nation has Microchips. It creates a motivation to buy more own tech, because with Microchips that is actually cheaper than on the market (100 for 3M) up to 400 or 500tech. Nations specializing for that route can stay techsellers longer AND the later benefits would come stepwise, since a nation builds wonders only slowly. The current max-modification for technology is a price of 57%. Since costs for tech are insanely high, buying own tech is only lucrative up to ~200, after that buying it from the techmarket simply is way better. The new max-modification for technology would be 41% without Microchips and 19% if you have ALL wonders with techboost. That means, nations could over time buy their own tech, the more of these wonders they have, the higher up it will stay lucrative. With a full wonder-setup + Microchips, buying own tech would be lucrative (=same price as the market) up to ~750tech and affordable (higher price but saves aidslots up to ~2,000 tech). Why is that better than now: - nations can stay techsellers longer if they focus on a tech-reduction route - beaten down nations can regrow faster instead of waiting months just for redoing all the techimports - crazy people can even buy own tech in the areas of some thousand tech - peacemode nations who can't participate in the techbusiness can grow slowly with buying own tech ----- The second Bonusgood that requires Lead is Scholars. Simply change its effect from increasing income by +$3 to +1$ per Bonusgood the nation produces (simulates higher efficiency ratings when producing things). That way, adding Lead as completion for an 5BG circle would make that a 6BG combo and offers +$6 income which is better than 3 happiness. If used in a 8BG combo, it even offers +$8, which is better than 4 happiness. Why is that better than now: - adds a unique & flexible effect - strengthens the right now really crappy setups (7/8BG, FJ/AP/MC setups and such stuff). ----- Solution for Nations with incompatible combos: Step1: Split the Resurces of CN in two tiers - Geological and Agricultural Geological Resources are all those which can be digged out of the earth: Alu, Coal, Oil, Uran, Lead, Gold, Silver, Gems, Marble, Iron + Water (can be below and on the surface) Agricultural Resources are all those which can be cultivated on the surface: Wheat, Spices, Wine, Cattle, Pigs, Fish, Furs, Rubber, Sugar, Lumber + Water (can be below and on the surface) Step2: Assign ONE Geological resource to every nation on creation - randomly. Since no nation can chose what the most common resource in iths earth is, they are stuck with it. Step3: Let the user chose ONE agricultural resource by own free will on creation. Every Ruler or Government is of course perfectly capable to decide on which production his nation shall focus. Step4: Let the user switch the agricultural resource once a month, but at a high cost - depending on the nations land+infra amount. Step5: Add 1 Env bonus to AP to make the FJ/AP combos more challenging. Why is that better than now: - every Ruler is self responsible for the COMBO his nation produces (if his geological resource is Silver/Gold/Gems -> Furs would be obviously a good choice because you fit into an AP circle perfectly, Spices would be a bad choice) - no more eternal disadvantages - options for the Ruler and ways to make mistakes / gain advantages - creation of a FLUID MARKET* I will elaborate this last point a bit more: Now you will say: Hah, Everyone will just chose Wheat or Fish as second resource! And I say: Shall they! It will lead to a situation where there will be not enough Cattle/Sugar/Spices combos to complete the setups, which automatically makes such a combo extremely valuable on the market - because everyone needs it and only few people have it. The same goes for Furs and Wine, which are currently rather 'undesired' - If there are only a few nations around which would perfectly fill AP/FJ setups - these will have their inbox spammed for trade offers. And since users can change the agricultural resource once per month (although for a high fee), the market will adapt to its needs. If everyone has Wheat, people with Wheat will notice that nobody wants Wheat any more, but everyone searches Pigs. It might be benefital to switch, but the decision is up to the owner. Short notice on Temptrades: Temp-trading means: - You import a resource-setup that reduces bills - and ONLY pay bills for around 15-19days. - After that you drop these resources and import other ones, those who boost population count and income. - Then you collect Tax for all days together with that higher income. After that you switch back to the bill-reducing costs. The same can be done when purchasing large parts of infra. Especially if you have a 3BG or FJ/AP setup. Just cancel some trades with Income/Pop-Boosters and import Infra-Reducers for a day. Then buy all your infra with that and go back to your old setup afterwards. Summary: [to the users] - 3BG is best, if you can go for it - DO IT - 5BG is almost equal if you have lots of infra. If you have Coal/Oil/Rubber - DO IT - 7/8BG is CRAP - never do that except GRL is at 5, and you are in the midst of a long war. - AP/FJ/Steel rivals the 5BG for sure, if you temptrade even the 3BG. [to the admin] - Make the TechMarket more challenging by making the reduction costs USEFUL. Bind that to Microchips & Wonders and especially a combination of those to give this Bonusgood a special purpose and strengthen the last really *bad* resource: Lead. - Change the "total random" system to 1 random + 1 chosen resource, which would enable the market to regulate itself and offer Users more options and ways to benefit from watching the market and making clever decisions. Good day!

Huh? The Movie Industry (the other +3 happiness wonder) costs 26 million - that's a 4 million difference. I had made the Space Program cost $50.000.000 in my suggestion. That would be a $24 Million difference just for 15% Airforce Purchase bonus. However, I made some calculations and actually the balance is just not that bad: If a nation has no WRC, a level9 fighter cost 50k base, that means 15% discount is 7.5k per plane. 3,200 planes must be purchased to equal out the 24M more-costs. But, if a nation has a WRC, the costs for military goes up: Lets say a nation has 5,000tech + WRC, all its military costs are increased by 50%, so a Level9 fighter would cost $75,000 base. A 15% discount would be $11,250 per plane, and to equal out 24M more costs he would need to purchase 2133 planes. At 10,000 tech, that would be only 1600 planes to 'pay off'. Basically it would be a clever decision to buy a normal +3 happiness wonder first, and the Space program later when a nation is more tech-heavy.

You are probably right, I have thought about reducing the costs to 30,000,000 and increase the effect to 20%. Besides this, 2500 aircrafts is not THAT much, thats 25x rebuilding a complete set of 100 planes (and you can easily loses 100 planes per day at a top level). But i Agree, after ~1000-1500 planes the wonder should have paid for itself.

I absolutely Agree, unfortunate I have not closely the time which would be needed to rework all of that . But, thats abslutely on 'my list'.