Post by alsadius on Jun 15, 2020 2:00:07 GMT
With the way aero and construction were added, it seems like new industries will usually involve new mechanics. So with that in mind, a few ideas for possible industries to add, with new mechanics each. For each, I've tried to add some sample products to illustrate how the industry might look.
Pharmaceuticals: Unlike existing industries, you need to invest in the right to sell your pharmaceuticals, by going through an approval process. You'd pick your field of drug and quality level, and then apply for rights. This would be a job at your pharma plant, and like aero research, it'd have a failure chance, dropping with quality level. Failures can be total (you need to start again from scratch) or partial (you can re-try at a lower cost/time). Only once your product cleared approvals would you be allowed to sell it in any way (except maybe private contracts, just to prevent nasty lock-in situations). This would result in something like an RL drug patent(though you can't call it that in game because we already have patents, so perhaps a "License"), which gives you a fixed period of time to sell it - perhaps a month, starting from when you first applied. There'd also be Supplements, with no such regulations, and sold like regular retail products.
New buildings: Drug Plant (production), Pharmacy (sales)
New products: A few final drugs(vaccines, painkillers, antidepressants, and antibiotics), a few final supplements(wellness, beauty, and nutrition), a few new Plantation items as feed stock (herbs, poppies, and medicinal plants), and maybe a few other new products as feed stock as well.
Industrial: This would be about upgrading existing production buildings, in ways other than just level. And the upgrades would be different for different kinds of building. I know that not all of these will appeal to everyone, but I think they'll allow more different play styles and help the industries feel a bit more distinguished from each other:
- Agricultural production would get farm machinery, to reduce labourer count and make it so you can build large empires without crippling admin costs.
- Mines/quarries/rigs would get prospecting, to give improved abundance(before they're constructed), and/or lower decay rates (after they're constructed).
- Research labs would get advanced scientific equipment, to give you higher-quality research with (slightly) better success chances.
- Automotive and generic factories would get robotics, to increase production speed (though without dropping wages per unit, "because of the maintenance needs", to make it less OP).
- Construction buildings of level 3+ can be built to a higher standard, and thereby increase your building value for the purposes of bonds and scrapping value.
- Fashion and finished electronics production would get branding, to give extra quality on your end goods over and above what you've researched. (It'd do nothing for intermediate goods, so you can't use this to cheat on quality levels for your supply chains)
- For aero, I have a perhaps-controversial idea - instead of building quality being given *in addition to* item quality, make it a requirement *to get* item quality. You can't make a Q5 jumbo jet unless you have a Q5 hangar. To make the aero players feel less screwed here, I'd probably give them a boost elsewhere, though.
- For the new buildings added in this expansion, probably just straight production speed, because you can balance the products with the existence of that upgrade in mind.
New buildings: Consulting Firm(branding and prospecting), Precision Equipment Factory(robotics, advanced scientific equipment, and aero upgrades)
New products: One type of upgrade for each major industry class in the game, plus a handful of intermediate products(advanced measuring equipment, tractors, mainframe computers, etc.).
Entertainment: This would have retail, but the retail wouldn't work like normal retail, nor would it work like a Sales Office. Instead, you would put up a *group* of products for sale, of several different sorts instead of just one kind of good. And then quality level, some factors based on the exact mix of products you used, and random chance would determine how much you made with it. This could easily get out of hand with the number of options, so I'd likely start with just events, and not things like movies or games. For maximum profit, you'll want a good ratio of things (three sausages and a hundred baseball players is a bad ratio for a sports stadium, but so is 50,000 sausages, 5000 songs, and one player), and for things to match. An amusement park that loads up on popcorn, hard liquor, pop music, and kiddie rides isn't likely to do well either, even if the food:music:rides ratios are good.
New buildings: Music studio and athlete training camp (production), amusement parks, sports stadium, and nightclub (sales)
New products: Several more kinds of prepared food and drinks (e.g., beer, spirits, cola, bottled water, hamburgers, popcorn, and candy), a few different genres of music (e.g., rock, pop, hip-hop, and electronic), a few different sports (e.g., baseball, basketball, soccer, and auto racing), and a few types of amusement park attractions (midway games, family rides, and roller coasters).
Pharmaceuticals: Unlike existing industries, you need to invest in the right to sell your pharmaceuticals, by going through an approval process. You'd pick your field of drug and quality level, and then apply for rights. This would be a job at your pharma plant, and like aero research, it'd have a failure chance, dropping with quality level. Failures can be total (you need to start again from scratch) or partial (you can re-try at a lower cost/time). Only once your product cleared approvals would you be allowed to sell it in any way (except maybe private contracts, just to prevent nasty lock-in situations). This would result in something like an RL drug patent(though you can't call it that in game because we already have patents, so perhaps a "License"), which gives you a fixed period of time to sell it - perhaps a month, starting from when you first applied. There'd also be Supplements, with no such regulations, and sold like regular retail products.
New buildings: Drug Plant (production), Pharmacy (sales)
New products: A few final drugs(vaccines, painkillers, antidepressants, and antibiotics), a few final supplements(wellness, beauty, and nutrition), a few new Plantation items as feed stock (herbs, poppies, and medicinal plants), and maybe a few other new products as feed stock as well.
Industrial: This would be about upgrading existing production buildings, in ways other than just level. And the upgrades would be different for different kinds of building. I know that not all of these will appeal to everyone, but I think they'll allow more different play styles and help the industries feel a bit more distinguished from each other:
- Agricultural production would get farm machinery, to reduce labourer count and make it so you can build large empires without crippling admin costs.
- Mines/quarries/rigs would get prospecting, to give improved abundance(before they're constructed), and/or lower decay rates (after they're constructed).
- Research labs would get advanced scientific equipment, to give you higher-quality research with (slightly) better success chances.
- Automotive and generic factories would get robotics, to increase production speed (though without dropping wages per unit, "because of the maintenance needs", to make it less OP).
- Construction buildings of level 3+ can be built to a higher standard, and thereby increase your building value for the purposes of bonds and scrapping value.
- Fashion and finished electronics production would get branding, to give extra quality on your end goods over and above what you've researched. (It'd do nothing for intermediate goods, so you can't use this to cheat on quality levels for your supply chains)
- For aero, I have a perhaps-controversial idea - instead of building quality being given *in addition to* item quality, make it a requirement *to get* item quality. You can't make a Q5 jumbo jet unless you have a Q5 hangar. To make the aero players feel less screwed here, I'd probably give them a boost elsewhere, though.
- For the new buildings added in this expansion, probably just straight production speed, because you can balance the products with the existence of that upgrade in mind.
New buildings: Consulting Firm(branding and prospecting), Precision Equipment Factory(robotics, advanced scientific equipment, and aero upgrades)
New products: One type of upgrade for each major industry class in the game, plus a handful of intermediate products(advanced measuring equipment, tractors, mainframe computers, etc.).
Entertainment: This would have retail, but the retail wouldn't work like normal retail, nor would it work like a Sales Office. Instead, you would put up a *group* of products for sale, of several different sorts instead of just one kind of good. And then quality level, some factors based on the exact mix of products you used, and random chance would determine how much you made with it. This could easily get out of hand with the number of options, so I'd likely start with just events, and not things like movies or games. For maximum profit, you'll want a good ratio of things (three sausages and a hundred baseball players is a bad ratio for a sports stadium, but so is 50,000 sausages, 5000 songs, and one player), and for things to match. An amusement park that loads up on popcorn, hard liquor, pop music, and kiddie rides isn't likely to do well either, even if the food:music:rides ratios are good.
New buildings: Music studio and athlete training camp (production), amusement parks, sports stadium, and nightclub (sales)
New products: Several more kinds of prepared food and drinks (e.g., beer, spirits, cola, bottled water, hamburgers, popcorn, and candy), a few different genres of music (e.g., rock, pop, hip-hop, and electronic), a few different sports (e.g., baseball, basketball, soccer, and auto racing), and a few types of amusement park attractions (midway games, family rides, and roller coasters).