Low tech planets in Beta

General discussion for the game Anacreon
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MaxCPP
Anarchist
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Joined: Thu Jan 02, 2014 11:12 am

In Beta there are a lot of underdeveloped planets with ditigal or atomic tech. I captured one of that planets and thought that i could develop it, but neither building nor research are avalible. Just no build button here! And there are so lot of that planets, more than in Alpha. Is it ever possible to develop them?

And one more question. Does research ever stop? Could a planet get better stable tech level? Becouse the only way to keep tech level is endless reseach project that lowers planet's productivity.
george moromisato
Developer
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Planets won't advance in tech until you designate them. Once you do, they advance to tech level 5. [I haven't decided if that's a bug or not. It probably makes more sense to have conquered planets advance even if you leave them undesignated.]

All worlds in the game have an "intrinsic tech level". Some planets have a very low intrinsic tech level; others have a very high one. All independent worlds tend to move towards their intrinsic tech level, which is why you see a wide distribution of tech levels.

To get a planet above its intrinsic tech level, you need to constantly expend effort. [The only exception is that all planets in an empire get brought up to tech level 5 for free--as long as you designate them.]

You can raise the tech level of a planet in two ways: you can build a research program (fusion, biotech, etc.) on the planet. Or you can designate a foundation world and "import tech" from the foundation world. The latter is much more efficient.

In both cases, though, you need constant work to keep the planet at the higher tech level. If you destroy the improvement or stop importing tech, the planet will regress back down. This is a design-decision in the game, which forces the player to trade off productivity for tech. My plan is to balance this so that it is possible for a low-tech empire to compete successfully with a high-tech empire (because the low-tech empire will have higher productivity).

Hope that helps!
Miguk
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Joined: Wed Jun 19, 2013 8:19 am

I'm glad there's more low-tech planets now. In alpha, if you had bad luck starting out in the wrong place you might only be able to conquer a few worlds in the first week of playing.
CaleyM
Commonwealth Pilot
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george moromisato wrote: To get a planet above its intrinsic tech level, you need to constantly expend effort. [The only exception is that all planets in an empire get brought up to tech level 5 for free--as long as you designate them.]
Not exactly. A program costs extra only for a few days.
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