Post by iuewen on Aug 14, 2012 16:41:42 GMT -5
Caveat: I may be playing this incorrectly. I swapped for a sand tile before I began testing it, because I thought I'd get more mileage out of the HUGE costs of simply initiating combat if I were on a tile producing the material I'd need to support this. If you come up with a way for the impact to increase, let me know.
Fascism, bastard child of all governments in Battle Mines. It hates everyone, but it especially hates the player using it. Fascism has been the biggest resource drain, with the smallest gains shown, since we started this testing sequence (in my experience).
Positives:
My production modifier is very high. Higher than it ever was in monarchy, even when I had 6 vassals. The base +10 if I keep outposts off of me is necessary to maintain, otherwise I would be wasting my time completely.
Photo: imgur.com/2CAsu
I am showing a +14 modifier right now (without DDRL, they all blew up in my rampage). I can't see a way to feasibly hold Diamond Drills as a fascist, though, as the moment anyone drops an outpost on me, I am forced to immediately build an outpost on them and attack them.
The bounty system is very difficult to score large gains with, unless your score is very low, and you are flinging large amounts of URO/EUR at your opponents. I am a leader (the only fascist), so that immediately hurts my odds at gaining large bounties, though I imagine once this proceeds into beta, there may be a few other fascists. However, the +tier to Fascist bounties is good, it gives a benefit to having to attack everyone constantly. I've received a 5 Glass, 5 Steel, multiple 5 URO, and quite a few lesser bounties so far.
Negatives:
If I weren't on a Sand tile, this would be impossible to maintain. Im-poss-ible. It costs me 10 sand or 2 glass to make ONE attack right now, not to mention that I need to make damn sure I win to make the bounty pay off (URO/etc). This has the side effect of making my area completely unmanageable. I've been through multiple AID packages, two academies (and I lost the second one to psiweapon last night), greenhouses, windmills, etc. I can't build anything, because the moment I do, someone builds a damn outpost, and I have to initiate combat. Maybe we need a spy mission to blow up outposts, or some alternate way to eliminate outposts. Currently, I don't dare build anything other than what I get out of an AID package.
This wouldn't work on a URO tile, as I had planned. Unless you have a very steady stream of glass coming in, there is no way you will be able to keep your production modifier. You could win bounties easier (though, sand is in higher demand than URO currently), and play Fascism without the production modifier, but it felt very gimpy to me when I tried this last time. At least, if you maintain the +10, it gives you a benefit to all the costs being doubled, and everyone wanting to attack you.
Trades are the other really difficult issue to overcome. It is okay for now, as I am maintaining 4 vassals (and a master, whom I can trade with also). I could feasibly build an outpost on everyone at some point, but the cost is so damned high for each outpost (10 sand/2 glass) that I am barely keeping up with keeping enemy outposts off of me. I've yet to have one cycle where I had 10 spare sand to blow on a new outpost. This severely limits my trading opportunities, though this is an interesting design, because shouldn't Fascists be difficult to trade with? I like this idea, and the design... it just feels a little too harsh right now. I don't know how to alleviate this issue either.
And finally, slightly on a tangent, why does sand retain a -5 Aridity GM negative modifier? Is this set up to counterbalance Glass being a component in so many buildings, spy issues, etc? More a curiosity on this last point, I am trying to stay neutral on all issues here and be an alpha tester, not a whiny bitch
Fascism, bastard child of all governments in Battle Mines. It hates everyone, but it especially hates the player using it. Fascism has been the biggest resource drain, with the smallest gains shown, since we started this testing sequence (in my experience).
Positives:
My production modifier is very high. Higher than it ever was in monarchy, even when I had 6 vassals. The base +10 if I keep outposts off of me is necessary to maintain, otherwise I would be wasting my time completely.
Photo: imgur.com/2CAsu
I am showing a +14 modifier right now (without DDRL, they all blew up in my rampage). I can't see a way to feasibly hold Diamond Drills as a fascist, though, as the moment anyone drops an outpost on me, I am forced to immediately build an outpost on them and attack them.
The bounty system is very difficult to score large gains with, unless your score is very low, and you are flinging large amounts of URO/EUR at your opponents. I am a leader (the only fascist), so that immediately hurts my odds at gaining large bounties, though I imagine once this proceeds into beta, there may be a few other fascists. However, the +tier to Fascist bounties is good, it gives a benefit to having to attack everyone constantly. I've received a 5 Glass, 5 Steel, multiple 5 URO, and quite a few lesser bounties so far.
Negatives:
If I weren't on a Sand tile, this would be impossible to maintain. Im-poss-ible. It costs me 10 sand or 2 glass to make ONE attack right now, not to mention that I need to make damn sure I win to make the bounty pay off (URO/etc). This has the side effect of making my area completely unmanageable. I've been through multiple AID packages, two academies (and I lost the second one to psiweapon last night), greenhouses, windmills, etc. I can't build anything, because the moment I do, someone builds a damn outpost, and I have to initiate combat. Maybe we need a spy mission to blow up outposts, or some alternate way to eliminate outposts. Currently, I don't dare build anything other than what I get out of an AID package.
This wouldn't work on a URO tile, as I had planned. Unless you have a very steady stream of glass coming in, there is no way you will be able to keep your production modifier. You could win bounties easier (though, sand is in higher demand than URO currently), and play Fascism without the production modifier, but it felt very gimpy to me when I tried this last time. At least, if you maintain the +10, it gives you a benefit to all the costs being doubled, and everyone wanting to attack you.
Trades are the other really difficult issue to overcome. It is okay for now, as I am maintaining 4 vassals (and a master, whom I can trade with also). I could feasibly build an outpost on everyone at some point, but the cost is so damned high for each outpost (10 sand/2 glass) that I am barely keeping up with keeping enemy outposts off of me. I've yet to have one cycle where I had 10 spare sand to blow on a new outpost. This severely limits my trading opportunities, though this is an interesting design, because shouldn't Fascists be difficult to trade with? I like this idea, and the design... it just feels a little too harsh right now. I don't know how to alleviate this issue either.
And finally, slightly on a tangent, why does sand retain a -5 Aridity GM negative modifier? Is this set up to counterbalance Glass being a component in so many buildings, spy issues, etc? More a curiosity on this last point, I am trying to stay neutral on all issues here and be an alpha tester, not a whiny bitch
