DKB

[Sachmle]

No farewell.. NUS will still be a PC and in the SC. Just w/ a new voice.

[Borys]

Ahoj!
All Hail Kaiser Sachmle and El Presidente for Life Valjean!

Borys

[Kaiser Kirk]

Um, Hail !



On other topics in the thread-
Borys- my name regarding larger countries- I have this vague idea the Bavarians will build combat ships at some point.
Blooded - Birthright - still have that game, only played the computer version
              - Ukraine - Hmm, having an unstable nation on your borders bothers you too?
Korpen - I generally agree with his points

For my two cents-
In Wesworld I picked up the Netherlands and had to update 5 years, the encyclopedia wasn't updated, so I had search through old threads to find ships and plans, it was a substantial effort. 

With Bavaria, there was a bit of a base courtesy of Borys, and its not that big, but still a long wind up period 1908-1913, and it took some work to get the country caught up. It would have been more difficult had I a fleet to worry about replacements and refits for.

I think like the suggestion of assigning tonnage for various classes, but leaving up to the eventual player.  That way the rough balance of power can be tracked, even if the specifics are unknown. It also takes care of surprises possible in sudden updates.  One thing I think should be addressed is the lack of tech trades unplayed countries have, placing them further and behind as the years go by.

[Korpen]

I think like the suggestion of assigning tonnage for various classes, but leaving up to the eventual player.  That way the rough balance of power can be tracked, even if the specifics are unknown.

Indeed that can work fairly well.

One thing I think should be addressed is the lack of tech trades unplayed countries have, placing them further and behind as the years go by.

Something I have been toying with to suggest would be that techs with a start date more ten then years back could be researched for half-price or quarter price (or maybe instead of cheaper faster), as it is established and easy to get hold on documentation and people knowing the tech.
Would help smaller countries form falling to far behind.

[Borys]

I see merit in Korpen's idea for "common knowledge" technology.
Borys

[ctwaterman]

I see merit in Korpen's idea for "common knowledge" technology.
Borys

I see merit in it as well but the problem will be some people Italia included simply skipped several tech branches and this would help them as well.

Charles

[P3D]

With tech assistance you pay like 1/10th the price for the tech, and I'd say NPCs could be assumed to get some from friendly powers for free - esp. the older techs.

However, things like building a BB caliber gun or a larger battleship cannot really become public knowledge. So not all techs should belong to this category. However, I at least agree to that techs 20 years before current date should not be needed to develop the next one.

PCs  (esp. larger ones) made their choice to neglect some areas, they should not get free techs.

[Kaiser Kirk]

I certainly agree they should not get free techs. The problem I noted is that countries not being updated do not have the option of making tech swaps when updating.

With Bavaria this was a mild problem and one reason I chose to invest in BP is for that 5th research capability. Still, I've had to turn down shipyard work simply because we were to technologically backward to build the ships.  Now that Bavaria is active, I am correcting that problem through tech trades and exchanging materials for tech. Had that option been available for the 5 dead years, I expect she'd be even further along.

When I did a trial update of the Mughals it was more pronounced. There is no real friendly country for them, they have few research points, they haven't been updated since the beginning. They are far behind. For a Mughal player, the best bet is to focus on land tech and to buy warships from foreign yards...but thats not an option updating either, as those SIMs are done.

Overall, of the options suggested, the idea of making old tech- say 10 or 15+ years out of date, cheaper to research seems best. It reflects the spread of knowledge, but there is still time and effort involved in gaining the tech.

but thats my 2cents


edit : Another mechanism I thought of was to maintain the time and cost of research of antiquated techs, but give a substantial roll bonus- say +30%, so the likelyhood of getting it 'soon' is substantially increased.

[Guinness]

edit : Another mechanism I thought of was to maintain the time and cost of research of antiquated techs, but give a substantial roll bonus- say +30%, so the likelyhood of getting it 'soon' is substantially increased.

I think that's a great idea. Maybe a roll bonus on a 10 year old tech, and nation gets the tech at the minimum roll on a 20 year old tech?

[P3D]

More simple. Get it after 2 years of research, no need for roll. Some techs might be excluded, though

[miketr]

More simple. Get it after 2 years of research, no need for roll. Some techs might be excluded, though

That sounds good....  Maybe something like for every 5 years old a tech is there is a plus x% for chance to get something.  Maybe 25%

Michael

[Borys]

More simple. Get it after 2 years of research, no need for roll. Some techs might be excluded, though

I like the simplicity of this idea.
Borys