Considering what job it is that I'm applying for I think that it is that I am applying for I think that it might be a good idea to get this topic in particular back on topic. Especially considering the fact that I was the one who got off topic to begin with

Anyways after reading back over what happened in Users game it looks like I should start experimenting with the Heyoun a bit more. The only problem that I can think of that could arise regarding the Heyoun is if the credits is flowing in fast enough they could potentially buy an uber fleet causing the game to be unbalanced. One possible solution to prevent this from happening is to implement a system of inflation that will be based off of an equation involving trade income vs. the cumulative industrial output of the empire in question. Implementing this properly would still allow for the wealth focused Heyoun to still rake in large sums of Credits while eliminating or at least decreasing the chance of them, or any empire, from simply out buying their competitors when it comes to ships rather than properly managing resources and production.

The Heyoun have severe problems in multiplayer with the current alpha4 data since - unlike the AI - other players won't be bought friendly that easily. in most matches we had, the Heyoun were ultimately loosing big time in the end after turn 200 cause the others broke any trade relations with them and all declared war on the Heyoun player. in addition to his economic dependance on at least one other major in later-on turns, the Heyoun lacks Deritium for his later ships! that's the most balancing problem that makes even the credits surplus useless in the end..

Just how is it that the Heyoun doesn't have enough Deritium? To be honest most of my attention so far has been given to 'testing' the Coalition.

Anyways, about the issue of the Heyoun loosing when trade deals are broke. I was thinking earlier that being able to organize internal trade routes might just be the balance the Heyoun needs to remain competitive if all trade routes are cut off during or more importantly, before wartime. I have not been able to figure out many of the mechanics for it as of yet but the internal trade routes would be configured to give the Heyoun just enough extra wealth to hold their own during war time yet would be less lucrative then external trade routes.

well, the Khaorons for example have this uber-style +5 dilithium mine which get constantly criticize at our german site by some of our testers but so far no one altered it.
The Heyoun do have nothing compared to that plus they have extra-weak but extra-cheap ships throughout the eras. In later eras however, that advantage seems to vanish since the constant deritium production throughout the eras hits hard on the rising costs for later-on ships like the Han'Qora. it costs 10 deritium and that's just too much to keep the initial ship production surplus ratio towards the other majors intact that you had at the beginning of the game. You simply run out of deritium if you try to hold that ratio.

anyway, I amended the Heyoun buildlist for the next update giving them some sort of resource, production and energy kartel as special building on each planet where they can mainly increase their productivity for the cost of credits and empire-wide morale. Internal trade routes are already implied in the trade centers and therefore not recommended.

wait for the next update, it should render the Heyoun at least capable to !survive! on their own .

I like the idea for the cartel. A rich Heyoun is a happy Heyoun... At least until another unexploited means of gaining profit is spotted

Unfortunately, this only increases the odds of the Heyoun being targeted very early on by all of the other human players... If you could pass on the information on just how production translates into revenue and what the effects of that Cartel are I could get stated on the Revenue Inflation (or should it be called Trade Deficit? or Income Tax?, some input on this would be nice) and then pass on the finished formula on to Sir P.

in basics, a (resource; energy; industry) kartel increases its (res.;energy;ind.) production by 50% (deritium +100%) while decreasing the other production by 25% and credits also by 25% (this is the inflation revenue resp. trade deficit). also it gets morale +2 at system but -1 empire-wide so be careful with that. Protectionism is another special building where the markets are shut-off for outside investments. that means trade-route -75% but credits +100% and morale penalty since it's quite boring for the Heyoun to have a such stabilized market where no hausse or baisse ever can occur save for an internal economic break-down (treachery, theft, "mafia" etc.).

how industry production and population translate into credits (like in botf) I'm not sure about the formula. Have to wait on sir p. about that.
if you have any further suggestions about the above percentages, do tell .

I think that you are trying to do too much with the cartel that doesn't seem to fit together. Especially because cartels are all about making more profit while the cartel you designed decreases profit. I really can't see any Heyoun willing to give up 25% of their income just to make their ships a little faster.

I know it is a stupid question but due a busy schedule I have only been able to play around 5 turns or so of Supremacy so far but is it still possible to purchase ships and buildings right? So why not give the Heyoun a structure that decreases the cost of purchasing ships by lets say, something like 15%. It seems like something like this would fit in well the Heyoun pension for cutting deals and their expansive trade networks. In conjunction with this structure, or combined with it, could be a Heyoun Commodities Market that would increase the value of internal trade routes while leaving them less lucrative than external trade routes. Another benefit to the Commodities Market is that it could allow for the transference of Deritium from one Heyoun system to another for a modest transportation fee and the actual movement of the Deritium would then be done by the transparent Heyoun internal trade networks. This would allow for the rapid movement of Deritium from source systems to ship building centers do be done very quickly and efficiently without having to bother with transport ships.

Also, I think I have come up with a solution to the problem the construction of Ferangi battle ships being limited to their home system. Private Ship yards. Essentially a Private Shipyard is the ultimate embodiment of the Ferangi Free Market economy and would be capable of constructing even the largest of Ferangi vessels. Of course because of the way a free market economy works, the ultimate number of these Private Shipyards would be limited by the size of the Ferangi Empire itself. How does ten systems sound for the first ten Ferangi systems and then one additional for every five systems after that.
For example:
10 systems = 1 Private Shipyard
15 systems = 2 Private Shipyards
20 systems = 3 Private Shipyards
and so on.

not bad an idea. I just think those ideas won't fit very well into our current "infrastructure" resp. game engine of bote.

what fits more are things that actually can be done already with the buildings editor and the things you mentioned cannot yet unfortunately.
also, I'm not reducing profit when I set up kartels. The credits that is lost is the Grand King's credits, you know the "state credits", not the private one. In fact, one looses money to the kartel which makes it happy, therefore +2 morale. The purchasing ship bonus is already implemented via the big credits surplus the Heyoun have. no need to give them even more advantages on that field.

again, there won't be any internal traderoutes. that's the invisible business of the trade center .

kartel's are designed for Heyoun to get personal wealth which can't be accessed by your government. Therefore they produce more goods (which otherwise they won't) and with those goods, you in turn can make more profit by building more ships, bombard other planets and ultimately crush your enemies. A typical win-win situation for the internal Heyoun business partners. But it costs credits and morale since all other Heyoun on planets without kartel rights, get a little disappointed towards you for their disadvantages..

I still don't like the idea of loosing income that could be used to purchase starships being lost to the King. Also, wouldn't giving the Heyoun another large happiness structure unbalance the game a bit? They already have, what 2 structures that can do that?

Oh and by internal trade routes, I was referring to what a system is left with by default if no external routes are assigned to it. Essentially if a system has a large enough population for 2 trade routes, the Commodities Market would then provide a boost in income for every one of those trade routes that has not been assigned.

Also, in order to get a better idea of what would go well with the Heyoun I have been listening to the Rules of Profit on the share site. #54 gave me a good idea for another structure that could help the Heyoun compete with other empires. Scrap Yards. Basically any obsolete ships could be sent to one of these to be reduced to scrap that could either be sold or transported to a system to help build another ship. I was thinking that either 5/8 of the total resources could be reclaimed or 1/4 of the total cost of the ship could be gained back. Both of these choices being made available would greatly improve the Heyoun Trade Union's ability to adjust to new challenges and the threat of a war for survival.

that is actually a very good idea! A little scrapping bonus can't hurt the Heyoun . Have to see if and when sir p. can implement this in the buildings editor or hard-coded in-game.

as far as the other thing is concerned, you get a -1 empire-wide morale loss(!) with the kartels, but +2 only on system that has it enabled, that is quite expensive in the end if you ask me .

I think that is the main problem I have with the Cartel. It just woundn't fit the now former Heyoun very well. They would most likely only adopt things that bring them pure profit at little cost. Otherwise it seems contradictory to the Rules of Profit.

Anyhow, I have not sent these ideas to Sir P yet though I have been talking with him about a few other things. If all goes well you may be finding out about it within the week.

remember, when someone's makin big profit, someone's gonna pay the price of that (just the law of conservation of energy )

Since when have the Heyoun operated on that

Seriously though, it just seems like Cartel would be a better fit for another race... I just wonder which



hint... hint... (maybe...)

Well... Now that the cats out of the bag... I might as well explain what that rather weak hint was about.

I was hinting that the Cartel (or at least an altered version of it) might be a good fit for the Cooperate.