Research Stations Specializations

posted on July 11th, 2013, 6:07 pm

Hey!

I got this idea from a post HelloDean made in the topic Should the Main Base Be Raidable?


In FleetOps (v3), building the research components of the main base of any faction is rather mundane state of affairs. All of your research stations are usually packed around your first starbase, and you generally only build one of each station because there is usually no good reason to build two. In addition, these stations become entirely useless after all research is completed.

But what if research stations were influenced by their surroundings on the map?

For example, a research station by a Mutara Nebula might be able to research an immunity to the nebula's sensor disabling effect in addition to the other abilities it could research. A research station placed in proximity to a Trilithium moon could research an ability allowing for the more efficient collection of Trilithium.

These special abilities would encourage not just the expansion of the main base, but the building of research stations in multiple locations around the map! This is also something we see in canon, since we know the Federation at least has multiple research stations scattered throughout the galaxy. The only exception to this would be the Borg, who would have to get these upgrades some other way.

Thoughts?

posted on July 11th, 2013, 6:26 pm

Nice Idea, yes, but the obvious drawback to such a system is the variety of maps that exists. If there's no map object here/near your base, you can't have it. If a research or upgrade system is implemented it would assume that you have access to that stuff at specific times and equally. Ofc, specialisations that don't need something nearby (or maybe only resources as we can agree that they are always there) might be nice too. Have a federation base station chassis equipped with engineering, science or command modules. Have a klingon station be either an armory, an ordnance depot or a moq'bara battle strategy center. Still, this would not be too different from the current system where there's simply different stations.
So, what could be done is to offer two or maybe more special technologies in a given research station that mutually exclude each other because you need to upgrade the station with special labs/facilities for whatever it unlocks and therefore you can't have the other thing anymore. Kinda like choosing between proxy torps or trikobalt torps. In this case it would make sense if the upgrade was available for more then just one ship since there would be nothing lost if you don't build monsoons anyway and you don't even have to choose.

posted on July 11th, 2013, 7:33 pm

im liking this thread

perhaps this could be extended to science ships as well, send a nebula class or any other science ships to observe a nebula and scan it to gain tech (tho this would have to be different tech to the stuff building a science station could research ).

this makes a more exploration element to the game, aiming towards the shows.

it also makes an alternative harassment element.

and it would be worth the risk as we all know knowledge is power

posted on July 19th, 2013, 7:25 am

Nice Idea, yes, but the obvious drawback to such a system is the variety of maps that exists. If there's no map object here/near your base, you can't have it. If a research or upgrade system is implemented it would assume that you have access to that stuff at specific times and equally.

Good concern, but I was thinking more along the lines of special abilities that would be ultra specific to the object near the research station - for example, being by a wormhole wouldn't give you a broad specialization (ex. boost to speed or a special weapon), it would give all ships a passive around wormholes - for instance, a 50% sensor increase to all stations built around a wormhole. This way, even if one player was unable to get specific specializations (ex. one base is by an large group of nebulas and another is in deep space,) the other team wouldn't be negatively affected. To use the last example, a 50% sensor increase around wormholes is pointless if the other team does not need to approach a wormhole until they get deep into the opponent's territory. However, if a wormhole is placed near an expansion, a 50% sensor increase could be a great early warning system.

I do see how such a system could still become an issue, though - for example, if one Starbase was by a set of Mutara nebulas and the other team couldn't obtain the specialization, the other team could turtle around the nebula to obtain its passive. Maps would have to be set up with the potential specializations in mind.