Here I want to share with you some of the new modifiers I'm using to balance everything here: http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key= ... NSEHQOB9Rg

First is the cost modifier table. All items in the new rebalance have a cost classification. This classification is then combined with item type, tech level, and a few other things to arrive at a cost, rather than just a random number that someone comes up with. The more expensive the item, the more powerful it is allowed to be, but the returns are very diminishing. The total allowed power of the item is multiplied by the value in the Power column.

The Acquire Method Table (the next sheet) lists how an item is acquired and how much corresponding power bonus it should get. The first Power column is for all items except for ships, while the second is only for ships. Obviously, the more difficult to acquire the item is, the more powerful it will be. If an item can be acquired in multiple ways, then it is classified as whichever way. Note that multiple modifiers can apply. For example, an expensive, uncommon item (uncommon means you can only buy it at select AI bases) will get the power multiplier from both being expensive and uncommon.

The size and weight tables are pretty much the same thing. For the size table, there is also a cost multiplier, making smaller things more expensive, and a DPE modifier, making them more efficient. For the weight table, there is also a separate column for hulls, giving them more extreme variations in weight. Weight is generally the density of the item. Most items now have a default weight per size which gets affected by the weight class. So two normal weighted items of the same tech will be of different weights if their sizes are different, or two same sized items will be different weights if their weight classes are different.

The tech power table is how powerful an item is allowed to be given its tech level. Note that this is further modified by the acquire difficulty, cost, size, and weight. The allowed power goes up by a constant amount per level, so the percent increase from one level to the next decreases as the level goes higher. This is very different from the current power curve which is pretty linear like this up to about tech 16 and then shoots up exponentially. A fully flat power curve like this will allow us to add new tech levels without breaking the game. My plan is to add one new tech level (e.g. tech 21) per new uni from now on, starting either with the next uni or the one after. Note that when players are at lower levels, they will have less difficult to acquire stuff than players at higher levels. This factor will actually make the power curve steeper than it appears here.

Last is the aug value table. An item (or an augmenter) that give a 1% bonus to damage is considered to make that item 1% more powerful, and every other aug bonus is related that.

In addition, items gain 5% power for being class restricted, skill restricted, or NB, and gain 25% power by being built-in.

How exactly does the aug table work? For example, damage takes 1.00. Does that mean that the most that augs can have is +1% damage? or +20% damage? Also, how do -% work out? For example, +67% radar isn't much, noticible, but not much, while -67% is crippling.

A bit of clarification would be nice, if i missed it, just tell me im an idiot.

Maybe i'm retarded, but it seems that small items have a bigger power bonus than larger items? i can understand (sort of) a lower DPE but a lower power value? surely the extra size would go to give a bigger power multiplier?

the same with weight, very heavy items seem to be less powerful than lighter items, whereas it makes sense that the extra weight would go to more power.

Could you explain the "aug value table" in a bit more detail also please? surely the power multiplier would be 1.** rather than 0.** unless a negative stat.

Larger and heavier items are more powerful. In theses cases, think of the power multiplier as "an item that is this big, all things being equal, is this times as powerful as a normal item, since it takes more size/weight". So when calculating the allowed power, the total is divided by these power multipliers.

The aug value table is the relative bonus of each aug stat. So a 1% damage bonus is considered to make an item overall 1% better, while a 1% docking bonus is considered to make the item 0.03% better. The way this is used is if an item like a shield has a 5% damage bonus, then all the other stats will be reduced by 1.05x. If it has a 5% docking bonus, all other stats will be reduced by 1.0015x. They way they work with augmenters is that a given augmenter has a number of points to use given it's tech and rarity, and 1% of damage uses 1 point while 1% of docking uses 0.03 points. The negative aug stats are just the reverse, but I try to keep the negatives relatively small in actual use so as not to get crippling effects.

Any augs getting nerfed?

So, if hard to build tech 20 items (primal UZ gear for example) have a power modifier of 1.3, and a normal item of tech 20 has a power of 5, the hard to build item's power would be 6.5, or equivalent to a tech 27 normal item?

I'm trying to figure out how soon will the top notch items of today become obsolete if new techs are added every uni.

i bet the hardest to build items will be obsolete in...
within 2 years.

i am willing to bet 500 million credits on that.

Exactly. Hard to build is more important than tech level by quite a bit, and the higher tech you go, the more important the acquire difficulty is than the tech level.

I have no plan to change any of the augs stats at this time.

Are items affected by more than one multiplier?

Because then Primal UZ gear could fall under Hard Build and Very Very Expensive (possibly Insane).

Or does the price modifier only affect what you flat out buy?

Yes, items are affected by more than one modifier, and yes, the primal gear is rated as both difficult to build and expensive.

In the aquire method table, I noticed the following in the comments next to the modifiers for ships that can only be capped: "* Since you can now unaug, don't give so much bonus for ships you can cap, but give them an extra aug in the equipment list so they get a nice bonus if you don't re-aug them."

When you say ships can now be unauged, are you refering to aug reset missions and reboot modules, or is this a new feature? Also, does this mean that when I cap a hotrod mega it will have 6 augs equipped even though it only has 5 aug slots?

Yeah, that's referencing the reset missions and reboot modules.

Many cappable ships already have an extra aug(s) equipped already. Check out rags for example. Whether ships that don't currently have an extra aug will get one, is a good question.

Exactly. It's a pretty old comment left over from when reboot modules and aug reset missions were added. Before that, cap only ships had a much bigger bonus.

also look at mercurian gear too
such as 8100 shields on a bulwark only? ew