Previously posted on Steam community forum.

**   My Motivation

First and foremost, I am an aspiring game designer and as such I am testing as many games as I can that explore one or more elements of a game I intend to produce.  That said, all my critics are based on the single fact that if I can understand/help a game I play, then I am helping my own.  I am not trying to be a troll in any of my comments/questions/etc.

Also I tend to lean towards a sense of realism and as such when I encounter uses of arbitrary values/incentives/bonuses/ etc. I tend to judge harshly particularly when used many time as in my mind it tends to highlight a lack of forethought or shift toward lazy design.  That being said, if there is a good reason I am not seeing, illuminate it as I am always wanted to see other points of view.

**

CURRENT EXPERIENCE

I have only played a few games using the different tutorials.  I have no multiplayer experience but I am only looking at gameplay elements and not player strategies so this shouldn’t be needed, after all if a game like this NEEDS multiplayer to get the bulk of its content on track then that in my mind should be a warning sign.

A FEW QUESTIONS with examples

1)Off-World launch(es) (OWLs): Why is it that food is the #1 export of my Mars colony in every game I play?

It would seem that this might be a bit broken as in the games I have played there seems to be a fixed value for the resource prices of these resources.  Now I will volunteer that at the time of this writing I haven’t looked carefully at the Off-World prices so I don’t know if they are indeed static or if they fluctuate, I did noticed that in every game I tested, they all seemed to keep the prices the same.  With that being said my question becomes why is it that food is the #1 export of my Mars colony in every game I play?

1a.  In every game I have played I see that food (mid-to-late game) tends to always be a solid investment as everyone needs it.  So given the cost of production, it has always been of use.  Then, when OWLs become available, food seems to be the best option given is cost/ease of manufacture and OWL sale price.  Thus I tend to constantly have 2 OWL platforms and export food.  Every once in a while I get excess resources that are comparable to food but then I just add a 1-3 more farms depending on the support available to ensure I always have a food shipments launching.

2. Farms: Are farms supposed to be the most lucrative investment mid-to-late game?  

I ask because currently it seems that in all the matches I have played that is what they are.  Providing you have access to glass (easily purchased and so core to every base that you should have 1 claim dedicated to it), all it requires that can stretch the budget is -1Water each cycle.  That being the case, providing the player makes an effort to get a little bit of water and especially if the player gets slant mining, this will should be enough to maintain a thriving farm base.  Just 3 farms positioned for max bonus (a silly thing to just have ) for a nearly constant stream of OWLs from 2 pads.  This means easy money.  Though there are other ventures that net similar end profits the shadow costs of producing them are higher.

3. What is the point of debt?  I am not a financial wiz kid or anything so I don’t understand the purpose of debt for this game.  I accrue near 100k in debt early in the game since it is free money and easily pay it off later once I get my operation up and running.  Like I said, I don’t understand the role of debt here.

4.  Why doesn’t selling resources chip away at you debt?  Since the game doesn’t have realism towards resources or time frame and depth/complexity to take advantage of a debt mechanic, this just further encourages abuse of the debt mechanic.

HOW YOU WIN? and why I hate arbitrary values/numbers/bonuses in games.

So if the game is boiled down to its core, the end game is all about buying out competition.

That said it looks flawed in its current state.

1. IF buying out competition is the only Win Condition(WC), THEN all that matters is the production of liquid assets ($).

2. IF all that matters is $, THEN the game is all about how to generate $ the fastest and all other consideration are inconsequential.

3. IF $ are the focus and all other consideration revolve around generating/supporting the generation of $, THEN resources in the game are only as important as the amount of net $ they earn.  Secondarily, they are only as important as the amount $ they earn for end-game purposes which having to auto-purchase some resources early is ok if the mid-late game benefit from it.

4. IF (R)esources that generate the most mid-late game $ are the most important, THEN setting up infrastructure for those Rs is all that matters.

5. IF those Rs and the corresponding support infrastructure are all that matters, THEN this means that Claims are the most important commodity of the game as they allow for the exploitation of the Rs that give you the $.

6. IF claims are the most important commodity, THEN the player that has the most used- claim tiles that yield mid-late game $ will have the most potential success.

7. IF having the most used-claim tiles for mid-late game $ generation is the most important thing, THEN having the ability to get more claims becomes the most important effort early game especially if there are limited Rs, which in turn means that upgrading your base is of the utmost import early on.

8. IF base upgrade is the most important matter, THEN securing resource production sites to facilitate upgrades becomes the most important thing.

9. IF securing upgrade facilitating sites is the most important thing, THEN that means that taking on debt by way of having to purchase Water, O2, Fuel, Power, etc. early on is ok.

10. IF that is ok and all debt means is that you cannot purchase stuff, THEN having small debt (few thousand $ worth) or massive debt (tens of thousands of $ worth) means absolutely nothing.

11. IF having massive debt is ok, THEN the preceeding strategy or similar is I would think the best way to achieve victory.

12. IF that is the best, THEN the game is broken.

13. IF that is true, THEN this game is not about strategy and tactics and out thinking your opponent it is who is able to best implement this one strategy the best using the system or patents, blackmarket options, and being lucky enough to pick their resources the fastest.

PLAYER BASED MARKET VS PLAYER INFLUENCED MARKET

This then would be the fundamental reason why the game would be broken. One of two things is true, either the game has a player based market or it has a player influenced market.  

Player Based Market (PBM)

A player based market means all resources in the game are based on player action.  The ground or whatever is seeded with the resources/nodes but the market is based entirely on what the players extract and how they do it. This means if every executes the ideas listed above everyone will die if they don’t change something because no one will be producing food early in the game and if too many resources are sunk into not producing the infrastructure to support the colony, then the player will end up killing off that colony.

Player Influenced Market(PIM)

This is the model that all games use (at least all games I have ever played, including EVE Online).  In this market system prices go up or down based on players purchasing and selling resources but there are always resources ready for purchase which means that there is never a fear of running out of say, FOOD, and since all debt seems to mean is that a player cannot purchase anything (resources, blackmarket, etc.) then incuring debt means nearly nothing if you have the Rs in place to build what you need without the need for cash.  Additionally, since when you sell if goes into your wallet and not towards your debt, the player can still make purchases which means you still win.  

Verdict PBM vs PIM

With an influenced market system this means strategies that make sense though they might work are ultimately less effective than outlandish strats that have no basis in sensible thinking.  This means that I don’t care one wit when the computer is breaking my stuff because my strategy doesn’t rely on needing sensible things, as long as I have an influx of $ that i can put towards what I need then I still win.  With a market based directly off of player actions, this means it will matter, as now it is understandable why food is so dang expensive, it must be produced on planet from sources not of the planet (Still doesn’t explain outside interest but well I guess the belters can only get their food from mars, not earth?).  This now means that if I dont have a stockpile of goods I could lose a great deal of $ trying to purchase food from others, and if those others don’t offer it for sale I am now in trouble.

CONCLUSION and SOME SUGGESTIONS

I will end it here for the time being, I have more to say but based off of this I need feedback on my conclusions as well as the drive to test more of the game.  Seems some Corps have game breaking bonuses in my mind.

1. Switch the market over to a PBM, this makes for much more interesting interactions I would think.

2. Flesh out the black market a bit more and even ad in a few corporate options.  This is a big one I know, but there is room for a ton more espionage and backroom dealing here.  Just goons for instance, they could be unknown, while significantly cheaper corp guards are known to all.

3. take a second look at the role of debt and the player wallet.  See how $ are obtained and why it is that the debt system is the way that it is.

4. Add Off-World import shipments at timed intervals. This would be best paired with the market switch to a PBM as now the only what to bring in much needed supplies that players won’t sell or that can’t be gotten yet would be through expensive and time consuming  shipments.

5. Allow a claims slot for stockpiles while adding limited storage for production claims.  The idea being that the engineering claim can have more use but also a player’s stockpile of a given resource could be directly raided.  Not just the pirates taking what comes in but targeted 100 or 200 of a given resource etc.

6. Let the Off-World Market shift like the planetary market does so that no one single resource becomes the be all end all for production.  Sure a player could invest in farms but what if there is an Off-World food stuff boom. The market falls and not he player is high and dry unless some quick thinking is done.

7. Game Pacing might need to be looked at as too often a computer will jsut at a point in the game start purchasing another players shares by the boat load.  I assume that this is from liquidating assets but given that there are so few players to begin with I see 1-2 players go down in heap really fast. Also, normally once I get the OWL pad going, the game is close to end game with in my mind is sad since I haven’t really done much trading.  I just rush to tech 5 and then rush the rockets so I can then rush food launches.

All for now, thanks for an interesting game.  I look forward to thought and feedback.