Pleasure Domes in the current meta-
Currently Pleasure Domes are relatively cheap to produce, cost only power as upkeep, and give a fixed income in return.
Recently a player known as DeathTacitus has been crushing games with an "early patent lab->virtual reality tech->Pleasure Domes". This strategy sacrifices early game HQ upgrades and a lot of money to secure a crucial patent and a set up for a strong mid to late game. I have yet to see him lose playing this strategy, and I have not lost when using it myself.
My concern is the counter-play and response actions an opposing player can take. Whoever obtains the patent for virtual reality can get insane income from a pleasure dome or two. (If you want to see a good example, go look at Zultar's youtube change for the OTC video "domed"). In this video and in many games I have played both against and with this strategy, the Pleasure Domes make upwards of $1000 a second(when boosted), and with a goon squad can not be shut down. This production is better than an Offworld Market shipping 60k value goods off every minute, and those goods costing only $1 on world. Simply put, that is insane.
Now Black Market attacks can keep this play at bay for a time, but with EMPs and Power Surges not clearing the goon squads on a building that is not directly hit, you are basically giving the opponent a free black market item if you want to hit the pleasure dome, and they can simply re-goon it. With Dynamites and Mutinies not always being available on the black market, shutting down the Pleasure Domes can be nearly impossible.
But beyond just wasting all of your black markets on ever increasing cost and less effective attacks, there are simply no counter play options once this strategy has begun. The player usually invests in power, keeping their stock price high, and powers price low, making them hard to buy while also making their pleasure domes more efficient. If another player tries to drive power prices up to make the Domes less efficient then they are sacrificing their own debt to do it, making them very easy to buy with the heavily punishing debt scaling these days. Additionally, this just allows the Pleasure Dome player to make even more off of the power production they already have down.
An opposing player could invest in Pleasure Domes himself, as I believe the equation for computing Pleasure Dome returns is based on the number of Pleasure Domes on the map, but this also feels very unrewarding. Because your opponent already has the virtual reality patent, your Pleasure Domes will never make as much money as theirs, and you are almost forced into taking a loss on those otherwise equivalent tiles for the entire game. This is simply not viable and will only prolong the inevitable defeat.
Finally, the Pleasure Dome is boring. It does not effect the market beyond its marginal and easily coverable power cost, and has no other impact on the game besides producing insane monetary returns for the player who patents and builds them.
In conclusion, Pleasure Domes bring the efficiency of an Offworld Market to a level 3 HQ, has little to no counter play, keeps a players stock price too high to be easily punished for their early game gambit, and is a boring building to exist in the game regardless.
Solutions-
Pleasure Domes are the only advanced building that can be affected by adrenaline boost, this seems strange and allows for insane returns in a very short time. When combined with a goon squad it will produce enough money in 60 seconds to almost buy out a player at level 3.
Pleasure Domes only effect one resource. Add in a continuous electronics cost to maintain the Pleasure Dome. While I do not think this is a good solution, at least it would apply more market pressure and keep them in check a bit more.
Have pleasure domes lose value over time. People get worn out of partying after a while. Have pleasure Domes start at the same value, increasing with each upgrade, but have that value decrease as the pleasure domes exist on the map. It would basically act as another, somewhat hidden resource on the map. If players build pleasure domes the price will go down, and if the pleasure domes are removed the price will go up. Virtual reality could be changed as a patent so instead of giving 100% boost to pleasure dome production, that players pleasure domes no longer receive this degrading penalty. Virtual reality can keep the people entertained permanently.
When do people go to bars and parties? At night! The Pleasure Domes should receive a 25% penalty (number can be fit to balance) during the day, and a 25% boost during the night. This small change adds a lot to the pleasure domes play and counter play. First, as day is longer than night, pleasure domes will receive a small income nerf as it is. The penalty and bonus amounts could be changed, so that their is a 50% boost at night to circumvent this. However, beyond any apparent surface nerfs or buffs based on those percent numbers, it adds counter play. At night, power costs typically rise due to solar panels not working. This will somewhat counterbalance the increased returns. Most importantly, just as solar panels are always hit with black market affects in the morning, pleasure domes would be targeted come evening, just as night time drops. This increases the efficiency of attacks and makes the pleasure dome more of a dynamic building that has unique features to it.
If you have your own ideas, comments, or changes post below.
