First buyout advantage

Hey guys... sorry if its long, just want to get the idea formed for a good discussion.

There have been many threads regarding snowballing and poison pills in regards to player buyout and game balance. I wanted to throw out an idea to see if there could be something to develop towards.

First buyout advantage is HUGE. I would argue that a competent/marginally skilled player who makes first purchase wins ~90% of the games played in a 4 player FFA. Naturally that win rate declines with 6 players (8 is anarchy), but I'd bet a dollar or 3 that its still above 75%. Reason being, the increase of production capacity via acquired claims in and of itself produces a (delayed) steamroll effect. So the question remains, how to reward player buyout without creating what amounts to an unbeatable opponent.

My suggestion:

Freeze the acquired company for a 12 hours, with purchased company stuck with whatever production is on the board, that production is unable to be changed, inventory unable to be sold (but continuing to stockpile), buildings are invulnerable to BM effects with exception of Mag Storm. Any auto supply buildings granted free cash to continue, debt accrual because of power or life support continues. During that time purchaser gets access to splash window giving options of number of claims to acquire. With a "you can't take it ALL" being implied, but take what is most valuable to you with an additional, but not crippling "pay the piper" tax attached. Additionally, the invulnerability of purchased company marginally nullifies multiple player BM targeting that usually accompanies a buyout and stock jump, but delays the stockbump for 1/2 of a day.

Player A (Scientific) buys Player B (L4 Expansive) with it comes 15 total claims. Player A must now decide what to take. If they choose ALL claims, then a % of debt is also acquired (30% for first 5 to start but sliding 10% for every 2-3 claims?) and forfeiture of cash and resources. Conversely, the player can choose say 5 claims (30% of total available) and receive all resources in inventory, 70% of cash on hand, and only acquire 30% debt (of 30%) Player A also gets any black market effect purchased but unused. Wanting 100% of cash/resources (liquid assets grouped) reduces max claims available for acquisition by 40%

Window would be a simple drop-down (right side of UI) for claims desired with changing calculations for each perk and debt penalty listed below. Window disappears when selection is confirmed. Player A would also get a 2 cycle debt interest payment reduction of 40% for first cycle 20% for second. This makes buyout timing a factor (but not critical) rounding to next day/cycle post buy out, but not so much of an issue as to distract, while giving Player A time to reset and address new debt and strategy going forward.

The 12 hours continues to tick until deadline where Player confirms settlement terms, Player B gets "nano-teched" out of existence from map, resources go to resource stockpile that gets transferred to Player A. All resources not claimed by Player A get put on the market causing an announced "surplus" bounce that all players will react to, but only Player A has knowledge of how much the market will swing for each resource, allowing another advantage to Player A, but astute Players C and D will have noted what was in production on buyout and position themselves as they see fit. Following settlement and building removal, a 15 second protection on abandoned tiles is dropped to allow Player A to chose any especially good resource tiles.

The percentages and and everything else to be tested and balanced for each colony type, I'm just throwing them out there for discussion sake because they sound reasonable. The idea of acquiring NO debt during a company purchase is just... wrong. Assume 100K debt with 30K cash in above, or 150K debt and 50K in cash, and the penalties for Player A is enough that they have to manage, but the claims/resources/cash bump is enough to limit the pain to a pinch that SHOULD be felt. Player A has their rewards, Players C and D still have a fighting chance.

I know there are a few scenarios that could throw this out of whack but it was getting long enough already. I welcome your comments and hopefully a lively debate leading to a better formed idea.

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In the next_version patch, there's an option called Destroy Buyout, which wipes the bought player off the map, gives the buyer 4+HQ level claims, and exclusive claim access to the bought player's former tiles for 60 seconds.

Here's a video of that mode being played out (though it has undergone changes since then, primarily stock prices increasing an amount closer to the status quo).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXjQaWAGY5I

It doesn't address all your concerns, but it goes a fair way to reducing snowballing somewhat and making new territory easier to manage.

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I quite like the snowballing because I feel it is realistic. I also would prefer all the buildings and claims remain on the board.

However, I'm sure that's not quite fun in a multiplayer scenario... people would likely quit after the first person is bought out.

I'd like to propose a couple of ideas where it might temper the unfairness but leave the buildings on the table:

maybe have a transitionary period after buying out. This should last quite a bit, but what would happen is everything is just really inefficient... resource production is slow, transport of materials is slow, while resource usage is increased. This, I feel, would mean you'd have to be really ready to buyout and not just waiting until you get that last dollar, plus this would give opponents time to rally and catch up.
The idea is that merging companies is not super easy, for a time the employees don't know what to do until they get new orders from the new management.
Or, change the way buyouts work. You don't get their whole headquarters and everything... I still would like to have their buildings on the map because there's a sense of history there, but you could turn the buyout into something like the offworld shipments. you periodically get an influx of something from your 'franchise'
another idea is to offer a bonus of some kinda to the opponents. For example, maybe a venture capitalist offers to upgrade your HQ or give you an investment of cash. Actually, just making them a part of the game in general might not be bad... you are randomly offered things, though your debt goes up. The balancing bit is they are attracted to the companies with the lower stock price.

Anyhow, I'm just saying I'd prefer a solution that feels more natural. I'm glad to know that Destroy Buyout is only an option though.

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I think it's worth mentioning that timing is the key. Only relatively early first buyout has such a significant impact. If there's no runaways and everyone is sitting on similar amount of cash late game, the first to pull the trigger is often doomed. While he or she has to start accumulating funds from scratch, their rivals take the lead and there's just not enough time for recovery.

Destroy buyout makes it even worse, since you also need a healthy amount of money and/or resources to place new buildings to take advantage of the acquired claims. I.e. you need to be much much stronger (= richer) than your opponents in order to effectively use that extra HQ with all its goodies. In which case nothing really matters, you are still going to win Destroy Buyout or not. If anything, Destroy Buyout hinders the chances of comeback for those who are already in disadvantageous position. Without it, a weaker competitor might make a push and buy someone out just so he has a shot at winning. A robot buying out a scientist is classic example.

It is quite nice if you take over a clueless opponent (or the AI) whose territory is no good as is, and you can make so much more of it with free claims. And yes, having less claims late game does make it easier to manage your empire. However, balance wise it doesn't add much. IMO, of course.

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