Yeap. I understand why you did such a modification to the DE, though personally I don't care for it. I would prefer culture to still counter it, not be detrimental to yourself. My idea (at the moment , might be trash) would be to have a 100% (half) decrease in planetary loyalty penalty (not -50% flat, but minus -50% of whatever its normal allegiance level is plus culture +10% and research factored in) , making it more similar to the Nova because it has a longer term eco effect, even after it has been "countered."
Maybe, maybe not? Thoughts?
In theory, the DE should affect allegiance indirectly...so your idea isn't trash, it is the point of the DE (just different methodology)...the problem is that in order for any allegiance changes done by the DE to be meaningful, two things must occur:
- The DE must be able to overcome enemy culture
- Allegiance must change fast enough to make a meaningful impact relatively quickly
Volt's idea is not the method I'd prefer, but it effectively addresses issue 1, which is what really is holding back the DE (it is too easy to counter with culture)...I also think simply changing the max rate that culture can change would significantly improve the economic impact of the DE....even if it was guaranteed to overrun enemy culture, allegiance values change so slow that the economic impact of the DE is nothing compared to that of the Nova...sure, in a nice compstomp you can eventually flip enemy worlds, but it takes forever...and again, that's assuming you overcame the culture in the first place...
Now, having an istant drop in allegiance as you suggest would give more of a "shock" value just like the Nova...my biggest reservation of that though is that in the long run, the DE is more powerful than the nova because SBs can't prevent culture flips, only loss of planet through bombardment...increasing the rate that allegiance can change simply makes that "long run" not ridiculously far off and therefore DE's become viable...however, immediately halving the allegiancce would allow you to flip planets much faster than a slight increase to allegiance rates, perhaps even too fast...
Couldn't you apply a negative value The Culture Spread modifier used in the Expulsion buff to the targeted gravity well?
Yes, though with sins math remember that -100% would only halve culture output...to completely stop culture with that entity modifier, you'd have to have a near infinite value...