Brainstorm: Planet Bonuses

from Sins Forums
the current patch has brought in a new idea, search based planet bonuses. currently there are a few (and they arent bad, I like porous core!) but theres no harm in throwing together some ideas for the devs. so here are a few of my own

Heavy Metal Core (d): opposite of porous core, a bigger gravity well
Thin Atmosphere (d): resistant to being nuked, but lower populace limit
Strong Ionosphere (d): propoganda takes longer to expand near planet, decays more rapidly
Intelligent Populace (s): functions as an extra military or civilian lab
(if there are gas giants) Protostar (d): hard to detect entering/exiting gas giant's gravity well
Hydrocarbon Atmosphere (d): increase in exports, prone to nuking
Pirate Base (d): increase in trade, greater populace limit, much greater infrastructure health
Hostile Conditions (d): slightly lower populace limit
Crystal Deposits (s): slow to mine, but infinite source of crystal found within planet
Metal Deposits (s): slow to mine, but infinite source of metal found within planet.

(s) : indicates found upon search
(d) : indicates known upon discovery of planet

obviously the benefits cant be too powerful (explods upon culture switch!)
10,035 views 68 replies
Reply #1 from Sins Forums Top
Schem for once has a great suggestion!

Myself and the ponies approve!
Reply #2 from Sins Forums Top
This is a great idea! Bring on the bonuses!
Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion
Reply #3 from Sins Forums Top
Sorry Schem, I wrote ur name wrong and when I tried to edit it Blair had to butt in and post
Reply #4 from Sins Forums Top

Sorry Schem, I wrote ur name wrong and when I tried to edit it Blair had to butt in and post


I'm sure he'll forgive you.

Some day.

When your a dead and rotting corpse.

Now, where was I? Oh, yeah... downloading the patch and wondering what bonuses were "in", so I could intelligently add some more of my own... (You know, like Schem is, god only knows how, doing )
Reply #5 from Sins Forums Top
heres the list I know of so far
Porous Core (d): smaller gravity well
Pure Glaciers (s): moderate improvement in trade income (ice planet only)
Something-Something Minerals (s): minor improvement in trade income
Tourist Trap (s/d): increase in tax flow, minor increase in culture (ice planet only???)
Crystal Miners (s): increases mining speed of crystals on said planet.
Metal Miners (s): increase mining speed of metal on said planet.
Reply #6 from Sins Forums Top
Don't give em all away (Good thing we didn't put too many in )
Reply #7 from Sins Forums Top
I really like this idea, glad somebody thought of it.
Reply #8 from Sins Forums Top
How do you see the bonuses? and where do you get them?

Is it done by exploring the planet? if so, i dont see anything after i explore a planet 2 times..
Reply #9 from Sins Forums Top
The bonuses are immediately known when you discover a planet. You need to do an exploration in order to find artifacts. The infocard will show a description and icon for each.   
Reply #10 from Sins Forums Top
Im one of those who dont use the infocards so how can i see what i got?

Im a true TEC and i dont like wasting money
Reply #11 from Sins Forums Top
Im one of those who dont use the infocards


... you don't mouse over your own planets?!

Or is he referring to the data cards at the bottom?
Reply #12 from Sins Forums Top

Im one of those who dont use the infocards so how can i see what i got?

We have something up our sleeve for you

Im a true TEC and i dont like wasting money

Hehe.  Not much of an explorer are you?  I suppose you put it all into tradeports

 

Reply #13 from Sins Forums Top

Im one of those who dont use the infocards


... you don't mouse over your own planets?!

Or is he referring to the data cards at the bottom?

yeah those are colled info cards


Im one of those who dont use the infocards so how can i see what i got?


We have something up our sleeve for you


If i have to pay a single SD (sin dollar) then im not interested


Im a true TEC and i dont like wasting money


Hehe.  Not much of an explorer are you?  I suppose you put it all into tradeports


 



If the odds are not with me, then ill keep my SD's
Reply #14 from Sins Forums Top
The bonuses are immediately known when you discover a planet. You need to do an exploration in order to find artifacts. The infocard will show a description and icon for each.


Craig, I hate to contradict you, and maybe this is a bug, but the bonuses are not automatically known when you discover a planet. Some of them like the porous/Dense core ones are, others like veteran miners and the trade goods are not. Also, I have yet to find any artifacts, although this could be due to the fact that the game is crashing every 30min - 1 hour.
Reply #15 from Sins Forums Top
We have something up our sleeve for you


If its the pink ponies, we know already.....

Reply #16 from Sins Forums Top
some of the bonuses seem to bridge the gap though.

If i have to pay a single SD (sin dollar) then im not interested


you have to do it many times before you really get anything, but its the only way to get really powerful upgrades like artifacts.

in general its smart only for a larger empire who is stagnant at the moment.
Reply #17 from Sins Forums Top
in general its smart only for a larger empire who is stagnant at the moment.


Yep. The boni can be very powerful (30% increase in antimatter regeneration, 12% increase in all weapons damage, etc.) but it's very expensive to search all your planets.

If you've bad luck, you'll waste a lot of money, but if you're lucky you can get a distinctive advantage without spending a lot.
Reply #18 from Sins Forums Top

Craig, I hate to contradict you, and maybe this is a bug, but the bonuses are not automatically known when you discover a planet. Some of them like the porous/Dense core ones are, others like veteran miners and the trade goods are not. Also, I have yet to find any artifacts, although this could be due to the fact that the game is crashing every 30min - 1 hour.

No, you are totally right Daishzen!  I should have said "some" planet bonuses are know immediately.  You stilll have the opportunity to find other bonuses.    Hey, we can't have the ultra artifacts coming up all the time   

Reply #19 from Sins Forums Top
I found an artifact I guess on a planet that reduced all my research costs by like 8-10% (not really sure what they were exactly before the reduction, but it was nice!). I also found one called "metalloids" that made the hulls stronger on all my ships. Both I only found after "exploring" the planet at least 50%. Not sure if that is intended way to find artifacts or not..
Reply #20 from Sins Forums Top
yea its well ace isnt there 1 bonus like dense metal core which make the grav well big?
Reply #21 from Sins Forums Top
Craig, just a thing I have noticed, it seams that bonuses "clump" together on planets. My current game has a Dense Core Larva planet with the electronics component export, better metal miners, and habitable cavern systems two/three jumps from a asteroid planet with both crystal and metal mining and electronics component export. I am sure there are more planets with clumps of bonuses, but having super cash cow terrain planets with two exports and another bonuses that escapes my mind at the moment seams a bit overpowered, if a good reason to war with a otherwise allied group.

Edit: Asteroid planet has pores core and Terran planet has dense.
Reply #22 from Sins Forums Top
I've seen non asteroids get porous core though, including a terran and an ice planet. the dense core, however, is something I havent seen.
Reply #23 from Sins Forums Top

Craig, just a thing I have noticed, it seams that bonuses "clump" together on planets.

Wow that sounds like you really know how to pick'm
Clumps should be possible, but I'll look into the probabilities.
Anyone else have extraodinary luck in the bonus department?

Reply #24 from Sins Forums Top
Yeah I get some clumping. It's hard to say if its a bug... a couple games isn't a big sample size.

If I take an enemy homeworld, is there any point in exploring it?

And: are there ever any bonuses on gimme-asteroid groups?

I think the planet upgrades could stand some cost differentiation, they all cost the same. *shrug*

Ideas:

Ancient crashed starship: civilian research cost reduction.
Easy lifting: Peculiar orbital dynamics make it easy to move materials to space. Module cost reduction.
Frontier society: Resistant to changes in culture levels, population reduction.
Oceanic wealth: Increased population, tax income.
Corporate world: decreased tax income, decreased build times on modules/infrastructure.
Military academy: +1 capital ship crews
Firestorms: Drastically reduced population max.
Ancient defense net: Planet has shields

Reply #25 from Sins Forums Top
Wow that sounds like you really know how to pick'm
Clumps should be possible, but I'll look into the probabilities.
Anyone else have extraodinary luck in the bonus department?


Happens to me quite often. Usually a planet has 2 or more specials, or non.