I had a quick glance and this (surprisingly) doesn't seem to have been suggested yet.
I really like the idea of the Population thing. It took me a while to understand and get used to, but essentially it's pretty simple. The sliding scales allow a customisable interface that affects your planet, but not enough to give a new player a huge disadvantage.
I was wondering if PA Team had considered something similar for Research? Now it's all based on points (rather than ticks), it really is more flexible.
Would it be possible to have a sliding scale for the different branches of the tree? So, in theory, you could have 2-3 researches all ongoing at the same time (but would obviously take longer)? For example, 20% on Travel Time, 50% on HCT, 30% on Ship Research.
The disadvantages
- It might seem more complicated to new players.
- It requires more coding.
The advantages
- Those who want to just do the old fashioned thing of 1 research to completion, then the next research to completion, can still do that by sliding 100% research onto one area (eg: Travel Time).
- It's ongoing - you don't have to keep logging in to click the next research.
- It allows for more flexibility within the game.
Example 1:
I want to go away for the weekend, and would like to have my Travel Time research finished as well as my ship research. I simply turn them on, and they slowly progress along with each other. I come back from the weekend, and both are done!
Example 2:
I often like to research Travel Time before doing my Heavy Cargo Transfers. I'd like it if I could put (say) 10% on travel time from the word go, so it effectively ticks along, while I then spend the other 90% of research in other areas (ship research, construction research, HCT etc) accordingly.
So - thoughts? Criticisms?