Life Support Broken...not that anyone probably cares

from GalCiv3 Forums

Anyone around early in the game's official release (I forget what version) remembers the dev's blunder when they "fixed" sensors by making the mass to range ratio the same for all tech levels (making anything beyond the first sensor useless) 

Well Life Support is still that way, the mass to +range ratio is the same for all tech levels making any module beyond what you start with useless (unless you want to waste research points and increase the cost of your ships without changing any other stat). The only benefit of sinking research points in life support is the optimizations and the flat +1 range, which is rarely worth it.

I'm sure other people have noticed this and just don't really care about ship range enough to post anything. After all it does take a back seat to sensors and engines (which were similarly broken the same time as sensors). But it would be nice to see the devs care and have it fixed.

The End!

7,862 views 8 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

I'm sure other people have noticed this and just don't really care about ship range enough to post anything. After all it does take a back seat to sensors and engines (which were similarly broken the same time as sensors). But it would be nice to see the devs care and have it fixed.
End of quote

Before you start to say that other people don't care about something and don't post about it, you might want to go through earlier posts. There is even something like a search button on the site.

But here is the posting that apparently was not made, because nobody care about it.

[1.0.3.3] Life support beyond Environmental Support useless

And among the 60 people that viewed it, no way there might be a developer among them. :X

Reply #2 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

I've mainly been conquering my way across the maps (Up to large atm) but this will have to be fixed as it will make getting across the larger/scarcer maps impossible or very difficult especially if you get boxed in early on.

Offworld Trading Company
Reply #3 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

True, its a tech not needed much at high end levels.  I too stop researching it quite early.

 

However, if you do end up putting even just a few life support modules on any military ship, its still worth researching, for the mass reduction techs.  But yes, it would be nice to see the ratios increase a bit, from tech to tech.   It would be interesting to see a game where initial life support systems have a very poor ratio (say 1:7-8), and only achieve the 1:5 mass:range ratios by age of war.  It would certainly slow the game down a bit. 

 

EDIT - whoops, I unlocked all techs to look a the tech tree :)  yes, the current ratios are MUCH worse when looking at an unlocked tech tree, but nevertheless, a larger disparity between tech drive types would be nice, rather than the range boost or mass reduction techs making the only efficiency improvement differences, once past early environmental life support.  In a way, its just a flavor issue.  If you want improvement down that line, you need to research it.  I suppose you are only screwed if for some reason you feel it necessary to always pick cost reduction techs, instead of the range boost or mass reduction techs (something which the AI may do, 1/3 of the time???).

 

Reply #4 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

Quoting Thecw, reply 1


I'm sure other people have noticed this and just don't really care about ship range enough to post anything. After all it does take a back seat to sensors and engines (which were similarly broken the same time as sensors). But it would be nice to see the devs care and have it fixed.



Before you start to say that other people don't care about something and don't post about it, you might want to go through earlier posts. There is even something like a search button on the site.

But here is the posting that apparently was not made, because nobody care about it.

[1.0.3.3] Life support beyond Environmental Support useless

And among the 60 people that viewed it, no way there might be a developer among them. :X

End of Thecw's quote

I actually tried to do a search last night before making this post, I'm not sure if they were on their backup server or what but the results just wouldn't load and the entire website was sluggish in general.

I love how you point out when someone else posted this issue 60 people viewed it...and no one bothered to reply...kinda proves my point.

Reply #5 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

This has been broken since day one. The ironic thing is, at first it was really broken bad and Environmental was way better than the subsequent techs. So, they "fixed it" but they only made it where Environment is no longer better, but it is essentially equal to the later techs.

Nobody screams about it on a daily basis, because it does not really break the game, but it should be fixed and if I was the boss, I would be kicking the guys ass who was supposed to have fixed it before.  

Reply #6 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

Well, there is still some small benefit to the later modules -- that being less clicking and fewer attachment nubs on the blueprint used up for the same amount of range.

Reply #7 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

Addressing this could indeed have some impact on the large vs tall debate and colony rush, as range certainly impacts an empire trying to expand beyond its borders, rather than invest in the current empire.  Are we meant to obtain the best life support tech within 10 turns of beginning a game?  Certainly not I think.

Reply #8 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

I typically put life support on ships regardless, as they are immersive. But later in the beta and early in the release when I was making more versions of ships, I noticed that I could colonize and build "range bubbles" so domestic ships, local invasion ships, or even standard war ships did not need any life support. Sadness.

 

DARCA ;)