[TECHWEBS] THAT TIME OF YEAR AGAIN - IDEAS FOR POINT GENERATION

[Hathkar]

Bottom post of the previous page:

Here's my idea for how Engineering can generate R&D Points:

New SMES Configuration: Research Mode
Similar to how the radiation collectors and tesla coils have a mode that generates points, add a setting/mode to the SMES units. The input mode would instead consume power based on the settings, and generate points based on how much power is being consumed by the SMES. Upgrading the SMES' parts = More Power Inputted/Consumed = More potential R&D points. Maybe the sprite could also be slightly different in R&D mode, so it's easy to tell. Make the SMES lights purple or something in that mode.

Something like this?

[Cobby]

The biggest problem of techwebs I've seen is that the rest of the station has near-zero incentive to actually print off anything science researches, because it takes so damn long for other departments to get any of the decent tech.

How the web itself is designed is the problem here, If tech were divided into fields of research instead of being divided by department and the tech of each department was mixed together then people might enjoy techwebs more.

So picking a research option would benefit more than one department at a time, like unlocking both mining and security tech in the same techweb node. Pick the biology path and you end up unlocking stuff for Medbay, Botany, and the Kitchen. Pick the bluespace path and you end up unlocking the stuff for mining and science as well as being a prerequisite to the high tech parts.

Goal really should be to have every tech node give something to two departments at minimum, so the fun is spread around.

I sorta agree,

My biggest concern with this though is that people will compare items within the same node and expect the "power level" of A department's unlocks = "power level" of B department's unlocks so we're arms racing with things that otherwise have no relationship.