Proportions 2.4 -- Some questions

[Grandpa Kim]

Okay, my turn to play newby. I've just barely started my first game of Proportions and already I'm seeing some pretty cool, new stuff. For the most part, I'm looking forward to the joy of discovery, but I do have a few questions.

First, some oddities:

In the facilities portion of the construction screen, I see two resupply depots. They seem to be identical. Is this just an unintentional duplication, or is there a difference?

Just for a laugh to see how long it would take, I put a Cultural Center in my first colony's build queue. It gave me a "system wide" warning which seemed silly to me since there is a lot more to the C.C. than its system wide abilities, but then it showed a build time of "Never"! For practical purposes, I agree, this is accurate! LOL. But does this mean I can't build it at all or does the time exceed some display limit?

In the tech tree, there is a "Colony Ship (Rock)" but no corresponding tech for ice or gas. Is this unique to rock? Other things on the tech tree make me think the tree is not quite completed.

Now some puzzling questions:

Does the "Colonial Community" have any special properties or is it just a multi-function facility much like the monolith?

"Agrarian Colonization". I have no idea when or why I would use this. Any hints?

"Colonial Development" and "Large Support Facilities". Are these really just for the AI, or should I be researching them anyway?

Thats about all for now, except to say I muchly approve the many tech items that require more than one prerequisite. Not so linear, more intertwined, and much more fun!

Kim

[Fyron]

In the facilities portion of the construction screen, I see two resupply depots. They seem to be identical. Is this just an unintentional duplication, or is there a difference?

I think that is a typo in the facility file.

It gave me a "system wide" warning which seemed silly to me since there is a lot more to the C.C. than its system wide abilities,

Any duplicate system-wide ability gives that message.

But does this mean I can't build it at all or does the time exceed some display limit?

The build time does indeed exceed the display limit. You could conceivably leave a book on the f12 key for a few weeks and see the CC get built.

Does the "Colonial Community" have any special properties or is it just a multi-function facility much like the monolith?

It is a lesser City facility. The Cities are the big resource facilities, like mini-CC.

"Agrarian Colonization". I have no idea when or why I would use this. Any hints?

On a planet with 100% organics value and really poor minerals and radioactives values.

"Colonial Development" and "Large Support Facilities". Are these really just for the AI, or should I be researching them anyway?

I think those are there so that the AI doesn't try to build these types of buildings. You should definitely research them.

[oleg]

Hmmm, Grandpakim, do you mean resupply depot and resupply base ? The more expansive one has some extra abbilities.

The key feature of Proportions is population. This is why you have time build "never" on new colonies. You should build a whole fleet of transport ships/starliners and organize state-sponsored (enforced) emmigration to new worlds. There is no such thing as too many transports in Proportions. Few years later (~ 2004 ) you will see great increase in constraction rate.

You should definetly research colony development. you will see a whole lot of new stuff !

[Grandpa Kim]

Imperator, Oleg, thank!

The resupply depot is definately a duplication; its not the resupply base.

As for pop. transports, I'm building them like crazy. Amazing how quickly they help. Still trying to figure out the best designs for the transports, starliners and colony ships, but hey, thats half the fun!

Thanks again
Kim

[PvK]

The "best" designs for population transports (and most other ship types) changes depending on which techs you research and in what order. Also, because research is generally slower than in the standard game, you can't just fill up a few huge planets with research centers and then zoom to the end of a few tech areas and then just build the best designs. So, you need to decide how much to invest at what tech levels.

Fyron and Oleg answered most of your questions, but:

Ya, 2.3 added a second duplicate resupply depot, for the AI to know what to build, but I forgot to remove the first one. So there's no difference.

"Never" means "practically never under current conditions" (over 100 years).

System-wide warning is just a built in convenience factor. Ignore it if you know you want what you're building - it is just an unsophisticated warning.

In the tech tree, there is a "Colony Ship (Rock)" but no corresponding tech for ice or gas. Is this unique to rock? Other things on the tech tree make me think the tree is not quite completed.

That is an experiment for the AI that doesn't actually appear during play in current Versions. I probably should have hacked it out of the files to avoid confusion.

Colonial Community is a cheap low-tech, relatively low-cost, multi-function facility that can upgrade from Colonial Settlement.

Agrarian Colonization is good for worlds with high organic values, and/or when you want to concentrate on organics production. I think it also has slightly higher happiness mods in some cases than equivalent industrial urban facilities.

"Colonial Development" and "Large Support Facilities". Are these really just for the AI, or should I be researching them anyway?

It's up to you, but you probably want to research them at least a bit. By waiting to research them, it does allow you to limit what your colonies will upgrade to when you order a facility upgrade of those types.

Thats about all for now, except to say I muchly approve the many tech items that require more than one prerequisite. Not so linear, more intertwined, and much more fun!

Thanks!

PvK