Tweet
Since the patch there have been continued complaints about the corruption level, including the complaint that the corruption-reducing effects of the police station are too weak to be of concern. I'll explain why these complaints are arising, and why the new game mechanics have a definite implication for your behavior as a Democracy. Someone else may have noted this already, but I can't seem to find it.
"Reduces Corruption" -- This option, when checked in the editor for a given building, gives that building the ability to reduce corruption to 66% of it's level *when the building is built*. This implies a law of diminishing marginal returns. The first building reduces your corruption by 33%. The second corruption reducing building reduces corruption to 44% of its initial level, thus reducing overall corruption by 56% instead of the (perhaps expected) 66%. If you add this characteristic to a third building, constructing it reduces corruption to 29% of the initial level, instead of taking it down to zero.
Implications
1) Once you have obtained communism, the Police Station becomes your favorite building in a Democracy. In new cities, it achieves the same effect as building the Courthouse, with the added bonus of suppressing war-weariness. Therefore, build PS early, courthouse late.
2) The law of diminishing marginal returns implies that in your older cities, particularly if you have a high science percentage, your courthouse may no longer pay for itself once you build the police station. Since one corruption-reducing building cuts corruption by 1/3, and the second only cuts it by a further 22%, the courthouse may not pay for its own upkeep, particularly if these older cities are close to your capital. In this situation, it is probably a good idea to sell your courthouses once you have built police stations. It gives you extra cash and removes a drain on your pocketbook.
3) If after courthouse your waste is 3-6 shields, you will not see a significant improvement in waste after building a Police Station. Again, sell your courthouse once you've built the Police Station.
Next Patch
Firaxians, I agree that the law of marginal returns should apply in the case of corruption-reducing buildings. However, I believe that they should have a greater effect. Corruption reduction should be a 50% adjustment to corruption. This makes the corruption scale 50%-25% as opposed to the present 66%-44%. I believe this would make corruption more manageable without the need to deeply tweak the present engine (with which some gamers are quite satisfied).
That's all.
EDIT: I should note that I checked this out in a chieftain game performed expressly for this experiment, on a huge map, archipelago, 5 cities on a remote island included for long-distance data, 10 cities near and 10 cities far on large island for short-distance data.
"Reduces Corruption" -- This option, when checked in the editor for a given building, gives that building the ability to reduce corruption to 66% of it's level *when the building is built*. This implies a law of diminishing marginal returns. The first building reduces your corruption by 33%. The second corruption reducing building reduces corruption to 44% of its initial level, thus reducing overall corruption by 56% instead of the (perhaps expected) 66%. If you add this characteristic to a third building, constructing it reduces corruption to 29% of the initial level, instead of taking it down to zero.
Implications
1) Once you have obtained communism, the Police Station becomes your favorite building in a Democracy. In new cities, it achieves the same effect as building the Courthouse, with the added bonus of suppressing war-weariness. Therefore, build PS early, courthouse late.
2) The law of diminishing marginal returns implies that in your older cities, particularly if you have a high science percentage, your courthouse may no longer pay for itself once you build the police station. Since one corruption-reducing building cuts corruption by 1/3, and the second only cuts it by a further 22%, the courthouse may not pay for its own upkeep, particularly if these older cities are close to your capital. In this situation, it is probably a good idea to sell your courthouses once you have built police stations. It gives you extra cash and removes a drain on your pocketbook.
3) If after courthouse your waste is 3-6 shields, you will not see a significant improvement in waste after building a Police Station. Again, sell your courthouse once you've built the Police Station.
Next Patch
Firaxians, I agree that the law of marginal returns should apply in the case of corruption-reducing buildings. However, I believe that they should have a greater effect. Corruption reduction should be a 50% adjustment to corruption. This makes the corruption scale 50%-25% as opposed to the present 66%-44%. I believe this would make corruption more manageable without the need to deeply tweak the present engine (with which some gamers are quite satisfied).
That's all.
EDIT: I should note that I checked this out in a chieftain game performed expressly for this experiment, on a huge map, archipelago, 5 cities on a remote island included for long-distance data, 10 cities near and 10 cities far on large island for short-distance data.
Comment