For v3.2, I have added low-tech Empires, which are Empires that have modern levels of industry but do not yet have Trans-Newtonian technology. These can be generated manually and will also comprise approximately one third of game-generated Empires. I have increased the default chance of race generation from 20-30 percent to maintain a similar number of high tech races but this can be changed on the Game window.
The low tech Empires have a new installation called Conventional Industry. Each unit of Conventional Industry requires 50,000 pop (the same as a construction factory) and acts simultaneously as 10% of a construction factory, 10% of a mine and 5% of a fuel refinery. In other words, if you had 1000 Conventional Industry they would produce the same as 100 construction factories, 100 mines and 50 fuel refineries.
The number of Conventional Industry given to a race is equal to the total number of construction factories and mines that the race would have received if it was high tech. So if a race would have received 500 construction factories and 400 mines if it had been high tech, it will instead receive 900 Conventional Industry.
Before Trans-Newtonian Technology (TNT) is developed, Conventional Industry can only build Naval Academies, Infrastructure, Spaceports, Commercial Freight Facilities and Financial Centres. After TNT is researched (1000 RP), they can build anything that a construction factory could build. There are also two new tasks available. Convert Conventional Industry to Construction Factory and Convert Conventional Industry to Mine. Each of these tasks requires 20 BP and uses 20 Duranium.
A low-tech race does not start with any mineral or fuel stockpiles so these have to be generated from scratch. Obviously there is no existing survey data except for the geo survey of the homeworld. There is no starting pool of research points and no build points available for ships or PDCs.
However, in addition to Conventional Industry, a low tech race receives:
25% of the research facilities that it would receive if it was a high tech race.
1x Shipyard of 1000 ton capacity with a single slipway.
1x Deep Space Tracking Station.
1x Naval Academy
1x Commercial Freight Facility
5x Maintenance Facility
This above represents the race's combined conventional capability in terms of research, shipbuilding, sensors, maintenance, etc. For example, the single shipyard would represent the existing capability of the United States to build space shuttles, the new Orion spacecraft, etc.. I considered not having any of the above but I decided that some of the existing capability of a low-tech Empire would be useful and this was a reasonable way to simulate it. Also, without some of the bigger ticket items above, it would take much longer for a low-tech Empire to get into space which would adversely affect gameplay.
The low-tech race begins with virtually no tech, except for crew quarters, fuel storage, bridge, etc. The first tech that will need to be researched is Trans-Newtonian Technology, which costs 1000 RP and opens up most of the tech tree. Most of the usual starting tech will be absent so for lasers you would need to research Infrared, 10cm focal size, etc. Active sensors won't be available until you research the first strength level.
Some very basic tech is available such as all missile launcher sizes and a missile reload rate 1 so you could build a very primitive missile launcher. However, you won't have anything to launch because you will still need to research a missile engine, which in turn will require nuclear thermal engine tech, which you can't research until you research TNT. I am considering adding a very primitive pre-TNT version of some systems, such as a very slow engine or a much lower level of active sensor tech so you can build a pre-TNT spacecraft. However for that I would need to get into newtonian engines and movement, which is a major can of worms.
Low tech races receive ground units to at least give them a chance against an invasion. These are split between Low Tech Armour and Low Tech Infantry divisions. Both have 25% of the strength of Mobile Infantry and Heavy Assault divisions respectively and cost 50% of their HT equivalents.
While playtesting this I ran into another problem. The homeworld started suffering unrest due to lack of protection and I couldn't build protection as I didn't have any TNT. Therefore I have decided that the capital of an Empire will not suffer unrest due to lack of protection. The oriiginal idea of the required protection rule was to ensure players provided a realistic level of protection for their larger colonies or those colonies would break away. Protection of the homeworld or capital should be in the interest of the player anyway. Besides, It also prevents new players from falling into the regular trap of not providing protection for the capital early in the game. Although not related to low tech races, I have also added a series of events showing when colonies are suffering unrest and the reasons behind that unrest.
This new dimension to the game will allow players to start an Empire from the very early stages of space exploration, using perhaps a race or Empire similar to modern-day Earth. It will also allow an Earth-based campaign where you may have perhaps 1-3 high tech Empires and several lower tech Empires trying to catch up. One of the problems I find with Earth-based campaigns is trying to fit the less-industrialised nations into a major power bloc so that I can account for all the Earth's population. With the option for low-tech Empires, you could run (for example) a USA vs China campaign and setup other countries or regions as (comparatively) low tech races that will be very easy to manage. Or set everyone up as low tech and give TNT to just one or two to give them a head start.
This also provides the possibility of encountering low-tech races when exploring, giving you a relatively easy conquest (as per the Khanate or Orion), an opportunity to establish a new ally and help them increase their tech (Uplift ) or adopt a protecterate approach.
Steve
