By the way, I wanted to specify one thing. The reason I also suggest a bonus/malus to wealth generation based on planets, and the reason I suggest a malus to wealth generation in case a planet going beyond the normal population limit, is that it is the only real way to model these kind of things in Aurora.
Right now, colony costs revolves entirely around infrastructure. But infrastructure is a "shoot and forget" thing. Once you have built it, then there is no other penalty. It does not have a maintenance cost, it does not give any other sort of penalty. While I can understand the simplification, because Aurora is still a game, there has to be a difference between different type of worlds.
Consider the following hypothetical example. We have 3 candidates for colonies, all without TN minerals:
- Luna, as portrayed in Aurora
- Planet X, a small barren planet in the nearby system with breathable atmosphere but nothing else. Not even water.
- Planet Y, a paradise world with in the next system, with perfect atmosphere, bigger than the Earth and native flora.
Right now, besides the infrastructure cost for Luna, there is zero difference between colonizing the 3 planets. And in fact, infrastracture is a one-time cost. Once set down, you will never have to worry about it. And even worse, it's actually automatically produced by civilians.
I do not think this is enough. Most people roleplay on Aurora, there has to be something else. Realistically, which planet would you choose really? I don't think anyone would have doubts. I don't think any governemnt would have doubts about which planet to choose.
And how can you possible justify the same wealth production? Considering that wealth production is basically taxation, on the paradise planet you would have tourism, biological and chemical endeavours, art and many other things the other planets don't have. I think we can safely agree there are more opportunities to make money for the people who live on Planet Y, and so more taxes.
I do understand however that since Aurora is a game there has to be a simple way to handle things, else the game would be unplayable. Hence I propose a flat bonus/malus % to wealth generation depending on the situation. This is on top of the need of infrastructure, since I think that's not nearly enough of a problem in Aurora. To sum it up you'd have:
- A % malus to wealth generation of colonies with colony cost=> 2. Because that means a pressurized environment, and that means less opportunities, less chances to use the outside area, no ecosystem, no native biomes on the planet etc.
- A % malus/bonus to wealth generation of colonies that are terraformed, based on size of the planet compared to earth. Earth is the baseline, a smaller planet would have less opportunities/unique environments and so on, a bigger one more.
- A % malus to wealth generation of colonies who go beyond their maximum normal population, as the planet is "stretched thin" with both space and resources compared to population.