Dev Journal #7: Tech Trees vs. Building Upgrades

[p]In Ashes of the Singularity, we had a bit of a hybrid system for unlocking orbital abilities, units and buildings. Mostly, if you built the right building, you unlocked a corresponding unit or orbital ability.[/p][p]On the other hand, if you wanted to upgrade your abilities, like armor quality or logistics or weapon power and such, you had to increment the corresponding level which you did via Quanta which you generated from Quantum Relays.[/p][p]So here we are again, Ashes of the Singularity II. One of the biggest design philosophies from the first game is to slow down the APM requirements in order to add more strategic depth to the game. Which brings back the question of when to have something made available through the tech tree vs. when to have things unlocked by buildings:[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]\[An early look at a possible research screen, testing out different tech categories and progression][/p][p][/p][p]Now the current thinking is that your placed buildings should unlock other (more advanced) buildings. Technology would unlock additional units, upgrades, and orbitals. This way, we can still gate access to some buildings, particularly advanced buildings. If a building requires a resource like Radioactives (officially called Elerite by the USA/Chinese/NATO/Russia consortium after much argument), we only unlock it once you have built at least one Elerite Refinery.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]RTS games, whether it be StarCraft, Supreme Commander, Tempest Rising (check that game out), or, of course, Sins of a Solar Empire, take different approaches. What’s your view on the balance of tech trees vs. building unlocks? Let us know in the comments.[/p]