Brainstorming an ethics redesign

[jim9999]

Hi, guys! As part of what might eventually become a total conversion, I've been thinking about reworking ethics with the old dnd system. With the expansion coming, I'm just doing planning now and this is what I have so far:

good
pop_happiness = 0.10
country_leader_pool_size = 3
country_unity_produces_mult = 0.20
evil
country_claim_influence_cost_mult = -0.2
country_war_exhaustion_mult = -0.2
add_base_country_intel = 10
law
planet_stability_add = 10
country_ethic_influence_produces_add = 1
country_edict_fund_add = 25
chaos
pop_factions_produces_mult = 0.25
leader_skill_levels = 2
pop_growth_speed = 0.25

Also, the neutral versions of these will be Fanatics with doubled values. You would only have 2 ethics points and True Neutral will replace gesalt. Yes, these values are large, deliberately so.

Good shares its benefits and penalties as broadly as possible. Evil concentrates them on winners and losers, or heroes and villains.
Chaos maximizes personal freedom. Law maximizes societal stability.

I'd like for the Fanatic versions to have their own names.
Fanatic Good is Virtue
Fanatic Evil is Victory
Fanatic Law is Order
Fanatic Chaos is Freedom

I'm not completely happy with the name for Fanatic Evil, and maybe some of these modifiers could be replaced by something more appropriate. For instance Evil's war exhaustion could be replaced with a starship weapon damage boost or Chaos's faction production replaced with a starship speed bonus.
With True Neutral I've thought of just grabbing a modifier from each of these four, but it would need to be something coherent enough for the hive and machine minds to use it. Or since True Neutral is just fanatic neutral, should the former gesalts be able to use any of the fanatic virtues? Determined Exterminator could be based on Fanatic Evil, Rogue Servitor could be Fanatic Good, and Driven Assimilator is Fanatic Law. I'd need a new one for Fanatic Chaos, and maybe hive versions also.
What do you guy's think?

 

[jim9999]

Alright, I've thought about things some more, and this is where things are currently:

Good
pop_happiness = 0.10
planet_jobs_produces_mult = 0.15
country_unity_produces_mult = 0.20

Harmony
pop_happiness = 0.20
planet_jobs_produces_mult = 0.30
country_unity_produces_mult = 0.40


Evil
country_claim_influence_cost_mult = -0.2
country_war_exhaustion_mult = -0.25
add_base_country_intel = 10

Mastery
country_claim_influence_cost_mult = -0.4
country_war_exhaustion_mult = -0.5
add_base_country_intel = 20


Law
planet_stability_add = 10
planet_structures_cost_mult = -0.15
country_edict_fund_add = 25

Order
planet_stability_add = 20
planet_structures_cost_mult = -0.3
country_edict_fund_add = 50


Chaos
intel_encryption_add = 2
leader_skill_levels = 2
pop_growth_speed = 0.25
or
planet_pop_assembly_mult = 0.25

Freedom
intel_encryption_add = 4
leader_skill_levels = 4
pop_growth_speed = 0.5
or
planet_pop_assembly_mult = 0.5


True Neutral
planet_jobs_produces_mult = 0.30
country_war_exhaustion_mult = -0.5
planet_structures_cost_mult = -0.30
intel_encryption_add = 4


Chaos and Freedom may need to swap their leader level bonus for a leader exp one, and while pop growth seems very fitting, a ship speed bonus may work better for them. True Neutral grabs one value from all the Fanatics. Of course, all these numbers are hilariously unbalanced.

Strangely, machine empires previously could only have gesalt ethics, but I'll change them to have any of these fanatic ethics. Each of them would have access to a few special starting civics:

Mastery has the civic_machine_terminator and civic_machine_shipwright.
Harmony has civic_machine_servitor and civic_machine_terraformer.
Order has civic_machine_assimilator and civic_machine_starbase.
Freedom has civic_machine_ubiquitous_modularity and civic_machine_talent_agency.
True Neutral has civic_machine_planetary_knowledge_core and civic_machine_mat-trans_newtork.

These are starting civics that I made a while back as a sort of backstory for machine terminators to explain what their original purpose was before they became murdery.


civic_machine_shipwright
ship_speed_mult = 0.2
ship_evasion_add = 5
ship_disengage_chance_mult = 0.25
ship_emergency_ftl_mult = -0.15
ships_upkeep_mult = 0.15

civic_machine_terraformer
planet_jobs_simple_drone_produces_mult = 0.25
planet_colony_development_speed_mult = 0.50
planet_clear_blocker_cost_mult = -0.5
planet_clear_blocker_time_mult = -0.5
terraform_speed_mult = 0.5
terraforming_cost_mult = -0.25

civic_machine_starbase
country_starbase_capacity_add = 2
starbase_upgrade_cost_mult = -0.25
shipclass_starbase_hull_mult = 0.15
shipclass_military_station_build_cost_mult = -0.5
shipclass_military_station_upgrade_cost_mult = -0.5

civic_machine_ubiquitous_modularity
MACHINE_species_trait_points_add = 2
BIOLOGICAL_species_trait_points_add = 2
modify_species_cost_mult = -0.5
country_ship_upgrade_cost_mult = -0.5
trait = trait_cybernetic

civic_machine_talent_agency = {civic_machine_servitor
leader_skill_levels = 3
country_leader_pool_size = 12
envoys_add = 1
leaders_upkeep_mult = -0.25

civic_machine_planetary_knowledge_core
num_tech_alternatives_add = 1
ship_anomaly_generation_chance_mult = 2.0
shipclass_science_ship_disengage_mult = -0.5
ship_anomaly_research_speed_mult = -0.25
science_ship_survey_speed = -0.8

civic_machine_mat-trans_newtork
planet_jobs_produces_mult = 0.10
station_gatherers_produces_mult = 0.25
pop_resettlement_cost_mult = -0.75
ship_friendly_territory_shield_mult = 0.15
ship_friendly_territory_fire_rate_mult = 0.10

The mat-trans network is based on something from a book named "First Contact" by Ralts Bloodthorne. Think of it as Star Trek teleporters used on a massive scale. It and the starbase and shipwright civics also have starbase buildings gated behind them to give various bonuses.

I also plan to gate a lot of the other civics behind one or two of the ethics, and those with two requirements will need to be buffed appropriately. Those that could be reached with either of two ethics will need a triggered buff if someone has both of them. Naval Traditions for instance, should be available to either the Law or the Good ethics and should be much stronger for the Lawfull Good. And maybe there should also be triggered buffs for being Fanatics of required ethics. I'm also tempted to give True Neutral access to any of the gated civics but without any triggered buffs.