Since this is the very last Beta we're getting before the game is merged into 4.0 for release in a month, I guess I'll give one last detailed feedback on this version and the overall system:
This version is still very rough numbers wise. Having played for an hour before work, I got to Year 2220, and had four planets. My Capital had the starting Archives and Industrial Zones, with 6 City Districts. I had a Factory, Foundry, Research Lab and Administration Building all built in their slots, along with the Holo-Theater and Luxury Housing for Amenities. My other planets were a Research, Industrial and Unity planet with their corresponding Zones with 3 City Districts Built. Each one one of each of their base job buildings built in to them. I had my citizens on Social Welfare Living Standards. My Research, Consumer Goods and Unity all felt incredibly low. Unity in particular was dipping down into nearly single digits despite having many Unity Districts. Hopefully these numbers will be adjusted, because right now the early game is quite painful.
As for the system as a whole, I find it interesting how far we have moved from the Developer's original intent with Zones. We have less Zone Slots, more Building Slots, and non-restricted Buildings that give flat amount of jobs. It very much feels we've reached a weird hybridization point of the Zone system and what we have in the current build and honestly I don't think it's good. It's doing nothing better than 3.14, but also barely has it's own identity anymore. The biggest change is that now all of the main jobs (Factories, Foundries, Unity, Research) all scale with Planet Size instead of just Factories and Foundries, something that could easily have been accomplished without a completely overhaul of the system.
I've said in a few other threads, that I actually loved the idea of Zones when I first heard them. While I think the implementation wasn't very good, the basic idea as I understood it sounded like a cool step in the right direction. I think part of this original excitement is due to the vagueness of how they would work, which in hindsight seems to be because the Developers still aren't 100% sure how they're supposed to work either considering how much has changed between 3.99 and now. That vagueness allowed people to sort of superimpose their own specific idea of what it should be over the vague basic idea we were given. Every thread regarding Zones has had people giving their own take on the idea as they think it should work. I would go as far to say that it seems like the majority like the idea of some amount of change to Planet Development and many ideas have been given to try and find a way to make Zones work more. I feel like people who flat out hate all changes from 3.14 and people who love the current implementation of Zones are both currently the minority under people who want change but simply think it was added in in a way that doesn't feel great.
As things will soon be solidified, I figured I would (As others have in this thread) reiterate suggestions I have made in previous threads about how I was hoping Zones would (and could) work:
For starters, I would not have Zones unlocked directly by technology. I would instead have a new Zone unlock every time the Planetary Capital is upgraded. I would also find a way to make them a somewhat guaranteed research option considering how important they would be to the development of your Empire. Without a guarantee on the tech, you could end up in situations where you get massively behind as you are locked out of a substantial increase to a planet's capability. I would also go back to the original idea of repeating Zones do not give Building Slots.
Next I would have two types of Buildings. One type being buffs to Zones (Automation Buildings lessening how much Workforce you need, Buildings increasing Output, ect) with a Planet Limit. The other type would shift a portion of Jobs from the Zone, to the Jobs from the Building. So if a Zone gave 100 Jobs, a Building might replace 25 of those Jobs to a new type with, a Zone Limit. This way if you're playing an Empire that has a focus on a specific type of job (Oppressive Authority wants Enforcers, Citizen Service wants Soldiers, ect), if you feel like you're a bit behind somewhere, or if you just want to customize your City District exactly how you want you can. Since their biggest selling point was "Customization of your City District", this would be far and away the best way to be able to customize the nitty gritty of your Cities. This would allow for both hyper specialized Planets, where every Zone is a Research Zone, and you have some passive "Buff" Buildings, but would also let you make a more generalized planet with different Zones (And more Building Slots) where you can pick and choose which Zones give you what type of Jobs down to a pretty micro level.
This would mean ALL jobs are now scaling with Planet Size, which seems to be one of the goals. It would allow far more customization which was one of the goals. It would make Buildings still feel impactful, but less so than Zones which was also one of the goals. It would help from a roleplay perspective that you can have a small amount of jobs in each Zone to fit the feel of your Empire. A Precinct in every Zone so you can really feel like you're oppressing your population. A Holo-Theater in every Zone so you can feel like you're spoiling your population. A Fortress in every Zone for the folks that love their military parades (Or also oppressing your population). The list goes on and on if you're deeply invested in the story of your planet, as a lot of people are.
Lastly I would still keep an increased number of jobs in the Capital District but also restrict certain jobs to ONLY being in the Capital. Things like Clone Vats, Robot Factories, Psi-Corps, ect.
While this change is definitely more complex than just having a job add X amount of Jobs, it also accomplishes what the Developers wanted far better than what we have now, while still allowing people to micromanage their planet if they want to.
