Hello everyone! I wanted to start this discussion as I could use some Ideas/Balancing suggestions for a Research System I will be implementing in Episodes 7 all the way to Episode 12. Think of it as a Tech Tree that will provide bonuses similar to POBmaestro's 29 Years Later and KarEssMoua's The Following campaigns. Something like having energy/food per house reduced, deep drilling mines that get additional resources, (like a small amount of Iron, Stone and Gold wherever a Quarry can be placed) and modifications to the pre-established Ship Mechanic such as increased cargo space to receive more resources or an Oil Tank to receive Oil in addition. Please feel free to tell me your ideas and I will see how I can Implement them!

Currently in the works: The research Tech Tree will be in multiple Tiers, ranging from Tier 1 to Tier 4 with Tier 1, 2, and 3 being simple upgrades such as increased benefits for energy/food per house and Tier 4 being game-changing upgrades. These upgrades can only be researched a few per map and carry over to the next map. Researching something will typically take 1 week per Tier with a cap of 4 per map.Keep in mind Tier 4 Upgrades will be expensive and will take multiple maps to complete and most Tier 2 and 3 Upgrades will force you to choose a path, IE: Choose between more resources per ship, or adding oil to the ship.

Current Ideas are:
-Tier 1, 2, 3 Increased Ship Capacity: More resources per ship.
-Tier 3 Oil Tank for ships: Adds Oil to received resources per ship.
-Tier 1, 2, 3 Reduced Energy per Tent/Cottage/Stone House. (At Cost dependent on upgrade: Wood for Wood-Fuel Generator, Food for Bio-Fuel Generator, No cost for final upgrade. First 2 upgrades will be toggle-able)
-Tier 1, 2, 3 Reduced Food per Tent/Cottage/Stone House. (With slight gold decrease for the first 2 Tiers and no cost at 3)
-Tier 4 No Food or Energy requirements for Tent/Cottage/Stone Houses.
-Tier 1, 2, 3 Farms/Hunters/Fishers provide more food.
-Tier 2, 3 Farms provide constant Food Bonus per 8/hrs.
-Tier 1, 2, 3 Quarries provide +1 Iron/Stone and +50 Gold per Tier.
As well as a few other ideas I won't put here for now as I'm still trying to figure out how to implement.

If you have any more ideas, feel free to post them here! Thanks for your time and take care!

-Khazmylar