Initial Management Team Selection -- Possible Re-Balance?

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Threlksih
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon Jul 18, 2022 10:41 am

Initial Management Team Selection -- Possible Re-Balance?

Post by Threlksih »

I've run through the opening of the demo quite a few times, and I'm wondering if perhaps some minor tweaks for the selection of your organization's Management Team might be in order. At present, you've got four options:

1. Lobbyists and Influencers, which grants 3 Influence per month
2. Scientists and Engineers, which grants 15 Research per month
3. Officers and Operators, which grants 3 Operations per month
4. Financiers and Investors, which grants 10 Income per month

Given this setup, it seems to me that taking the option for Operations points is almost a no-brainer. Once you get more than a few turns into the game, 3 Influence points per month is absolutely trivial--I'm usually swimming in Influence by early to mid-2023. 10 Income per month should be similarly trivial, if you're having success in grabbing some good CPs.

The only resource that I find myself constantly scraping for (particularly if I have a run where there are a lot of UFO crashes/Xenoflora infestations) is Operations. 3 Operations points per month isn't a lot (not saying it should be increased; this number feels right). But it's still enough to be really useful, even after the early game. The only other option that _might_ be worthwhile would be the Research option; but again, if you get good countries under your control, you'll be cranking out hundreds of research points per month, to the point that the 15 you're getting from your Management Team won't make much of a difference.

Is there something I'm missing here? Have other people had the same experience? Is taking the Officers/Operators Management Team option as much of a no-brainer as it looks like, or are the other options actually more viable than I'm making them out to be?
Bhurano
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue Jul 26, 2022 12:32 am

Re: Initial Management Team Selection -- Possible Re-Balance?

Post by Bhurano »

Sounds about right.

Money isn't that important or rather it is, but not through this option.
Spoils or hefty amount of developing Funding got you covered... and outpaces the 10 extra shinies in short order. The bonus money per month comes down to 1 level of developed funding. So yeah, that one impresses me the least and can be safely discarded.
Maybe the Initiative has need for it, outside of RP reasons, I don't see a need for it. Not right now.

Influence is important, but Orgs and some Councillors can help out quite a bit. It might be a consideration, if you run yourself into the ground. That can happen if you aren't pacing your acquisition of more countries/CPs. Orgs can patch that wound though or just generate even more Influence for you. For an early game rush it might be decent. I'll note that 3 influence per month aren't much, but they might allow someone to expand into a territory that his Councillors couldn't crack. Just by buffing Control Nation attempts through pouring in some Influence. You don't need to pour in gobs of it and still see a hefty jump in your success chances.
I'd still stay away from it, unless you want to pick it for RP reasons or make the game intentionally harder for yourself.

Research is not good enough, unless you want to tech seriously hard from the word go. And even then the 15 points extra per month are good. but not that good. They amount to a nice boost though, 180 extra points research in the beginning can be useful. Potentially those extra points could be the key to secure research domination over all global spots.
The issue is that this is a far cry from being guaranteed and you or one of the AI's getting a good research country will seriously muck with you.
So it's very situational and relies on the fact that the player goes for high-research countries.
That basically means the player is forced to poach around in the EU and has to lock it down.
While not bad by any means, it hinges on HOW you approach the game, me thinks.
Picking it to keep up, research wise, with other factions is also not advised, since research is globalized.
Once a global tech is unlocked there's faction projects that become available, if you aren't the head honcho there you miss out on the faster unlocking of said techs. Not good, but also not a fatal catastrophe.

There's also the trouble that the bonus will get quickly weaker and weaker, since other factions will acquire countries and potentially overcome your research bonus. If you pair it with Councillors that are Scientists? Then it might be awesome. That requires picking a specific set of Councillors though, and on top of that it would hinder your possible actions even more. Cause you have to pick certain Councillor (Scientist trait), but you can't guarantee that they'll have the Mssions you want available. Basically it forces you to adapt your game around the Councillors and their given abilities, which is potentially very costly.
Giving up the flexibility to pick your Councillors or rather limiting yourself to a certain subset to keep the edge in research is probably detrimental.
On the other hand, having a bunch of Science Nerds with the Research bonus means that you'll probably lock down at least 2 global slots.
I'd have to attempt a play with Science Councillors to say if this can work out, instead of trying to field a more balanced team.
All in all tempting... but situational, I guess.

Then there's the OPS choice.
And that one slaps so hard that I picked it since game 1.
Normally I'd pick the science boost, at least in other games.
In Terra Invicta though it's clear that while Science is damn important, you can't neglect the other resources.
From the given perks it's the best and logical choice.
Every damn time.
3 Ops per month don't sound as sexy as 15 points research, big numbers and all that.
The matter of the fact is though, that Ops is the hardest resource to acquire of those offered.
And WHEN you need Ops, you really need it.
It doesn't help that you are not guaranteed to have Councillors that are capable of picking or equipping Orgs that generate Ops after all.
Usually you need "Government" or "Criminal" on a Councillor to pick up OPs Orgs, then they can potentially pick up quite a bunch though.
Clutch choice, absolute lifesaver.
And if you want to deal with Alien Agents you'll love it even more. T
hose dicks are hard to kill, pouring in Ops is most certainly needed there.

Between the given choices only Research approaches Ops as a possible pick.
But it's still a long shot as an option since those Ops points are really handy and will work forever to shore up a weakness in your resource generatoin, not to mention expanding your options at the same time.
Beanstalk
Posts: 9
Joined: Tue Jun 21, 2022 7:27 pm

Re: Initial Management Team Selection -- Possible Re-Balance?

Post by Beanstalk »

This might be easier to balance if it gave a flat AND a percentage bonus. The former decides what you want to focus on at the start, and the latter ensures it stays relevant long-term. Which is necessary imho, because some options (like research) are inherently a long-term investment.
Beanstalk
Posts: 9
Joined: Tue Jun 21, 2022 7:27 pm

Re: Initial Management Team Selection -- Possible Re-Balance?

Post by Beanstalk »

Alternatively, introducing techs that are exclusive to particular management team types would also create a way to tune the balancing between the 4 options.
Olof
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon Sep 19, 2022 8:25 am

Re: Initial Management Team Selection -- Possible Re-Balance?

Post by Olof »

Don't try to balance it. Just remove the choice and give us 3 ops per month.
The Boz
Posts: 88
Joined: Wed Jan 25, 2017 1:01 pm

Re: Initial Management Team Selection -- Possible Re-Balance?

Post by The Boz »

This selection isn't that bad, it's Ops that is the wild outlier. In the early years, you can obtain little tiny bonuses to your Ops by tooth an nail; a +0.1 here, a +0.3 there, all paid for in blood and guts and limited opportunity choices... or you can randomly join a book club that gives you +1.5. All of the Ops sources vary wildly.
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