Comparison of end game costs (pre and post 0.12)

[Khyron]

This post contains an analysis of the resource costs for the new end game compared to the old. I would personally recommend playing the game to the end before reading anything like this... There are some comments about strategy that you might like to have a chance to think of for yourself.

Go finish 0.12 and then come back.

Pre-0.12 Rocket Defense
50x Productivity Module 3
50x Speed Module 3
150x Advanced Circuits
100x Processing Units
100x Rockets

Total Cost: ~373 000 Resource Units

Post 0.12 Rocket, Silo & Satellite
Rocket = 172700 RU
Silo = 33700 RU
Satellite = 26650 RU

Total: 233 050 RU

The new end game seems to require significantly fewer resources, about 60% of the old way.

There are a couple of obvious savings in the new model that I did not factor in above:

• Productivity module 3's for the rocket: Net saving 33.4k RU
• Scavenge solar & accus for satellite from your network: Net saving 11.5k RU

However, the old model made extensive use of intermediates that were viable for productivity module use: Electronic Circuits, Processing Units and to a lesser extent Advanced Circuits. Since those intermediates were produced sequentially, the compounding effects of productivity modules could be profound. Depending on your setup, some back-of-the-envelope calculations suggest good use of productivity modules in Pre 0.12 games brought the end game down under 200k RU. Consider: the first 50 P3 and S3 modules you built were "free" in the old model.

The new model makes use of different intermediates and so the opportunity for productivity abuse is severely reduced, except in the final step. There are no savings to be had in 70k iron for steel, marginal savings in 50k oil. Even looking at the 19k Electronic Circuits where you could save 5.5k with P3 modules, those P3 modules cost far too much to justify on the rocket stuff alone.

The new end game is obviously a huge step forward in terms of satisfaction. It has staggered tasks, it's visually rewarding and it's cohesive with the rest of the game. As such, I'm not bothered with the cost being cheaper or more expensive either way really, up to a point. If I have one gripe about the new model, it's that t2&3 modules have become even less frequently useful, which is a bit of a shame.

What do you think of the new end game?

[oLaudix]

It is not a pink square. That alone is improvement. Also there will be more of the end game later so itll actually be more resource demanding.

[SirRichie]

First of all: I think it is great that people take the effort in putting up such calculations as a community-sanity check. I totally agree that the end game as it will eventually turn out should not be a thing achieved too easily.

That said, I think that at the moment, the end game is not in a state where we can truly judge its effort. As oLaudix already pointed out, this is just the first stage to the much larger end game as we will (hopefully) get in 0.13. I assume this will involve some very material intensive things and require automation in itself. My personal prediction is that the end game in 0.13 will require much more RUs than the end game in 0.11

[Ojelle]

And don't forget. You only needed one rocket defence
As far as I understand, you will curse on how much rockets you launch in space before you finish the game...

[Kewlhotrod]

It is not a pink square. That alone is improvement. Also there will be more of the end game later so itll actually be more resource demanding.

hopefully a lot more.

[Marconos]

We haven't seen the end game. This is just the 1st step to get you to the next step to get you to the step build / launch a spaceship.

As long as this requires a decent number of rockets to get to phase 2 / 3 I'm happy with these current resource requirements.