Sector Bonuses

I've noticed this too, it seems tile bonuses have been removed from the game!?!? Is this true? or a bug?

Just more random. Ive found plenty of bonus tiles. However, I noticed that they pop up on the planets that need bioxeno research tech.

I only played a few turns of DA so far rather than a whole game, but I colonized a planet that had two 300% research bonuses on the same (standard habitable) planet, and another planet that had a moral bonus square. So even if the amount of bonus tiles was reduced it's not 0.

Bonus tiles can screw the game balance badly. Iam glad they appear less seldom. Makes you really appriciate the thing if you even have couple bonus tiles on planet

they're just really rare it seems

yea, i saw only a few in a 16 tile level. but they are atleast still in.

they're a lot more rare now, and the larger the galaxy is that you play on, the less likely you are to see one for awhile.

that doesn't sound logical,
i mean in a big level those tiles have less influence on 1 race and in a small level it can make a big differents.

they're a lot more rare now, and the larger the galaxy is that you play on, the less likely you are to see one for awhile

Is this perhaps because of asteriod mining?

Is this perhaps because of asteriod mining?

That'd be my guess.

I'm happy they're less common now. They used to be a dime a dozen and every planet had at least three. Honestly when I first saw this thread I got a little upset that tile bonuses were greatly reduced and when I thought about it for a minute, I realized how much my strategy had come to rely on exploiting bonus tiles to the fullest. I remember getting a class 18 planet once that had no bonus tiles and going "well, what am I going to use this for? It's going to take so long to develop."

That should never be the case... I mean it's a PQ 18 world!

What would be even more interesting is to place bonus tiles on areas that can't be developed without terraforming, though this would give neutrality even more of an advantage.

So far, I really like the asteroid mining aspect.

I played in a gigantic galaxy, got up to about 20 colonies, and never saw a bonus tile. That's a little ridiculous. I hope that if, in plain old GC2, I get a lot, the AI is also getting a lot of them, and using them correctly. I don't see any balance issue to that. Sometimes you get lucky, and sometimes you don't. Right now, I have about 15 utterly bland planets, all identical (plus 5 largish bland planets). Where will I build my manufacturing capital? Who cares, they're all the same. I like to wait until later in the game to build those buildings, and hope that I find a 700%, or at least a 300%. Such a drastic decrease in the number of bonuses makes exploration pretty dull. You know you're never going to get anything.
As Mystic said, the fact that large galaxies have even fewer is totally backwards. If someone actually gets a bonus on a small map, that's a huge advantage. On a gigantic map, it's helpful, but won't tip the balance.

On a slightly related note, why is economics the only field with no bonuses?

I'm just playing on a gigantic galaxy and have about as many tile bonuses as before DA.

I'm just playing on a gigantic galaxy and have about as many tile bonuses as before DA.

then you're crazy, cause they've been cut down BY AT LEAST 85%. They're a bit TOO UNCOMMON now in my opinion.

I agree that the amount needed to be decreased but not this much.
I have 12 planets in my current game and not one of them has a bonus tile. I have looked at almost all of the AI:s planets and practically none of them has any bonus tiles.
That is boring.

What I would really like to see is options for choosing the amount of bonus tiles and resources in galaxy creation.

What I would really like to see is options for choosing the amount of bonus tiles and resources in galaxy creation.

i second that

Agreed. I still wouldn't want them to be as common as they were in the vanilla game, but a few more would be nice. I've yet to see a single one in 2.5 games.

I would have no problem at all with a selectable level. Want none? Want a ton of them? Then just pick and play. That should work fine. If the AI needs tuning to be able to play well with them, then please do so. I have found planets before where the AI had the starport on a research bonus tile, and the research facility next door on an influence bonus tile. It seems to use manufacturing perfectly fine.

On another note, how about a starport bonus tile? Perhaps: 'Precursor alloys found in this square will make ships built here superior. (5-10%)', 'We have discovered a storehouse of Precursor spares, which we can fit to ships built here for vastly increased capabilities. (15-25%)', and 'A largely intact precursor shipyard has been discovered here. What little we understand of their devices will allow us to make astounding improvements to ships built here. (50%)' The percentages are just a guess at what might work, but this would be something that would let neutral and good races get bonuses without resort to hijacking ships and dealing with pirates.

I'm sure this is all part of the balancing that has yet to occur. The tuning of the production buildings, power stations, tile bonuses and asteroid mining all must be taken together. Their current state probably bears no relationship to what will be in DA when it's finally released. At this point comments on both sides have been expressed and it's starting to become a whole bunch of "me too".

On another note, how about a starport bonus tile?

I think Mumble's basically right, except for little gems like this notion. Maybe "Precusor ship-building drones" would make more sense than spare parts, unless Seth is also talking about introducing an expiration date for a bonus tile.

No, I didn't intend for it to expire, I just couldn't think of anything better at the time.

Regardless of why bonus tiles are less frequent, there should be an option to choose whether or not you want them "thinned out". The way I see it by limiting the chance of gaining a planet with a decent bonus tile or two, it will possibly force more warfare to occur, especially if the AI becomes tweaked enough to recognize when it is important to snag a bonus or two for itself. I haven't installed DA yet so I have no idea what the asteroid fields will do to the scope of the game with respects to production/economic bonuses but I would assume that they will become strategic holdings worth fighting over as well. This may have devolved into a "me too" thread, but the devs shouldn't thin out the bonus tiles without allowing an option to change it, and therefore I added my 2 cents worth.