Is it? I thought it was that everyone has the ability to contribute to everything, and no one should feel pigeon holed into any particular task just because they're good at it, and similarly shouldn't feel they should avoid something because they're rubbish at it.
I'm not really down with this whole streamlining talk of everyone having their place, it sounds like a very sterile town to be part of :/ (regardless of how efficient it is)
I think you and I agree. My message certainly isn't, "Stick to your guns, knuckle-dragger." The message is, "
Together, we can do it."
You're right, and all three pillars are designed to be accessible, and that includes the puzzles. Remember that before we had iPhones, these puzzles were used to keep small children from going apeshit while they waited for their dinner. And those were the "hard" 4x4 puzzles we need to solve to build our more advanced technology. I don't know if I've ever actually seen a 3x3 in real life; perhaps in a gumball machine. There will be very few people playing this game who are truly unable to solve these puzzles.
But, there could be lots of people who have no real
interest in solving the puzzles, and that's okay too, because for every job you find distasteful — whatever the reason — there's going to be someone else who thinks it's a lot of fun, and when they're looking for something to do, that'll always be the thing they check first. So as long as there's a couple of those folks hanging around, that stuff should get covered, and you won't really need to worry about it. If you run across a job you don't care for, the solution isn't to try to ensure it's no longer a job, but rather to cross your fingers and hope somebody else does it, and try to be reasonably competent at it, just in case.
That's where our "specialists" will come from. Not from people being forced in to specific roles and discouraged from doing anything else, but rather people naturally gravitating to the activities they do enjoy, and away from the ones they don't. Like a good clone, you're quick to pitch in wherever you're needed, but in your "free" time, you can usually be found flying around, looking for a fight. When you have perks to spend, are you getting the 15% damage bonus, or the 15% build cost reduction? Exactly, but
I'll be buying the BCR, so 30% of the stuff I build comes out for half-cost, because it's the most utility to
me, because that's what I "happen" to be doing most of the time.
Clearly, I identify as a puzzler. In the alpha, when we had time to get in to a rhythm, I spent all of my time at the workbench. I spent the rest of my time running around town, setting up the stuff I'd built, and checking to make sure things were generally as they should be. As part of my rounds, I'd be sure to keep an eye out for anything being left undone; checking less-traveled areas for overlooked crystals, etc. When all of the puzzling had been done, I'd spend my spare time puzzling, planting, and tending an orchard. Why? Because it needed to be done, nobody else seemed to be doing it, and it was sorta fun; a nice change from the hustle and bustle of the infrastructure business. When I started getting ahead on my self-assigned duties, I'd grab a couple of black market tools, fly out the to island, and see if there's anything the regulars missed, like the fact the top sushi is covered with a thick, delicious layer of metal. If we were under attack and it sounded like there weren't enough guns firing, I'd even look up from my bench, scan the sky for unmanned guns, and sprint off to man one of those turrets. Once I'd taken out as many of the blighters as I could and helped put out the fires, I'd scurry back to the bench to replace the ammo we'd used, because I'm a puzzler. If I need to get amped up for the pit at the Ministry show, I might even go try to help unload the bus.
Does it sound like I've been pigeonholed? Does it sound like I'm being prevented from doing any job I choose to do? Does it sound like I'm trying to keep anyone else off the bench? Does it sound like large amounts of work is being left undone? Does it sound like I've been taught my place in society, or does it sound like I've
found my place in society?
But I'm with you regarding the bribe price remaining where it is. The puzzles get easier with experience anyway, so its a bit of a knee jerk reaction to suggest lowering the bribe price just because they seem tedious within a couple of hours gameplay.
Exactly; the puzzles aren't that hard to learn. As I said, I'd never really played with them in real life, but in the alpha, they
needed to be done — no bribe whatsoever — so I sat down and figured it out, because I figured I'd be good at it. Others did the same, and
together, we got production under control.
That said, while it's certainly a crutch, when the monsters are closing in and you have zero turrets built, it's pretty nice to have a "But we NEED this!" button available. Pricing seems pretty reasonable too, I'd say; expensive enough to save for real emergencies, but not so expensive that you hesitate when one should actually appear. Seems like the option shouldn't pop up until time has run out though. (That may already be how it works, but I don't recall.)
But, I'm not an insensitive bastard either, and different people learn different things at different rates. There may be a lot of potential puzzlers out there — or folks who just want to be able to help when needed — but the time limit also kind of limits your
opportunity to learn. So rather than selling a solution, or a partial solution, what if we offered folks an opportunity to buy some more
time when theirs runs out? You can either give up (and hopefully try again), or pay $25 to get a 25% time extension. That way instead of losing everything you've done — potentially when you're close to the solution — you can get a little more time to look it over and see if anything strikes you, or simply to complete those last few slides.
Come to think of it, you could offer that extension four times, doubling the original build timer, and bringing the money spent to $100, which is what we decided our gottahaveit bribe should be valued at, so we could just go ahead and give it to them at the end of the fourth extension. If people really are interested working the bench and just having trouble getting the hang of the puzzles, perhaps that would be a good solution. "Experts" will avoid using extensions unless they really need to, because that'll add up quickly.
And like I said, if it seems stuff isn't being built quickly enough with the "natural" puzzlers we have, we can work on that too. If the shortages don't motivate people to try their hand, perhaps a small Toil bonus will. But like I said, let's let everyone fit in where they fit in, and
then we'll take a look at where we're coming up short.
