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Steam News12 September 20259mo ago

Mechanics Deep Dive #6 - The Economy (Part 6 of 10)

Hello (soon-to-be) world devourers, In the last economic overview, I began explaining citizen satisfaction and its influence on the player's production values.

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Hello (soon-to-be) world devourers,

What changed

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addedIn the last economic overview, I began explaining citizen satisfaction and its influence on the player's production values. Today, I would like to add the two remaining major influencing factors: the political orientation of the individual and the province parameters.
changedEach star system is divided into provinces. These define who rules over the territory they encompass and thus in which areas the player can build. (Well, or whether you first have to conquer the sector from your opponent in order to be able to build there.) For every five buildings constructed (upgrades count too!) within a province, the player has the opportunity to make a decision about the future development of the area. One of the five parameters is always lowered and another raised. And since some of the parameters increase or decrease satisfaction, I would like to briefly introduce them to you below:
changedMore production of processing resources (we'll still handle these, e.g., steel, stretch wood, concrete, etc.), electricity consumption increases (something else I'll have to put off until later), and political attitudes have a stronger influence on satisfaction.
changedOn the negative side: Political attitudes have a weaker influence on satisfaction, and more electricity is generated. However, all buildings suddenly consume wood.
changedPolitical attitudes have less influence on satisfaction, and more electricity is generated. However, all buildings suddenly consume wood.
changedMore production, more water consumption for buildings, more pollution. And, as we all know, more pollution reduces satisfaction.

Ultakia changes

addedIn the last economic overview, I began explaining citizen satisfaction and its influence on the player's production values. Today, I would like to add the two remaining major influencing factors: the political orientation of the individual and the province parameters.
changedEach star system is divided into provinces. These define who rules over the territory they encompass and thus in which areas the player can build. (Well, or whether you first have to conquer the sector from your opponent in order to be able to build there.) For every five buildings constructed (upgrades count too!) within a province, the player has the opportunity to make a decision about the future development of the area. One of the five parameters is always lowered and another raised. And since some of the parameters increase or decrease satisfaction, I would like to briefly introduce them to you below:
changedMore production of processing resources (we'll still handle these, e.g., steel, stretch wood, concrete, etc.), electricity consumption increases (something else I'll have to put off until later), and political attitudes have a stronger influence on satisfaction.
changedOn the negative side: Political attitudes have a weaker influence on satisfaction, and more electricity is generated. However, all buildings suddenly consume wood.
changedPolitical attitudes have less influence on satisfaction, and more electricity is generated. However, all buildings suddenly consume wood.

In the last economic overview, I began explaining citizen satisfaction and its influence on the player's production values. Today, I would like to add the two remaining major influencing factors: the political orientation of the individual and the province parameters.

First, let's look at political attitudes. Every citizen supports a particular party. How this comes about and which party they support will be discussed separately when I explain politics. For the sake of simplicity, let's assume that every citizen somehow finds a party to support. If this party is satisfied, this also increases the citizen's satisfaction. The mechanism is identical to that of pollution: At 50% party satisfaction, there is no influence on the citizen. For every two percentage points above that, there is a +1% increase in citizen satisfaction up to a maximum of 100% party satisfaction (+25% satisfaction for the citizen). And if it falls below that, the citizen's satisfaction also falls accordingly. (At 0% party satisfaction: -25% citizen satisfaction.)

I will discuss how to keep your parties happy in more detail in a Politics overview, so now I would like to move on to the province parameters:

Each star system is divided into provinces. These define who rules over the territory they encompass and thus in which areas the player can build. (Well, or whether you first have to conquer the sector from your opponent in order to be able to build there.) For every five buildings constructed (upgrades count too!) within a province, the player has the opportunity to make a decision about the future development of the area. One of the five parameters is always lowered and another raised. And since some of the parameters increase or decrease satisfaction, I would like to briefly introduce them to you below:

Urbanization:

On the positive side:

Cheaper upgrades, but lower satisfaction. And satisfaction is less affected by pollution.

On the negative side:

More expensive upgrades, but also higher production of eco-resources (alien groats, wood, fossil fuels, and water). And pollution has a greater impact on individuals and thus their satisfaction.

Digitization:

On the positive side:

More production of processing resources (we'll still handle these, e.g., steel, stretch wood, concrete, etc.), electricity consumption increases (something else I'll have to put off until later), and political attitudes have a stronger influence on satisfaction.

On the negative side: Political attitudes have a weaker influence on satisfaction, and more electricity is generated. However, all buildings suddenly consume wood.

On the negative side:

Political attitudes have less influence on satisfaction, and more electricity is generated. However, all buildings suddenly consume wood.

(In addition, digitization is bringing about changes in how political attitudes are formed, but there is little point in discussing this here without first explaining the system.)

Commerce:

On the positive side:

Some of the resources produced are sold automatically, but more is also produced as satisfaction increases. However, citizens also consume more. The number of nobles in the area increases.

On the negative side:

Citizens consume less, are more dissatisfied, and produce more research. The number of nobles generated decreases.

(Nobles act as diplomats, but cost significantly more to feed(crystals). More on this when I discuss diplomacy in more detail.)

Exploitation:

On the positive side:

More production, more water consumption for buildings, more pollution. And, as we all know, more pollution reduces satisfaction.

On the negative side:

Individuals produce gases, but production decreases.

(Here, there are also changes in how political attitudes are formed, but I'll just leave that for later explanations about politics.)

Helpfulness:

On the positive side:

Lower production by nobles, but higher satisfaction for the rest and less damage caused by your invasion troops in this province to potential attackers.

On the negative side:

More damage caused by your own invasion troops, more production by nobles and therefore less satisfaction for the rest.

I think it has become clear that choosing the right province parameters can have a major impact on individual satisfaction, so choose wisely.

Bye! (I'm slowly running out of farewell phrases :) )

-a busy Giratakel (Simon Alber)

Source

Steam News / 12 September 2025

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