Planet Types and Logistics Structures feature

Planet Types and Logistics Structures

Today we will be looking at the various planet types and structures you’ll be building around them in DotR. I’m sure everyone is looking forward to part 2 of the Cerberus roster, but we still have two more ships to finalize before we can show that off, so you’ll have to be patient.

Planet Types

Planets are the heart of your empire, as you might expect. However, the general characteristics of any given planet type vary considerably, to better represent how planets and colonisation is treated in Mass Effect. There are three broad categories of planet types in DotR: Garden Worlds, Gas Giants and Resource Worlds.

Garden Worlds

This category includes true Garden worlds like Earth and Thessia, but also more extreme types of planet like Ocean worlds and even Desert worlds. Ammonia worlds are also considered Garden worlds for the Council. This category of planets is without doubt the most valuable of all. Garden worlds feature huge populations, plenty of logistics slots and rich Element Zero reserves. They can be expensive to fully develop, but it is well worth the cost. Worlds of this type are rare and should be guarded jealously.

Strengths

• High Population
• Many Logistics Slots
• Many Eezo Mines
• Strong Defenses

Weaknesses

• Few Palladium Mines
• Rare
• Expensive to build up

Gas Giants

A self explanatory category, Gas Giants play an important role in Mass Effect. They are often valuable sources of Helium-3, the primary fuel used by starship sub-light drives, and often serve as anchor points for orbital structures. Finally, they also provide good locations for ships to vent the static electricity buildup caused by constantly running a large Element Zero Core. In DotR, this importance is represented by a large number of logistics slots, as well as a planet innate ability that will recharge a ships Eezo while they remain in close proximity.

Strengths

• Many Logistics Slots
• Eezo Recharge

Weaknesses

• Few Mines
• Low Population
• Weak to bombardment

Resource Worlds

Finally, there are what we call “Resource Worlds.” Everything from Volcanic hell-worlds to Ice worlds to asteroids fall under this category. These make up the majority of planets you will discover, but they are not very valuable individually. Some can have large amounts of precious or rare metals, but they consistently have small populations and limited orbital infrastructure. Asteroids are an exception to the rule, in that they tend to have Eezo mines instead of Palladium mines.

Strengths

• Many Palladium Mines
• Plentiful

Weaknesses

• Few Eezo Mines
• Low Population

Logistics Structures

Now we will move onto orbital structures. We have implemented a unique system for logistics structures in DotR, that will hopefully create more interesting choices and result in more valuable individual structures, while simultaneously making any given grav well seem more alive.

The two main elements of this system are in the variable, often high slot cost of individual structures, and the sub-building mechanic that will spawn a secondary building of a pre-set type for certain buildings. The Council in particular revolve heavily around their sub-buildings.

Shipyards

These are important buildings for any faction, serving as the constructions sites of fleets, but also providing access to vital repair abilities. Ships in DotR tend to have extremely slow hull repair, and a fleet will succumb to attrition over the course of several battles if you do not send it back for repairs at a shipyard every now and then.

Cost: 6 Slots

Labs

DotR has a fairly different approach to how labs fit into a grav well. Thanks to our tech tree rework, only 5 military and 5 civilian labs are required to max out the tech tree. Thanks to this, and the tendency for Mass Effect to have very few space-based labs, we have decided to make labs cost quite a bit more than you might used to. This means they are more valuable structures, and more thought must be put into where you place them.

Cost: 8 Slots

Trade Stations

This station type is one of the least changed from stock sins. The most notable change when it comes to trade, is that the Council in particular can set up trade networks via sub-buildings, using their trade station as a centerpiece rather than the entirety of any given planets network.

Cost: 4 Slots

Orbital Refinery

Like trade stations, Refineries are not changed much beyond their stock functionality. The key difference is that they usually have an Eezo refill ability with which to restore the Eezo reserves of nearby ships. They can help a defensive fleet to use more abilities in a short period of time… On the other hand, they also tend to explode quite dramatically…

Cost: 4 Slots

Culture Stations

Culture is important in Mass Effect, and each sub-faction has quite dramatically different culture spreading options, as well as differing benefits from Culture. However, one thing that is universal, is that culture stations should not see the same level of spam as can sometimes happen in the late game of stock sins. Though not as expensive or important as Labs, Culture stations valuable pieces of orbital infrastructure that should not be invested in lightly.

Cost: 6 Slots.