So currently all of the mines are designed so that lower level mines create more resources per resource spent on the mine compared to higher level mines. My suggestion to help lower ranked players while not hurting higher ranked players is to increase this difference between higher and lower level mines by increasing resources mined on all mines but increasing lower level mines more.
One simple way to do this which would work longer term would be to have a monthly increase in mine production in the uni per every month since the beginning of the universe. Every month, increase all mine production by 1-5% on all mines of all levels. The smaller mines that already earn more per resource spent will allow newer players to build up faster without upsetting the balance of the larger players. It will also help fleeters by having more and bigger targets to go after, but by having bigger producing mines later in the game than early in the game will help keep the game balanced and alive in the future and allow lower ranks to catch up to higher ranked accounts.
A player that starts year 1 would have normal production of all mines in the first month of their account with a slow grow of the account. (1X)
If 1% increase per month
A player that starts year 5 would have normal production * (1.01)^60 in the first month of their account. (1.8X faster than starting at month 1 of the universe)
A player that starts year 10 would have normal production * (1.01)^120 in the first month of their account. (3.3X)
If 5% increase per month
A player that starts year 5 would have normal production * (1.05)^60 in the first month of their account. (18.7X)
A player that starts year 10 would have normal production * (1.05)^120 in the first month of their account. (348.9X)
All players would have this same increase no matter how many months they have played, but the difference is that new players are always able to grow faster than larger players because of the mines giving more return for their cost at lower levels. Then the smaller players will have a chance to grow their accounts faster and still be relevant in the game.
This is better than just increasing the Economy in unis later on once by a specific value. By having the continual increases, all accounts will benefit, but it will help grow smaller accounts faster later on than originally grown early on and provide incentive to start a universe at anytime rather than when the server is first opened.
+++Here is how this would work if you were at a point where there is a 50% increase in Economy using this method.+++
If you look at mines for the cost to build each level vs the production, it is more valuable to build lower level mines than higher level mines. For example, for a level 1 mine, it might cost you 100 resources to build the mine and production gives you 1000 resources per week. So a 1:10 ratio or a 10X return per week from your cost to build the mine.
For a Level 20 mine, it might cost you 5 Million resources to build the mine and production gives you 10 Million resources per week. So a 1:2 ratio.
So then someone building lower mines is actually able to grow faster (By Percentage) than someone with higher mines. So then if you add a Multiplier later on the game where you get 50% more production for example. Someone building a mine at level one would now have a 1:15 ratio while the level 20 mine would have a 1:3 ratio. So the lower level player (mines) would benefit more than the higher player since every resource put into a low mine (level 1 in this example) gives a return of 15X while the higher ranked player only gets a 3X return. Does that make more sense? (Note these examples are just made up, I can do it for real mines if you would want to see the math). Either way it helps grow smaller accounts faster
This may not be the best solution, perhaps the increase should also take into account the mine level where you would increase the multiplier more for lower level level mines and less for higher mines.
Please share your thoughts and opinions on this.
One simple way to do this which would work longer term would be to have a monthly increase in mine production in the uni per every month since the beginning of the universe. Every month, increase all mine production by 1-5% on all mines of all levels. The smaller mines that already earn more per resource spent will allow newer players to build up faster without upsetting the balance of the larger players. It will also help fleeters by having more and bigger targets to go after, but by having bigger producing mines later in the game than early in the game will help keep the game balanced and alive in the future and allow lower ranks to catch up to higher ranked accounts.
A player that starts year 1 would have normal production of all mines in the first month of their account with a slow grow of the account. (1X)
If 1% increase per month
A player that starts year 5 would have normal production * (1.01)^60 in the first month of their account. (1.8X faster than starting at month 1 of the universe)
A player that starts year 10 would have normal production * (1.01)^120 in the first month of their account. (3.3X)
If 5% increase per month
A player that starts year 5 would have normal production * (1.05)^60 in the first month of their account. (18.7X)
A player that starts year 10 would have normal production * (1.05)^120 in the first month of their account. (348.9X)
All players would have this same increase no matter how many months they have played, but the difference is that new players are always able to grow faster than larger players because of the mines giving more return for their cost at lower levels. Then the smaller players will have a chance to grow their accounts faster and still be relevant in the game.
This is better than just increasing the Economy in unis later on once by a specific value. By having the continual increases, all accounts will benefit, but it will help grow smaller accounts faster later on than originally grown early on and provide incentive to start a universe at anytime rather than when the server is first opened.
+++Here is how this would work if you were at a point where there is a 50% increase in Economy using this method.+++
If you look at mines for the cost to build each level vs the production, it is more valuable to build lower level mines than higher level mines. For example, for a level 1 mine, it might cost you 100 resources to build the mine and production gives you 1000 resources per week. So a 1:10 ratio or a 10X return per week from your cost to build the mine.
For a Level 20 mine, it might cost you 5 Million resources to build the mine and production gives you 10 Million resources per week. So a 1:2 ratio.
So then someone building lower mines is actually able to grow faster (By Percentage) than someone with higher mines. So then if you add a Multiplier later on the game where you get 50% more production for example. Someone building a mine at level one would now have a 1:15 ratio while the level 20 mine would have a 1:3 ratio. So the lower level player (mines) would benefit more than the higher player since every resource put into a low mine (level 1 in this example) gives a return of 15X while the higher ranked player only gets a 3X return. Does that make more sense? (Note these examples are just made up, I can do it for real mines if you would want to see the math). Either way it helps grow smaller accounts faster
This may not be the best solution, perhaps the increase should also take into account the mine level where you would increase the multiplier more for lower level level mines and less for higher mines.
Please share your thoughts and opinions on this.