The Economics Of Natural Selection
Machiavelli
Join Date: 2003-07-27 Member: 18468Members
Join Date: 2003-07-27 Member: 18468Members
<div class="IPBDescription">A guide to being efficient</div> Every economic system revolves around two things, income and cost. The resource system of Natural Selection is no different. When commanding you must budget your use of resources or else you will fail. Before I go on any further I want to set some definitions for income and cost.
<span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>Income</span>
Income comes in two separate forms, constant and sporadic. Constant income is that generated by resource nodes. Sporadic income is that which comes from killing aliens.
<span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>Cost</span>
Costs are much trickier to quantify then income. However, they can still be grouped into the two general categories of constant and sporadic. While technically all costs are constant, some things can be considered constant costs because they happen so often. Med kits are the best (and practically the only) constant cost in Natural Selection. Sporadic costs cover just about everything else. Upgrades, buildings, and research are all forms of sporadic costs.
<span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>Budgeting</span>
I don't think anyone will disagree when I say that if one team controls more resource nodes then the other team, the first team have an advantage. While this is true, it is a side affect of budgeting. With budgeting (just like in real life) your goal is to make sure your income is greater then your costs. Having more resource nodes makes budgeting much easier, but not unimportant. The job of budgeting is to cut wasteful spending. Even a team with nine resource nodes can have no advantage if all their resources is going into buying command chair walls everywhere. <b>In general, the team with the real advantage is the one that has the greatest difference between their income and their costs.</b> Why? I'll address that in the next section.
<span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>Surplus</span>
A surplus is a chunck of money. When someone is making more then they are spending (income is greater than costs) over time they will have a surplus. Ever heard the saying "it takes money to make money?" well it's true. Every time a team tries to do an action (like defend or take ground) it requires a surplus. To build a resource node requires a surplus of 15 points. To siege a location requires a surplus of 30+15<b>X</b> points where <b>X</b> in the number of siege cannons. I could give more examples, but I think you get the point. <b>A team that budgets correctly will be able to develop a bigger surplus faster, which means more actions or stronger actions.</b>
<span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>Spend or Save?</span>
How you use your surpluses define the tactics of Natural Selection. The clearest example of this would be at the start of the game. Marines start the game with a surplus of 100 points, yet they have a very small income (one resource node). If all of the initial surplus was spent on building base, then it would take a long time to generate another surplus of 15 resources to build a second node. This is something commanders need to keep in mind when spending their resources.
<span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>Conclusion</span>
Teams live and die by their income and their costs. Commanders who do not budget their resources correctly will prevent the team from ever generating a surplus. Without these stockpiles of resources the team will not be able to effectively attack or hold territory.
<span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>Income</span>
Income comes in two separate forms, constant and sporadic. Constant income is that generated by resource nodes. Sporadic income is that which comes from killing aliens.
<span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>Cost</span>
Costs are much trickier to quantify then income. However, they can still be grouped into the two general categories of constant and sporadic. While technically all costs are constant, some things can be considered constant costs because they happen so often. Med kits are the best (and practically the only) constant cost in Natural Selection. Sporadic costs cover just about everything else. Upgrades, buildings, and research are all forms of sporadic costs.
<span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>Budgeting</span>
I don't think anyone will disagree when I say that if one team controls more resource nodes then the other team, the first team have an advantage. While this is true, it is a side affect of budgeting. With budgeting (just like in real life) your goal is to make sure your income is greater then your costs. Having more resource nodes makes budgeting much easier, but not unimportant. The job of budgeting is to cut wasteful spending. Even a team with nine resource nodes can have no advantage if all their resources is going into buying command chair walls everywhere. <b>In general, the team with the real advantage is the one that has the greatest difference between their income and their costs.</b> Why? I'll address that in the next section.
<span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>Surplus</span>
A surplus is a chunck of money. When someone is making more then they are spending (income is greater than costs) over time they will have a surplus. Ever heard the saying "it takes money to make money?" well it's true. Every time a team tries to do an action (like defend or take ground) it requires a surplus. To build a resource node requires a surplus of 15 points. To siege a location requires a surplus of 30+15<b>X</b> points where <b>X</b> in the number of siege cannons. I could give more examples, but I think you get the point. <b>A team that budgets correctly will be able to develop a bigger surplus faster, which means more actions or stronger actions.</b>
<span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>Spend or Save?</span>
How you use your surpluses define the tactics of Natural Selection. The clearest example of this would be at the start of the game. Marines start the game with a surplus of 100 points, yet they have a very small income (one resource node). If all of the initial surplus was spent on building base, then it would take a long time to generate another surplus of 15 resources to build a second node. This is something commanders need to keep in mind when spending their resources.
<span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>Conclusion</span>
Teams live and die by their income and their costs. Commanders who do not budget their resources correctly will prevent the team from ever generating a surplus. Without these stockpiles of resources the team will not be able to effectively attack or hold territory.
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