devtrackers.gg
I stumbled across the below when browsing the Eco Steam forums this evening, kindly written by SLG-Dennis.
Obviously this idea seems to only be in the planning/evaluating stage, so don't take it as gospel and could change, but I wondered what people's wider thoughts were?
External link →We're currently evaluating a global research progress system to address a multitude of the problems. It would bring general community tasks and suggested personal activities, potentially reacting to the environment, to guide people towards how to use features in Eco and how to progress the game exemplarily as a community without predeterming the outcome.
Progress would be separated into eras that are unlocked not only through production output (current "Research Papers"), but also provided by ecological state, economic power and cultural achievements - so that every playstyle can equally participate in it. Skill Scrolls would no longer exist - research is unlocked for everyone at the same time (or alternatively, if preferred with some competetion, on a per settlement base with spread mechanics) and not dependant on someone selling it.
Effectiveness of very experienced solo players and groups to just trump away with progress is severely limited, as era switch is based on progression level of the whole server. There would be more time to use for community activities in the game and rewarding player's assisting each other.
Settlements could specialize in specific productions, gaining bonuses and penalties for activities within, making them a core gameplay part.
Even victory conditions like "Congratulations, you managed to unite all settlements on the server in a single federation without using annexation. Take it to the stars!" could be part of it. It automatically prolongues game time as well, taking the rush out of it.