Using Military Upgrades to Handle the Raw Resources Issue.

[Bolby Ballinger]

So, I heard a while back that raw resources shooting constantly upward was considered an issue. Looking at things now . . . seems it's still an issue. To be fair refined resources have risen pretty drastically as well but at least they drop in times of war whereas raws keep chugging on. So much so that even before the Activity Center was introduced all of the raws were just this constant line upward for years.

And I think the main difference is what we spend these things on.

Almost every time we spend raw resources in this game it's to either make refined resources or to purchase something that will make more resources (I include money when I say this). For instance Metropolitan Planning costs a ton of resources, but eventually you make a profit off of it by saving money. Which means the global economy as a whole has more resource added to it than was lost. There's next to nothing we can spend raws on that will actually reduce how much resource there is so it just keeps accumulating.

Meanwhile we can spend refineds on the same kind of resource adding stuff, but we ALSO spend it on military units. These units add nothing to the economy. At best they transfer resources from the target to you (and even then an unarmed soldier still cost SOMETHING to recruit). But in major wars they wind up sucking resources out of the global economy. This is what keeps them interesting. That they may wind up profiting you, but that in doing so they will be hurting another's even more resulting in a net loss.

So, what raws need is clear. A way to spend them that will not add resources. Thus I propose that the game implements military upgrades that require raws.

As an example bauxite irl can be used in making glass. So if a soldier/tank/plane/ship wanted to be more accurate thanks to Improved Scopes . . . well, they'd have to pony up some bauxite.

And if we want to take it a step further we can put some per turn maintenance costs on it as well. Might be a little much, but I feel like markets that would crash to zero if everybody had a certain something would be good for the game. Force people to take alternative paths to success. Force markets to fluctuate more heavily.

As for implementation I heard about some perks idea (I think it was) that doesn't let a nation have all of them. And many perks were specifically for the military. So you can presumably tack this idea on as a part of the perk you've unlocked (By which I mean the same benefit as the perk would have provided, but now with the raw as a cost). Upfront each unit would have a raw resource added to its cost (multiple if you go that route) to ensure people aren't just plopping it on just before war and making it super cheap to have. The per turn cost being treated kind of like food and (insert power plant fuel source here) where if you don't have enough the benefit stops.

The end result? A more lively global market that cannot see everything rising perpetually at once.