Embark Point Cost of Blueprints Changes?

[tinstaach]

I've unlocked the Herbalist Camp blueprint as an embark bonus, and I often like to take it to avoid those nasty situations where I find a huge chunk of resources in a glade that I can't access. Hopefully the primitive camps update will help with that.

Anyway, I've noticed that on the selection screen, sometimes the blueprint costs 4 points and sometimes it costs 5. This was a pretty big deal when I only had 4 embark points to spend. I have no idea what affects this cost, I skimmed the wiki and video tutorials and I couldn't find any explanation. The only thing I can rule out is that it doesn't seem to be affected by biome. Is this documented anywhere?

[Olleus]

Good question. Many things seem to have variable embarkation costs. Planks/Fabric/Bricks seem to vary between 2 and 3, while coal and oil between 3 and 4. Is there a rule here?

[Tam]

I have also noticed that especially with the small farm.
I was wondering if having taken the bonus last time increased its cost, but I'm not sure about that.

[Stübi Senpai]

Originally posted by Olleus:

Good question. Many things seem to have variable embarkation costs. Planks/Fabric/Bricks seem to vary between 2 and 3, while coal and oil between 3 and 4. Is there a rule here?

I have not compared enough embarks to be a 100% certain, but for ressources I feel it has to do with whether or not the ressource is present on the map already, or not. From the embarks I've compared, coals costed more on maps that did not have coal deposits, and less on those that did.

I have no clue about the building though. I'd assume it depends on the area.

[Starseed]

Isnt it what level you have chosen? Ive noticed that and I play jumping between pioneer and veteran and thought maybe it costs 4 on pioneer but 5 on veteran?

[Garney]

I've seen it be 5 on pioneer for the... some different biome.

Ugh, mush brain.

[CPT Chthonbeard the Pirate]

It seems to be completely random from what I've seen. I've not seen any sort of rhyme nor reason to the costs of the blueprint's embark points at all. I've done the same environment multiple times in a row, yet the cost changes each time. I generally take the same things each time as well.

I feel they randomized it within certain values to encourage you to just take certain options when they are cheap.

[Olleus]

Originally posted by CPT Chthonbeard the Pirate:

It seems to be completely random from what I've seen. I've not seen any sort of rhyme nor reason to the costs of the blueprint's embark points at all. I've done the same environment multiple times in a row, yet the cost changes each time. I generally take the same things each time as well.

I feel they randomized it within certain values to encourage you to just take certain options when they are cheap.

If that is it, then it's not really working on me as intended. I take which ever combination of planks + fabric + brick + oil I can afford and that isn't in my initial caravan. Haven't touched the others since I've had these upgrades (finally have 8 embarkation points too, which as a god send now I'm on Prestige 10).

Are the blue prints worth it? They're very expensive, 4 or 5 points, for something I'm not guaranteed to use early, or even at all.

[CPT Chthonbeard the Pirate]

Originally posted by Olleus:

Originally posted by CPT Chthonbeard the Pirate:

It seems to be completely random from what I've seen. I've not seen any sort of rhyme nor reason to the costs of the blueprint's embark points at all. I've done the same environment multiple times in a row, yet the cost changes each time. I generally take the same things each time as well.

I feel they randomized it within certain values to encourage you to just take certain options when they are cheap.

If that is it, then it's not really working on me as intended. I take which ever combination of planks + fabric + brick + oil I can afford and that isn't in my initial caravan. Haven't touched the others since I've had these upgrades (finally have 8 embarkation points too, which as a god send now I'm on Prestige 10).

Are the blue prints worth it? They're very expensive, 4 or 5 points, for something I'm not guaranteed to use early, or even at all.

I will agree that this is generally how I decide what to bring as well and a balance pass should be done on this.

[lethminite]

I noticed one time meat was 1 point, and most other times it's 2 points. I was thinking it might have been biome related, but that was just a wild guess.

[Leisurely Luke]

Hey! The Embark Bonuses have a cost range (usually +/- 1 to the base cost but in some cases +/- 2). The final cost within the range is drawn randomly and it is not influenced by other factors (like biomes, etc.).

Originally posted by CPT Chthonbeard the Pirate:

I feel they randomized it within certain values to encourage you to just take certain options when they are cheap.

Yup, this is to encourage playing a little differently each time.

[Coozy]

@Leisurely Luke honestly this should be an option that's left to the player to decide. Not only is there no icon/tooltip/indicator showing that the value has been adjusted, some players would rather leave these variables as is for consistency, especially when there are other things affecting embarkation points (eg. difficulty, more points from city bonuses, etc.)

[el Darkness]

I think fluctuating cost for embark bonuses is a good thing. But it would be great to see which things are cheaper, I can't be bothered to memorize cost of over 20 embarkation bonuses. ^^

If there would be a note like "this bonus is 1 cheaper than usual" it would be great.

[Samseng Yik]

Most things price have a random range.
Which is good and suitable for this game. Player should always be adaptable and adjust accordingly, not "this is always best"

At best I think developer can just add an indicator to inform the current price is lower or higher.
Never ever change current this mechanic which forcing player to adapt.
Regardless whatever junk reason "consistency"

[PhailRaptor]

Originally posted by el Darkness:

I think fluctuating cost for embark bonuses is a good thing. But it would be great to see which things are cheaper, I can't be bothered to memorize cost of over 20 embarkation bonuses. ^^

If there would be a note like "this bonus is 1 cheaper than usual" it would be great.

I like this idea. Ring the item with a green border/glow if it is cheaper, and a red border/glow if it is more expensive. Link it into the various colorblind modes as necessary.

[DG]

Originally posted by Olleus:

If that is it, then it's not really working on me as intended. I take which ever combination of planks + fabric + brick + oil I can afford and that isn't in my initial caravan.

I generally take the same set of goods but it's none from that list at all, showing that there are variations. Some people like the delivery lines. I can understand why some people take the farming blueprints as they can cut out a loss on food (if you take them with humans who can find fertile soil). I'm guessing most P20 players take coins but I think every option is open apart from that.

Players will develop a play style, choose the caravan to suit that, then adapt their play style further to match the caravan, making a pattern that's difficult to break out from.