With factories and planets combined, you can now find or create any block in the game. This is a big step from when certain blocks could only be obtained through shops. In earlier alpha builds, shops were a necessity to the game. However, now that they are no longer necessary the question arises, do you keep shops in the game?
Consider the effect shops have on game play. They serve as a place to trade materials with NPCs so to speak, whereas normally you would do that with players. The inherent problem with shops is that they assign values to blocks and no matter how much you try and balance it, different players will always have an opinion as to what block is worth more or less. This makes credits unbalanced by nature. The only balanced way to trade between players is with blocks where each player can compare the values of the goods traded relative to them.
So the first effect blocks have is that they are the only source of credits, a system only meaningful when trading with other shops. The second effect they have is easy to see when there is some unbalance in the credit system being exploited. Players get many credits and they no longer farm planets because they can get all they need from shops, making planets useless for anything other than a base. A counter balance is to place less in the shop, which would limit the visibility of this effect.
The third effect is seen when the credit system and shops are perfectly balanced. The credit system becomes meaningful and shops become a useful and interesting feature to the game. However since it can never be perfectly balanced, this can only be approximated by a lot of hard work on the developers side to balance the system.
In conclusion, the old need for shops in alpha to get blocks for testing is no longer necessary and balancing it costs time. Time better spent balancing the new system.
Consider the effect shops have on game play. They serve as a place to trade materials with NPCs so to speak, whereas normally you would do that with players. The inherent problem with shops is that they assign values to blocks and no matter how much you try and balance it, different players will always have an opinion as to what block is worth more or less. This makes credits unbalanced by nature. The only balanced way to trade between players is with blocks where each player can compare the values of the goods traded relative to them.
So the first effect blocks have is that they are the only source of credits, a system only meaningful when trading with other shops. The second effect they have is easy to see when there is some unbalance in the credit system being exploited. Players get many credits and they no longer farm planets because they can get all they need from shops, making planets useless for anything other than a base. A counter balance is to place less in the shop, which would limit the visibility of this effect.
The third effect is seen when the credit system and shops are perfectly balanced. The credit system becomes meaningful and shops become a useful and interesting feature to the game. However since it can never be perfectly balanced, this can only be approximated by a lot of hard work on the developers side to balance the system.
In conclusion, the old need for shops in alpha to get blocks for testing is no longer necessary and balancing it costs time. Time better spent balancing the new system.
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