1) Production balancing:
Increase production rate for smaller factions in proportion to whatever the biggest faction is. For example nobody had a prayer of matching the minimum 2:1 production advantage the Crabs had over Potato, and probably the 10:1 or even 100:1 advantage the Crabs had over the vast majority of factions. One possible fix is to boost production for smaller factions. If the guy with ten puppets in a one-man faction can produce just as much as the guy with 100 puppets in a bigger faction, that reduces the advantage of stuffing a supersize faction full of thousands of puppets, as the gain in production is offset by the production boost their smaller potential rivals gets. Factions would need a minimum number of nations in order to receive the production boost, to deter puppet armies simply creating a boatload of 1-nation factions to try and max out production before relocating to the 'main' faction.
PROS:
- Dis-incentivizes creation of supermassive puppet factions because that will just boost all of its enemies' production output and risks making a modest group of allied very small factions able to remain competitive as the more stacked the biggest faction is compared to them, the faster they can build stuff.
- Adds a small incentive to use fewer puppets, since a small faction can still compete with a puppet-stuffed faction without having to invest the volume of time and tools into operating a puppet army.
- Mass puppeteers may make a megafaction anyway and use it to power up a smaller allied group's production. (Though with nations able to leave and join factions, shifting puppet forces around factions to maximize production output might become a more energizing way to add another strategic layer to it, while also giving an incentive to maintain targeting on enemies just to try and pin them down so they can't leave a faction.)
- Doesn't really address the fact that mass puppeteers will just splinter their puppets across a slew of smaller aligned factions, effectively keeping production at a closer level and maintaining the current advantage.
2) The higher you are, the harder time you have hitting stuff- Launch malfunctions
Add a malfunction chance to launches. The higher up the scoreboard you are, the more likely your misfire chance; the lower you are on the scoreboard, the less likely your misfire chance. Sure, it doesn't really make a realistic logic sort of sense, but it provides a little bit of a 'rubberbanding' effect to enable potential comebacks. Being higher on the scoreboard should provide some benefit to balance out the malfunction chance (maybe a production boost?), to give factions a reason to want the top of the board throughout the event instead of simply waiting for the last few minutes of the event to act.
PROS:
- Adds a strategic layer for timing of attacks. Nations have a reason to be up at the top, but may want to choose attack timing carefully to control when they get to the top and how long they stay there. Do you take the lead to take advantage of the incentive at the expense of making yourself a bigger target and reducing your effectiveness? Or do you decide the incentive's not worth it and try to lurk in the shadows until the last minute?
- Adds the aforementioned rubberband difficulty by giving struggling factions a chance to make a comeback
- Again, doesn't really discourage the puppeteers from simply splitting their forces up across a ton of smaller factions.
- Unless the incentive to be at the top of the board is really good, players will likely wait until the very end of the event to actually do anything.
3) Choose your nation's specialization at the start of the event
Allow nations to select their specialty. Some players may only keep jumping in with puppets to try and get desired specialties; if they can just choose at the start they don't need to keep entering puppets in hopes of getting the one they want.
PROS:
- Adds strategic decision, enabling creation of offense-focused factions or defensive/anti-radiation/pacifist factions that might stack on Military Specialist or Strategic Specialists respectively
- Might actually encourage even MORE puppeting.
4) New specialist/tool for radiation cleanup- Environmental Specialist and Rad-B-Gon
Add a new specialist/action that can clean up radiation. For non-specialists, the Rad-B-Gone takes 2 production/cleans up 2 radiation while the Specialist can produce it for 1.5 or whatever the number is for Mil/Strat already and cleans up 3 radiation.
PROS:
- Gives an option for players to try and stay in the game longer.
- Gives players a means to recover productivity lost to radiation.
- Does nothing to address mass puppeteering, may actually encourage it further.
- If "radiation cleaned" becomes factored into final score, could encourage puppet use for puppet factions to farm cleanup points.
5) New specialist/tool for greater inter-faction strategy and alternate tactic to prevent enemies from gaining score- Tactical Specialist and Interceptors
Add a new specialist/action that is really good at intercepting missiles aimed at other factions. Interceptors are basically identical to shields, except they are really cheap to produce (1 production, same as a nuke) but they can ONLY be used on launches aimed at nations in other factions than your own. Tactical specialists can produce these insanely quickly (maybe 1 production for 2-3 Interceptors). To go with this, shields can only be used on missiles aimed at nations in your own faction.
PROS:
- Adds a huge new tactical layer and alternate strategy of being able to focus on targeting and disabling enemy nukes to prevent them from scoring any strikes.
- Makes mutual defense agreements between factions more meaningful if they can actively protect one another without sacrificing their own defensive shield wall.
- Does nothing to address mass puppeteering, may actually encourage it further.
I feel like 1 and 2 together might offer enough of an adjustment to the game's balance to make the effort of massive puppet armies less appealing without having to rely on clunky faction caps or unenforceable/impractical puppet limitations . Right now, there is a huge advantage to piling a bajillion puppets into a supermassive faction in terms of raw production power and offensive capability; undercut that production advantage and include a more robust potential comeback mechanic, and I think fewer people would want to go to the effort it takes to manage a large scale puppet army because it doesn't deliver the same ridiculous payoff it does right now.
I'm on the fence with #3, though coupled with #4 and #5 could readily provide alternate "winning" conditions or tactics for factions. For example, if we add the Environmental Specialists, maybe change the scoring formula to something like "Total strikes - (radiation - radiation cleaned up) = score" from the current "Total strikes - radiation = score", you might see pacifistic factions placing on the board not because they're throwing an absurd volume of missiles around, but because they're trying to save the world from the nuclear fallout. Or groups prioritizing large-scale missile interdiction to keep rivals from scoring strikes in the first place.
These are all very much rough concepts, so feedback would most definitely help out. Especially on the "unforeseen consequences" side of it, as I tried to think of those but I was also quite intoxicated when I originally wrote these down, so I wasn't braining too good at the time.