So, now that SK is now under the banner of Grey Havens (sort of -- still need all that infrastructure redux and whatnot), I figure now would be a good time to mull over a bunch of Suggestions. I'm sure that this post will get buried by other great suggestions in this Forum by the time our new overlords actually have time/energy to make improvements to the game, but that doesn't particularly matter to me.
What matters to me is that I can feel satisfied with myself by converting my hype for the shift from SEGA to Grey Havens in suggestion form.
So here it is. Hype conversion commencing.
1. Energy from the System⟶Energy-Trade at regular intervals
Kind of self-explanatory. The purpose of this suggestion is to create a great influx of Energy into the game, as well as to possibly overwhelm anyone who's making Energy Walls and exploiting the Trade.
Note that in the explanation below, 100 Energy = 1 Unit
Essentially, every day the System would put in x amount of Energy. For the sake of convenience, let's say 1,000 Units. For the price of this energy: it would vary. Vary on what, you ask? You didn't ask that, you say? Too bad, I'll explain anyways.
The price of the energy will fluctuate depending on whether any of the System's Units remain at the end of the day.
As a base limit, my suggestion is: 4,000cr ≤ Cost ≤ 10,000.
The minimum is just over how much one would get if they went through Snarby -- a noob's earnings, in other words. The maximum is a little over the average Vana run's earnings. Both are convenient. Of course, this amount is tentative, so I'm open to criticisms for how much the limit should be... But it should be somewhere around the range described.
So, as for how much the Cost would change day-to-day, it would work like this:
- If more than 1/4 of the original Supplied Units from the previous day remain: lower the cost of System-provided-Energy by 500.
- If all Units have been bought out from the previous day: increase the cost of System-provided-Energy by 500.
But, of course, with just that, it's possible to continue profiteering on Energy. For example, if someone buys out all of the System's daily Energy, then stocks up a new wall ≤ 499cr above, they'll be able to own the artificial limit for two days (provided they buy out the System's Energy the moment it's supplied).
And so, to counter that:
- If ≥ 5/7 of the week's System Energy is bought out: the Unit Supply increases by the base limit (1,000 Units in this example).
5/7 of the week's System Energy is, at minimum, 7,000 Units in this example.
This increase will continue happening indefinitely. - If ≤ 3/7 of the week's System Energy isn't bought out: the Unit Supply increases by the base limit (1,000 Units in this example).
3/7 of the week's System Energy is, at minimum, 3,000 Units in this example.
This decrease will happen until the Unit Supply = the base limit. - If 4/7 of the week's System energy is bought out: the Unit Supply remains the same for another 7 days.
4/7 of the week's System Energy is, at minimum, 4,000 Units in this example.
Note that the "≥ 5/7" "≤ 3/7" changes will persist indefinitely. For example, for 5/7, if it occurs two weeks in a row, then the change would be: 1,000⟶2,000⟶3,000. It wouldn't revert back to 1,000. The Unit Supply change would occur on a single designated day of the week (Every Sunday, for example).
The above function isn't just to counter profiteering, however. It's also for the sake of the possibility of getting a huge influx of new players. You should notice that the day-to-day Cost function works off of a fraction of 1/4 as well, which means that it'll grow alongside this function. The System should provide enough energy to make sure that all the players have enough Energy in a decent price. It is possible to continually buy out all of the Energy... But at some point, it'd stop being worth it, because the main reason I'm suggesting this is to cause inflation.
Yes. I wish to cause inflation.
It's not because I have any particular hate towards Steam Trading via Energy, or that I want SK to no longer make any money off of Energy Purchases or anything... Rather, it's because I feel that the value of Energy at this point -- with the game being stagnant, but now capable of changing -- is at rock bottom. For that reason, appealing to players with this System -- even if it's only temporarily -- will allow the population to flourish.
I also feel that having some sort of Energy Safeguard so that certain events which have happened on a certain Mist⟶Energy Update don't occur again without any proper countermeasures.
I like the idea that SK has a player-driven economy. But if the player count is remaining low because grinding for Energy is too much of a chore, this Suggestion is a valid cure. Probably.
I have another suggestion that'd work if this idea was put into play as well. It'd essentially be a Energy Auction House. Works just like the current Auction House, just lets you buy/sell items with Energy instead of Crowns. Pretty simple suggestion in that respect, but it'd be a sufficient Energy drain combined alongside Crafting, Supply Depot purchases, and other things.
2. Make Heat Distribution occur before getting on the Elevator
This one's a bit complicated.
My suggestion is: Make an NPC that hangs around the Descent Elevator in The Clockworks and lets you distribute your Heat to currently-equipped gear. Probably some form of specialized Supply Drone, which can be introduced by a Mission of some sort early on.
As for why, well, for one: because it'd be convenient. For two: because it'll have two other unique features: "Tempering" and "Crystallization".
As for "convenience", it's simply to allow focused Heating on only certain pieces of equipment. It'd allow prioritizing certain Equipment over others, which would be nice for newer players with tons of Gear options, and it would also stop Heat wasting. As it stands, if you equip a Max-Heat-but-not-Max-Level piece of equipment, said equipment still takes some Heat you gained from that depth -- which is silly. So, allowing focused Heating would remove that unneeded-loss of heat, and put it to use on Gear that actually needs it. Unless, of course, you're wearing a full set of Max-Heat-but-not-Max-Level gear.
That being said, it'd also be cool to introduce an Equipment "cooling" system... Like if someone didn't heat their gear, then Heat would eventually leave the equipment if they kept using it but didn't distribute heat to it, along with "maintaining" its heat for a small portion of Heat gained on a level... But those ideas would have to be elaborated on if this Suggestion is actually taken.
So, instead of going into those secondary Suggestions, I'll explain the two unique features of the NPC. Also, by "unique", I'm meaning "new".
Tempering has a simple purpose. Use the Heat distributed to a piece of Gear for the sake of decreasing the needed Heat to Level up. Confused? Good. I'll explain.
Each piece of Equipment needs a certain amount of Heat in order to reach the Level-Up point, and there's some sort of "Unit Value" for every ember you pick up on your adventures, right? Well, with Tempering, the amount of Heat needed for the Gear to reach the Level-Up would decrease. It sounds vague, but that's because I don't exactly know the exact Unit requirements... So I'll use a hypothetical example.
Let's say that a certain 1* Lv.1 gear requires 100 Units of Heat to level up. A player equips the gear, and reaches the Level-up point (+100 Heat). They reach the end of the depth, and Temper the item. Then, they move onto the next Depth, and heat the gear again. It once again reaches the Level-up point... But this time, it only required 90 Heat.
The Player Levels up the equipment.
Now a 1* Lv.2 piece of gear, the default required heat is 200. But theirs requires only 180. They dive again, and Temper again. Now the gear requires 160 Heat. They dive, Temper again. 140 Heat. Again. 120 Heat. Again. 100 Heat. Dive again, and they can't Temper anymore. They level up the gear.
Now it's a 1* Lv.3 piece of gear. The Default would be 300, but for them, it's 150. They still can't Temper anymore. Even at the maximum Level, they can no longer Temper beyond that point.
They then upgrade the gear to 2* Lv.1 once the 1* reaches Lv.10. The default needed heat is 1,500. For them, it's also 1,500.
The mathematically clever can probably see through Tempering at this point, then.
For those who aren't mathematically clever, here's what Tempering does:
- Every time a piece of Gear reaches the Max amount of Heat, their gear can be Tempered.
- When a piece of gear is Tempered, the required Heat for ALL levels of that Gear is reduced by 1/10, to a maximum of 5/10 (1/2). Thus, gear can only be tempered 5 times.
- When a piece of gear is Upgraded, the Tempering is reset.
So, how is this beneficial?
In the example of a 1* piece of gear, supposing that each level increased the heat requirement by 100, the total required head (at default) would be 5,500 (100 * ((10 / 2) * (10 + 1))). If someone tempered the gear 5 times while it was only Level 1, the heat requirement would be 3,150 ((50 * ((10 / 2) * (10 + 1))) + 100 + 90 + 80 + 70 + 60).
With that, the default was decreased by almost half, thus saving the Player time. In the case of 5* gear... Well, it'd just save that much more time.
"But it doesn't take that much time to heat gear!" you say? That would be correct. But the main reason for Tempering isn't actually for leveling up gear. It's for the second unique trait of the NPC.
Solidification. If you Solidify Heat, what do you think would be the result? If you guessed Heat Crystals, you'd be correct.
Solidification can only be used on Lv.10 pieces of gear, when its Heat is at MAX. Through use, all of the Heat is consumed (the Gear remains at Lv.10, it just needs to be re-heated to get back to the Solidification phase), and 5 Crystals of the Gear's Rank are produced. For example, a 1* piece of gear could make 5 Dim Fire Crystals through Solidification, a 5* could make 5 Radiant Fire Crystals. And here's the good part: Solidification only requires "MAX", not a specific number of Heat Units.
Gear could go through Solidification regardless of whether it has been Tempered or not, but seeing as Tempering could decrease the needed Heat by about half, Solidification could be done almost twice as often. So, a smart delver would Temper gear of each rank 5 times, then level them up to 10, and simply farm away for Solidification for ∞ crystals. Seeing as you can equip 5 pieces of Gear minimum, 7 maximum, it'd be possible to get 25 to 35 Heat Crystals at once, provided you gained enough Heat in a level to get all gear to MAX heat in a single depth.
And so, as for why this NPC has to be before the elevator... It's simply because it'd require more time than the current Heat system, and keeping your allies waiting wouldn't be ideal. For the reason why I had emphasized on The Clockworks back near the start, it's simply because putting the NPC into Missions would ruin the cinematic atmosphere of some areas, and because having the NPC exclusively in the Clockworks would be a major boon to Clockworks as a whole. They'd also be available in Haven, of course.
Yes, this would mean you can't level up your gear in Missions... But it's already like that, isn't it? You can't forge in Missions already, so why not just improve the system as a whole by replacing "Forging" with this NPC?
3. Allow proper conversion of Fire Crystals
Regardless of whether 2.
is implemented, allowing proper conversion of Fire Crystals is something I'd really like to see.
As it stands, we can only convert crystals down a grade in a ratio of 3:5 (Higher Grade:Lower Grade), which is alright... Except the fact that there's a large deficiency in 5* crystals, and they're a pain to get. I won't go into that too much, seeing as there's been enough rants on that subject to choke a horde of Tortodrones.
I have no doubt that this suggestion has been presented before, perhaps more elegantly than I will here, but I'd like to mention it at least.
Maybe make the conversion 10:5 (Lower Grade:Higher Grade). That way, there's a minor conversion loss if the Player tries to Convert ↑ then back ↓.
As for the argument that this'll be hitting the game's revenue: I disagree. It'll certainly hurt for a little while, because most veteran Players have 4* Crystals at 4 digits minimum, but after a while that'll settle and people'll start buying tons of crystals again (provided the have anything they want to Craft/Level at that point). 4 digits isn't acceptable. Make the conversion proper.
4. Introduce a way to decrease the levels of Equipment
This suggestion's working off of completely new subjects, so bear with me.
Essentially, make a way to decrease the level of Equipment, resulting in Items every time you do so. As for what these Items are... Well, I have the idea that they'll be a chain of Rarities, which you'll gain in differing Ranks/Amounts depending on what Rank/Level your equipment is. It'd go like this:
- 1* Equip = 1* Version of the Rarity
- 2* Equip = 2* Version of the Rarity
etc. - Lv.10⟶9 = 5 Units | Lv.9⟶8 = 4 Units | Lv.8⟶7 = 3 Units | Lv.7⟶6 = 2 Units | Lv.6⟶5 = 1 Unit
Decreasing Lv.5 or lower wouldn't be possible.
As for what these Rarities do, maybe bring in a new Alchemy Machine. This idea'd work really well with Tempering, and the items rewarded could be used to make Sets that have to do with Heat gaining. I actually have an idea for a set like that.
Essentially, the entire set would have only Normal Defense (Lower than Cobalt on all Ranks) and have no HP increases. It'd be incredibly difficult to use early on, but would become... Well... Less bad as it increases in rank.
1*: Universal Attack Speed and Charge Time ↓ Med. alongside Movement Speed ↓ Med. It would also increase Heat Gains by 10%.
2*: Universal Attack Speed and Charge Time ↓ Med. alongside Movement Speed ↓ Low. Heat Gains ↑ 20%.
3*: Universal AS and CT ↓ Low, MS ↓ Low once again. Heat Gains ↑ 30%.
4*: No demerits at all. Its defence would just be lackluster. Heat Gains ↑ 40%.
5*: Movement Speed ↑ Low. Heat Gains ↑ 50%.
The set would include a Helm, Armor, and Shield (no weapons, as ↑ 350% Heat would be overkill). The set would require 100 of the previously-mentioned Rarities of the given rank to craft, alongside other Materials. As for its looks... Well, I'll leave that to the imagination, seeing as this set would only come into existence with the addition of Level-Decreasing.
As for the possibility of this being used for Griefing via Hacks, yeah. It's possible. But so long as Heat Crystals become easier to obtain (whether through my suggestions of Solidification or Proper Conversion, or through other methods) it won't be a huge problem. Furthermore, most "hacks" are really just people giving away their passwords for "free stuff", so for the most part, the community would be safe.
5. Add in a PvP involving Minerals
Here's a fun idea for you.
Entering this PvP would cost absolutely nothing, because the point of this PvP is actually "To collect samples for opposing Laboratory Teams". It would always be a "Team" battle, with two teams. GvG wouldn't be allowed. The Teams would number 6-8 each, so there would be a total of 16 Players maximum per game.
Essentially, the map would be based off of a Planetary Gear Set, with three "Islands" which either rotate at a uniform pace permanently, or move ~30° every minute, and two small "bases" on the Left and Right side for the opposing Teams.
There would be a Giant Crystal (whose type is randomized from the 5 already-present types) in the center, and Large Crystals on the "islands". Regular Crystal veins (like those seen in the clockworks) are also scattered around the stadium. All Mineral types are capable of making an appearance, and that fact is important. The object of the game: gather as much crystal as you can and return them to your Team's Collection Point -- which works in a similar way to "Save Winterfest!"'s pile of Presents, but there are 5 "piles", one for each type of mineral. These piles count the crystals and stores them as "points". The Points are only displayed at the Collection Point, so it won't always be clear who's "winning" and who's "losing"! Besides collecting, it's also possible to hinder the opposing team.
The game goes on for 5 minutes, in which, the Team with the most Crystals in their Collection Point will win. The game will also end in victory if a team manages to gather 500 Crystals.
Crystals are gathered from any Crystal (obviously), but each size is capable of supplying only specific amounts. The Giant Crystal will supply 300 Crystals -- almost enough to win the game if fully harvested. It shrinks at the 200, 100, and 50 marks before disappearing entirely when it's fully harvested. After being fully harvested, the area it covered will remain the Crystal's color, giving the illusion that you only collected "the top half of the Crystal". The Large Crystals supply 150 Crystals each, with their appearances shrinking at the 100, 50, and 25 marks. They disappear entirely when they've been completely harvested, leaving the ground in their color just like the Giant Crystal. Regular veins will grant only 5 Crystals, and will disappear in a similar fashion to those in the Clockworks.
Also, while crystals CAN be dropped in individual units in the game, they're picked up simply by walking into them, in a similar fashion to how Drops work in the Clockworks.
And so, unlike Blast Network and Lockdown, this PvP (whose name has yet to be decided) won't revolve around killing your opponents. Instead, "hindering" would be a better term, and can be either Stealing the opposing team's Crystals or Continually knocking down the opposing team's Gatherers. I'll elaborate on how that works below.
The PvP will work on "Classes", which are just Loadouts supplied from the PvP itself, so everyone will be on equal ground. The Loadouts will go under three categories:
- The Worker: Gathering Crystals is the sole purpose of this loadout. It's sole weapon is the Pickaxe, which can only be used to harvest Crystals through the "attack" button. Regular attacks gather 1 Crystal per hit on the Regular Crystals, 2 per hit on the Large Crystals, and 3 per hit on the Giant Crystal. Charge attacks grant 5, 7 and 10 respectively. Both the regular attack and the charge attack have a similar animation to the Troika series' charge attack, but the regular attack has no windup/movement and takes up less time, while the charge attack has a longer windup than the Troika series, and a small movement forward.
The regular attack takes 3 seconds, the charge takes 6 (not including the time needed to charge). The Crystals gained will float above the Worker's head for a couple of seconds before vanishing (In "+x" format)
The Worker's "defend" button makes use of a "Momentary Crystal Shield", which can be looked at as a "parry" of sorts. The block lasts half a second, and can be used to block attacks from Hobblers and reflects them right back, possibly "hobbling" the Hobbler. If used within 0.5 seconds of a Thief Stealing from them, it will reveal the thief and knock them down, causing them to drop 1 Crystal (if they were holding any).
"Evasive Dash" is unchanged and "Shield Bash" is removed, and left vacant.
The Worker can carry 10 Crystals . While carrying 0, The Worker has MSI Low. At 5, the MS is negated. At 10, it's MSD Low.
The Worker will drop 1 Crystal when it's hit by the Hobbler's attacks and be rendered prone (uses the "killed" animation) for 5 seconds. They will have 3 seconds of invincibility frames when the 5 seconds pass. The Crystal that was dropped can be picked up by anyone (the Worker who dropped it included. They lose 1 Crystal each time a Thief steals from them. There's no indication of when a Thief steals from a Worker, but being "hobbled" gives a visible "-1" after being hit.
A Worker will be unable to continue mining if their load is already 10, but the only indication of how much they're carrying is the sack on their back, which changes size at 0, 3, 5, and 10.
The Worker's set would be similar to the Groundbreaker set.
In comparison to your average Knight, The Worker has ASD Med. The attack animation is similar to the Troika series' Charge attack (minus the footwork). - The Thief: While the Thief is capable of stealing Crystals from Workers, it's also capable of stealing Crystals from the other Team's base. Yes, that's right. The bases can be invaded. But don't worry, only Thieves can actually go into the other Team's base.
Their "attack" is a "steal". It's close-range (obviously), and can be used on Workers, Dropped Crystals, or the other Team's Collection Point.
In the case of the other Team's Collection Point, points will be deducted from the team every time you Steal from the point.
"Stealing" is immediate, but it has a cooldown of 5 seconds after being used successfully. The animation would be as fast as a Cutter series attack. If the Thief misses a steal, then the animation is used, the Thief loses their Defending ability for 5 seconds, and the Thief is able to move/Steal again immediately after said animation (before the Defend ability is unbarred). Each steal grants a "+1" to the Thief's crystal amount.
Stealing from Hobblers is impossible.
The Thief's "Defend" ability is essentially the same as Lockdown's Cloaking ability -- minus the Assassination debuff -- known as "Sneaking". When used, the User can be invisible for an indefinite amount of time, but can be discovered if a Hobbler from the opposing team comes within 3 paces of them, or if a Worker "parries" them. There's also another catch.
Thieves can carry 5 Crystals, but for each crystal they carry, the less "invisible" they become. While carrying 0 Cyrstals, they're completely invisible. When they have 5, they're almost completely defined.
"Evasive Dash" is unchanged and "Shield Bash" is removed, and left vacant.
If a Thief is struck by a Hobbler, they'll drop all the Crystals they're holding, and will become unable to pick up other crystals until they run back to their base. In return they'll gain a MSI Med. If the Thief is parried by the Worker, they'll drop 1 Crystal and lay prone for 10 seconds, after which they'll have 3 seconds worth of invincibility frames, and be able to move about/steal once again.
The Thief carries a small sack with them, which changes size at 0, 3, and 5 carried crystals. When the thief has 5 crystals, they will still be able to steal from Workers (not the other Team's base, though), but the stolen crystals will drop onto the ground.
Thieves have MSI Low. When "hobbled" they have MSI Med.
In terms of appearance, Thieves would wear something like a Spiral Brigadine combined with the loang-coated ends of a Spiral Flak Jacket with Shaded Helms. - The Hobbler: This Loadout would be much more brutal than the other two, in that its entire purpose is to knock the other loadouts over. The Hobbler uses a replica of the old version of Radiant Sun Shards to attack, but they have to remain in one spot when they attack, as if they were "picking up a Crystal to use". The charge time only takes ~1 second, but it has a cooldown of 5 seconds. The effects of "hobbling" Workers and Thieves can be seen in their respective sections.
When a Hobbler hits another Hobbler, the one that was hit lays prone for 5 seconds before getting up and having a 1 second invincibility frame. No Crystals are dropped when a Hobbler is hit.
Instead of Defending, Hobblers can "sprint" (which would be a lower version of the Striker's Dash, being quite a deal slower) for 3 seconds, and then needing to wait 5 seconds before they can sprint once again.
"Evasive Dash" is unchanged and "Shield Bash" is removed, and left vacant.
Hobblers can only carry 3 Crystals at a time. They have a small backpack used to carry the crystals, which changes appearance at 0, 1, and 3 Crystals. After carrying 3, they receive MSD Low.
Regularly, Hobblers have the default status.
Hobblers are equipped with Vitasuit Plus armor (with the Vitapod being replaced with the small backpack -- like a Vitakit), and a Padded Cap.
Now that that's all explained... Time to talk about The Rewards.
As mentioned near the start, there's no cost to participating in this version of PvP. There'll be no Krogmo Coin reward either, because it's Researchers squabbling over samples.
Instead, the reward is A portion of the Crystals your team gathers.
The amount of crystals both teams have collected (in their appropriate Mineral Types) will be displayed once the match is over, and the crystals will be distributed. But, of course, the teams won't get all the crystals they've gathered. The Winning Team will choose which Mineral Type to be distributed by voting (in the case of a 3 way tie (1 vote for two Minerals, 2 votes on the other 3 types), the votes will be re-cast. If it ties again, then the two tied minerals at that point will have their amounts halved, and both will be selected). The Winner's side will receive 1/3 of the chosen mineral's amounts per Player, and the Losers will receive 1/5 of their own amounts.
"Doesn't this mean that more Minerals were generated after the match?" ... Um... Y-Yeah, but they're super pure Crystals, alright? They ain't just Minerals. They're CRYSTALS. Totally not the same thing! Right? Right! S-So of course you'd get more. Probably.
6. Make Supply Packs do more than just complete Missions
Self-explanatory. Make them pseudo-Treasure boxes that don't require keys, mainly revolving around Trinkets and Heat Crystals. They'd be a good crown sink, seeing as they're inexpensive from the Auction house or Vatel.
They could also have changing traits depending on where they're used. For example: Using them in the Clockworks grants 1, 2, or 3 (depending on the rank of the Supply Pack) consumables from the current Stratum and (possibly) rare Supply-themed Equipment. Because they're random, Players might opt to jut buy Consumables from Vendors if they want only specific things.
And so, the Player can decide whether they want to use the Supply Packs to increase survivability in the Clockworks, or for convenient loot in Haven.
7. Make an NPC housing District
More wandering NPC's, more houses. There're a lot of empty houses without purpose. It'd be nice to have those filled up.
8. Make a Player housing District
Seeing as a lot of games have these, I likely don't need to explain. Essentially, make an area where Houses vary depending on what Zone you're in, and let Rich Players quibble among one another for who gets which plot of land, and who gets the flashiest doorknobs. The Houses would have a item-system just like the Guild Hall, so it'd be pretty easy to make... Compared to the other suggestions, at least.
But, of course, not everyone can have a plot of land. For that reason, there should be a "Common House Entrance" -- which would work exactly like the Guild Hall Entrance. You go through the entrance, select a Player's house (Friend's List only -- you have to be invited otherwise), and out of nowhere you're in their house. Fun times.
This'll make the plots of land more centered around Vanity than necessity, and let any player have a House of their own. In the end, it's a really good crown sink. Enough said.
9. Add in a "Create your own Clockworks" DLC
I've seen this suggestion before, so if someone could delve into the Suggestions/Graveyard and find a suggestion like this one, I'd appreciate it.
Essentially, using the building blocks already present on Spiral Spy, make a sort of "Spiral Knights Sandbox" that'll allow buyers of the DLC to create their own levels. There would be size limits, monster number restrictions, treasure chest limits, and other such things for the sake of lag and exploitation prevention, but it would otherwise be just as it sounds.
Those that haven't bought the DLC should still be able to go into other Player-made levels. This is so that the entire community is involved with the maker's creation.
Chances are, there'll be a bunch of cruddy levels out there, but that can't be helped. If there's crud, there's gotta be a delicious loaf somewhere, so I'd say it's worth it. Having something like GM picks for the week/month would also be pretty cool, with prizes n' stuff, but the community would probably do something similar if the GM's don't, so it's no big deal.
The main purpose of this Suggestion is to increase the range of things that can be done in SK. And who knows? Maybe a Player that's really good at making maps can be brought into Grey Havens if they work hard enough? Wouldn't that be reason enough to get hyped?
10. Make DLC purchasable via Energy
Now, now. Calm down and let me explain, oh "spnders r betur thn free lrkers huehue" enthusiasts.
I'm aware that DLC's are a good source of income for games, but what I'm suggesting isn't to make DLC's easy pickings for anyone. I'm suggesting that DLC's are bought for something around 5,000-10,000 Energy. Yeah. That's a lot, considering you can buy DLC's for waaaaaaaaaaay less if you just pay real money.
But that doesn't really matter. There're people that'd see the Energy cost and say "Eh, might as well take out my wallet if it costs that much", and there'll also be people who say "Looks like I'm not sleeping for the next 3 days!". In the former case, you've subconsciously tricked the Player into thinking the actual DLC price is a better cost, and gotten them to spit out money. In the latter case, you've gotten a Player to play your game more, and possibly have Sleep Deprivation -- but that second bit isn't really important. They'll be happy they got the DLC without spending a cent once they wake up, at least.
There'll be people that shy away from the large energy cost, but that's also alright. At the moment, you can't really buy DLC without money (unless you're involved in Steam Trading, whereas it just takes a bit of time to make up the funds by slapping people with rare Hats), so if anyone complains the community can just go all Old-person on them with "When I first started playing SK...!"
So, in the end it's all good.
So. There're my Suggestions.
If you have critiques/anything to add/+1's/-1's/comments/etc. leave a comment. I'll react to most things. Probably.
On the Fire Crystal conversion of 10:4, 9:4 might be better.
Because of the Supply Depot you probably need a "you get less than what you put in" slope, and the intake should probably a multiple of three too since you get Fire Crystals in groups of three. (plus it goes in a "nice" 81 => 36 => 16 from 3* to 5*)