Every time I look at the Crusade tech tree, it bothers me. Crusade adds Citizens and Espionage to the game, cool. Why did it break the tech tree?
Base Game: Basic Factory and Research Laboratory -> Xeno Factory and Xeno Laboratory -> Mega Factory, Solar Power Plant, Manufacturing Capital, Research Institute, Technological Capital...
Crusade: None -> Factory -> Xeno Factory and Xeno Laboratory -> Filler-> Mega Factory, Technological Capital -> Specialization -> Manufacturing Center, Fusion Power Plant, Manufacturing Capital, Research Institute...
Research Laboratory is gone. Solar Power Plant is gone. Manufacturing Capital comes much later than Technological Capital. Research institute comes much later than Mega Factory. The Manufacturing Specialization now levels up either Workers or Engineers, which I most likely have neither of. How did any of these changes make the game better?
Also, in the base game, trade resources weren't used to build anything, but in Crusade, they've been forcefully added in. Now we need Anor Spice, Monsatium, and a few other trade resources to upgrade our improvements. But, some resources like Hyper Silicates don't do anything. Yes, they can be converted into Anor Spice or Helios Ore, but what else are they good for? I feel like someone tried too hard to make trade resources more important and it has negatively affected the game.
I much prefer the way things were before. There could still be uses for the trade resources, like NEW technologies with special improvements or projects that use them. Or they could be used to recruit and promote specific citizens.
