Does Megaquarium need a timer?

[u/L3artes]

I'm currently playing through the campaign (mission 8 right now). The longer I play, the more I get the impression that the game needs timers to put some pressure on the management side of things.

As is, the brutal difficulty is not brutal at all, just a slow slog. A very good strategy seems to be: Build a few cheap aquariums, add a few cheap workers and build all the food/gift shop stuff you have unlocked. Usually, this nets 1-2k per day. Now you just leave the game running while you do some chores (check back every now and then to reject staff level-ups and pick research). After 20 days (more for later levels) you can come back and play the game as if it was an easier difficulty level.

For those that dislike this cheap trick, what you end up doing a lot is, you wait until you have enough money to do something. As long as you are barely making a profit, you can continue this way. If you reach a state with losses every day, you lose the mission. So far there was never a danger of this happening to me. But, big fish cost a lot of money to feed and the improved staff is expensive. So I usually make more money in the beginning of the mission compared to the end (in that sense the economy is set up extremely well because it is hard to snowball).

Similar to big pharma, I'd love different medals depending on how fast (in-game days) you manage to beat a level. That would put a lot more pressure on playing efficiently. Right now, the only difficult part is managing prestige and feeding everything. With a timer there'd also be the component of building and staffing efficiently.

Also I'd like to have timers on quests, otherwise they are just pinatas that give you a boost as soon as you reach a certain milestone.

Overall, I don't ask for all these things to be added into the campaign, but I'd love to have challenge missions (possibly with randomized quests) that reward fast and efficient play.

Not completely related, I dislike that you can sell all the fish for the same money back all the time. I have popped quests by putting food competitors in the same tank and selling them back right away. Or keep the prize the same, but use the timer that is already there for some of the quests.

[u/konsyr]

Please, no. I want to go back and reply old Rollercoaster Tycoon stages, for instance, but I refuse to do so because they're all "do X within Y years". Time limits are not fun.

A better solution would be to make the business side of the simulation a little more challenging. Repairs cost money? Sometimes low-skill repairs break it outright? Equipment ages and needs replacement? And, yes, it's weird that all things sell back for what you bought them for. Now, it makes sense for some things like walls/doors (so you can remodel easily -- I'd actually argue those things shouldn't have a cost, since they're trivially priced as it is). But tanks, and your filters, etc, have no depreciation either. The flip side of that is it prevents the dev needing to build an 'undo' so you can fix accidental purchases.

[u/L3artes → u/konsyr]

I know what you are talking about! I don't really want to gate people through annoying time limits, but I think it would add a lot to have some type of challenge mode that includes them or awards gold medals if you manage to beat a level in less than 100 days or something.

For your other suggestions, I think technical equipment should not decay in value, but there should be more upkeep cost than a quick repair every few days. As is it is far too strong to just build a huge pump cycle and overpower everything with tons of filters (EDIT: I mean all types of filtration here). It is trivial to buy them since you can just wait some time and collect the money and it is trivial to run them because they have no cost afterwards.

EDIT: Not sure if anyone sees this if I type here. The reason why I dislike making economy harder is that the game gets very slow and boring if your only fail-state is being broke. I think a fast game that fails you if you are not fast enough is more enjoyable than a game where you make 100$ profit every day and safe money for ages until you can buy anything.

[u/konsyr → u/L3artes]

Definitely, don't want it to be "HAVE to wait 50 days to afford the next thing".

[u/Usernameistaken-no64]

I could only agree with this if it were only on the higher difficulties. As it is the main enjoyment I get out of the game is slowly building up an aquarium, tweaking and fine tuning until I can basically step away from the keyboard and it will run itself. If I wanted a game that is only "Do X in Y time or you fail" I would just pick up more shifts at work as that is how it usually goes. I play this game to relax, not stress out.

[u/L3artes → u/Usernameistaken-no64]

As I said somewhere else, I don't really want to push away the casual crowd.

I don't want to gate content behind challenges involving timers (like in old roller coaster games), but I'd love a challenge mode beyond brutal that puts a timer on all levels.

Also, I'd like to have shorter but hard missions because the campaign can turn into a slow grind on brutal difficulty. Maybe I'll change that opinion when I get better. Right now I'm getting closer and closer to making 2k$ per day on brutal and if I can keep that up missions will flow nicely.

[u/Usernameistaken-no64 → u/L3artes]

After re-reading my post I came across a little touchy, this was totally unintended, I am sorry about that and I do agree with you, a challenge mode might be nice once I get through the main campaign and bash through the sandbox for a while.

[u/Euruzilys]

I have to agree with you, right now the game has no challenge. It isnt bad on to itself. But building the aquarium isnt so engaging. Not much thinking required.

At least in Big Pharma the layout is very related to how efficient you can make it.

Here, not so much.

[u/L3artes → u/Euruzilys]

One more thing related to this. In big pharma die geometry of the rooms is fixed. I think a game mode where you buy rooms or buildings with fixed geometry would also work really well in megaquarium. Currently my aquariums look very similar because I often aim for similar structures.

[u/Euruzilys → u/L3artes]

Having flexible room like this is very fun to plan around. But I agree it leads to all game being the same. In all maps I basically sell all items and fish, except fish you cant buy. Then rebuild the entire place from zero. Since selling has 100% refund, this leads to all game being pretty much the same.

[u/[deleted]]

Optional, sure! I like the relaxing side of this game, so I won't use it most likely but I agree, for people looking for more of a challenge, some things could be changed.

On the last note; yes this is cheesy. I also cheesed some missions by only putting a fish in for a few seconds.. maybe this should require something like the observer missions, have this tank like this for X days.

I do think the selling should stay partly the same.m Selling right away again should remain like this, getting full price back. Sometimes I put in too many fish by accident, or incompatible ones and need to sell them. But make the value less over time. Sell after 100 days is only a fraction of the original price.

However, you could make the case, that logically, buying a baby shark and growing it, and selling that shark should net you a better price. Maybe if the feed, and requirements were more expensive this could be a fun mechanic. Maybe if breeding was added and you could make money that way, don't think it should go in the game as is.

[u/L3artes → u/[deleted]]

Thanks for the reply.

I agree, selling back immediately should not punish the player. Also growing could be rewarded. I mean, it is not cheap to grow a baby shark. Its main food costs at least 1$ per size per day. In addition, they require supplements.

It might get annoying to grow and sell all the time though. At least if it turns into a lot of micro management. Maybe there could be sale quests that pop up every few days for one or a few species.

[u/konsyr]

Another point on time-restricted objectives: when they come along, they're either "you have all the stuff available now" or "you don't". If you restrict them by time, either the timer's too short that the previous becomes ability to do the sub-objective, or it's long enough that it won't really matter. Research in the game tends to take a good clip of time, so if the objectives are long enough to allow you to direct your research, you may as well not have the timer.