Lifeforms are an exciting new addition to Ogame but I find that this was put out there without much thought as to what this might do to the balancing act players must do when it comes to Energy. Right now the current Energy system is all centered around Mines. We produce enough Energy via Solar Plants, Fusion Plants and Solar Sats to power ever growing Mines. Yet with Lifeforms, this is further pushed out of balance, requiring far more Solar Sats to meet Lifeform Energy needs or pushing us toward yet another pay to play format of Officers(Engineer in particular) and Energy items. What this screams, if anything, is that Ogame is in dire need of three things concerning Energy. The first one being a brand new Energy structure to build(I recommend Bio-Fuel Plant. Converts Food into Energy). Secondly, Solar Plant efficiency needs to be improved as Energy Tech is developed(Solar Panels from years ago are less efficient than ones produced today) while Solar Sats are made more Efficient by developing Laser Tech(it beams Energy to the planet surface with a Laser and Laser Tech currently has no purpose beyond level 12). How much of a boost either gets is up to you but I recommend giving Solar Plant like 2%/level. Finally, the Fusion Plant needs to have its Power/Deuterium cost ratio updated. Base Power output increased by a factor of 3 and Deuterium consumption reduced by a factor of 1/3rd to at most 1/2th. Combined that raises the ROI of Fusion Plants by a factor of 4 to 6 because right now Fusion Plants are the Black Sheep of the Resource Page(Alliance Depot the other on Facilities).
Now when it comes to Lifeforms, I find that Humans could use a slight re-work with regards to the Tech Tree. Humans should, in this author's opinion, boost Planetary Defense(Ships get two upgrades but Planetary Defenses only 1?), IPM's(Missiles in this game get no love whatsoever), and improving Solar Plants and Fusion Plants. Hence here's what I have in mind:
Tier 1:
Intergalactic Envoys
High Performance Extractors Photovoltaic Cells
Fusion Drives
Stealth Field Generators Fusion Reactors
Orbital Dens
Research AI
Photovoltaic Cells: Increases Energy output of Solar Plant by 0.04% per level
Fusion Reactors: Reduces Deuterium Consumption of Fusion Plants by 0.04% per level
Tier 2:
High Performance Terraformer
Enhanced Production Technologies Skynet System Network
Light Fighter MK II
Cruiser MK IIImproved Lab Technology Improved Capacitors
Plasma Terraformer
Skynet System Network: Increases Structural Integrity, Shield Strength and Damage of Planetary Defenses
Improved Capacitors: Energy output increased by 0.04% per level
Tier 3:
Low Temperature Drives Thermonuclear War
Bomber MK II
Destroyer MK II
Battlecruiser MK II
Robot Assistants
Supercomputer
Thermonuclear War: Interplanetary Missile base damage increased by 0.04% per level
This gives Humans the foundations of being the Lifeform to pursue for Energy output(Rock'Tal is good in this department too), Defense and the niche use of being able to increase IPM's effects.
Speaking of customizable Tech Trees, it would be a welcomed addition if we could pick Techs from the previous slot. Namely as Humans we have to take Intergalactic Envoys. This means Volcanic Batteries(Rock'Tal), Catalyzer Technology(Mecha) and Heat Recovery(Kaelesh) are not possible as Human. Furthermore, this would add even more customization to the Tech tree since all 24 Techs are now open to us as opposed to just 4 per slot and having to pick which one we like the most. As for picking Techs, while I'm not a fan of RNG, I really hate having to wait eons to re-roll and not have it placed behind yet another Dark Matter paywall. If you're going to add a new addition to the game, make it to where we can roll things as many times as we want/need until we get the desired outcome? Also give us the option to undo the previous tech so that we don't have to re-roll the entire Tier if we don't want to.
