Game itself is pretty nice - simple, but the blueprints per run make it more varied and the upgrade tree is nice as well.
Main problem is balance/pacing. On the run where I first had prototypes available I immediately earned patents to buy every single mastery upgrade. The challenges were a joke afterwards except one that became impossible because I always started with more drills than I was allowed to have. That also made the bonuses almost pointless.
Appreciate the feedback. Made some changes that are now live with v0.6.1.
fast_start patent level (was impossible at higher levels).Thanks for flagging this — you were right, the cube-root curve was still unbounded and a stockpile run could cash out massive patent counts in one publish.
Just shipped v0.9.4 with a softcap above 100 patents/publish. Normal play is untouched (100 K prototypes is still ~92 patents), but past that the curve compresses:
So the worst-case overnight farm now caps around 2–3K patents instead of 100K+. Full mastery (~904 patents) still takes the intended 8–12 publishes, and a dedicated stockpile run shaves 2–3 off that rather than ending the meta-layer outright. Existing patents and progress are preserved — only future publishes use the new formula.
Let me know if it still feels too generous after a few runs. If stockpiling is still the dominant strategy I can tighten the softcap further or flatten the curve earlier.