The geologist skill tree was a bit disappointing. Level requirement (50) for an ability to find 8% bigger deposits is pretty dull. In game development, skill trees should fill three important criteria which make the game more addictive and interesting:
1) Customizability (possibility to build unique and interesting paths)
2) Skills should have so interesting bonuses or synergies, that a player would have a hard time making decisions which ones to pick/max.
3) High level skills should really be epic and worth pursuing for.
Just some suggestions for higher level skills:
- Ability to find certain types of deposits on new locations == increase the amount of certain types of deposits temporarily (there could be empty wild card deposits for that)
- Ability to send high level geologists on active adventure islands and build temporary mines there for exotic materials like granite or titanium ore.
- Ability to find small amounts of gems.
The possibilities are unlimited. I hope the forthcoming specialist skills are a bit more innovative than these featured for the geologists.
Share your thoughts and ideas.