A write up I did on Reddit talking with some players about econ. Resharing here since I thought it's worth a read!
TL;DR the economy works differently from CS/Val, especially given 7 round halves + Economy Surge in round 4, so try to throw out your previous learnings and "learn fresh". We do still try to have power curve + money matters, but in different ways.
2 of biggest things that make our economy different are:
• 7 Rounds per side
• In round 4-7, you get a bonus $900 income,
regardless of win or loss
• Net effect is it's MUCH easier to get tier 4 in
rounds 4-7
We tried to avoid full save rounds.
• 1) they aren't that fun for the full savers. You
almost always lose that round, though it's fun
when you do win it.
• 2) With 7 rounds, completely giving up a round is
hard to come back from
So often saves in Spectre are heavy armor + tier 1 (which is our goal)
You have more of a chance in these rounds which is great, but the team that is $ ahead still has a power level bonus
If you lose round 1, you should buy round 2. Again, with 7 rounds, you don't really have a round to give. We also didn't want pistol round to determine the whole match, so your econs are actually pretty close round 2.
In my experience, this is the hardest change from cs/val economies for people to internalize. Said another way, long term econ advantage is less valuable, as you reduce the number of rounds needed to win. Would you full save round 2 if it was first to 3? This has an interaction with the round 4+ Economy Surge which means the long term econ advantage you're saving for doesn't actually last that long, because in round 4 it's much easier to get tier 4.
The round 4 $900 econ surge is there to create some weapon power growth in the match which wouldn't exist in 7 rounds.
Said another way, in rounds 2 & 3, you should be in tiers 1-3 and round 4+ you should be dabbling in tier 4
If we lowered the price of tier 4 and got rid of economy surge, you would rarely interact with the lower tier weapons, which misses on the goal of having players master a diverse set of weapons
So play to win in rounds 1-3 and then rounds 4+ you should save around getting tier 4 + heavy armor.
There's a lot of nuance in what to buy within this framework. You can trade off a higher tier for more utility. You can also trade off higher tier weapon for split buying an ally and getting them tier 4 in round 3 and having 2 lower tier allies, but that takes coordination
How much $ you carry over each round based on deaths also influences the flow a lot. So even if you lose rounds, make sure you kill as many enemies as possible to tax 'em!
Hope that helps and gives some of the design thinking as well!