I actually like that thought. the question is if its hard to implement/ much time would be needed to do so, but the general idea sounds definately interesting.

maybe I was just influenced by the close encouters games I had the past few days. good points you made, I did forget a bit that while all of its abilites are very nice you do have to decide what you are going for and can't have all.

one thing to note though: the resource abundance need not stay that way. a few players have remarked that the change to the infinite model has created rather too many resources so that a small drop off isn't noticed as strongly. maybe we see a change there wich makes mid-game embarge more of an effect on the economy. then we will see if its still balanced.

you know, when I read through my post and then the suggestion from dthif 1980 I saw that a lot of my arguments are based on the embargo ability. which of course draws punch away from raw power. but that distance related siphoning would be an interesting nerf.

First post, so go easy on me. First of all, I enjoy the game and believe it can be a truly great game if a few things are changed/added. I haven't really had a lot of time to search out any lists of known coming improvements or already made suggestions, so prepare for a list which includes stuff already mentioned by others:

- Diplomacy: Galactic Civilizations, need I say more? The diplomacy system as it stands now is utterly useless (other than the black market and bounties, that is) when dealing with AI opponents & allies. Unsatisfactory, I really hope something is in the works .

- AI: I've played 3 games. Or rather, I haven't, because I've quit each game due to the fact that even on hard, there simply isn't enough resistance after the inital skirmishes. Yes, I'm a RTS and GC veteran, but I shouldn't be able to fend off my opponents so easily. I suspect that this is an effect of the economy system, which is my next point.

- Economy: Foundamentally, I enjoy the way the economy works in the game, especially in the early phases of the game where you are continually scambling for resources and really have to be selective when using them. Unfortunately, midgame (pretty much literally when you are half-way through all the research options) you end up with a ton of resources. A way to handle this would be to increase the amount of logistic points trade ports and orbital refineries require, so you can't have so many. The fact that you can build up an almost infinte amount of resources, will not only ensure stalemates so drawn out that the fun factor is diminished, but also means that economic superiority automatically means military superiority. It's way to easy to spam units and steamroll over the enemy. This leads me to another point.

- Jump lanes: I understand why they are needed, the game would probably be too messy for many if they weren't there (especially given the 3D nature of the game). But they have clear drawbacks. First of all, they make true raiding pretty much impossible. It's not even a matter of predicting from where your opponent will be coming - you already know it. And if you've reseached the right technology, you'll have had plenty of time to prepare and send reinforcements. My experience so far, have been that it's way too easy to build up defences and thereby not only invalidate raiding, but also flanking (on a strategical scale). This is serious given the fact that when coupled with the nature of the games economy, it seems to be rather impossible to turn the tide after the initial skirmishes. Overall, I dislike the absolute importance the current system give the planets/astroids which are by nature contested by both parties. Once these gateway planet are fortified by a competent opponent, the outcome of the game is decided. And this will often be a good deal of time before the actual game ends. When it comes to possible ways to change this, two possible methods comes to mind:

1. Keep the jump lane system intact as it is, but allow free movement of the ships in space as well. The speed of this movement will, however, naturally be far lower than when using the jump lanes. This will allow players to circumvent the well designed death traps that fortified gateway planets often become. Non-jump movement should be undetectable until within a certain range of a planet.

2. Jump range instead of jump lanes. Jumping from "empty" space could however require far more time to "load" than a jump from a planet.

- Empire Tree: It's too hard to distinguish the different ship icons, especially when your player color is one of the darker ones. Additionally, I would like the option to hide factories, extractors etc. from it.

- Gauss Platforms: I generally use auto-place, since the placement of most buildings simply doesn't matter. The exception is the Gauss platforms, which often is placed rather poorly. The fact is that I would greatly perfer if the platforms were able to move (albeit very slowly) so you could replace them according to the most imminent threat.

That was all for now, but let me just make it clear that I very much enjoy the game as it is, it could, however, be better (but what couldn't?).

I actually wouldn't mind having a tug to move the stationary structures really slowly to another position. Seeing as they are in a gravity well, they really shouldn't be stationary in the first place. Make the tug a weak one-ship-per-system thing like the constructors and you won't be able to mass shift your defences as there suddenly comes an attack from an unexpected direction.

Someone may have mentioned this I haven’t read the entire 5 pages of comments.

Terran, Protoss, Zerg anyone?

I think Starcraft created completely different play styles and has yet to be matched by any other game to date. I would hope to see something similar in Sins. It’s a very basic formula

Terran: adaptable, colonise anywhere, relatively balanced units able to hold their own in most situations.

Protoss: very few expensive and powerful units but very dependant on upgrades and infrastructure to fully realise their power. Also colonising a new area is difficult (pylon dependency)

Zerg: the swarm, cheap mass produced units that do little or no damage to anything unless used on mass…..seriously on mass! Colonising a new area is also a slight pain as is building up to a level where u can create a swarm.

I’d like to see something similar in sins. Seen the screens/videos of Starcraft 2 and was very disappointed. I wanted the game to go epic but they have stuck with old formula of small armies (if u can call them that) and small scale battles. Sins has potential to really create different play styles depending on who u choose. Based on the betas it doesn’t look promising tho.

Am I the only one who feels this tried and tested Adaptable/Powerful/Mass formula works?

it has been debated a lot when the vasari got released. I'd suggest you type vasari in the search engine and also read some of the pages in this thread.

to give you a short summary: yes, it has been mentioned numerous times that the vasari - the technologically superior race - should get stronger, but fewer ships, etc etc.

I'd say the formula worked nicely for sc, but in the end I'm not unhappy about sins going a different way. I won't repeat any of my statements, I said everything I entended to say. that said, in the end you will likely see the tec putting more emphasis on mass production whereas vasari will rely more on mobility and fast strikes, so some of what you asked is there.

Sure, it works. But its old and boring. Sins is going with a new approach. So far we have the economically potent TEC, the highly mobile Vasari, and we're still guessing what the Advent are going to be... I'm hoping that they focus on being powerful by, for want of better phrasing, messing around with the enemy.

Having just started playing this gaem, I have noticed some significant differences when playing TEC and Vasari. I'll grant you that the differences could be greater, but especially late game, the two races really come into their own. I have learned the ways of the phase gate and I LOVE it! Here's a thought though, since culture spreads across phase lines, why not have direct cultural spread between two planets with phase gates? Instead of having a planet 4 jumps away from a world with a broadcast center have culture need to go through three planets in between, have it directly move along the artificial phase lane created by the phase gates. Perhaps you could make it move slower to lessen the advantage a bit, but it makes logical sense. If culture move along natural phase lines, why not artificial ones? You guys have any feedback on this idea, good? bad? ugly? awesome? Thanks.

BTW, the Sova "Embargo" ability's autocast logic needs a new check or two: "IsPlanetInhabited" and "IsPlanetHostile". Unless both are true, you really don't want to hit the "embargo" button, methinks. And I'm getting tired of having my Sova's spam the embargo ability inside my own system...

Speaking of the pirate base, I would definitly add the same "Asteroid field" type of sector to theirs. They have a base built on an asteroid, with nothing else in their sector. Eye-candy for sure, but it makes sense, me thinks.

And, any chance to have a pirate base randomly placed?

EDIT: or an option to make the pirate base random? Just a thought

I personally like the idea of asteroid field based pirates.

I would also like to see pirates patrolling the stars gravity well in search of merchants taking shortcuts.

*sacrifices eet in a pagan ritual to the IC gods to see this feature in release*

I have a hunch it's in the works, though. A lot of people have mentioned patrol routes before..