Feeding thy Cognitive Beast

Big Fan of this series and hopefully by adding my 2cents will add some depth to this impressive (to be) title.

(I kept quiet during the beta of fallen enchantress and while it is a great game I fundamentally feel like the depth is missing and its just faceless cookie cutter 4x factions battling it out with a few variances in stats/appearance)

That being said and out of the way onto the ideas...

Give a purpose to Dead planets/gas planets/uninhabitable planets.
- Space stations could "Harvest" from dead planets increasing production,
- Could be used for Research worlds where dangerous research can be conducted safely
- Gas giants could be optimized to give move speed bonuses
- Defensive military bases (Has the capability to deploy a shield to protect other planets in solar system requiring this planet to be either destroying/invaded)
Diversify the races (Buildings/research paths), in terms of simplicity I understand the need that factories/research/commerce/farms can all be cookie cutter designs and copy pasted across the factions, however unique faction buildings with unique effects will help give a diverse approach to each race. (Separate from the alignment path or intertwined with it.
Research Tree Divergent Paths, add more depth the decisions you make, that +10 Manufacturing you just researched also upset the population due to less time with family, no immediate effect, but 20 turns later when you go to the next level of factory you have an event where your population rebels bringing up an opportunity for another alignment choice etc.
Cookie cutter weapon/defense paths, Yes this is Alpha, but for the future could it possibly be implemented that certain races excel with certain types?
- Humans specialize in shields which give bonuses in armour as well
- Drengin research unlocks weapons that do both Missile and kinetic damage, but general distaste for less brutal lasers leads to research/production penalties for that etc (There could be hundreds of different ways to balance such things)
- [Insert Generic Race here] For each point in each defense slot adds one point to the hull.
- [Insert Generic Race here] Damage done with laser weapons transfers damaged components into raw material to repair the hull (Yor)
- [Insert Generic Race here] Damage done with Missile weapons concuss the enemy crew lowering there weapon rating
So many different options that could be explored its alpha right?
Initial Survey Ship Invariably Turns into an amazing "Flagship" yet can be so easily lost in the early stages of the game, introduce the possibility of recovering the crew/wreckage so you can remake the ship with bonuses intact (Minor RPG elements, more experienced crews should innately perform better than fresh out of the dock right?)
When we finally see what invasions are, I do hope to see some good old tactical battles on the ground. (30billion vs 30 billion not just a single tactical option to decide the battle how about an ongoing "Siege" so entire planetary systems are not lost as the result of a single fast transport sneaking in to an undefended planet, give the defenders and attackers more opportunity to respond appropriately)

Look forward to seeing where this game is going

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ElanaAhova

Join Date 09/2008

+105

excellent ideas!

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Thanks

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peregrine23

Join Date 02/2007

+79

I like the way you're thinking, though I think I disagree on many of the specifics.

1) Seems like a lot of what you (and many others) have suggested for dead planets are either covered by asteroids or starbases. I personally like the useless planets. For me it helps the feel of the game because it makes the habitable planets seem that much more special when you find them. That being said, I think that some dead planets will be incorporated into the strategic resource system they will be introducing. I understand that most other people don't like having those useless tiles, but I think that it is important that if they do decide to make them usable, they add something to the game and aren't just redundant of other mechanics already in the game.

2) Really like this idea and pretty sure they have already said that races will have different tech trees.

3) By divergent paths do you mean multiple ways to get the same tech? If so I like the idea, though Stardock has traditionally had very linear tech trees, allowing you to deeply specialize if you want. This is one of those areas where I think that there is a balance that needs to be struck between making the tech tree seem a little more interesting and keeping the feel of GalCiv. As to certain techs triggering events, the basically said in the stream on Friday that they are interested in that type of thing, but it will depend on how much time they end up having to create events. On the bright side, they also said that events will be moddable so players can create and share their own, and based on the way they've handled FE DLC, I would guess that and Events pack would be a very likely release.

4) Weapon specialization sounds very interesting and could be very cool.

5) Remember that at some point you won't start off at war with everyone else, which will help the safety of your survey ship. I also like the balance with the survey that you want it to explore, but if you over extend there are consequences. That being said, I do like the idea of salvage. Every combat could leave some behind, and special salvage ships could collect resources, credits, and maybe even foreign tech.

6) While I do think that invasions should be a little more interesting that in GalCiv II, I don't think full-scale tactical combat a-la FE or Total War or something is a good fit for this game. Invasions still need to be fast and largely based on tech and numbers rather than player skill in order to keep the focus on the larger galaxy-wide game.

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Its more the fact that dead/useless planets are everywhere, habitable planets will always special (Not in the Kid talking to walls kind of way)
We have a whole galaxy/universe to control, why not make use of all the resources. (Plus a little details like knowing why its a dead planet, weak gravity, young planet, unstable crust, meteor impacts.
Starbases and Asteroids do fill a similar function, so perhaps it would be easier to incorporate the planetary terraforming because of such things?
By Divergent paths for research trees take away/add more paths for each races tech trees, tie it in with unique buildings/features for each race, making huge leaps in differences and versatility adds replay value.
The survey ship always seems to collect bonuses that will benefit a fleet rather than itself, there is the huge risk vs reward factor but it would be nice to see the system they have there expanded on.

The survey system almost seems like a space based hero system with the debris/junk you find neutral mob camps, you get experience/random bonuses that can make it into a powerhouse later on, this has rolled right through all the galactic civ games thus far, I little more in depth into this side of things could lead to interesting fleet warfare with this survey ship being a lead attack ship.
(It does drone on a little when you do not care about the tens of thousands of ships/lives you are sacrificing in war, if there is a ship you actually work towards improving other than just raw technology/number advances can add more interest)
Not necessarily saying full scale tactical combat, merely a system where planets are not conquered in one turn, perhaps depending on the planetary defense a countdown untill the invasion is successful as they conquer the planet piece by piece, (With the invasion timer being decreased by the appropriate abilities used, orbitals/gas/asteroids/tides etc while increased by population level/defense/bunkers etc)
Thinking of another idea that could be interesting for war/trade/diplomacy

Linked planets, all planets have the "link" to the homeworld, this is how all the revenue is stored/shared (Money, Knowledge, Materials)
Blockading this link makes planets cut off weaker and easier to invade, while also stopping the Research/Money/Trade from that planet,
Non combat feature so can be used like an enforced embargo with combat ships blocking the "Link"
Just throwing ideas around that could add more depth
Its fun and all sending fleets out blowing everything up around the galaxy but galactic intrigue is everywhere and creating more is the merrier

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