Galanthein wrote:

Hum not sure one-shot bonuses, as powerfull as they may be, could replace an embedded mechanic

Sotnik wrote:

That could also can be implemented in a form of temporary mid/late game competitive quests. 

Hum not sure one-shot quest bonus (by definition unique to the winner and considered as bonuses), as powerfull as they may be, could replace an embedded mechanic (something you build from many turns with consequences on later turns)

I proposed an addition, not a replacement :). We will hopefully have a lot of quests anyway. And it will be better if a quest doesn't only enhance lore/immersion but also contributes to the balance of some mechanics.

Tssha wrote:

Giving the player a good reason to go over their territory again to look for stuff they missed the first time around (because better scanners/galactic events) would give players a great way to explore the galaxy in the late game, and thus keep their exploration ships (with probes) useful in the late game (instead of in mothballs in a hangar).

That could also can be implemented in a form of temporary mid/late game competitive quests. Something like:

"A huge meteor is detected on its way to a star, soon to collide. After a brief scanning it turns out that the celestial body was one of many victims of the infamous insane Sophon known as "Meteor Hater". It seems that he was performing numerous sophisticated experiments which he presumably perceived as "violent" to this piece of minerals and now it is time for execution. Despite all the oddity of the situation, hidden property and results of his experiments may be useful provided that measures are timely assumed". 

Technical objective: 5 curiosities are detected at X (if curiosities are bound to planets, it may be reasonable to exclude res. deposits/anomalies). Scan them within 5 turns before they disappear. Reward: the starship used as a drive for the meteor (in addition to direct results of scanning).

Next, GDD n°3 - Galaxy & Exploration!

Like in the first GDD update you'll find a summary of how the Early Version is doing at the end of the post

Rationale

We want the galaxy to impress the player at every game and make them feel like a space explorer. The galaxy generation and the exploration systems are going to work together to provide this feeling.

Discovering systems, sending probes into nowhere, gambling by sending a ship on a cosmic string that leads into the unknown... All of these actions need to involve the player emotionally and get him thrilled as there is no certainty of what to find in the end.

GALAXY ANATOMY

The Constellations

A constellation is a group of star systems, which provides bonuses once it’s possessed by an empire. It can be compared to the continent in the board game Risk.

As with regions in Endless Legend, we’re going to display the name of the constellation when zooming out in the galaxy view.

The constellation’s name will be displayed once the player explored it in its entirety, and the first who revealed the whole constellation is considered as the explorer of the constellation. The players name is going to be displayed below the constellation’s name and next to the date of the discovery of the last system.

The second step is when an empire owns all the systems in a constellation: it immediately provides a bonus to all the systems within the constellation. This bonus depends on the quantity of systems within the constellation, and is always displayed below the constellation’s name. Moreover, owning a constellation colors its name into the player’s color.

The Nodes

The nodes are a central part of the game, where interactions occur and where the fleets can stop and orbit in order to interact with each other.

In Endless Space we only have star systems as nodes, which were necessarily linked by cosmic strings or wormholes. But in Endless Space 2 we want to improve the diversity by having different types of nodes:

• With sub-node [“Systems”]: they contain colonizable elements even if there can be different types, listed below. The type is going to affect the content probability, but the node can be colonised and owned by someone. Moreover, systems can contain planets like in ES 1.
• Without sub-node ["Special Node"]: they bring some variety and can have a positive effect on the empire which has them within their territory but their main goal is to force empires to be scattered sometimes by having non colonisable links, and to be used by quests.
  
  

We don’t use the term Star System as some systems won’t have star. Here is the list of types we have planned:

• Star System: a classic star system.
• Black hole: sometimes with planets? (even if unrealistic). Fleets can orbit and might be used for teleporting.
• None: the content is in middle of nowhere.
  
  

Then we also want to work on the connectivity and the lack of connectivity; being connected thanks to a cosmic string (lane) or wormhole won’t be mandatory anymore, and the chance will depend on the type of nodes.

The Lanes

In Endless Space we had two types of lanes:

• Normal lane: they can be used by any ship since the beginning. In Endless Space, we showed the lane linking a node to its neighbor. However in Endless Space 2, you only see in which direction the lanes go but not where they lead (and by extension, not how far away it is).
• Wormhole: they require a specific technology / engine to be crossed. Before having the technology, wormholes won’t be visible. Then, as in Endless Space 1, crossing a wormhole will be instant but will consume all the movement points by default. We can however have improvements to lower the ratio of consumed movement points.
  
  

In addition to these types, we want to add new ones, such as the one below. Feel free to suggest more!

• Black lane: this lane is like a normal lane except that it becomes visible only when the player has visited both extremities. It thus forces the use of free movement before being able to travel faster from one system to another thanks to warp movements.
  
  

Planet Generation

We want to improve the variety of planets compared to Endless Space. to do that, we’re going to generate planets from different parameters. Thus, we’ll be able to affect the economy using these parameters instead of referring to a list of planet types. I.e. referring to “temperate” planets instead of listing “Rocky, Terran, Forest and Ocean”.

The different parameters are:

• The size of a planet (tiny, small, medium, large or huge)
• The planet type (terran, ocean, lava, gas, desert etc...)
• One gameplay modifier that correspond to the main attribute of the planet type (ocean is wet, desert is dry, lava is hot etc...)
  
  

Each parameter is defined, based on a random probability given by the game options, and the type of star around which the planet is orbiting. 

These parameters define the identity of the planet: the gameplay elements can refer to these attributes. Then, in order to spice it up, a planet can receive from 0 to X anomalies. The constraint for the anomalies differs for gas and telluric planets, but there is a common rule:

• For a specific category of anomalies, there can only be one anomaly.
  
  

Anomalies & Temples

Anomalies

The anomalies are still here to modify the default parameters of a planet and make planets feel more unique! As we really want all the planets to feel different, a planet can have up to three anomalies! We want them to have visual consequences on the planet as much as possible.

In order to reinforce the feeling of exploration, we want the anomaly to be hidden at first. In order to be aware of their existence, the player needs either to colonize the planet or to search for the curiosity on the planets (as explained in the Curiosity section).

As in Endless Space 1, there are:

• Positive anomalies: only provide bonuses.
• Mixed anomalies: provide both bonuses and a penalty (the most common).
• Negative anomalies: only provide penalties.
  
  

The anomaly can be improved when the related technology is researched, in order to remove their penalties. Improving an anomaly is going to cost resources (production, luxury, strategic, etc.) and be materialized as an improvement.

Temple Collection

Temples are in a specific anomaly category and provide an additional bonus based on how many temples the Empire controls. Temples are split into families giving a specific bonus to a star system.

By completing a family, the bonus of the temples are then applied at the empire’s scale. In addition, when a Temple is discovered, it automatically reveals to the player the position of another temple of the same family.

With this system we thus create a treasure hunt through the galaxy and can influence people to negotiate specific star systems because they want to complete their temple’s family.

Home systems

As in Endless Space, the chosen affinity and the population you’re going to play with will override the home system parameters. In addition, some traits can complete the override and make it more specific.

Minor Factions

A GDD will be dedicated to them, but shortly, they will be spawned across the galaxy on different systems, in which the player will be able to interact with them.

When placed in a system, they will inhabit a specific planet at first, and develop their colony over the course of the game. In addition, they will act as the pirates and create an early challenge for the player.

EXPLORING THE UNIVERSE

Discovery of a new system

As we want the player to enjoy exploration, the discovery of a new node is going to be staged. There are three ways of discovering a new node:

• Thanks to a fleet: fleets always move towards a node. A fleet, upon reaching a node discovers it immediately, revealing other lanes leaving the system, but without knowing where they lead.
• Thanks to probes: probes travel freely through space. When the vision range of a probe overlaps a node it reveals it; depending on the probes quality, it will however either just be localized (you know there is a node here) or identified (you know what kind of node it is). But to know which lanes are connected to it, the player needs to send a fleet.
• Thanks to an event or quest: the state of the node will depend on the events; some will give full info and others just the localization.
  
  

Curiosity System

Once a node is discovered, the player enters another phase of exploration, through the curiosity system. The idea is to place several curiosities within the different nodes that can be discovered by fleet equipped with a probe module.

A curiosity can be:

• Loot: anything from gaining Dust to gaining ships, and everything in-between.
• A quest / event: it can trigger a quest or an event either affecting the player’s empire, the system where it occurs, or the fleet which searched the curiosity.
• An anomaly: one of the hidden anomalies of the planet is unveiled.
• Strategig or Luxury resources along with maybe discovering a deposit.

Curiosities need to be investigated by launching probes on the planet from orbit: probes are consumables that will recharge over time. Some curiosities are automatically revealed when colonizing like the planetary anomalies.

Renewing Exploration

As we want the player to keep exploring all over the course of the game, some nodes and lane are going to have visibility levels.

At the beginning of the game, the player can only see the elements with a visibility level equal to 1. Then, thanks to technologies, it will unlock higher visibility levels, revealing hidden lanes, nodes or even curiosities by increasing the detection level of the empire’s entity.

Moreover, some nodes can be undiscoverable and kept secret by the game as they can be attached to a specific quests or events, meaning that until the quest / events occurs, the node won’t be visible by anyone!

Maybe this system could be expanded to manage stealth units?

HOW'S THE EARLY ACCESS VERSION ON THIS ASPECT?

The Constellations

• In the Early Access version of the game, owning all the systems within a constellation has no effect.

The Nodes

• The Early Access version of the game doesn't have "Black Hole"

Temple Collection

• Temples are not in the Early Access version of the game

Renewing the exploration

• In the Early Access version, visibility levels are not fully implemented; however, there are researchable probe levels to discover more powerful curiosities that aren't available right away.