The Vodyani have the ability to move their Arks between systems, allowing them to build up a colony in one system and then relocate it to another. However, they rarely actually have a reason to do this; typically, once they anchor in a high quality system, it's better to build a new Ark and expand rather than relocate the existing Ark. The result is that the race largely plays like any other: colonize the highest quality systems available and stay there all game long. I've long felt like there should be a good reason or motivation for the Vodyani to take advantage of their race's mobility.


The Cravers have the reason to move systems because their depletion mechanic makes systems undesireable once all the planets are depleted. However, even though they might want to move that colony to another system that is not yet depleted, they don't have the means of doing so. Vacating a system gives them a colony ship but the colony it founds has no benefit over a fresh colony ship. I've long felt like the Cravers should have a mechanic that lets them move their systems to new, undepleted systems, leaving a void of depleted systems in their wake.

Thus, it seems like there's a game mechanic synnergy between Vodyani Ark mobility and Craver planet depletion, and therefore I propose changes to these races to create that synnergy; I think this would enhance both races.

Vodyani:

The Voyani aspire to the virtual endless: they have no interest in preserving the material universe. They strip away resources in their drive to ascension, with no concern to the devastation they leave behind. They move from system to system, absorbing the essence of worlds, leaving nothing but husks in their wake.

Voyani gain the Craver depletion mechanic. Their citizens apply depletion points to planets and gain considerably more resources until planets are depleted. Once they are depleted, resource gain drops precariously.


Voyani gain the ability to build wonders in their Arks, so they can move wonders. If an enemy empire destroys an Ark with a wonder, it crashes on the nearest habitable system and that system becomes a colony under the attacker's control, including the wonder and any buildings the Vodyani built. In order to recover their Ark, the Vodyani must invade the planet; doing so restores the Ark to its mobile function. This allows Voyani to move wonders but also allows other empires to capture wonders.

Cravers:

Cravers are a biological weapon, created for destruction. They are, however, unfit to carry out tasks other than battle, so enslave the victims of worlds they conquer to build their empire for them. The new Craver design focuses on slavery rather than depletion, building up populations of foreign citizens to power their war machine. They have to carefully manage their own populations, leaving behind enough slavers to keep their new subjects under control, while also moving their troops up to the front.

Craver pops produce -50% FIDS, but +5 Influence. Cravers don't grow as normal; they have to be "incubated/matured" (produced like Riftborn) by spending empire Manpower. They can also be turned into manpower (Chain Gang only converts Cravers). This makes manpower management critical for Cravers, as they move populations between military and slaver roles.


Non-Craver pops are slaves, producing +2 FIDS in addition to their normal production bonus, but produce no influence. Slaves do not contribute to unhappiness and gain no happiness bonuses (they are always content). They continue to grow as normal, potentially outgrowing the Cravers...


1 Craver can keep 3 slaves in line. If the slave-to-Craver population exceeds 3 to 1, the slaves begin to rebel, with a rebellion forming faster the greater the population difference. If a rebellion succeeds, the system becomes independant and all Craver pops are killed off.

Conclusion:

This would make Vodyani the system-moving race I always felt they should be, and makes Cravers a slavery-focused race that can potentially manage enormous empires of slaves, but poor management of their rapidly expanding empire could easily lead to slave revolts tearing them apart from within. Both mechanics would be more interesting to play for their respective races.