DistantWorlds has racial based victory conditions that adds a nice roleplay element to the game.



The Ascension victory would be to become a Virtual one would think.

personally, I feel like there shouldn't be a selection of victory goal preset by the game, felt like it shoul be one that I can select one for myself



Or... the alternative...



is that you have ALL of the victories... one at a time? if there is continuation after victory?

3 Suggestions:



Race to the centre (king of the hill) - hold the centre of the galaxy for x number of turns (opportunity to result in an alliance between all opposing factions to knock the holder off). Potential to have a spin off based on Galaxy, e.g. control the ends of each spiral arm.



Homeworld - Destruction of homeworld wipes out the player (remaining forces turn to pirates).. shorter time game than military. (Can also have a massive civilian ship instead of a planet)



Wonder - Build and hold a "wonder" than costs a vast amount of resources and takes a long time to build. (can put restrictions on where it can be built e.g. not at the end on a spiral arm.)



Acient Artifacts - a set number of planets have acient artifacts, once the planet is colonised the secrets of the artifact can be unlocked through research. Collect all the artifacts to gain the power of the acients and win.

Sharidann wrote:
The problem is that at the end of the day, if you don't have the military might or diplomatic skills to keep your systems from being invaded, you can't really win.

Hence the way we usually consider military win as the classic option.

Yes agreed, and so this is why you must not neglect anything. To add, the classic military victory, most often can't happen without sound economic and social attention. Also research. Diplomacy may not be needed but it can aid all of those things.



I guess the question is what do you want your military victory to be - completely take over the Galaxy or Just be the most dominant by a factor?

So I'm thinking multiple play types. I love the idea of a settings option as you begin a new game or phase and see:

1. Diplomatic a. upheval [you face a near nationless land its populous occupied by quarreling groups seaking leadership (hero?) b. brink [on the brink of war you negotiate peace between two factions to best lead both c. campaign the populus needs leadership and they're voting.

2. military a. space only

b. space and land

3. economic a.depression a poor econemy ready for a leader to lift it b.industral revolution emergant tech your developing gives you the edge over your competition c. captains of industry your competitors own almost everything start saving and purchase wisely

4.developmental a. build to certain parameters

5.Overall victory a. you win based on points from a list of statistics

The problem is that at the end of the day, if you don't have the military might or diplomatic skills to keep your systems from being invaded, you can't really win.

Hence the way we usually consider military win as the classic option.

I wouldn't mind seeing an overall points victory where each of the categories - Diplomatic, Economic & population happiness give you a certain amount of points each. You could also include territory covered / systems owned. Something like an overall dominance victory if possible.

Economic victory is something id like to see as well. The prospect of buying the entire galaxy off is just too intriguing.

Resource monopoly by holding over a certain amount of the availble strategic resources for a certain number of rounds would be awesome.

Espionage victory by assassination of several key elements or the likes.



The possibilities are endless (pun intended)

I actually consider the Military option alone to be 'cheap'. It seems undeserving of the word 'strategy' to point and go 'bang bang' (or in space terms 'pew pew')



Though I admit I will readily blow something up (and viscerally enjoy it), I find the satisfaction from defeating a foe with a variety of tools to be greater and more likely to bring me back for more again and again. "What if I did it /this/ way... ooh! what about /that/?!"



I mean if it's just big guns then nothing but an arms race will ensue every game. I'm sure that's been done well and done to death a dozen times now.

An option to pick how to win would be cool. A scenario based victory that is randomly picked at the start game will also make it interesting!

scenario for the win! different possiblities each time you play!

I've been wondering what kind ofconditions for taking over enemy worlds you guys were planning to include in the game. Will it be possible to take over nearby planets via cultural influence (as in, getting them to defect to your empire because they like you more than their own ruler?) Will we be able to talk other empires into selling us their planets, and will we be able to let our species ascend to a higher plane of existance (or something to that effect)?

Annex wrote:
Military victory is the only mode ive ever played in any such game. All the rest seem "cheap".

Winning by espionage, diplomacy or technology isn't very cheap since you have to (as for the military approach...) work towards it from the start. The choice of race, abilities and technologies depends on your final goal.

If you choose someone with hardly any fighting power but superior diplomatic skills, you surely would prefer to be the nice guy and let others get their skulls bashed for you.

Military victory is the only mode ive ever played in any such game. All the rest seem "cheap".

It seems to me Ascension in this game's context would be something along the lines of maximizing the full potential of the Dust... I daresay even to the point of being able to create it like the Endless did.



At this point it would be pointless to continue coexisting with mere mortals when you can simply snap your fingers AND THE GALAXIES SHALL KNEEL AT YOUR FEET PAYING HOMAGE TO YOUR SUPER AWESOME HOLY DUSTINESS!!



On another note I vote for an Economic victory of some kind... otherwise what is the point of being a Mercantile United spacejarhead? we all know real wars are fought with economics (boring i know perhaps but... ). Someone has to pay for all those Bounty Hunters... oh wait i'm going back into my Espionage train of thought again.

Sharidann wrote:
I agree that race specific victory conditions make sense, given the richness of the background for the game.

I agree, but perhaps we should brainstorm a bit and find some examples of specific victory conditions.



Just take e.g. the harmony:

SpaceTroll wrote:
Side note: The Harmony



The Harmony consists essentially of conscious crystalline mineral structures. There are several characteristics that differentiate The Harmony from other forms of life:

1. It is possible that they pre-date the Endless. However, as they live in the voids between stars there has been little organized study of the species.

2. As they are mineral, it is difficult to categorize them in terms of traditional definitions of "life." It should be said, however, that they appear to think, respond to stimuli, and move. Their ability to reproduce is unknown.

3. They are largely indifferent to other life forms, as they do not compete for the same resources. They are more a force of nature than a conscious race that other sentient beings can interact with.

4. Their goal and purpose, as nearly as we can tell, seems to be religious. What little communication has been done with them seems to indicate that they are seeking the "Core" of the universe; a place where the great resonating frequencies of stars, planets, matter, and energy chime in an apparently perfect harmony.

The evolution of the factions

Aside from the mystery of The Harmony, many millennia have passed since the time of the Endless and many races now have the ability to step across the great distances of space. It is inevitable that some of them meet up, for this corner of the universe is rich in stars, systems, and possibilities.

Point 4 gives a very interesting special victory through exploration. Find that one goddamn point with perfect harmony.

Could on the other hand also be a kind of scientific victory to build a vessel capable of traveling to that point.

You could also make that a multistep quest-chain. Perhaps the endless made a vessel capable of this, but another empire finds it first so you have to capture it, research it, find lost parts etc.



The possibilities are basically endless...

I personally like the idea a lot, what with being a fan of transhumanism and all ^_^ I'd like to see it included it in the game because it's fairly hard to find good 4x games that let you pull this off.



And I wholeheartedly agree on the race- specific victorx conditions.

Personally, I hate "Assension" type victories. But that's because I hate the concept of tecnologicly ascending..

I agree that race specific victory conditions make sense, given the richness of the background for the game.

Race specific victory conditions. Not sure what those might be, but it might be anything like waging war for some time, accumulating enough dust, trading and research. Those should be complex, not just 'conquer 10 planets' or 'research 25 techs'.



A 'defeat an ultimate threat' condition in MOO2 was only available for player. AIs didn`t bother to achieve this. The idea is nice, but what kind of menace could be introduced into the game? Perhaps Endless themselves...



Diplomatic victory in MOO2 lacked any possibilities to force/buy other player`s voice (only AIs could demand you to vote for them by threatening to go at war with you). So if such a victory condition will be present - it must have multiple approaches to get someone`s voice (bribery, threat, espionage etc.)

Agreed, I should've chosen the topic title more carefully. And those all sound very nice.

Nightraid wrote:
Will it be possible to take over nearby planets via cultural influence (as in, getting them to defect to your empire because they like you more than their own ruler?)

You mean like in Civilisation? Might be interesting, but I don't really see the "victory condition", there.

Nightraid wrote:
Will we be able to talk other empires into selling us their planets[...]

Same thing, they probably won't sell their homeworld.



Do you mean a kind of cultural victory by getting most races to like your culture more than theirs?

Or do you mean some kind of economic victory, where you basically own everyones' planets as the victory condition?

Nightraid wrote:
[...] and will we be able to let our species ascend to a higher plane of existance (or something to that effect)?

Okay, that might be a victory condition. Like in Alpha Centauri, you mean? Would probably be the tech victory, then.



Well, just to add a few other possibilities:

There could be a diplomatic victory like in MOO2, where you get yourself elected as supreme leader of everyone.

The good old direct military victory by conquering everything.

An indirect military victory by destroying some kind of common foe like the Antarans in MOO2.



I honestly think that this should rather be asked in a multiple choice poll for kinds of victory conditions desired by the community.