Remember guys, this is a discussion about what basically comes down to adding fluff to the gameplay. Actually changing around the gameplay itself is by this point reserved for an expansion pack, not future updates. On that note, most of the suggestions so far have been reasonable, and indeed I'm going to be echoing quite a few of them.



1) Engaging Diplomatic Interaction: In the current game, diplomacy between races feels more like you're talking to a computer than another species of sentient organisms. While this may not be a bad thing for the Sowers, it does make diplomacy rather dull. I think GalCiv2 did it best where races would reply to offers in a style befitting them, and more recently Civ5 is another example. Instead of the AI simply replying with 'This deal is unacceptable to us,' how about they respond with the flavour of their race. Here are some examples I thought up on the spot for the AI refusing an offer from a player:



Hissho: "I will not sully the honour of my clan by accepting such a mad proposal. Begone!"



Sowers: "This treaty cannot be added to our current expansion algorithms."



Furthermore, I think an AI opponent should 'greet' the player upon First Contact with, again, racially appropriate dialogue. Even if no diplomatic options are available yet, it would be nice way to introduce a faction.





2) A Living Galaxy: In terms of coding and graphics, this would certainly take the most time so I expect any major overhauls or additions to be in either DLC or an expansion. But getting to the point, the galaxy as it is now is simply...empty. I understand that space is overwhelmingly nothingness, but that makes for dull exploration. Adding neutral/hostile, inhabited systems that can only be taken by invasion would be a great addition. The closest comparison I can draw are the City-states in Civ5, but again that would require a great deal of resources to implement.



I propose instead that these systems be linked to the Pirate faction, or if you prefer them neutral then a separate 'Minor Civilization' faction that functions the same way. These systems could even be defended by small fleets of lower tier vessels, and hold better-than-average planets with small populations already on them . This way, players have incentive to build warships early on for something other than just anti-pirate duty. When not hostile, these Minor Systems could be traded with, so the players have some incentive to build trade-route improvements even if they haven't made extensive contact with other AI races. Having the option to annex these systems peacefully through influence would be a nice addition for later updates.







3) Voice Cues: Having background radio chatter during battles would be a nice addition, but more importantly in my opinion are vocal cues for empire management. Having a soothing voice inform you 'Research complete' or 'System colonized' would go a long way in immersing a player. The current audio cues are nice, but the complete lack of voice-work makes the galaxy and by extension the game feel very devoid of life.





4) More, Less Extreme Events: One of the best things in games by Paradox Interactive is that scarcely an in-game day goes by without some event occurring, so the player is constantly engaged in something even when not at war or in the midst of deep diplomacy/intrigue. While having an event every turn in ES might be a tad extreme, having a minor one every 8-10 turns would be ideal. These events would not be even close to the same calibre of the current events, which can make or break an empire if the timing is especially fortuitous.



Instead, these would be minor happenings in individual systems. For example:



"Explosions and gunfire rocked Delphinus IV today as a radical secessionist insurgency calling themselves the 'Brothers of Freedom' launched several coordinated strikes on key industrial, military, and bureaucratic sectors across the planet. While thousands were killed in the attack, our financial advisers mourn the loss of several decades of accumulated financial and market data." (EFFECTS: -20% dust income on system for 5 turns)



Or



"What was once thought to be a bizarrely symmetrical rocky outcropping on one of our frontier worlds has been revealed to be a small Endless storage cache used by the Concrete faction. The remaining Dust and artifacts contained within have been delicately removed and are already en-route to our homeworld. Unfortunately, the prospecting team that discovered the site had already spent much of the lode on liquor, massages, and enough mittens to see themselves through the next ice age." (EFFECTS: Receive x amount (minimal) of dust, random system receives a 5% boost to science for 10 turns)

Igncom1 wrote:
^I don't think you get the point of the thread buddy.

...er, thanks? I'm not a big fan of being condescended to, though. (Not sure if you intended that, but that's how it came across, at least.)



When I first read through this thread before posting, it wasn't clear to me that gameplay elements which enhanced immersion (or suspension of disbelief, if you like) weren't what was being asked for. Going back, I do see skamaks' post, but I thought these might be considered relevant because they had some explanatory logic behind them, and seemed to be meant to further the logic of the ES universe in addition to improving gameplay. (Especially since no one specifically answered spero42's question as to whether or not the devs were looking only for things that were primarily aesthetic in nature.)



That said, though, if Steph'nie or a mod or other dev team member would like me to edit or delete my post so as not to derail the intended topic, I will of course do so.

It would be nice if the OP further explained what he means by immersive factors. For me, gameplay provides most of the immersion. That being said, more lore/back-story on the races, more heroes, voiced diplomatic ambassadors from alien races, and voiced acknowledgement from fleets (when you move them) would be wonderful.



EDIT: Oh, and have the other factions actually send you messages (other than declarations of war :roll. They should warn you when they think you're expanding too quickly, or building too many ships. They should tell you (if friendly) when they are considering declaring a war on, or alliance with, another party (and maybe even ask for your opinion). In other words, they should legitimately talk to you, instead of raging silently in their little corner.

^I don't think you get the point of the thread buddy.

Alright, so I know it's a lengthy read, and not everything in it will be feasible (or even possible), but I really liked Ganpot's Comprehensive Problem List.



In the interest of spurring discussion, instead of just dropping a link in here and hoping for the best, I've selected the suggestions from his list that I particularly like or found intriguing. In order to cut down on the size of this post, I've cut most of the original explanatory text; see the original thread for more details. (Apologies in advance for the remaining wall-of-text; if the post editor allows spoiler tags, I didn't see it.)

Ganpot wrote:
B. Combat:

1. Weapon types are completely unbalanced.

Suggestion: Either short-range combat needs to happen much more often in end-game battles, or the weapons need to be rebalanced to be effective regardless of distance. That doesn't mean the weapons can't be different from each other. Lasers can inflict small amounts of damage continuously, whereas missiles can offer large damage at longer intervals, with kinetics serving as a medium ground between the two. Lastly, missile volleys need to know how many of them it will take to destroy the ship they are targeting, so that the extra missiles can change targets.



2. Players aren't given enough control during combat (especially automatic combat). I'm not advocating that players control their ships like a typical RTS game. But players need to be forced to actually think about what cards best suit the situation. Right now, there isn't enough variety to the cards, which means most players pick 3 or 4 cards and use them constantly.

Suggestion: Selecting 3 cards at the start of an auto combat match would take mere seconds, while providing a deeper level of strategy. As well, some of the more creative/crazy options need to be represented, like suicide ramming the enemy fleet, using hit-and-run tactics, or lining up in front of the colony itself (so that enemy fleets risk hitting their own colony when they fire upon you).



3. Battlefields are too static. The space combat backgrounds look very pretty, but none of the special effects of the planets or system ever impact the battlefield in a meaningful way. I feel this is a pretty big missed opportunity for some crazy, chaotic fun.

Suggestion: Battlefields should (in pre-defined systems) have comets and asteroids flying through certain areas, potentially decimating fleets if they aren't careful. Other systems should have damaging radiation from pulsars, large gravity wells from black holes (which can trap and destroy/teleport fleets), or a small possible area of conflict due to large planetary bodies (which would promote short-range combat). (Also, please list the battlefield hazards in the battle alert message so that players can react accordingly.)

Ganpot wrote:
C. Exploration:

1. Ships can't move freely (even in end-game). After being confined to single pathways the whole game, being given the freedom to move anywhere on the map sounds amazing. Unfortunately, it's actually a huge let-down.

Suggestion: Allow fleets to be parked at or guided through empty space at will (after the technology is researched). This will allow players to hide their fleets in deep space in order to catch enemies off guard. Also allow ships to fight while going through warp gates (even if only after researching a certain technology) [...] Lastly, movement should be sped up while going through normal space (to make it a more appealing alternative to warp gates).



2. Systems (and their inhabitants) are unknown until a ship is literally in the system (which largely defeats the purpose of scouts). This inevitably means stumbling into a rival's home system and having your ship(s) needlessly destroyed. It also means being repeatedly caught off guard by pirates. Unfortunately, even if you spot enemy ships at your destination, it is usually too late (since ships can't reroute or stop mid-warp).

Suggestion: Allow ships' sensors to see details in nearby systems (like population, improvements, ownership, and present ships).



[...]



4. Not enough space anomalies. One of the main draws of space is its mysteriousness. But unfortunately, the most abnormal thing implemented so far is systems with two stars. Where are the black holes (worm holes don't count), the pulsars, the magnetars? On the planetary level, what about planets which are tidally locked to their sun, or are composed entirely of nano-machines (don't look at me like that). The artwork for existing effects is fantastic, but more variety is rarely a bad thing.

Suggestion: Create more planetary anomalies, and create more exotic systems (with or without colonizable planets).

Ganpot wrote:
D. Empire Management:



[...]



2. Dust (money) improvements cost dust while generating dust. Having improvements to dust generation cost dust to maintain makes them less effective than they should be, which makes trade routes (and converting production to dust) the best means of generating large amounts of money.

Suggestion: Nerf trade routes (after trade agreements), and either get rid of maintenance costs on dust improvements, or improve their positive effects.



[...]



4. Factions continue to move their troops in the beginning of player turns.

Suggestion: Have each enemy move its troops during its own turn (and display those changes before the player's next turn).



5. Ships can only be upgraded by spending a lot of dust (money). There needs to be a way to upgrade ships using industry instead of dust. Otherwise dust becomes too useful.

Suggestion: When ships are in a hangar, allow that system to upgrade those ships. This would take industry away from the current building project in the system for that turn (or multiple turns, depending on how much the ship needs to be upgraded). The industry cost would be calculated by subtracting the modern design's costs by the cost of the ship being upgraded.

Ganpot wrote:
E. Diplomacy:



[...]



4. Everyone always hates everyone else. Computer opponents seem to hate players (and each other) no matter what. [...] There is practically no way to please them. Even a galaxy full of Amoebas faces long and bloody wars (on normal difficulty).

Suggestion: Have the AI act more realistically (I'm aware of how hard that can become). Borders should only be a problem if the other faction starts to take large tracts of space from the other empire (or cuts them off from new colonies). A small military should only lead to a diplomacy penalty with the Hissho, since no one else would really care. Possessing a large empire should make the AI cautious, not hateful. Finally, making pacts or possessing a large military shouldn't displease any empire which already likes you (Warm or Friendly rating).

Ganpot wrote:
G. Misc. (doesn't fit into another category):

1. New settlements take too long to become full colonies in late-game.

Suggestion: Put some techs in the colonization branch which speed up outposts' development into full colonies (three techs which lower the number of turns to 12, 9, and 6 consecutively would be great).



[...]



5. Happiness is too hard to combat (especially mid-game), and isn't caused by the right things. I don't normally advocate completely redoing systems, since doing so usually takes a lot of time and effort. I understand why the happiness system is designed how it is (to prevent rapid over-expansion), but it simply doesn't work well. [...] settling more extreme planets [...] makes logical sense. But there is no logical reason why settling more total colonies would lead people on other worlds to be extremely unhappy/angry. [...] The main problem with expanding rapidly is that by building so many colony ships, your empire cannot also be building up its military. And because colony ships also drain a population point, your empire will be slower to mature (and therefore ripe for invasion by enemies).

Suggestion: Completely scrap unhappiness resulting from expansion, have unhappiness from extreme planets be generated per person on that planet, and give happiness penalties for leaving star systems unprotected, especially while at war (said penalty should only apply if there are no ships within any directly connected system). [Additionalideascutforbrevity;seeoriginalthreadfordetails.]



[...]



7. Ships can get stuck in enemy territory after a cease-fire agreement.

Suggestion: Either have ships only be able to head towards friendly territory through enemy space, or automatically teleport all ships to friendly (or at least neutral) space when a cease-fire is signed.

considering there are endless heroes in the game,



Why not expand on that with a random event ultimatum.



example:



Endless guy appears with a fleet and requests you do this, (declare war on this species or maintain blockade on this system for 10 turns, capture this outpost, destroy fleet x of this emipre etc...)

or we will: (make this planet have x negative anomaly, destroy this fleet...)

if you succeed we will: (give you x dust, this planet x positive anomaly, an endless ship)

Alpha Centauri's videos for secret projects were pretty amazing, really. I think it would be nice to have more small vids in-game.

I always found the game events to be kind of shallow. Why not attach vids to them as well as making them more meaningful and clearer? (I really like the factions intro. The low-budget seem to have imposed a very nice style and I'd like to see more of them.)



But really, you're asking this because the galaxy doesn't seem alive. That's all it comes down to. Many good ideas have been suggested already to achieve that: the endlessopedia, which basically means a better access to game-lore; invasion animations/cinematics; small graphical elements to show improvements and ships in orbits of planets; animated and voiced diplomacy...



Anything that can make us players feel like there are people in this galaxy, that our actions matter, is a welcome addition. As such, if you really want to nail it and shut everyone's mouth up, you'll need a little bit of everything in my opinion. Sorry if I'm stating the obvious, but I just thought I should put it out.



So, briefly, what would definitely shut ME up:

- More meaningful game events, possibly even game-changing events (such as the discovery of a working Endless ship? ) combined with vids.

- Small, not in-your-face graphical additions. Such as ships orbiting planets, etc. A few people mentioned that already, and I agree with them.

- Wars don't have enough consequences. Depending on your faction, prolonged wars should have a really negative effect on your population. A big number of ships lost means a lot of lives also lost: populations should hate that. Right now it feels like we're managing robots who don't give a shit about what's going on in the universe...

- I think something needs to be done about heroes. I don't feel close enough to mine to care about them. No idea what to do about it precisely though, I'll have to think about this one!



Edit: about heroes, one thing I'm getting tired of. My starting pool of heroes should be of the faction I chose. I don't care about the ones that appear later (the 4th, 5th and so on) but the starting 3 should be of my Empire's race. Maybe put it as an option? "Starting heroes are of player's race", that would satisfy a lot of people.

Hey everyone,





Endless Space has been released for two weeks now and we got a lot of feedback from you guys on one specific element which is the lack of immersive feedback in the game, and this is why I am writing this thread.



Before we tell you what we have already in mind, we would like to know how you would improve this element. We know you have been giving out a lot of ideas already but we would really like to have a single place on the forums to gather all your ideas on this subject.



We may have limited budget, in terms of time and money of course, but we are quite interested in knowing what you guys would like to see in the game that would make you feel a little bit more immersed.





Cheers!

One idea that I have to make the game more visually immersing is to provide a visual representation of trade between the systems. Visually representing trade would help show what the key economic systems are for each empire and I could easily imagine seeing the core systems of my empire linked together by silvery strands, perhaps with a small moving ship icons. A system with multiple strands that glow brighter and stronger than the neighboring systems would show it's strength and importance and provide an even greater reaction as that enemy fleet approaches it.



Of course, it would also help if there was intra-empire trade as well as inter-empire trade.

I agree with the ideas so far about



MoO2-esque "Galactic News" things, but maybe limited to things that you would know about (as opposed to x race was killed off when you didn't even meet x race yet).

Animated diplomacy sequences, such as the Hissho examples was given.

I also enjoyed the "first contact" scene that MoO2 had, where it would do a diplomacy style animation where you talked to their ambassador for a sec (although don't make all the races declare war right then, like MoO2 did)

Even something small like a sound tidbit from assigning heroes, just a small something so it's not obnoxious for the aliens.

First of all, this is really good game. Reminds me of Ascedancy (oh how i loved it!). The planet system view and galaxy view are absolutely beautiful. But the better impression the game makes, the more things you miss.



Some thoughts



Personally i don't follow the idea of ground combat. I guess, it's something that would be nice, but really difficult to implement.



The game immersion would MUCH benefit from scenic stuff, for instance:

* The opponent races should be animated in diplomacy screen (just like in Civ or Deadlock series).



* After playing Home World, current Endless Space battles looks very poor. I don't like the idea of 3 phases of battle and finite time. I understand that these battles are based on Civ paradigm, but IMO, this is wrong basis for scenic battle. Think about Home World, Babylon 5, Star wars movies. They demonstrate the "classic" approach to space battles and i don't think that any other paradigm will add more immersion. Current battles are way better than Civ's, but worse than they could be. I'd propose the following: consider all current ships as carriers (small and big ones), add to them 5-25 small fighters. Now that would be very cool. We would have really epic space battles. I'd like to emphasize that i don't suggest direct ships control - let the ships controlled by ai.



* The "effects" battle cards could be replaced with "tactics" cards. For example (need a lot of thinking here): each side selects the initial tactic. I'll select simply: all fire power concentrate on larger vessels, but my opponent will chose: large ships attack front, smaller - move to attack from flank. And so on. And these tactics could be changed during the battle. For example if i see that enemy targets my main vessels, i'll command "defend large vessels" and all smaller ships will move towards larger ones. The battle can last for 5-10 minutes, it's ok if it is interesting and immersive (for example Heroes 3 battle lasts 5-10 minutes).



* The structures which are built in the system could be added to planet view (just put the constructed buildings on the surface).



* One of the most annoying things for me is Amoeba racial ability. I love this race and i play only it, but i don't like to see the whole galaxy and to know where my opponents are. I'd like to explore and find them.

Hi, great game so far and any idea you manage to add, just improves the game further. So my favorite improvements would be:



Sound and Design:

- Some additional Sounds as mentioned later, for diplomacy and military alike. Sowers could sound like "The Geth" from Mass Effect or like an old internet router dialing in.

- The Possibility to name your Systems and Planets as you wish, bringing more intimacy to your homesystem.

- Switch the term "Turn" to something more interessting like "Cycle", "Phase"... (But in discussions, not anybody aproved this - so maby a vote would be needed if you intend to do it.)

- Sounds informing you of critical informations: "Fleet closing in on System", "System being raided", "Rebellion in System..."

- Seized or raided Planets (Cravers) should looked somehow devastaded, like barren Planets or just with big black holes in it like swiz cheese (from darkmatter bombs or just hollowed out)



Ingame improvements:

- Add as many anomalies as possible from this ideas: /#/endless-space/forum/28-game-design/thread/12577-more-types-of-anomalies

- A option to design your own anomalies would be nice

- Choose your oponents colors

- Suntypes have own anomalies, affecting all Planets

- Colorfull variaty of Planets. For example: Desert- or Arid-Planets looking like Mars, so you have yellow sands or red sands or perhaps white sands. Oceanic with green, blue or even purple waters, Barren with lots of orange (like Mercury) or brown (like asteroids). Just giving some additional/diffrent colors would give you more planettypes, without having to design totaly new

- Planettypes similar to our own Solar System. (Mercury, Uranus...) perhaps additional Planettypes (could start a suggestionlist).



Custom Factions:

- Possibility to choose/import your own picture. So if I like to make my own Aliens, I just need to take a picture out of the internet and fitting it to the right size.

- Possibility to choose your own shipdesign out of the ones already ingame. (I.e. A own Pirate Faction would need the Craver Ships, a new Alienspecies would need Sophonsship...)



Diplomacy:

- The "Counterproposal"-Option

- Alliance votes for war/peace OR/AND the biggest/most dangerous/or most influencing participant in the Alliance has dobble vote or gets to decide for all.

- Making someone a vassal would be very cool, so you don't need to exterminate your enemy - giving a diplomacybonus to you and boosting relationship to other, peacefull factions.



War:

- Battlemodifiers on Starsystem as suggested in this thread: /#/endless-space/forum/28-game-design/thread/12078-battle-modifier-depending-on-star-systems That would give more variaty to the game.

- Cards, somehow giving the option to jump a combat phase, thus giving weeker fleets the oportunity to defend against the most effective weapons of the enemy (Missiles and Beam). I.e. Just get ONE Fireround per phase and closing in faster.

- Battlechatter when engaging. Like: "Incoming Enemy!", "Weapons free!", "Closing in!" , "Stand your Ground!" , "For every ship they destroy, we take two of them with us!"

- Combatcards vocalized. Like when using Sabotage and it works: "Enemy Weaponsystem hacked!" or using Combined Fire (+X to kinetic) "How do you like that, scum?"



Perhaps not all of this ideas are managable, but just take what ever is. We are really looking forward to and can't wait to see new improvements! lol I will edit this post if I want to add something and inform your via new entry in this thread.

The kind of thing that creates immersion for me is speaking to the other races and seeing an animated picture of them plus some spoken dialogue that changes depending on how they are feeling, how powerful they are, how powerful you are, how well you are getting on etc. It wouldn't need much - just an animated 3d model of each race with lost of variable dialogue - see the diplomacy in Shogun 2 to see exactly what I mean, its done really well in that game.



Perhaps changing the GUI depending on what race you are playing. So when playing the Cravers might have an all green GUI or other more subtle design variations that suit the styling of that race. See for example games like Arsenal of Democracy where all the different countries have different GUI backgrounds reflecting their history and culture.



May be introducing a cabinet of advisors again of the same race you are playing giving out advice. And the advice will be coloured by their beliefs - eg the Hissho would give rather warlike honourable advice all the time.



Perhaps in battle chatter and communication from your enemy, making battles a lot longer as well so they aren't over in five seconds so you can sit back and enjoy the spectacle (assuming you fix the fleet spam).



Show blockading fleets around planets, fleets carrying out bombardments and possibly sending down invasion ships. I am one person who doesn't necessarily want the hassle of controlling invasions in 3d but I would like to see it happening in the planets screen - so you feel like you are watching it. Also perhaps these animations could be carried over to the battle viewer when you enter battles around bombarded/invaded planets. For example in the Total War games you go to a battle and you see the same terrain as the campaign map. Its that kind of little thing that gets you really immersed in the game.



More weapon types and some specific weapons and researches for races. Doesn't need many - just enough to add a bit of interest to the research screen, make it change with each race.



More exciting moon exploration and types of different planets/systems. Try to get more backstory into the game such as events about the dust and Endless. You have a great backstory and its being completely unused in the game. Lots more events some of which that can change the whole scope of the game - particularly those with important decisions to make. Paradox's EU3 and HOI2 are prefect examples of games with superb events and player decisions that really can affect the gameplay.



More use of the heroes - perhaps introduce diplomacy and trade hero types that you can assign to your cabinet. Again Shogun 2 is the perfect example of how to make use of heroes and their levelling up.



Need to add some new gameplay aspects such as scout ship stealth, possibly fighters and carriers in battle fleets, spying, assassination of heroes, counter-espionage, roaming black holes or space storms in certain systems that can render certain weapons inoperable, etc. Espionage heroes make have to be sent to enemy systems to carry out their deadly deeds using special stealthy ships.



More rewarding screens when you colonise a planet, lose or win a game, meet aliens etc perhaps with 2 or 3 variable animations each.



A throne room that you modify as your people express their gratitude like Civ 2.



Possible some 2d/3d illustrative views of your main cities/home planets capital that changes as they expand etc.



More influence on trade - possibly sending trade ships out to initiate trade with a race/establish a trade route.



There is a lot above but that doesn't mean they all have to be done to the nth degree, little additions here and there could be very effective.

Chain events.



With the games events popping up id like to see lore based problems and solutions to these problems, Your actions changing the effect of the events leading to additional branching events.



In the end your choices would always spiral into a bad event, but the choices you mack would determine the difference between -20 FIDS on a planet for the rest of the game, or a ancient galactic problem that could even win the game for its self...by destroying the players. 3



Or any sort of 'Aww crap' moment.

Lore name based off faction for starting system

A set of lore related heroes of your faction that start in your pool

an official lore galaxy map with fixed stars but randomized systems/resources, maybe add labels for the constellations

Each factions system is static, a specific set of planets / anomalies / star type so that more fanfic can be written referencing a factions home solar system





Basically a Loreverse setting





More notices, movies, etc for events i think goes without saying would make it more immersive.

It would also be really nice to have a victory movie for each condition

An end game replay to relive your story (like the old replays in civ)

more "space elements" on the star map, black holes, nebula, nova, etc with impacts on movement/systems/battle

Agr wrote:
My wishlist:

1. Ground combat similar to MOO2/MOO3/GC2/IG1-2 choose one as you wish and mix ideas. But no direct control of units please, limited options is good. May be you can develop something new, but the old ones are quite good.

2. Divide components and ship hulls construction. Produced components going into Empire Store, and you can equip existing ship hulls with them. Also you can trade theese modules with other factions.

3. Mosquito fleet(fighters, carriers).

4. Ship wrecks in battle. More visualisation to space maneuvers.

5. Ship model editor, accessible from main menu - similar to GC2, but you can't create models ingame.

6. Orbital structures, Moonbases, planetary defence.

7. Dynamic alignment bonuses and penalties. For example if you are conquerer you will gain military bonuses, but will lose some civil stats.

8. Governments, revolutions, AI uprising etc...

9. Space monsters.

10. Heavily guarded Endless system, accessible only through warp or by researching some tech.

11. Ancient enemy, who sometimes comes into galaxy.

12. Race population: xenophob, tolerant races, assimilation, migration.

These are all awsome ideas i support them 100% ground combat would help add flavor to taking a system. I had similar thought process. Ship design would help with a personal touch to the game and doing it in the custom faction screen is a great idea. I think a custom map editor would be great as well so i can finally make the mass effect universe to almost the exact same planet types starlanes wormholes etc.