They did touch on a cool point though: Why doesn't anyone want Tier II or Tier III planets? In Sins of a Solar Empire, for example, one of the groups likes simple Terran planets. Another likes Deserts because they remind them of their homeworld, and the last one likes Lava the best because it allows them to stay mobile (Easy resources). Such a system would be cool for Endless space. It could also really help balance out some of the races, by having them "like" worse planets.

Interesting idea, but like other suggested already, it will make game play very difficult. One possibility to overcome this is to have one race surrender the influence of the entire system to whomever colonized the system first, and pay colonization tax (% FIDS generated given to the hosting empire). We could have a special icon above shared systems to make them easy to discern from others. If war occurs between the hosting and your empire, the hosting empire automatically takes over your colony without penalty to systems approval. I think ship manufacturing should also be banned from such planets since the hosting empire wouldn't like that.



One strategical use of this could be that if you share a system with a super power, then others would be reluctant to attack that system. It's a physical shield compared to the alliance pact with a super power empire.

n18991c wrote:
My pc can take it, so by all means, bring it on!

Don't worry, when I get my new one, mine too (2-3 weeks to go)



But we shouldn't forget that not all of us have a gaming machine or something similar powerful!

Tredecim wrote:
Correct, but too many animations would kill the PCs

My pc can take it, so by all means, bring it on!

n18991c wrote:
yeah, and it always looks the same for every world, which is slightly dull...

Correct, but too many animations would kill the PCs

Meltreness wrote:
Would look really cool honestly. Only Warships floating around atm.

yeah, and it always looks the same for every world, which is slightly dull...

n18991c wrote:
Early on there was some talk of ship and space commercial traffic (animations), but that seems to have never made it into the game. If that were implemented then at least people could imagine more depths etc... and perhaps then one could also explore travel between planets of a system and the likes... just an idea

Would look really cool honestly. Only Warships floating around atm.

Marthnn wrote:
All the ships you see in ES are empire-controlled inter-stellar capable. The "civilian" ships, transporting trade goods, resources, getting blockaded and whatnot, are taken for granted, as well as any in-system ships traveling between planets. When you transfer a population point between 2 planets, there's got to be ships moving them around. I always assumed those abstract ships assured security and unity in a system.

Early on there was some talk of ship and space commercial traffic (animations), but that seems to have never made it into the game. If that were implemented then at least people could imagine more depths etc... and perhaps then one could also explore travel between planets of a system and the likes... just an idea

Romeo wrote:
They did touch on a cool point though: Why doesn't anyone want Tier II or Tier III planets? In Sins of a Solar Empire, for example, one of the groups likes simple Terran planets. Another likes Deserts because they remind them of their homeworld, and the last one likes Lava the best because it allows them to stay mobile (Easy resources). Such a system would be cool for Endless space. It could also really help balance out some of the races, by having them "like" worse planets.

Interesting thought!

All the ships you see in ES are empire-controlled inter-stellar capable. The "civilian" ships, transporting trade goods, resources, getting blockaded and whatnot, are taken for granted, as well as any in-system ships traveling between planets. When you transfer a population point between 2 planets, there's got to be ships moving them around. I always assumed those abstract ships assured security and unity in a system.

I know that it may lead to sphere of influence issues but I fail to see why another race cannot land on a planet in a system where only an outpost exists. Granted the desirability of landing on other planets in the same system is greatly reduced because all races are essentially identical which means everyone wants the same planets. After all, why cannot we have races that see gas giants as ideal, or lava planets, etc? Its like a universe of bumpy headed aliens that Star Trek has.

n18991c wrote:
Well, yes, but joint colonisation could make the game really interesting, with inner system conflicts etc... doubt it will be implemeted though because it might require systems to be accessible as sort of "maps".... ah well, could've been cool

It would just add another layer of gameplay mechanics to a game that already hides plenty of information from the player. And people already have a lot of difficulty trying to manage all of the improvements in all of their systems, I don't think throwing planetary conflicts at them will make them feel the game is more "interesting," just more frustrating/confusing.

Igncom1 wrote:
If you think border conflicts are bad, try living next to your enemy.



One spark and they are all firing their nuclear missiles effectively bringing M.A.D to the system.



Better to keep at arms length.

Well, yes, but joint colonisation could make the game really interesting, with inner system conflicts etc... doubt it will be implemeted though because it might require systems to be accessible as sort of "maps".... ah well, could've been cool

If you think border conflicts are bad, try living next to your enemy.



One spark and they are all firing their nuclear missiles effectively bringing M.A.D to the system.



Better to keep at arms length.

Simple really, you either defend your new territory or you don't. It could be setup to where if they have an outpost/colony in the same system then getting them out is more difficult. The blandness of the races does make it less likely as I stated before, all races are identical in their preferences which is stupid really. It removed a whole avenue of good game play. Still, could you not share with an ally? Or they are not really that much of a friend?

Fenrakk101 wrote:
I thought it was more a representation of population density? After all, you can build improvements that give you more potential population. You can't really "build" space, you can just move people closer together. I imagine with a low population, your people are spread across the planet, the population density is just very low.

Well, population density does not equal an even spread across the planet.

First you'd settle around natural resources, rivers, mineral deposits with good food and water in the vicinity.

Then the population density would locally rise and the cities would spread on the one hand. On the other hand new villages would start to show up around less important resources and in less hospitable or attractive regions within reach of the cities, that can support them. So the population grows into less hospitable regions out of less hospitable ones, instead of spreading evenly, while the population density rises.

At least that's my naive picture, that would lead to the conclusion, that vast areas on a planet are basically uninhabited due to this behaviour, until it is full to the brim.

Nosferatiel wrote:
since free population slots equal free space.

I thought it was more a representation of population density? After all, you can build improvements that give you more potential population. You can't really "build" space, you can just move people closer together. I imagine with a low population, your people are spread across the planet, the population density is just very low.

By the same logic of being able to populate other planets in a system, I could also colonize the same planets with free population slots, if a colony has no measures of inter-system-protection, since free population slots equal free space.



Of course this would be the penultimate aggression and otherwise Fenrakk's arguments apply.

I assume your outpost is fitted with weapons capable of preventing your enemy from landing on planets. This would explain why you have orbital bombardments as opposed to ground invasions. Plus, you could never do this during Peace or Cold War - Peace because eventually one of you will acquire the Sphere of Influence and so there's no reason to attempt it, and Cold War because it's incredibly aggressive. And I mean, during war, don't you think the existing colony will wreak havoc on your attempted colony?

Well, lets say you're the Emperor, and another race flies into your system where you just conolized and starts building a base next to your planet. Thats quite aggressive move. Apart from this standpoint, it would lead to massive confusion ingame especially on huge maps.