I ll have to say that the game is amazing right now(to my taste) but yes it lacks depth and the news of the expansion what the features that includes are almost all the i wanted and thought that the game is missing.

If i may add something i would like to see some more use of the amazing artwork, something like a screen of a scientist when you discover a new tech, a proper diplomacy screen where you talk with the enemy-ally leaders, an artwork video (like the opening one) for some major events like conquering a planet or victory-losing a game

You might consider the principle of so-called "realm divide", introduced to Total War Shogun 2 by Creative Assembly. The point is, once the player becomes overwhelmingly powerful, the rest of the galaxy will unite to fight against him/her, regardless of their former diplomatic relationships.



In general, map needs to be more lively. Add more nebulae, binary star systems, stars going supernova and such.



Potential of reverse engineering of captured enemy ships/structures.



Addition of ground battles with specific units may be too much to ask for, but one can dream, right?

SpaceTroll wrote:
Please keep in mind that we are still supporting the game via updates. In the updates we keep adding balance, tweaks and addition decided by the G2G votes. The expansion pack is meant to add a big chunk to the game, that will bring in new game mechanics (Hence "expansion").

I understood the principle of ES a an "evolving game" that continous growing more and more. That was the reason i decided to buy it in its current (fragmentary) state.

What i fear now when i hear the "expansion pack" talk is that the economists have won the battle. The game support itself will be shutted down to a minimum while packing every evolution into an own purchaseable expansion pack like "Ground Battle expansion pack", "Diplomacy Expansion Pack" , "Espionage Expansion Pack" etc.



The current game is as said before "The idea of a good game" with many still missing parts. Stuffing all of those holes with purchaseable expansion packs destroys my complete view on the G2G principle.

Are we going to have to pay for this Expansion pack??

I like all the sudgestions but Carriers and ground fighting(visual) is on top of my list.

Secondary after that is all type of espionage missions mentioned.

Damn I like them all :P

nats wrote:
Not interested in paying for extras at this point (ie a few weeks after it has been released) and certainly not interested in paying for updates to the battles which is what this sounds like. IMO the battles are the bit of the game I dont want to see worked on before everything else - espionage, diplomacy, events, missions, decisions, etc.



I would like to know what you are doing to make the game better now regarding that list of community wishes. I dont mind paying for an expansion pack if it is several months after release of the game and its stuff that improves the gameplay of the game greatly, AND most importantly the game has been developing with extras well before then (or is so good it doesnt need extras added such as Shogun 2). This game isnt a complete game though - its the bare bones of a good game.



I certainly bought this game on the assumption it would continue to develop for free for a good time after its release. So no I wouldnt buy an expansion pack like this and TBH I am more than a little concerned that it has been mentioned so quickly after the games release and that you are going to be allocating resources on it instead of adding other stuff to the game as it stands - In fact that actually really bothers me.



Especially as I had to stop playing the game completely yesterday because of a game breaking bug!

I heare you and understand well with my small wallet, but also thinking of Amplitude. Where else do they get their income from? I hope some balance can be found where both the vanilla get new stuff and the addons give extra flavor suited for atleast my wallet.

Ever2345 wrote:
Are we going to have to pay for this Expansion pack??

Of course.



I can perfectly understand Amplitude wanting to keep the money rolling in and the need to keep people economically viable, but I would like to see at least a couple of nice big things making their way into the base game for free before seeing any talk of a paid for expansion pack (well not for free as this is what I originally partly paid for when I bought the game actually - or at least that was my understanding).



That's what I was getting at.



I am happy to hear about future development of the game of course, but it just feels a bit like "well we have all the money now we are going to get from the release, what can we charge them for next?" It's a bit soon.



Lets please hear more of your immediate plans for adding some larger FREE content to the game first please. I don't expect you to alter the whole game of course - but you have already promised things like carriers, fighters, espionage, better diplomacy etc etc. I certainly didnt think I would have to pay for all of these things though. I would be very upset if I had to pay for all the stuff we have been asking for other than the piddling little items we vote for on the G2G page.



But I have made my point, I will shut up now ... and let all the overly enthusiastic gamers with lots of money burning holes in their pockets talk on this topic from now on .

We need a new race of Space Babes. Bring back the Elerians or their long lost cousins

Also Antaran invasions against races getting too strong would be nice. Pirates are not threatening enough.

Borrow more MOO2 features and this game will be perfect!

No need to stop Nats, its good you got this started. Good to know where we stand on this. As you mentioned I also think its the Economy department talking. What will still be FREE and what will be the Money Cow?

My top five are:



- implementing stuff/fixing bugs/cleaning up the code - what the community tried to work out in their MODs (especially the COMMUNITY MOD)

- playing in teams (multiplayer - but also in single player mode)

- all the things around space battles (as you have your focus on that anyway)

- Ground battles

- Space stations/orbital structures/planetary defense structures; maybe visible in the 3D-planetary view?

SpaceTroll wrote:
Please keep in mind that we are still supporting the game via updates. In the updates we keep adding balance, tweaks and addition decided by the G2G votes. The expansion pack is meant to add a big chunk to the game, that will bring in new game mechanics (Hence "expansion").



edit: also it is important to understand that we decided to start discussions early on the content before to start working on the expansion, to make sure that packs answers your wishes. we don't want to start working on it before that discussion.

It is an unusual way of doing things, announcing an add on even before we know what is in it, but this is how we always said we will be working. Therefore it also means that it will take some time before that expansion pack is out.

Just in case someone missed this statement from SpaceTroll. So please stop ranting. As I read it, it will take until early 2013 before we get that xpac.

A greater system of political intrigue and espionage to allow players to interact with the galaxy in-directly in a number of 'grand strategy' ways that are intuitive and easy to learn.



And of course more non-system points on the map that players can interact with to create a type of galactic 'terrain' giving new challenges and rewards for empires willing to explore and utilize these points for a number of different reasons like strategic resources, border control and endless stuff.

This looks like a pretty excellent list.



I wouldn't mind seeing more exclusive race technologies too. I also mentioned a couple of things in another thread; two of which pertain to galaxy generation settings / difficulty. One is the possibility for sparser systems with fewer lane connections, and / or systems that had no planetary bodies in them. The second thing was a setting for blind research, so you can only choose a research path and not the exact technologies - making harder games that you have to adapt more to what you're given.

Bring in something like the Orion Senate, it was awesome how you could sway the course of a game with the right resolutions voted in there. Make the assembly vote periodically on laws and treaties on labor, trade, science etc. and let the president elected propose the large array of game-changing resolutions that were in M.O.O. 3 (like all members declare war on X, force peace between X and Y, max military of X = Y etc.)!

I never liked the idea of a space UN, especially one that everyone automatically enters!?!



Surly I would have to set one up!

Great new ! An expansion pack : what nice idea !



My top five are :



- Visual impact of weapons on ships (I doubt we can go there...)

- Space stations to defend systems

- Options to make planets more unique by building special unique buildings. special building appear on planets / system.

- Ground Battles to accelerate the sieging if the invasion is successful. It would then be visual, on the planet ground.

- Boarding ships can capture enemy ships and keep them to use them for privateering under a fake flag (the flag of the original owner).

my top 8 :



- New faction and traits (focusing on new battle techniques?)

- More different weapons types, more hybrids and new types.

- Space stations to defend systems

- Ground Battles to accelerate the sieging if the invasion is successful. It would then be visual, on the planet ground.

- Huge Ships

- Planet defenses that damages sieging fleets

- Espionage and sabotage (also resulting in sabotage during the fleet battles). be able to trick the enemy with fake informations.

- Boarding ships can capture enemy ships and keep them to use them for privateering under a fake flag (the flag of the original owner).





It was a "top 5" but all these idea are just magical, just can't choose xD !

Igncom1 wrote:
I never liked the idea of a space UN, especially one that everyone automatically enters!?!



Surly I would have to set one up!

We could make it a great improvement or a special constructed starbase! Babylon 5 anyone?!

Im actually very stoked to hear about an expansion pack. While I enjoy ES in its current state, it could definitely use some love in the "depth" department. For all those who continually bring up having to pay for an expansion to "fix features that should have been in the original game for free", consider that vanilla ES sells for the price of a AAA expansion pack. You have already gotten well more than you typically would for a game of its price. By the time you have purchased both the expansion and vanilla versions you will have been at the normal price for a standard AAA title.



Personally I love all the ideas currently listed for the expansion except "huge ships". This to me is the least of the problems for the battle system. If you want to make the battles more epic, make the battles bigger, not the ships. Incorporating modules that encourage fleet diversification and role warfare would also go a long way in spicing up the battles. For example, the cruiser gets a -20 percent tonnage space for support modules. Problem is that once you get DD or BB class ships, no one uses cruisers anymore because there are no modules for the support class that warrant giving up a DD or BB (depending on which one you spam). If the CR had a fleet defense shield or ecm the, spam fleeting wouldnt be nearly as effective.



I also completely agree with Nomas regarding the need to showcase ES' unique artwork. His recommendation about adding a research screen ala MOO1/2 is sound advise and gives the game some much needed immersion.



The last thing id like to mention is the need for "actionable" ingame events. Every 30 turns getting a + or - fleet speed event that we have no control over is a tad lame and feels like it was just thrown in. A plague you can cure, an asteroid you can destroy or a gradually increasing terrorist influence (countered by increased morale on the offending planet) are some examples or actionable events.



Huge fan, keep up the good work.

How about an AI that is actually a challenge without ridiculous amounts of FIDS buffing?



Half that list looks absolutely boring. Sometimes I swear the ideas that bubble up must come from secret forum because its rare to see much of a connection between what i see posted here and what is on this list or much of G2G







Still, what is not on the list.



Espionage (clarified : at the diplomacy level - I don't care about it in space battles)

Animations for Diplomacy interactions

Less micromanagement.