I wish we could assign some people to some sort of a council. Not like heroes though; you handpick your council like heroes, but they have different stats/uses.



Examples:

-Scientific advisers, which may have

+% Research efficiency

+% (greater) Research efficiency on top/left/right/bottom sides of research tree, while having penalties for other sides



-Diplomatic advisers

Flat attitude bonus

+% attitude bonus for specific races



-Military advisers

Retrofit cost reduction

Better ships (+capacity, +HP%, etc...)



-Domestic advisers

+% population growth speed

Flat approval bonus



etc...

That would be an interesting addition to the game. It would give you something more to think about whenever you need to specialize for some reason.



It does sound a bit like this suggestion if you want to have a look at it: /#/endless-space/forum/28-game-design/thread/12917-actual-leaders-for-a-nation-faction

Could be combined with a retire for heroes. Once heroes grow old you can retire them to your council. The level and abilities will shape how efficient they are in the council.



Example,



I got an fleet admiral who I leveled to level 10. I put all abilities to military, after 100 turns(just example) I get option to retire him. When I do so he'll be most efficient as a military advisor and boost the battle ships with better hull due to his experience and maybe even increase their building rate.



An administrative hero can be diplomatic if having good experience in trade, etc.



You could also hire in normal advisors although they'll be less efficient then your hero. This way you are rewarded for leveling your hero and get room for new.

Inquisitioner wrote:
Could be combined with a retire for heroes. Once heroes grow old you can retire them to your council. The level and abilities will shape how efficient they are in the council.



Example,



I got an fleet admiral who I leveled to level 10. I put all abilities to military, after 100 turns(just example) I get option to retire him. When I do so he'll be most efficient as a military advisor and boost the battle ships with better hull due to his experience and maybe even increase their building rate.



An administrative hero can be diplomatic if having good experience in trade, etc.



You could also hire in normal advisors although they'll be less efficient then your hero. This way you are rewarded for leveling your hero and get room for new.

But "aging" is not uniform for all the races. That makes it difficult to set a common turn-age where your heroes retire.

Also who do you get into your council at the start of the game?



Sounds like a second layer independent hero system to me, just giving the whole empire bonuses. I'm not sure that is needed, even if it sounds good at first.

but sometimes you want to delete an hero to take an other one. for this to have a retire option and keep your heros would be cool. Or if i cant take more heros i could take a new hero and choose to use him as "only" an advisor. i would like the idea.

Nosferatiel wrote:
But "aging" is not uniform for all the races. That makes it difficult to set a common turn-age where your heroes retire.

Also who do you get into your council at the start of the game?

Simple, once they reach level 10 they or so, they are experienced enough to become a part of the council. Forget about the age thing, replace it with a specific level for all races instead.



The only way to get a council can be heroes, or to appoint much less efficient normal non-hero members.



I'm just throwing some ideas here, not trying to suggest something well written or so.

Good suggestions mate. And yeah, these are kinda watered down versions of heroes, capable of applying an empire-wide effect rather than system/fleet-wide one.

If anyone has played Twilight Imperium(4x board game) it has a very cool political system where each race sends its councilors to vote on laws that affect everyone. Each councilor has an amount of votes they add and a special ability. players then use these votes, the ones they get from the empire and can buy votes to vote for random laws.



laws include things like "elect a player: that player cant capture neutral planets for the rest of the round" or things like limiting the size of fleets for all players, make technology cheaper/more expensive.



I would love to see a system similar to this for ES at some point down the road

That goes to politics/diplomacy :P Never played it, but on MOO3 (and 2, as I remember?) has a council. If you have enough friends and votes, if a war breaks out between another member of the council and you, you can name and shame them in front of the council, and impose some stuff if you wanted. That was cool. Wait, that is cool. I am still playing MOO3 ^_^

I really like the idea of counselors and advisers for Endless. Another role that they could take is advise in certain situations akin to the advisers in civ 5. i.e. military counselor advices against going to war with the Hissho because known enemy forces outsize or out tech your own, or a science adviser who recommends the next best research. just an idea.