Hi, everyone!



Preface



I conquered all strong AI-opponents using "Open borders". You simply arrange your small fleets (sometimes one "Defender" is enough) against colonies with no defense and your main fleets against colonies with defense. Thant's all. Declare war, observe vain efforts of your ex-ally and after several turns he is done. Boring.





Suggestion



Dear Devs, please add more options to "Open borders".

i.e.

- "Open borders": max tonnage (or firepower) of fleet that cross border - below value "x"

- "Open borders" with "Green passage" - you can cross opponent's empire only through defined system links

- "Open borders" only for scouts and colony ships

- "Open borders" without limits

- etc.

Moved to suggestion forum, changed title

It's called "backstabbing." Congrats.

davea wrote:
Moved to suggestion forum, changed title

Sorry, but this suggestion is already in "Game Design Proposal" - here

After I had posted it in "Game Design Proposal" I found this , quoting "If however, the idea is related to any to known bug or balancing issue refer here" That why I posted this thread in "Endless Space Tech Support".

Reason: I don't think it is a "bug", but for sure it's referred to "balancing issue". Sorry for double posting.

Draco18s wrote:
It's called "backstabbing." Congrats.

It's nice that you know how to call this, but it would be more helpful to hear your opinion about this issue.

A.D. wrote:
It's nice that you know how to call this, but it would be more helpful to hear your opinion about this issue.

Honestly, I don't see a problem needing to be fixed.

Draco18s wrote:
Honestly, I don't see a problem needing to be fixed.

?!

Let me say this:

When I first started playing "Endless Space" I was consumed with the gaming process. I thought that I forgot about those feelings: when you are sleepy, hungry, but you still continue to click the mouse and wait for the next "turn" to over, anticipating what would happen after another "turn". I like games with hardcore elements: when you encounter obstacles - the process of overcoming them is great. But! When game contains "cheating-like" elements - it kills all the atmosphere! If you can defeat any AI with mentioned "backstabbing" - than there is no point in developing your systems, recruiting new heroes, researching new technologies and etc.! You can ALWAYS defeat your enemy and conquer the galaxy (if you are not playing Sophons - they don't need to conquer other races to win). It's to easy. Do you agree?

So...stop abusing it?



Or am I a member of the old-guard gamers who find their own challenges in games and need not be lead around by the promise of achievements, unlockables, and so forth.

Draco18s wrote:
So...stop abusing it?



Or am I a member of the old-guard gamers who find their own challenges in games and need not be lead around by the promise of achievements, unlockables, and so forth.

That's reasonable enough, but it is not a solution.



If Developers will consider this suggestion worth adding to game process, than it would significantly expand your tactical abilities:

You said "stop abusing it", but if somebody will believe "Dreadnoughts" to be much powerful than they should be - will somebody suggest him not to use it? There is a point that "Dreadnoughts" are "ultimate weapon" - to start using them you need to research to the bottom of "Exploration & Expansion" tree - it is fair enough.

Let's pretend that you encounter more developed opponent. You admit that your fleets can't beat him face-to-face and you choose to "backstab" him. You sign "Open borders" treaty, but opponent don't fully trust you - as a result you get "Open borders" with condition: "only for scouts and colony ships". You need to sign more trade deals to win his favor and to change treaty conditions. And only after that "Open borders" with condition "without limits" is well-deserved and you can use it with a clear conscience.

I like this idea, there was a similar problem in SOTS where making peace with the hivers allowed them to build their FTL stargates over every one of your worlds, SO if you ever were to war again they could have a fleet over every world in 1 turn, the only way to stop it was to never make peace.



I never liked the GalCiv2 and Civ games made your army travel over half the map because of war declaration, how do they suddenly move so fast?

I find it cool that there is a chance to communicate with developers, on the other hand it's exhausting to convince community that this is not a simple suggestion, but more exactly the balancing issue. Thank's for the support.