One thing that really disappointing aspect of this game is that all the races while having different histories, even physical forms, all actually the same, as in they like the same planets.





I think mixing this up would do two things, first it would mix up the strategic element of the game as the race to planets would change based on your race and it would give races some true uniqueness. You could even say it adds a third element, terraform of worlds to make people less likely to want yours or to make taking one back annoying to fix. Now I know, some people will point out that some exploitations would make no sense for really odd race types but I look at it this way, unless we go the further step and preserve the original race who colonized the planet it really wont matter. MOO/MOO2 did this - you conquered a planet and you got their race too... now this could be extremely beneficial as some races had traits you might want. That change requires its own discussion, for now I just want to work out the idea of affinity for certain planet types.



This change would require reordering some race's technologies to arrange the terraform options to be in line with their preferences. What needs to be determined is, if a race's preferred planet type is X, then what would X-1, X-2, X-3, and so on be?





Humanoid is easy

Terran > Jungle > Ocean > Arid/Tundra > Desert/Arctic



You could have

Desert > Arid > Jungle > Terran > Ocean > Tundra > Arctic



or

Arctic > Tundra > Ocean > Terran > Jungle > Arid > Desert



or

Ocean > Jungle > Tundra > Arctic



Low Gravity (or high atmosphere skimmers) or even mechanical races (remember their preference does not have to be their original). They might rust where moisture is :P

Asteroid > Barren > Gas Giant > Desert > Arid



Silicoid :P

Lava > Barren/Asteroid > Desert/Arid >







Now it should be possible to only have Tier 1 and Tier 2 planets for a race and all others being worst case scenario - this could be a source of trait points. Similar the more flexible you are you spend points to achieve it.

I like that thing. I mentioned it in another post that it would be nice some races to "aim" for specific planet types cause they prosper better at them, like Amoeba prefering oceanic planets. Its a nice addition for the new ambience and feel that the devs talk about. Lets what they have in mind for that

I like the idea, and I think it's been mentioned before. The only thought I have, though, would be the usefullness of some planets, in terms of resources.



You might have a race that prefers a Lava or Arctic or Barren world, but what could you really do with them? The bonuses that are applied now I think fit quite nicely with the resources such a planet would have available to collect and use. While a race might prefer living on a Lava world, they might get more productivity and use being able to harvest the bountiful resources a Terran world offers. So aside from approval changes, I'm not sure what else might change.



Just some thoughts.

Mostly its the approval rating that it could get effected but it can also reverse the statistics some planets offer for those races depicting that they cannot work effectively in a terran environment for example. Dont know if thats possible to happen though

I am also in for the idea! I would love to see REAL ALIAN Races. Even though I like the game how it is, this could be a very interessting improvement. Also I would love to actually need the Terraform to a Lava or Arctic Option, not just as a passing trough, but as the real aim.



Additionally, it could make Gas-Giants more important, to species which actually live on Gas-Giants only and use other Planettypes just for ressources.

Also a scientific/virtual race could just use Desert Planets as Server-Rooms, ultimately terraform a Planet to synthetic super-computer Planet. Why the hell not? I would love more varriaty and the Cravers allready are this kind of Species. A real Pain in the ass for every one else.

I like the idea too, but for it to be anything beyond superficial, a LOT would have to change:



- If a race evolved on lava world, it's not going to eat plants. Some other resource for growth would have to replace food: Crystals for lava-people, Ammonia for Gas-Giant people, etc. You could change the food icon and values for planets, so Lava worlds and Desert/Arid would have higher amounts of crystals, and terran/jungle/ocean less.



- Max Pops would have to change. Lava-people would fit more people on a lava world than on a terran.



- Some techs would have to change, at least name/description wise. You can't talk about soil improvements increasing food when you eat ammonia. For balance, you'd want the same basic improvements available to each race, though some changes might make it more interesting. But maybe to prevent problems with multi-ecosystem empires (after you conquer a planet with different ecosystem races) you'd want to have one tech unlock techs for all/several ecosystems. For example, the tech that unlocks your Carbon-Based-Food-Improvement also unlocks the Lava-Basic-Food-Improvement.



- Terraforming techs would have to change too, to maintain balance. But it might be interesting if a lava-people had disadvantages that would out-weigh easy terraforming.



- conquering the planets of a enemy using a different ecosystem would be complicated. It would almost require a MOO2-like system where you get the people with the planet, so if you conquered a lava planet you could rule the lava people, and they'd still produce their lava food, plus IDS.



This are just some off-the-top ideas. It probably goes deeper and would require a pretty serious re-write, even if you limited it to just 3-4 different eco-systems (Carbon, Silicon, Ammonia, Aquatic). But it would be great!



Eiger

Oh, no! Don't destroy our Dreams!!!



Yeah you are right. It's easy to cry for something new, without having concrete ideas to build it. How's about this:



The Alliance and Factions in ES are probably all based on the same (or really similar) chemical and biological basement. That's why they worship the same ressources.

Now, we need another chemical and/or biological base, for a set of othere species and factions. This base should however compede as much as possible with the given ressources, perhaps differing in priority. A species satisfied with lava-planets, would have less problems with planets and colonialization than others, but evolving slower and taking more time for tech research. To balance that, they could at least have very hightech weaponry at the beginning, but less effective weapons and ships ind mid- to lategame. It's just a question of balance.



To obtain the given tech-tree for the new factions however, you could switch the design of terraformed planets for the lava-faction. So ocean-terraformin and jungle are still the highest achievable terraforming method, but the looks would differ. It could be a Lava-Ocean-Planet or a Jungle of just on super-hot planets found plants (or food, whatsoever). At least that's how I think you could do the trick, without rewriting the whole Game...

Everyone having the same planet preferences just doesn't make sense to me. There should be at least an approval rating change for the factions. Like Sophons preferring arctic or Helium planets for better research, etc. Something that goes with the faction's play style and lore.

I agree with you, it makes it seem like every race can breathe the same air when it should be each race (or a group of races) prefer different planets. Master of Orion did a good job at that, especially with each race preferred different planets with different gravity, atmosphere, etc.

Well I like this idea too. This also add a lot more interest to terraforming options. It could aslo cost some dust because on some planets you would have to spend a lot of money on life device. (sorry don't find a better word



It also add a lot of atmosphere to the game.