I have two points on which some thinking might do some good



1. post-research stage. once everything is researched players usually demolish all the research centers to free up resources. would it be possible to implement "future technologies" like in Civilization? they could give some small (1% or less) bonus to any aspect of the game, e.g. diplomacy proposals, relations, ship durability, accuracy... anything really



2. fleet creation. usually one has to create fleet from scractch, meaning building ships, calculating approximate build time for all units then optimizing production queues. would it be possible to create template fleets, assign construction sites to them and have computer optimize production schedules?

So if I want to standardize fleets to have 4 battleships 10 cruisers, 15 destroyers and 5 frigates I create template, assign construction sites to it and computer automatically optimizes production?

Also have computer track maintenance of the fleet, so if you lose, say one frigate, construction site assigned to fleet automatically produces replacement?

or maybe have reserve fleet that automatically sends replacement ship(s) and orders new one(s)?

1. post-research stage. once everything is researched players usually demolish all the research centers to free up resources. would it be possible to implement "future technologies" like in Civilization? they could give some small (1% or less) bonus to any aspect of the game, e.g. diplomacy proposals, relations, ship durability, accuracy... anything really



I like the idea of improving previous technologies/ research. It follows along with the normal improvements in technology that we take for granted, such as the making personal computers and phones smaller. But will that be enough to keep players from destroying their research capabilities? That is hard to say. At that point in the game, such a small bonus may not make a diference in game play. Perhaps instead of a bonus, players are allowed to use the resources and redo their basic reasearch, giving them a chance to rediscover lost technologies for their civilization or to make new breakthroughs based upon deadend research that was passed over or made obsolete over time.

Yeah. I agree it's kind of silly to imagine a future where you have discovered /everything/.



Not so sure about the lose one auto build one idea for the ships. Queuing makes sense but I prefer it to be more of an event when ships are made. At least the bigger ones.

I actually liked the fleet replacement idea. It would cut down a bit on my micromanagement.

For the first idea id prefer rather a scientific win on the game.

Battle, economy, expansion etc should be a means to an end aka that of winning the game. If on dabbles to much one should lose. Forcing ppl to take risks etc is what strategy is supposed to be about.



As for the second idea I must say I love it. That and custom buildorders for systems/planets.

I really like the build a fleet rather than build a ship-idea and also the maintenance-of-fleet-thingy.

1) I would prefer some different versions of the same tech. For instance you have discovered the ion cannons. You can re-research that tech for a better bonus in battle. Then you can research a tech that add 5% odd to disable some module to all ion canon. Re-research it and you have 7% instead of 5%. Etc. So devs have nothing new to code, you have so much techs that you jjust can't have them all in one game (just have 10 versions of a lot of them)

And ultimately a "Win the game" tech that would need every other tech to be discovered. Something like "One with the Dust".



2) Automatic replacements are a must in such a grand scale strategy. But you can't replace anywhere. When a ship is destroyed, its name is greyed in the Fleet list, and you have to get your fleet above a space repair dock to replace it automatically (don't add it to production queue) in whatever turns. Some weapons could be so devastating that a destroyed ship is utterly destroyed and you have to plan again its construction in a production queue. Just think as in D&D : when you're at 0 Hit Point you're not dead. It could be the same here. Just have a negative limit on ship hit points to be able to get them functionnal again.

VieuxChat wrote:
1) I would prefer some different versions of the same tech.

Sounds like Moo2's miniaturisation or Glaciv's incremental weapon upgrades. A very good thing in my opinion. I hope that there is no chance of getting through the entire tech tree in a single game.

VieuxChat wrote:
Some weapons could be so devastating that a destroyed ship is utterly destroyed and you have to plan again its construction in a production queue. Just think as in D&D.

I think this should be tied into a fleets strategy i.e. if a certain degree of damage is inflicted on a ship then have that ship attempt a retreat. Perhaps if you are the victor in a battle you will have the option to salvage your own disabled vessels and repair them?



Having a ship lose its crew would also be interesting... I imagaine a ship equipped with a tractor beam towing the enemy derelict back to your base to plunder its secrets rather than destroying it outright.

Why not put race specific future tech? one race philosophy emphasizes firepower, future tech ads power to weapon, other race emphasizes efficiency so they would decrease power consumption, still other would get miniaturization. perhaps we could decide if we want specific trait or if it should be random and not revealed until you start researching future tech?

ObiMark wrote:
Why not put race specific future tech? one race philosophy emphasizes firepower, future tech ads power to weapon, other race emphasizes efficiency so they would decrease power consumption, still other would get miniaturization. perhaps we could decide if we want specific trait or if it should be random and not revealed until you start researching future tech?

Being able to choose such a trait sounds more reasonable to me. In terms of lore and race philosophy, certain future techs could be grayed out for the races.



The fleet replacement idea sounds like a good idea to reduce micromanagement, though it should be optional in case you want full control of your fleets.