Summary:

Dual tech-limited range but bypassable with severe/unpredictable consequences, capture/boarding if not already possible, interception.



Range would be based on fuel. Fuel would be refilled every time you went to a friendly system, and would drain for every turn you're not AT a friendly system. You could increase the fuel capacity of a ship by adding modules to it's design, you could add fuel-gathering mechanisms so a ship could mine for fuel at an asteroid when needed, or what-have-you, and you could add mechanisms to siphon fuel from ships it defeats. These would aid ships that go far without leaving comm range (capital ships, etc.) and ships that leave the comm range (scouts, accidental rogue warships, etc.).



When a ship leaves comm range, it would follow any orders already given, but would not be able to be seen by the player, or receive data from the player or the empire. If it had no orders, it would act on it's own behalf, but not knowing the current diplomatic situation. A ship out of comm range would not need upkeep, but the ship would not be repaired, it would not refuel, etc. - so unless the ship has large stores (scouts, colonies, etc.), special mechanisms, or the capability to go mine for fuel on an asteroid or something, it won't last long when disconnected from the empire. Expensive/advanced modules could be implemented that allow a ship to operate further and further out while remaining in your control - separate from fuel. The larger the ship, the longer the range it can receive command from (even before upgrades/modules).



These two things would eliminate the possibility for the "cheap phantom fleet" strategy, would require more resources and tech to launch an invasion depending on how far away it was (unless you want to do it blindfolded, and hope they take the colony and re-establish contact with you, heh - options!), and make long range scouting possible while not making it unbalanced.



Here's some situational examples:



You won't know if your scout has died, and it won't know if you went to war with player X, or made peace with player Y, or even if you were eliminated from the game and it's working for nobody. When it returned, you'd get the data from it's scouting - assuming it returned. This means that while it can scout quickly, being out of communication/command range means it cannot send it's telemetry back until it returns, balancing the "quick" scouting by making it take more than twice as long. This would encourage sending out multiple scout parties, etc. Your scout would have to keep itself refueled, or only explore out to X point where it would have to return or run out of fuel, with a bit of buffer "in case". This would mean fuel limits scouting range but comm range just delays scouting reports.



A wandering warship may attack someone you are no longer at war with - or be attacked by wandering into previously friendly territory. The effects of this would be limited by fuel, and if it runs out of fuel, a ship would be a nice target for capture/boarding. These would happen particularly often when you lose contact with a fringe colony or distant capital ship controlling fleets. All of the fleets/ships would end up wandering unless you'd laid in orders previously, in which case they'd try to carry them out, and if they do and are still out of comm range, would start wandering then. If they come back to comm range (or comm range comes back to them) you'd gain their exploratory data and regain the ship/fleet.



If you want to attack a system, you have multiple tactical options. You can send high-fuel ships blindly at a system, hoping they win. When they win, they would re-establish contact when/if the colony was taken. You could bring a capital ship with it's own comm range and manually control the situation. You could upgrade comm range from a system or the receiving end on a ship and launch invasions only out to a certain distance to maintain control. You could have ships with low fuel capacity but a capital ship with high fuel capacity and fuel-gathering mechanisms so that the ships were cheaper and the capital ship more expensive. This capital ship could then have a command range of it's own, or just more of a command range back to the colonies/etc., or make that all a blind assault too.



If colony ships are run by computer and the colonists/crew are asleep, they could be very easy capture/boarding targets if intercepted en-route, especially if they're outside of comm range.



I feel that'd add some awesome game machanics to the loss of territory and give some interesting tactics for purposefully putting a fleet out of range, like the scouting or the military ships. A scout that returns in 100+ turns but doesn't give you the data until it gets back makes sense, and balances the quick scouting. It also makes a lot of interesting scenarios possible, and adds a lot of depth to strategy for exploration and assault, and even defense (to keep your ships in comms if a system is lost, etc.).



As for interception - with proper modules/tech, a ship would be able to compute and plot a route to intercept a target. This would be impossible for lanes (you move quickly in them, they are usually quite short, etc.) but extremely useful for "off-road" targets. This would allow you to have purpose-built interception ships, or equip some of your standard designs (perhaps your general-purpose defensive ships?) with the capability.



My suggestion(s) here would fix all of the problems I've heard people complaining about regarding travel, scouting, and unfair tactics. I do understand that they're some seriously big changes to game mechanics, however - I expect opposition to my idea(s), and won't be surprised when it comes.



The only problem I'm aware of that this doesn't address is the "how fast you click" issues that some perceive with the simultaneous turns system.

Please mind the proposal submission rules and don't post lists of proposals for different topics. Boarding and fuel range e.g. are too dissimilar to count as one topic, anymore.

Nosferatiel wrote:
Proposal-section posting rules



[LIST=1]

Proposals start off as Suggestion. Please name your thread "Suggestion Topic". Topics with nonsense-titles will be moved to the archives without being linked.

If you post a proposal, post only one suggestion topic per thread. Mixtures of different topics like: "I want icecream for the amoeba and like my ships toasted with real beams, not pesky pew pew lasershots!", will be exiled into the archives without being linked anywhere, being tagged as Composite suggestion

Proposals that are found to be only a slight variant or even a duplicate of an older proposal, will be moved to the archives. They will be linked by a moderator-post inside the original proposal. Please refrain from willingly proposing duplicates. Spam of duplicates will be considered as an infraction and result in a warning by a moderator.

If proposals are recognized as originals by a mod or jetkar, they will be listed in the Summary of Suggestions and Ideas and get their title edited from Suggestion to Listed. To apply for a listing, you can hasten the process by making a post with a link to your thread and a summary of your proposal here.

Once proposals are recognized by the developers, they'll be tracked in this list and the devs will normally comment on the idea, when and if it will be implemented. The original thread will get a new title, from Listed to Tracked.

The final achievable status is, if an idea gets implemented into the game. The thread will then get the prefix Implemented.

[/LIST]

Anyways, limiting ship range has already been proposed here: /#/endless-space/forum/28-game-design/thread/12216-suggestion-fleet-ship-range-limitation

Boarding has been proposed here: /#/endless-space/forum/28-game-design/thread/11785-boarding-ships!

Interception on lanes/in space has been proposed here: /#/endless-space/forum/28-game-design/thread/11790-intercept-fleets-on-lanes-in-space



This thread is moved to the archives as composite suggestion.