[Ares]

This is my first post to this forum. YAAAY! I hope I don't screw it up. Anyway, I read through all 25 pages (3 hrs. of my life I'll never get back...) and here's my thoughts. Some are original ideas, some are expanded off of other ideas I read, and others are just some I saw and wanted to cast my "Yeah, me too!" vote on, but I completely lost track of which is which is which... And so, here they are, in ABSOLUTELY no particular order:

A peace treaty to cancel war and set current treaty to 'none'. And for that matter, treaty "packages" like trade packages to trade specific resources, perks, etc

A notes tab for empires and systems so I can record latest intelligence on a system or current treaty stipulations of an empire

Open-endded research!

Allow mods to add/change planet types and atmosphere. I also like the moddable resources idea, as well as the idea to make all ships/stations/planets/etc. generic "objects" that can be modded themselves.

More systems. Perhaps make a self-expanding galaxy. As all of the empires expand through certain thresholds, a certain number of systems are "discovered"

This whole block covers sensors/scanners/cloaks. I fully support sensors have ranges. If scanners do, why shouldn't sensors? Scanners and Scanner Jammers should have levels like cloaks/sensors. If my scanner beats your jammer, I can still scan you. Also, some things should modify cloak levels. If I have a level 4 cloak, but I'm using huge energy-hogs for engines, maybe that adds a -1 modifier to my cloak. If I have a cloaking device AND stealth armor, maybe I should get a +1 bonus to my cloaking device level.

Someone mentioned neutral empires that you can incorporate into yours through force, persuasion, or by them wanting to. I second this motion. Then you can really create a "United Federation of Planets" with many races, each with their own attributes, which ARE saved (second-ing that motion too).

I'd like to be able to mod the turn times. I know the number of comabat turns (both space and planet) are like this, but what if I want each game-turn to represent a day rather than a month? I could set the time elapsed per turn to .2 (five days/week) and between the game turns (in the replay) to 24 (hours), with combat in simultaneous games very 6 hours, or something similar.

I like the towing idea too. Perhaps tractor beams can double as tow-hooks. The vessels movement is reduced based on the size of the vessel been towed, to the point where the vessel can't move at all.
more stars self-expanding galaxy?
xpace facilities/stations/ships

I preferred SE3's setup that let you assign your initial tech levels rather that IV's "everyone gets the same tech at the start, no matter what." You could customize you race's tech specialties before the game ever started. I also preferred their research and agree with whoever suggested SEV's be like it. Intelligence could be done the same way. I'd have to select the specifics for each project, then assign percentages. And while I'm on the subject of intelligence (my favorite part) I think you should be able to select a possible empire to frame for ANY project, just in case you happen to have it happen, rather than it being random.

I'd like to be able to send more than one message to an empire per turn. I can send him a treaty offer, make the text block an "official" treaty (with stipulations like neutral and demilitarized zones, length of treaty, etc.) Then send a number of general Messages with information that crops up throughout my turn.

Someone made the suggestion of people as a resource. I like this, and it can even be expanded on. Make crew required for ships, and have specialized crew. Captain can function as a bridge, XO - auxiliary control, weapons crew provides a bonus to attack (perhaps set the base attack at 80% or 90%, with weaopns crew compensating), engineering crew that can repair systems, etc. I realize that much of this can be modded in (which I'm working on). Then you can transfer an experienced crew to a new ship and scrap the old one, or train a crew at a military college before they ever set foot on a startship (perhaps not as high experience). This would also tie in with my intelligence idea. Perhaps intelligence is conducted by operatives posing as crew members. You sneak them aboard enemy ships, then they send out Messages (at the cost of a chance to be detected) intelligence regarding the location of space they are in. If you want to affect operations on a certain ship or planet, you order them (also putting them in risk of capture) to that location, which they must reach by hopping from ship to station to ship to planet, etc. Each operative is listed in the intelligence window, with a percentage of funding assigned to each to affect his performance.

I like the idea of building ships component-by-component. If the spaceyards automatically assembled after all the components were complete, would everybody be happy? This would also allow you to build extra components so you can also play the role of "arms dealer". Or you could store them as cargo so your ship has a backup in case a critical system has been destroyed. Perhaps it requires an engineering team to make the replacement.

Mines should be targeted at random ships, with a cap on the number per ship. That will allow mines with special damage typeds (only engines, for example) without wasting 100 mines on 1 ship.

ranged boarding, so I can use transporters to beam my troops directly to an enemy ship. Additionally, a type that skips shields so I can create "phased transporters" or something similar. Also, boarding attacks should be more complex, with both teams volleying back and forth. If one side is doing well, they don't receive as many casualties (resulting in fewer boarding partys/security stations being destroyed). If the boarding is doing well, perhaps they have a chance to secure the bridge and disable the self-destruct device before it has a chance to go off.

It should be possible to order ships through a warp point that hasn't opened yet, but will be soon, so I can order a ship to open a wormhole, zip though it, and close it in the same turn (Did I mention ships shouldn't lose remaining movement with stellar manipulations? At least make it component ability that can be modded)

create/destroy planets/stars not instantaneous, but instead creating an instability like the special events. Using create star/planet (or a new tech: stabilize star/planet) on an existing one that has been destablized can prevent this. Or perhaps create two creates and two destoys. Based on their tech, maybe it's instantaneous, maybe it's not.

Not sure about gold, but I don't think all destroyed-on-use components have that ability moddable, but are instead hardcoded. That should be revised.

As for any and all people who want better, faster, more controllable tactical combat (better AI excluded), as long as there is still strategic, I don't care, but I will never use tactical combat. Ever. I am the ruler of an empire, not a ship captain. I am nowhere near the battle, and, in "reality"(?), have no knowledge of the battle until after its happend (or at very least, not accurate, up-to-date knowledge) It's the ship captains and fleet commanders who control that aspect of the empire, not me.

race name should be different from empire name. What if I want to play humans, but I want my empire to be called "The Star League", not "The Human Star League"?

As for everyone wanting a hexagonal grid to better deal with the hypoteneuse problem, I really don't care one way or 'tother, but this idea used in pen & paper rpgs could be used. On a square map, diagonal movement costs an extra movement point for every other movement diagonal movement that turn (1 - 2 - 1 - 2, etc) This takes care of the Pythagorean dilemma.

I am a HUGE fan of ships travelling THROUGH space rather than skipping over it (hyper/warp drives vs/ warp points). While I certainly apreciate the random wormhhole every now and again, that should not be the only method of traversing the galaxy. Maybe have several different types of propulsion. Hyper/warp drive that travels at FTL speeds to other systems. These can be "piled on" to allow faster speeds even at lower tech levels. Another is jump drives. These are extremely costly in terms of supplies/light-years travelled (less so at higher levels), but provide 1-turn travel to any system if the ship pays the cost. The standard opening and closing warp points ("jump gates") can be a third option. Only one of these methods would be available to an empire at the start of the game, though it (possibly) can be traded among them. I'd like to be able to set up a perimeter around my empire. Place long range sensor buoys around it that can detect (though probably not identify) approaching ships.

I'm also a big fan of a game none of you probably ever heard call Xpace made by a company called Xoftware that never Lasted long enough to complete the game, though I personally thought it showed huge promise (I think it was one of those three-guys-working-out-of-their-garage type company, though I'm not sure about it.) The propulsion system in that game was virtually identical to the one I just described. Another key element was that the emperor (YOU!) physically existed. You were located on a planet (or starship, or whatever.) While this played several minor roles (the morale of the location of the emperor increases, for example), it really played one key role: Communication. In this game, the further away you were from a ship, the longer it would take to receive information from that shiip. Communication was a technology that could be researched like any other. The higher the technology, the larger the radius ships can communicate to in a single turn. Communications relays could be used to extend that range. If enough relays were in place, I could receive a message from halfway across the galaxy in a single turn. Otherwise, it could take quite some time. Of course, if there was something you wanted to focus your attention on, you could reduce your communication lag by hopping a ship there. In that game, you needed a lot of cargo space to accomodate the emporer and his equipment/staff. In this game, you could even make it a seperate component that houses him (...wondering what that "palace" in abilities.txt is for...)

Well, anyway, that's all for my. Now that everyone is thoroughly bored, I'll let you get back to your lives. I'm sure you have a lot to add...

[ May 27, 2003, 04:35: Message edited by: Ares ]