Space Empires 5

[Will]

It wouldn't be micromanagement hell if the game told you what populations could live there. Could have a system level icon for your own population like there is now. Green star means your population can live there comfortably. Red star means not-so-comfortably. When examining the planet, it can show habitability Ratings for each known species. Could make a switch somewhere that changes the system-level icons to be for a population other than your own. More detail doesn't always mean more micro-management

The coordinates don't need to be taken to extreme numbers of decimals. A simple map having a 130.0x130.0 system would be fine (and still quite an improvement over the current 13x13). Newtonian movement wouldn't be feasible with the grid now used in SEIV, it would be far too choppy. There would still be a "grid" for combat purposes, so ships don't have to be at the exact coordinates for combat, just within a certain block.

[Mephisto]

IMHO Phoenix-D is right about the MMH. I don't see why adding lots of variables to the planets will make it any more interesting. It is just more moving around people for the best location.
A script language for the AI would be just neat and variable damage/damage absorption for different types of incoming damage would be cool. Further it would open a great deal of variety to the weapons and it would be much harder to build/find the "perfect" weapon.

[Zarix]

SE5 might have some kind of 3d. As we can see in "Call for Artist" thread Malfador is looking for 3d artists.

A lot of little features could make the game more realistic but they have some problems. Besides micro management they would increase the size of save game files. Already in multiplayer games the files can be pretty big.

[Suicide Junkie]

IMHO Phoenix-D is right about the MMH. I don't see why adding lots of variables to the planets will make it any more interesting. It is just more moving around people for the best location.

I think the important part of this idea it the fact that it would allow for one race's terraforming to become another race's environmental catastrophe.

If we had separate variables for gravity, radiation, temperature, and various atmospheric gasses, it wouldn't be any more complicated than it is now.

You'd just build a terraforming facility, and each year it would tweak each variable 1% towards your race's ideal settings.
Add in a small, natural, unterraforming factor, so that planets will return to their natural state if left alone, (and also limiting the terraformer's maximum conditions change as it fights mother nature)

A Rage world with a Terraformer (vaccuum breather machine race) would start reducing the pressure of all the different gas types, shift gravity and temperature to average values, and reduce radiation.
A Terran world with a Terraformer would shift gravity towards 1g, temperature to 25 degrees C, and shift radiation towards the low end, while Increasing oxygen pressure and decreasing all others.
It would all be automatic when you build the facility, just like atmosphere modders now.

Planet Images would change whenever a new gas takes over the top concentration (or when the total pressure drops to a certain value).

Your planets would fall into a few categories:
- Very nice planets, naturally fit for your race.
- Terraformable planets
- Poor worlds that will always require a dome (facility).
- Enemy-held worlds that are very nice.
- Enemy-held worlds that were very nice until they were terraformed by aliens.
- Enemy-held worlds that were marginal before being terraformed even worse by aliens.
- Enemy-held worlds that will never be livable by your race.

[Zarix]

SJ, that is a pretty good idea. With one change it would be nearly perfect. The terraforming facility should of course change the conditions to optimal by default. But there should be also possibility to change conditions to whatever one wants.

[ July 12, 2002, 14:39: Message edited by: Zarix ]

[geoschmo]

Originally posted by Zarix:
SJ, that is a pretty good idea. With one chance it would be nearly perfect. The terraforming facility should of course change the conditions to optimal by default. But there should be also possibility to change conditions to whatever one wants.

No, you would want it to change the conditions to whatever is ideal for the population currently on the planet. If that's not optimal, then you don't want optimal. That's the point.

I have a question though. Not that it matters for game play or anything, and I won't use the "R" word, but how exactly would terraformers change the gravity of the planet?

Geoschmo

[Zarix]

Originally posted by geoschmo:
No, you would want it to change the conditions to whatever is ideal for the population currently on the planet. If that's not optimal, then you don't want optimal. That's the point..

I meant that when you build the facility, it starts changing the planet so that the people living there become happy. Then if the player decides that those people are annoying, the player could increase the temperature and suck the air out making some vacuum-packed beef.

I have a question though. Not that it matters for game play or anything, and I won't use the "R" word, but how exactly would terraformers change the gravity of the planet?

That is quite simple. To decrease the gravity they have to put springs in every shoe on the planet. When increasing it they replace the springs with heavy weights.

[geoschmo]

Originally posted by Zarix:
I meant that when you build the facility, it starts changing the planet so that the people living there become happy. Then if the player decides that those people are annoying, the player could increase the temperature and suck the air out making some vacuum-packed beef.

Oh. ROFL! I didn't realize you were going for the "Evil Overlord" kind of thing there. There are more efficent ways of dealing with annoying populations, but I guess the inefficency is where the fun is. The fact that you would go to so much trouble to make their lives miserable shows what a cruel, heartless bastard you can be if you are shown the proper "respect". I LIKE it.

EDIT: Along with these lines, give us the ability to grant independance to a colony. Then you can turn around and glass it the next turn. MUUUHAHAHAHA! You can do the same thing now by gifting it to another race, but the other race has to accept the gift, then you run the risk of them getting upset at you for glassing the colony, and you don't get the satisfaction of the "Skull and Bones" log message telling you that you totally wiped that new empire out. Hehehehe, that would be so fun!

Geo

[ July 12, 2002, 15:28: Message edited by: geoschmo ]

[Growltigga]

Geo, genocide is not acceptable in any social circle I am aware of. Evil Overlord or not, you should really try and curb these tendencies toward the mass slaughter of innocents.. after all, the good lord did say that one should turn the other cheek and not do unto others as you would not like done unto yourself and let's face it, you wouldn't be too chuffed to find out you were the target of an evil despotic maniac with a predelection for extreme violence and an appalling tendency to go "MUAAUUAAUAUAUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAH"

You probably will be stroking small white persian cats next

[Zarix]

New victory condition for SE5: Hell

To win the game you have to transport at least 10M of each race in the game to a planet and terraform that planet to barely liveable to all those races.