Species
In Beta 5, we considered only one species was inhabiting the universe: humans. Each player was the leader of a group of survivors from the destruction of Earth who were settling in a remote part of the universe.
However the universe is huge and not encountering anyone else than other humans feels a bit… poor. Therefore we decided to include other species in Beta 6. So who are they?
First of all we decided to include species living in very specific environments, such as nebulae, hyperspace, etc. Having fleets going through these places would lead to encounters with these aliens.
Then we also chose to add species living on planets. These species would already live there or evolve from normal human beings. Each player would then have to manage a mixed population, where each species would have its own needs and tolerance to game related factors such as employment, happiness level, corruption level, etc.
So far the exact list of species to be included in Beta 6 is still open but we plan on having around 20. Therefore the list is open to suggestions (with original names and short descriptions).
Do you think having several species in the universe, be it in special environments or on planets can bring new dimensions to the game?
Don’t you think it might get too difficult to have to make several population groups happy on each planet of your empire?
Do you think we intend to have enough / too many / too few different species?
Rendesh:
I think with regard to species that it’s definately needed, and that yes some should be more tolerant to abuse than others (some for instance who just feel the need to work while others who’d rather sit and watch the world go around pondering about the meaning of life).
However, I think that it would be nice to be able to pick one of these species to play with, each having their own abilities etc. and that there should be the option of migrating to other planets, therefore reducing the amount of one species to accomodate your species. Also some species wouldn’t get on with others or get on with them too well. This way it would mean that people who be seeking out planets with their most desired races on and migrating those that don’t have them (which is both time consuming and costly).
In regards to race I think that having 6 or so playable alien races and then 14 non-playable alien races would be nice, as this would represent a place where only some of the aliens have actually been bothered/gained the ability to travel through space and colonise different worlds.
Anyway, I hope that helps, will think of some ideas later
February 18, 2008, 10:12 amju:
On this topic we have several of your suggestions in mind (migration, relations between species: love / hate and predator / prey).
However being able to pick one species to play with isn’t to be considered. We’ve thought about it but it brings major issues:
February 18, 2008, 10:41 am* The technologies we consider are mainly human technologies. Alien technologies would be completely different solutions to the same problems. This would require several independent technology graphs and ship designs and buildings to be realistic.
* Mixed populations should occur quite often and you should have advantages / penalties on a per planet basis based on the composition of its population. If we limit the choice of species to a small set of advantages / penalties it doesn’t bring much, since it would only put the advantages / penalties also on the empire level with a lot of computations for little effect.
Therefore either it requires too much work or it is useless.
Cyliis:
Now regarding what you said about technologies being mainly “human”, having these different species could potentially allow for multiple racial tech “trees”. Maybe the tech trees could have similar outcomes, but certain specials. Only, the rate of research for a particular race’s technology should be dependent on that particular groups population size within the empire.
February 18, 2008, 4:49 pmLemorsa:
I personally like the idea, only I’m seeing one major problem: If an individual will be able to have a lot more planets than what is allowed now, and also there will be tons of different species, all having to be handled accordingly, the game itself would take up far too much time, almost to the point where a player would have to basically live on the game… I’m just worried that with all of these new factors, although they are awesome, that nobody will really have time to play and do anything else at the same time…
There is definitely going to have to be a quick builder for pretty much everything.
One way that I could see a quick builder working for the different species is to break it up according to species. That way it is easier to focus on how the different species react to the different circumstances of employment, happiness level, and corruption.
Also what would be cool is if different galaxies had more of a certain species within them, because, if you think about it, that is really how it would likely happen.
February 18, 2008, 4:57 pmTSeeker:
The current idea is to have tech graph “branches” that would be species-specific and connect on top of the “normal”, human graph. This gives you a bonus when you end up having good relations with alien factions or have some other species on your planets.
February 18, 2008, 5:00 pmwiles9:
I like Rendesh’s thoughts on migrating populations along with Jus pros/cons of each.
Humans -Peaceful and rich. Some players like this, so would get rid of all aliens, and use there cash and intelligence to their adv.
Whereas others like the opposite.
I like this idea, because its a new form of tactics, a lot of thought would be put into how the game should be played. Enemies would be more interesting.
UnPlayable alien forms found developing randomly would be good to, as long as they can be exploited in some form.. forced to join army as conscripts, so no upkeep. They also have downfalls..
1.So overall, yeah it brings a new dimension, one i look forward to.
2.Yes i think it could cause too much time to be spent on the game just to manage it, but there is ways round that (Quick builder already suggested)
3.Im sure you can think of a good balance between numbers/species and unplayable/playable aliens etc. Too few is my only worry, but I dont think you can get too many.
March 12, 2008, 6:39 pmju:
The way we are currently designing the game is that no alien species will be “playable” in the sense that you won’t pick a species at the start of the game and have a specific set of techs / buildings / ships parts depending on the species you chose.
March 12, 2008, 6:52 pmHowever you should encounter planets already inhabited by aliens leading to empires with mixed population where each species has advantages and drawbacks. Each species also has a small set of specific techs / buildings / ships parts that you can acquire if your empire has members of the given species, through exchanges and so on.
As I’ve said earlier we cant possibly devise several tech graphs / building trees / ships part lists, one for each species. Just to give you an idea of the scale it would represent, we currently have 16 building categories, each including around 30 buildings. We already have trouble defining them all. And you have to consider also techs (about a thousand i think) and ships parts… Imagine having to do that for each species? It’s impossible given the manpower we have now…
Yuckwitte:
OK, this may sound a little harsh… But is there going to be *Ahem* Genocide? And if not genocide (and maybe if there is), then can you select who goes into your fleets/to your dankest, most dangerous mines?
I mean, you don’t want a race that hates you manning your biggest and best warships and you don’t want to send humans to die, when you can send an alien who everyone hates
Also… with the controllers (Cant spell their actual name), will people be unhappy to be on a planet with them? Will their be racial tentions and possible death of the populace?
April 5, 2008, 5:48 amTSeeker:
Not exactly under that name as exterminating a species can’t always be done the same way as another - plus, species in question tends to fight back. But basically, yes. This will cause your alignment to shift towards intolerant tho.
For the mines, nope, employment is considered only on a global basis - it would be redundant with extermination / segregation. We haven’t worked out exactly how ground armies will work at this point, so I can’t give you a definite answer, but it’s quite likely that you’ll be able to select which species are used as an army.
In some cases, humans may be the “alien that everyone hates” and you may want to send them to a brutal death.
Yes, Arc’kha’to tend to make the biological species “a bit” uneasy (except for the biological drones who aren’t clever enough to notice they’re being eaten / used as hatcheries). But such a behaviour is not specific to them, actually - Humans for example tend to consider one species as a very good component for aphrodisiacs, the species in question doesn’t like it.
April 6, 2008, 8:01 amYuckwitte:
(OK, I love Civ. and in Civ. People get pissed off about war…)
May 7, 2008, 6:48 amWill different species get war weary? Do some like war and hate peace? If you attack a planet with lots of a race that is hated throughout your empire are your people happy? If, however, you keep it, are your people unhappy? Pretty much… How will war affect people, will it affect them at all?
TSeeker:
@Yuckwitte,
War will affect your people through both alignment and influence; the details are still sketchy as they depend on a lot of other features, that’s why I’m not saying too much about it :p
Happiness is still mostly computed on a per-planet basis, so no, having a species on a planet in your empire doesn’t affect the other planets, at least not directly. Depending on the relative population sizes, average happiness, buildings, etc… however, this species might start migrating to other planets of your empire.
May 7, 2008, 7:52 am