In Beta 5, the only possible empires / fleets / etc. a player could encounter were controlled by another player. Only recently were introduced the PeaceKeepers, as a group intending to insure peace in the universe who enforces the protection of new players and respawned dead players.
In our opinion, this limits a bit the ingame possibilities. In particular action only occurs when a player or alliance decides to go to war ; otherwise the game can become quite boring since nothing much has to be done on the empire management point of view.
What we decided to introduce is a set of AI controlled factions whose behaviour is associated either with a species or with a specific alignment.
For factions linked with a species, the faction is only composed of members of that species and its behaviour towards humans is associated with the characteristics of the species. For instance, the aliens living in nebulae don’t like their environment to be disturbed and go after whoever travels a lot in nebulae.
For factions linked with alignment, several species can be represented but the group share a common goal which is represented by an alignment. The alignment of each faction is of course a complex set of values along a few alignment axes. Each faction can control empires, fleets and so on.
What would be the effect? Each faction has then empires they like (because their alignments are compatible) and others they don’t like (because their respective alignments are incompatible). As such they either provide assistance to empires or harass them. The more extreme along alignment axes the behaviour of a player is, the more extreme the reaction of the concerned alien faction is.
Along with player controlled empires, we’ll then have faction controlled empire who will interact with players and as such bring more life and excitement to the game. Extreme behaviours will also come with a cost, the reaction of the factions, but also a possible high reward, which should bring some new interesting strategies.
Do you think having AI controlled empires could bring something to the game?
Do you think the categories of factions are adequate? Do you have other ideas of categories of factions than species or alignment related?
Do you think it’s a good thing to limit extreme behaviours with the reactions of alien factions towards players having these behaviours? Do you think everyone won’t try and have a very neutral behaviour to avoid being chased by any faction, thus getting the game static?
What do you think should be the compensation / reward for someone who keeps at having an extreme behaviour even if he is harassed by alien factions?
Do you think having AI controlled empires could bring something to the game?
Yes, I am going to answer your questions exactly…kinda braindead at the moment.
Do you think the categories of factions are adequate? Do you have other ideas of categories of factions than species or alignment related?
I like the idea of these factions and from what I have read you mean that there will be at least a faction for each end of each alignment axis? If so…that would be pretty cool. I don’t have any ideas now (not one I am not going to mention later anyway) So..Yes and No.
Do you think it’s a good thing to limit extreme behaviours with the reactions of alien factions towards players having these behaviours? Do you think everyone won’t try and have a very neutral behaviour to avoid being chased by any faction, thus getting the game static?
Okay, I think firstly that very extreme behavior should be limited but that in some circumstances extreme behavior would be awesome. Think for example if an AI had a vendetta against a certain player or alliance, that would be fun but you do want to limit it so that it doesn’t happen often or for too long
On the second question no I don’t think that everyone will try and stay neutral. This is for a few reasons, there would be those to realise the fun in trying to keep their alignment nicely where they want it for certain allies and enemies. As well as this there are the larger amount of people who wouldn’t be keeping neutral, this is because they are, erm, misguided. By this, I mean…well, either not very clever or just don’t give a crap. There are the people that would be fully towards one side of an axis because it would give them an advantage in one particular aspect of the game, in the now. They wouldn’t think about repercussions but…well…you can either think on that, ask me if you really want to or…whatever, I am too tired to think!
Anyway, my idea was, a race/faction or whatever that hated neutral people. I mean, surely there would be someone out there who would attack you just because you didn’t have the guts to be specifically anything. Most people who try to hard to please everyone just end up annoying everyone anyway! In any case, that would keep the game more dynamic.
What do you think should be the compensation / reward for someone who keeps at having an extreme behaviour even if he is harassed by alien factions?
That sounds good although it would have to be very specific and controlled I think. This is probably already thought of/common sense but…you asked. I think it would be great to have some kind of reward for sticking with where you were at, but of course not too much of an award and perhaps no set award or time frame because obviously people would become an alignment and stick with it just to gain said reward.
In any case, I think that is all I have to say and I really really hope it is comprehensible but.. there you go
Cheers,
Rt
@Rimtosser – Regarding factions hating neutral players, I don’t think it’s a good idea per se. However, since all the alien factions love players who are in the extreme on some of the axes, they will not like neutral players too much (while not hating them completely).
I kind of agree with TSeeker on the latest comment, also, neutral players wont get as many bonuses from the aliens. I just have a question, can an alien faction ever be totally wiped out, just like a player? Also, if they can, what do we do if they all get wiped out?
Plus, i think it would be cool if there were alien factions from other galaxies that we only here about or meet every so often. Like, they are far more advanced , so therefore they usually are arrogant and keep themselves out of our affairs, unless of course, a situation strongly relates to them or their beliefs in some way… I just think that would be cool…
It should be extremely difficult to wipe out an alien faction. They are way more powerful than any player or alliance. If all players were to team up against one they might achieve that for some factions however. The idea is the faction gets respawned as any regular player. They have assets out of the known universe and can come back any time they wish.
As for seldom encountered aliens, it brings a lot of complexity for very rare events which isn’t what we have in mind. Complex computation have to be put in place for general purposes, not exceptional cases.
As great of an idea as “factions” are, I think that there are various fall-backs that need to be looked at.
Games like Legacy Worlds and Hyperiums (I know, I hate to group them together, but they are similar in this regard) are fun because the players create their own content. The game itself is just a medium for them to use. So, what I’m afraid of is a majority of a player’s time being consumed by worrying over the AI factions and not enough time interacting with other players. Would players enjoy this added element? I would, yes, so long as players still took the time to fight other players and worry over player to player diplomacy as well.
What I do think the factions would bring to the game is incentive to play actively even when there isn’t a war going on. As long as factions don’t pose such a hindrance to alliances that they won’t fight each other anymore, this addition would keep the game from going stagnant.
I think that people willing to keep an extreme up should reap the benefits of having one or more coinciding faction’s support, be it military, research, or economic. Maybe when requested every so often a certain sized fleet (proportionate to the current average fleet size) would join your fleets at a certain location to assist in a battle, or for a certain length of time financial assistance, or, for research, maybe certain technologies specific to that faction are allowed for you to research, but only as long as you maintain that extreme for an extended period of time.
Having factions on your side is also the point for alignment related factions. Usually you have two factions with opposite alignments. So if you are far on one alignment axis, some factions should hate you, but others should like you and support you.