Comments on: Empire composition

By: Scintir

Scintir — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 00:16:45 +0000

w00tzors

By: ju

ju — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 22:01:56 +0000

That’s exactly the point here However we’re still in the process of figuring out time frames for such things.

By: Lemorsa

Lemorsa — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 19:07:08 +0000

thats a good point, because realistically also, a planet shouldn’t be able to come under another empires control that quickly…

By: ju

ju — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 08:33:11 +0000

The slower game side of things isn’t applying to everything. It’s true starting up is slow in Beta 5 and we should correct that. However when you’re under attack you might lose a planet in 20 min, and this every 4h, which is way too fast for the casual user.
As for the universe expansion, this already happens in Beta 5 and a similar process will be in place in Beta 6.

By: Lemorsa

Lemorsa — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 21:57:48 +0000

oh, i thought this game was already slow enough… at least to start. So, as empires continue to grow larger and larger, are more and more z-coordinates going to open up so that there is room and hope for smaller players?

By: ju

ju — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 07:39:31 +0000

So far we haven’t planned a limitation on the number of annexed planets (core planets are limited to a fraction of the total empire size, not including slave planets, and rim planets to a multiple of the the amount of core planets). People should have the possibility to have a decent size empire without slave planets.
On the slavery side, possessing slave planets has major drawbacks, such as a happiness penalty, especially on annexed planets: people don’t like the idea of having slaves around because they might become slaves themselves at some point. Therefore possessing slave planets reduces the amount of non-slave planets a player can control.

There will be a limitation to population, but way higher than in Beta 5 and longer to reach (2-3 years). Moreover since there is no limit to the number of planets one can hold, stagnancy can be avoided by taking more planets once you have reached the maximum pop. The fact that players have to find resources for just about everything adds to that.

On the advantage to hardcore players compared to casual players, we intend to limit it with:
* more scripting tools, like the quick building from beta 5, for build queues, fleets movements and so on
* a “slower” game with events such as battles taking longer to complete, so that it is possible for someone connecting from time to time for a short period of time each day to react
* a real possibility to defend an attacked planet, impossible defense being obviously a design flaw in beta 5

By: rimtosser

rimtosser — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 00:09:54 +0000

I really like all of this. I will probably be tending to have a ‘smaller’ efficient core but…I don’t know. I love how this is worked anyway. I just think that enough has to be in place so that uber active players cannot get that MASSIVE advantage over casual players. Obviously someone who is more active should and will have advantage but that advantage really needs to be managed and not…too big.

By: Cyliis

Cyliis — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 22:51:52 +0000

Is there a limitation on the number of rim planets that an empire can have? If I were to strive to be an honest, tolerant, peaceful, and I can’t remember the other current axes… Emperor and did not wish to maintain slave planets, would there be any sort of advantage to this aside from increased happiness levels?

Also, as this sort of relates to empires, will there be a limitation to population in this game? I think the cap of 40k in B5 was another factor of stagnancy at the end of round 1.

By: ju

ju — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 09:03:04 +0000

There won’t be any capital planet per se. The outskirts of the empire are defined as what isn’t part of the set of core planets which have to be close together and are limited in numbers.
As for the bonuses side of things, we don’t really plan bonuses for small empires per se. They’ll just be easier to manage thus being better managed thus being more efficient than huge ones.

By: Lemorsa

Lemorsa — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 02:23:55 +0000

I like it, i mean all of it… I think that micro-cores should get some bonuses like you said, simply because when an empire gets too big, communication gets harder and control gets harder, especially on the exterior parts of the empire. So, is there going to be like a capital planet in each core to justify where the outskirts are?