Ideas for Drox 2

[Bluddy]

Originally Posted by kerzain

Some Suggestions (well, maybe not suggestions so much as stuff I'd like to see):[*]At the moment I don't see a reason to ever share contact info between races. At best maybe there's some trading behind the scenes that benefits them both, but at worst it penalizes me for helping one guy that another guy might suddenly have taken a disliking to for no good reason. But if they don't ever know about eachother I seem a lot freer to just do as I please without their opinions of eachother affecting their opinion of me.[/list]

All good points, but I just want to focus on this. It's absolutely true that it's better not to share contact info between races. Because races don't base their relations on real interactions, but rather on random rolls, they could be on the other side of the galaxy and still go to war. Which is realistic in some sense (they are talking to each other after all), but also unrealistic in the sense that they're not competing for the same planets.

It's kinda funny because the contact mechanic works pretty well on its own -- races only come in to contact when they meet each other physically, at which point they can come into conflict (so doing it randomly works). It's when you get involved by selling contact info that the system appears artificial, since you're bypassing the natural evolution of contact info.

Also, with the current plague of protectorates/vassals/federations/etc, any 2 races will quickly become protectorates of each other or get some other relationship (again, without regard to having any strategic reason to do so because they're not really in contact with each other), thus making your life more complicated.

[kerzain]

Originally Posted by Bluddy

races don't base their relations on real interactions, but rather on random rolls,

I've been curious if blowing up those little Diplomat ships has had any effect on their relations, like bribes or something not going through and resentment brewing.

[kerzain]

OH, I forgot one:

I'd like the ability to terraform or otherwise make certain planets uninhabitable to certain (or all) species. I've never tried a doomsday weapon yet, so maybe that will do it, but there are instances where my starting gate (or other gates) are right next to or on top of heavily fortified enemy planets, and I'd like to wipe them out and salt the earth and not worry about them re-settling, only to spawn-kill me the next time I warp in (or show up after death when all my equipment is busted).

Even if the effort or cost involved is time consuming or exorbitant, I'd like such an option.

[Bluddy]

There are a few relation states that I find missing in Drox:

1. A not-quite-war but not-quite-peace state aka flash conflicts. A race that dislikes another race but hasn't declared war on them should be able to occasionally destroy their ships, without triggering all-out war. There would be a small penalty for each attack, but if happening rarely enough, a war should not break out. This would also allow you as the Drox to engage in piracy, attacking ships for profit without triggering an all-out war unless you overdo it. As a privateer, you may occasionally attack a race's ships, but then do some favors (quests) for them and they'll 'forgive' you.
2. War fatigue. After being at war for a long time, assuming sufficient losses are incurred, an AI should sue for peace. It could offer to trade money or even a few planets if necessary.
3. Suing for peace. A race that's incurring heavy losses should sue for peace at all costs, begging for mercy, and perhaps offering to become a vassal/tributary. (In fact, this is one of the few situations that should allow for these kinds of arrangements IMO -- doing it randomly feels weird).

Additionally, this may be a good time to put goods of different kinds into the game. Goods (e.g. food, minerals, metals, drugs) would be carried in your inventory and consumed by different planets and produced by others. Prices would change based on supply and demand in the sector. Shooting down good-ferrying ships could causes crises. Furthermore, war is in your interest as a trader, since warring races have more demand for certain goods. You already have the quests for situational goods (medicine and such) -- now you can also add constant goods that are constantly consumed by races.

[Bluddy]

So I was thinking about din's legacy, and one thing I thought about is: what if mutations didn't last beyond the current world? Like if all the negative mutations and positive mutations only lasted for that one world.
That would mean you wouldn't care if you got a whole bunch of negative ones and positive ones.
It would also justify having a separate XP bar: it's only for XP gained in the current world.
It also makes you more invested in the current world, especially if you like the weird abilities you got.
The more I think about it, the more I think this was the *superior* way to do mutations in DL. You essentially treat each world as a rogue-lite session where things can go a little crazy, while the character remains the carry-over between worlds.

Why am I talking about this in the drox idea thread? Because it'd be neat to have some of the mutation concepts carry over in this particular way.
e.g. you get killed by Talon, you become afraid of Talon.
You pay a race to mod your ship, and now instead of one projectile, you shoot out 3, and it only lasts as long as the current world, so Carpe Diem!
This gets rid of difficult long-term balance issues for these mutations, which is the problem DL has.
It also makes each sector unique: *you* are part of the randomness of the sector, and once you get attached to the specific cool ways you changed this sector, you have a strong incentive not to lose it.

[Bluddy]

Minor ideas:
- Don't have crew 'die'. Why break immersion for no reason when they get miraculously 'healed'? Instead, have them be 'heavily injured'. That small change in text makes a huge difference.

- When you die and your ship is restored from insurance (but not if you escape in an escape pod), automatically fix all your broken equipped items as well. In this game, a death is a step towards economic loss -- no need to also force the player to fix everything, possibly sticking them into a difficult loop where their thrust is too low etc.

- Can we please already get rid of the zoned servers? They're splitting up a small player base into even smaller player bases for very little good reason. Certainly players can play across the US with no serious latency, and if they're across the world, they'll either deal with it or switch to someone else.

[Bluddy]

- More info on system maps: EDIT: this is done, sorry. It would also be useful to show extra info when highlighting the planet, such as stats, modifiers, and number of ships there.

- It would be very useful to change the currency of economic wins and losses so it's less confusing. Call it whatever you want - crystals, minerals, whatever - just separate it from the regular currency so it wouldn't seem so odd that you can't just use your personal money to win a sector or make up for your lost ships.

[Bluddy]

- Currently, the only main ways to influence races negatively without fighting them is is via propaganda/sabotage/espionage. The percentages for success for these items are far too low IMO. 90% for a well-crafted effort seems high, but with a 10% chance of failing, you'll only be able to do a few of these before you're caught and eventually the race will declare war on you.

For a well crafted plan, the percentage should be much higher -- around 96-98%. It should almost be a given that it'll work, and if you have the money to spend, it should take many, many tries before you get caught. This is the only way currently to try to take down a strong race other than declaring war on it, and even this method is slow and expensive.

The low-effort plan is also far too weak IMO. 50% is just a coin toss -- it's not even worth the money. I would recommend percentages for all plans to be pushed up to something like 70%/85%/98%.

[Bluddy]

- Exploring is still too much of a burden, especially with large sectors and many planets, when you want to get stuff done instead. Also, settled sectors should not require as much exploration as unsettled ones. I can understand that when you move through the middle of the sector you'll mostly have to find your own way. But then you get to the other settled side and you have to clear all the fog to find anything, and it's just too much.

I suggest that you should be able to buy all planet locations from any race that is in decent relationship with you, with allied races giving you a discount. Races at war with you or strongly disliking you shouldn't give you their planet locations at all. Xenobophobic races may also guard the location of their planets and not offer them for sale at any cost (making nice use of that trait).

This will also show adjacent systems on your map, which will mostly solve the problem of finding the necessary wormholes.

[goodgimp]

I do feel that I spend too much time clearing fog of war, either looking for starlanes or the gate to the system. Having 300 speed reduces the time spent but I still feel like that's where a large chunk of my time is going.

If the suggestions above aren't taken, perhaps another increase the radar range for Planets/Starlanes/Gates/Wormholes would be in order? Clearing out the fog in a system or two is doable, but it becomes a dozen or more and then it's time to start a new sector...