Borders will they have an impact or just for show?

[Torgrim]

Plenty of x4 games have borders but most of them, Its only for show, like you colonize a star system and you get a nice "insert colour here" around it but dont really makes any difference.

Take Distant Worlds for an example, when you colonize a star system you get a border that can contain a starsystem or two, when your colony grows so does the border and you get several starsystems within in your border that other Empires cant colonise due to they are within your borders.

Same as that old somewhat flopped Star Trek x4 game called Birth of Federation, I kinda enjoyed that border feature when two Empires started to collide then border will turn into a DMZ beacuse both Empires want to claim those sectors but cant colonise due to DMZ so either they go to war over it or buy the rights to exploit those sectors.

I would really love to see these kind of features in Stellaris.

 

[marianojoey]

that's so true. I hope to see something like that here.

 

[echo2361]

I like the idea of two kinds of imperial territory. The first is core space featuring your homeworld and most developed inner colonies. To move a military ship into this space without an open borders treaty requires a declaration of war.

The other type is frontier space. It is on the fringe of your controlled area with new colonies and such. Anyone can move through it but diplomatic penalties are likely. It might also be cool if raiding or straight up taking a newly settled colony wouldn't necessarily require a declaration of war on the frontier.

 

[Synge316]

Same as that old somewhat flopped Star Trek x4 game called Birth of Federation, I kinda enjoyed that border feature when two Empires started to collide then border will turn into a DMZ beacuse both Empires want to claim those sectors but cant colonise due to DMZ so either they go to war over it or buy the rights to exploit those sectors.

I'd love to see a DMZ style border between competing powers. That was a great feature from BOF. Could be used as 'flashpoints', where ongoing border skirmishes and illegal colonies and mining could lead to war.

I'd also love to see something akin to how Endless Space handles unclaim systems - wherein factions can fight one another without it becoming a full-scale war.

 

[FirstCitizen80]

A DMZ would be a cool feature. I'd also like to see a mechanic where there was the potential to see a war coming, rather than the usual 4x strategy of having the weak AI next door offer you a non-aggression pact on turn 1, a trade pact on turn 2. Cancel all pacts on turn 3, and declare war on you turn 4 to 'rid the world of your inferior product." Unless, of course, the stuff you were selling them really was the worst junk in the universe that is. ;P

I'd prefer a tension or flashpoint system, where even the most militant races would have to spend a turn or two preparing for and justifying the next the war. Maybe some alien races could concievably be in a perpetual state of war, and thus not need this, but if they even have the concept of peace in their culture, it should require them to do something to set their empire down the war path.

The exception might be first contact wars. I like the idea of first contact with an alien race being a big deal, perhaps effecting your relations throughout the game or at least into the middle era, and some races hitting it off early or despising each other from the go. And there should be at least a small chance of a first contact war, perhaps with special dynamics that skip the tension / flashpoint system but have different repercussions and treaty options. (Maybe first contact wars are more likely to effect social 'tech', or give rise to special random events, or allow more terriroty to be taken, of Galactic Senate Rules to be broken. Maybe a warlike race would be allowed to start first contact wars whenever it encountered someone new, whereas more diplomatic races would be forced to 'give peace a chance'."

Either way, that "Take Me To Your Leader" moment should be memorable to the player, which most 4x games do a poor job of.

Also, perhaps first contact shouldn't be done on an equal footing. Perhaps when two empire bump, one empire will become aware of the other Empire first, thereby 'discovering' them, and the the discovering empire would have some options, or benefits at first contact, since they will know more about the new culture...or at least know they exist before the other knows they do.

 

[stumason]

Either way, that "Take Me To Your Leader" moment should be memorable to the player, which most 4x games do a poor job of.

At which point, you should then be able to teleport a spearhead into his Chamber, slay his guards, lop off his head and mount in on a spike! Then spend the afternoon performing some mild xenocide....