I could use some feedback from experienced modders regarding how difficult it will be for me to do this. I've got some programming experience, but it's ten years rusty at this point.
My objective is to change the relationship between frontier outposts, colony ships, and starbases, as follows.
A special class of ship (unlocked by robotics tech) establishes a colony outpost over a potentially habitable world, for a significant cost - I'm thinking 500 minerals plus a flat influence cost similar to Asimov's frontier outpost. You do not need to be able to colonize the world, it just needs to be able to be colonized. A colony outpost behaves like a starbase over a colony-in-development. It DOES NOT count as a planet or a population point for the purpose of research cost. It DOES claim the system it's established in as a core system (or part of a sector) and spread a small area of territory, similar to a frontier outpost.
In addition to having a starbase over the planet, the player is free to clear blockers and build structures on the planet as if there were population there - for normal price and cost. These structures do nothing, of course, until population actually DOES arrive.
While the colony outpost does include a starbase, the starbase provides no fleet capacity, has significantly higher maintenance cost than normal, and ships built there cost more. It also can't build colony ships. Maintenance is further increased based on the number of colony outposts you currently have. Building a normal colony on the planet the outpost orbits converts the outpost into a completely ordinary starbase. Alternatively, the player can begin building robots on the surface of the planet (proper colonization research for the planet type required, of course).
So, first off, how hard would it be for me to make this? Second, could the AI be made to make use of this without absurd levels of modding?
My objective is to change the relationship between frontier outposts, colony ships, and starbases, as follows.
A special class of ship (unlocked by robotics tech) establishes a colony outpost over a potentially habitable world, for a significant cost - I'm thinking 500 minerals plus a flat influence cost similar to Asimov's frontier outpost. You do not need to be able to colonize the world, it just needs to be able to be colonized. A colony outpost behaves like a starbase over a colony-in-development. It DOES NOT count as a planet or a population point for the purpose of research cost. It DOES claim the system it's established in as a core system (or part of a sector) and spread a small area of territory, similar to a frontier outpost.
In addition to having a starbase over the planet, the player is free to clear blockers and build structures on the planet as if there were population there - for normal price and cost. These structures do nothing, of course, until population actually DOES arrive.
While the colony outpost does include a starbase, the starbase provides no fleet capacity, has significantly higher maintenance cost than normal, and ships built there cost more. It also can't build colony ships. Maintenance is further increased based on the number of colony outposts you currently have. Building a normal colony on the planet the outpost orbits converts the outpost into a completely ordinary starbase. Alternatively, the player can begin building robots on the surface of the planet (proper colonization research for the planet type required, of course).
So, first off, how hard would it be for me to make this? Second, could the AI be made to make use of this without absurd levels of modding?
