Did some brainstorming about a Dwarf Fortress-inspired Stellaris mod a while back: https://www.reddit.com/r/Stellaris/comments/4fhi0j/mod_idea_losing_is_fun/ and here I'll try to make it a reality. The basic idea is to make space itself significantly more inhospitable than in the vanilla game and increase the chance of player empires being wiped out completely.
In order to make sure that this becomes something playable rather than just a lot of big dreams I'm going to keep my sights aimed low with a few modest goals that I can then build off of.
Phase I: Tweaks
This phase will be simple and straightforward and will consist of dialing up all of the most unpleasant features of of the Stellaris universe to make Losing Fun. For example:
-Reduce the MTTH of unpleasant events and end game crises.
-Increase the negative effects of bad events.
-Increase the number of space monsters and pirates that spawn and make them more powerful and/or aggressive to the point that simple exploration becomes a major military campaign.
-In order to help keep more unexplored space into the mid-game space empires will spawn in tighter clusters so it'll be common to run into AI empires the next star or two over.
-Tweak ethos drift up a bit and make factions a bit more aggressive.
-Tweak AI to make some AIs play a bit like Diplomacy players, friendly at first and willing to form alliances but vicious the second your turn your back. Nothing makes Losing Fun like a good back stab.
Phase II: Added Content
This phase will consist to modding in additional content to make Losing Fun, for example:
-Additional unpleasant events, dangerous technologies, unique space monsters, the works.
-Many Lovecraft Easter eggs.
-Incorporating additional content from other mods.
-Specifically adding in many unpleasant anomalies (imprisoned demon gods on tomb worlds, the Necronomicon in space, etc.). Nerf research-based tech gain so make players more dependent on scavenging and anamolies for tech and make many of the unpleasant anamalies spawn negative events if left unexplored.
-Mod in full-fledged insane and jerkass AIs, including more aggressive Fallen Empires.
-Give the economic system a once-over to make it more of a knife edge with more things that can go wrong.
Phase III: Added Features
This phase is the big idea phase that'll add in more features that don't really exist in the vanilla game. For example:
-Mod the ethos system to replace one of the existing pairs with close minded/insane. Close minded pops will have severe research penalties while insane pops enjoy being free and wild and beyond good and evil, with laws and morals thrown aside and...shouting and killing and reveling in joy. Insane pops have research bonuses but massive their presence massive decreases the MTTH of a whole series of unpleasant events. The insane ethos spreads like wildfire if you're not very careful.
-Have very dangerous (but self-destructive) governments based on the Insane ethos that turns empires that have a national ethos of Insane into small scale End Game Crises in their own right.
-Have lots of ways your leaders can go crazy and go off in Strange Moods to work on bizarre and dangerous projects.
-Introduce smaller-scale Mid and Early-game crises that are dangerous but not an existential threat to the galaxy. For example a monster that wakes up beneath one of your colonies and begins to eat it but has difficulty getting into space or a threat that's probably going to burn out after frying a handful of systems.
-Introduce tech maintenance. Each tech you have costs research to maintain and if your economy collapses badly enough that you can't
-Have various crises and events that wipe out civilization in various systems often leave behind a handful of survivors with pre-FTL tech so even if 90% of the galaxy gets eaten space civilization will eventually regrow.
-Have various ways for high-tech empires to ascend (disappearing from the galaxy and leaving a big hole) or turn into Fallen Empires.
-Have friendship be dangerous. Dangrous ideas spread more quickly between federations and allies as do Insane pops. This could be modelled by having you get ultra-dangerous techs for "free" if your friends have them or have various negative events hit you if horrible things happen to your friends and allies that don't effect you so much if they hit your enemies.
-Using ideas from these stories: http://toxic-stars.blogspot.com/2014/10/ch1-unlikely-revolutionaries-part-1.html
In order to make sure that this becomes something playable rather than just a lot of big dreams I'm going to keep my sights aimed low with a few modest goals that I can then build off of.
Phase I: Tweaks
This phase will be simple and straightforward and will consist of dialing up all of the most unpleasant features of of the Stellaris universe to make Losing Fun. For example:
-Reduce the MTTH of unpleasant events and end game crises.
-Increase the negative effects of bad events.
-Increase the number of space monsters and pirates that spawn and make them more powerful and/or aggressive to the point that simple exploration becomes a major military campaign.
-In order to help keep more unexplored space into the mid-game space empires will spawn in tighter clusters so it'll be common to run into AI empires the next star or two over.
-Tweak ethos drift up a bit and make factions a bit more aggressive.
-Tweak AI to make some AIs play a bit like Diplomacy players, friendly at first and willing to form alliances but vicious the second your turn your back. Nothing makes Losing Fun like a good back stab.
Phase II: Added Content
This phase will consist to modding in additional content to make Losing Fun, for example:
-Additional unpleasant events, dangerous technologies, unique space monsters, the works.
-Many Lovecraft Easter eggs.
-Incorporating additional content from other mods.
-Specifically adding in many unpleasant anomalies (imprisoned demon gods on tomb worlds, the Necronomicon in space, etc.). Nerf research-based tech gain so make players more dependent on scavenging and anamolies for tech and make many of the unpleasant anamalies spawn negative events if left unexplored.
-Mod in full-fledged insane and jerkass AIs, including more aggressive Fallen Empires.
-Give the economic system a once-over to make it more of a knife edge with more things that can go wrong.
Phase III: Added Features
This phase is the big idea phase that'll add in more features that don't really exist in the vanilla game. For example:
-Mod the ethos system to replace one of the existing pairs with close minded/insane. Close minded pops will have severe research penalties while insane pops enjoy being free and wild and beyond good and evil, with laws and morals thrown aside and...shouting and killing and reveling in joy. Insane pops have research bonuses but massive their presence massive decreases the MTTH of a whole series of unpleasant events. The insane ethos spreads like wildfire if you're not very careful.
-Have very dangerous (but self-destructive) governments based on the Insane ethos that turns empires that have a national ethos of Insane into small scale End Game Crises in their own right.
-Have lots of ways your leaders can go crazy and go off in Strange Moods to work on bizarre and dangerous projects.
-Introduce smaller-scale Mid and Early-game crises that are dangerous but not an existential threat to the galaxy. For example a monster that wakes up beneath one of your colonies and begins to eat it but has difficulty getting into space or a threat that's probably going to burn out after frying a handful of systems.
-Introduce tech maintenance. Each tech you have costs research to maintain and if your economy collapses badly enough that you can't
-Have various crises and events that wipe out civilization in various systems often leave behind a handful of survivors with pre-FTL tech so even if 90% of the galaxy gets eaten space civilization will eventually regrow.
-Have various ways for high-tech empires to ascend (disappearing from the galaxy and leaving a big hole) or turn into Fallen Empires.
-Have friendship be dangerous. Dangrous ideas spread more quickly between federations and allies as do Insane pops. This could be modelled by having you get ultra-dangerous techs for "free" if your friends have them or have various negative events hit you if horrible things happen to your friends and allies that don't effect you so much if they hit your enemies.
-Using ideas from these stories: http://toxic-stars.blogspot.com/2014/10/ch1-unlikely-revolutionaries-part-1.html
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