Meeting another species

[King Ari]

Maybe its just me, but when I play other 4x games when you encounter a new alien species your able to strike up a conversation and start making trade deals/war/etc. right away. And I don't think it should be that simple. You should have to send a diplomat to them for x days/months/year to learn the culture and language so you can actually communicate the deal.

Alternatively if they had to send a diplomat to you for establishing a relationship you could destroy their ship as a way to declare war. If that's your thing

 

[Teslaflux]

That would be an interresting idea. In Galatic Civilizations for example you have to research Universal Translator, without them you can not understand what the other empires are saying.

 

[King Ari]

Exactly! I have not played galactic civ... but something like that I feel is needed for immersion

 

[Mattimeo78]

I third the OP's idea. Mass Effect briefly touched on this when they mentioned that because of their isolationist nature the Vorcha language is not as well understood as others. This is apparently why the Vorcha speak the way they do, because the process of translating their speech is spotty.

Edit: GalCiv's universal translator is mechanically functional, but such science magic is not very immersive, and I believe Paradox will do their best to make Stellaris a "realistic" space game.

 

[Biminis]

 

[LucasII]

I dont like this universal-translator thing. It doesn't seem plausible to me.

I would prefer that each new contact would require a phase of research. Of course this phase would be shorter if your new contact is inside of your species group. But there should be a constant research about 'the others' to improve understanding and diplo. relations.

 

[henzington]

Yes a universal-translator is gamey but given how tech works I doubt there would be a separate "tech" to talk to each species. I could totally see techs that modify your relations with other powers similar to the ones in EU4.

 

[stumason]

The UT in Star Trek Universe is a little more than translating their vocalisations. If you look it up in depth, it also uses neuroscience to look for brain wave patterns and other indicators to give an accurate translation - so while the one in Gal Civ might be "gamey", the theory behind it is a little more complex than "grunt click whistle" means "Die human pig-dog!"

 

[oliverpearl]

I think it would be interesting if the way a species communicates governs who that can talk to.
For example, a species that communicates through telepathy and has no sense of hearing will find it impossible to communicate with another alien which is unaffected by telepathy and can only speak to communicate as they do not share the same senses used to communicate. However the telepathic species can find a way to communicate with another alien which communicates through smell as both possess a sense of smell and thus after many years of research will be able speak to one another one day.

 

[MWSampson]

I do like the idea of after meeting having to send diplomats for 'first contact'; along with plenty of events for the mishaps, successes and comets that might be involved in such a situation.

 

[stumason]

Personally, I think talking to Aliens is a waste of time - purge the Xenos!

 

[cladboy2]

Personally, I think talking to Aliens is a waste of time - purge the Xenos!

Yes, Yes, I most heartedly agree...

 

[LucasII]

The UT in Star Trek Universe is a little more than translating their vocalisations. If you look it up in depth, it also uses neuroscience to look for brain wave patterns and other indicators to give an accurate translation - so while the one in Gal Civ might be "gamey", the theory behind it is a little more complex than "grunt click whistle" means "Die human pig-dog!"

Well how many in-game-years should it take to develope a UT that reads the brainwaves of a Fungus...

 

[echo2361]

I think first contact should be followed by a time frame where various diplomatic incidents and such take place via events which will determine the starting relationship between any two empires. After a non-violent first contact, one species might capture a player's merchants claiming they were "spies". The player could either demand them back by threatening trade sanctions or admit they were "spies" just to free them and appease the other species. Other event ideas include a newly contacted empire conducting military exercises near the border, which the player can either respond to by moving in ships of his own or ignoring. The general idea is there is a fluctuating translation period after first contact that eventually sets the tone for the relationship between the empires.

 

[Rioting Soul]

I like the idea, only if it's optional. When I think of this game, I want people to be able to play out their favorite moments from other sci-fi space stories without restriction. If you actually want to have a peaceful or at least better than neutral relationship then your idea is fine. But if you want to attack them then there shouldn't be any hoops to jump through. Terran meets Zerg, Zerg infest Terran, Protoss wipe them out.

I think that every race should have a foreign policy. Maybe you could also determine race-specific policies.

 

[echo2361]

My suggestion was meant just for non-violent first contacts as was stated in the previous post, where neither side decided to escalate things immediately. I fully support being able to blow away alien species the second you meet then with no restrictions if you want

 

[aruon]

My suggestion was meant just for non-violent first contacts as was stated in the previous post, where neither side decided to escalate things immediately. I fully support being able to blow away alien species the second you meet then with no restrictions if you want

actually that is confirmed. one of the known policies is xenophobia vs xenophilia. first contact casual sex? or first contact casual shotty? decisions decisions...

 

[GamingHUD]

If there is to be a universal translator tech like in GalCiv, I'd hope for it to be something that tends to show up nearer the late game when you're looking to found a federation.

Prior to that happening, I'd like to see some required effort between two species to be able to communicate effectively between one another.

 

[Alectron]

We can use pictograms. Or somewhere mid game we can create an intergalactic language.
It would be quite hard though to communicate with species who have no hearing/seeing ext.