This mod introduces a new game-ending condition called "Ascension". This represents a conscious decision by your empire to depart from the current plane of existence towards a new and better one, made possible by some remarkable end-game research.
This is an alternative end goal for your empire, compared to the domination and conquest victories! It is more akin to a "Technology" victory from Civilization, though with more flavour. The concept is heavily inspired by "The Hydrogen Sonata" by Iain M Banks, which has a species doing exactly this at the core of its plot.
Steam workshop link:
http://steamcommunity.com/id/the_land/myworkshopfiles/?appid=281990
Screenshot:
What it does:
* Creates 6 new technologies and 2 new buildings. Once you have researched four specified advanced technologies (across all 3 areas), the first set of 3 Ascension techs are unlocked. Once you have researched these, you can then build a specific Ascension Research Institute special building. Once that is built, you can then research the second set of 3 Ascension technologies, and finally once those are complete you can build the Ascension Portal which triggers the victory condition and ends the game. (You can't continue to play after winning this way, as all your Pops have Ascended!)
* A series of events with flavour text spawn as you are slowly making your way through this
* Naturally, all these new technologies and buildings have costs far in excess of any regular technology or building
* You also need good quantities of several rare strategic resources (Dark Matter, Garanthium, Teldar Vapour and Engos Vapour) to be able to build the relevant buildings - so completely "turning turtle" and focusing on research isn't a viable method
* Also, when you research Ascension tech your population starts to lose focus on everyday activities like working - so you suffer a big penalty to your Energy and Minerals income - making it difficult to warmonger (or defend yourself)
*It should take a minimum of 25 years to successfully get from the point of researching the prerequisites to the chain, to actually Ascending.
*
Some current issues:
* Technically, winning this way causes you to lose the game (as you have no Pops left). Thus you get an "Utter Defeat" game-over screen at the end. This is not presently moddable
* The game AI is very passive still. If this wasn't the case then the AI would probably be tempted to invade you or something to take advantage of the fact that you're focusing your empire's entire resources on Ascension. hopefully Paradox will fix this.
* Art is borrowed from other game events ( for techs it's missing entirely as I couldn't find the file path)
* The Strategic Resources required have two issues. Firstly there is a UI issue that the Ascension buildings simply don't appear in the list if the resources required are not available, which doesn't help the player know what to look for. Secondly, there is a hypothetical chance that the strategic resources you need may not exist in enough quantity in the galaxy at all (Shouldn't be a problem except in the smallest galaxies though).
* I have tested this plenty so am fairly confident it does what it means to do, however I can't claim it's balanced yet
* There are event options that turn off the Ascension sequence. They are irrevocable and also don't remove any penalties from Ascension tech you researched so you end up stuffed. To be improved.
* AI nations do not get any of this as a) I assume the AI would just waste research as it doesn't know the goal, b) it would create odd situations for the human player if an AI neighbour vanished.
What next
Your feedback and thoughts are very very welcome! If there is interest from other people I may develop this further a bit. There is a lot more that could be done in terms of making it more challenging, more nuanced, and creating events triggered by some of the things happening in the mod.
(Also I have literally no idea what I'm doing with the Steam Workshop so advice is welcome)
This is an alternative end goal for your empire, compared to the domination and conquest victories! It is more akin to a "Technology" victory from Civilization, though with more flavour. The concept is heavily inspired by "The Hydrogen Sonata" by Iain M Banks, which has a species doing exactly this at the core of its plot.
Steam workshop link:
http://steamcommunity.com/id/the_land/myworkshopfiles/?appid=281990
Screenshot:
What it does:
* Creates 6 new technologies and 2 new buildings. Once you have researched four specified advanced technologies (across all 3 areas), the first set of 3 Ascension techs are unlocked. Once you have researched these, you can then build a specific Ascension Research Institute special building. Once that is built, you can then research the second set of 3 Ascension technologies, and finally once those are complete you can build the Ascension Portal which triggers the victory condition and ends the game. (You can't continue to play after winning this way, as all your Pops have Ascended!)
* A series of events with flavour text spawn as you are slowly making your way through this
* Naturally, all these new technologies and buildings have costs far in excess of any regular technology or building
* You also need good quantities of several rare strategic resources (Dark Matter, Garanthium, Teldar Vapour and Engos Vapour) to be able to build the relevant buildings - so completely "turning turtle" and focusing on research isn't a viable method
* Also, when you research Ascension tech your population starts to lose focus on everyday activities like working - so you suffer a big penalty to your Energy and Minerals income - making it difficult to warmonger (or defend yourself)
*It should take a minimum of 25 years to successfully get from the point of researching the prerequisites to the chain, to actually Ascending.
*
Some current issues:
* Technically, winning this way causes you to lose the game (as you have no Pops left). Thus you get an "Utter Defeat" game-over screen at the end. This is not presently moddable
* The game AI is very passive still. If this wasn't the case then the AI would probably be tempted to invade you or something to take advantage of the fact that you're focusing your empire's entire resources on Ascension. hopefully Paradox will fix this.
* Art is borrowed from other game events ( for techs it's missing entirely as I couldn't find the file path)
* The Strategic Resources required have two issues. Firstly there is a UI issue that the Ascension buildings simply don't appear in the list if the resources required are not available, which doesn't help the player know what to look for. Secondly, there is a hypothetical chance that the strategic resources you need may not exist in enough quantity in the galaxy at all (Shouldn't be a problem except in the smallest galaxies though).
* I have tested this plenty so am fairly confident it does what it means to do, however I can't claim it's balanced yet
* There are event options that turn off the Ascension sequence. They are irrevocable and also don't remove any penalties from Ascension tech you researched so you end up stuffed. To be improved.
* AI nations do not get any of this as a) I assume the AI would just waste research as it doesn't know the goal, b) it would create odd situations for the human player if an AI neighbour vanished.
What next
Your feedback and thoughts are very very welcome! If there is interest from other people I may develop this further a bit. There is a lot more that could be done in terms of making it more challenging, more nuanced, and creating events triggered by some of the things happening in the mod.
(Also I have literally no idea what I'm doing with the Steam Workshop so advice is welcome)
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