hi guys,
I'm planning to create a fair and balanced mod for an empire that runs a zero colonization policy.
The basic outline:
- never receives colonization tech
- cannot cede planets
- will need other sources of income and territory and military power
=======================================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------Territory:----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Outposts:
- main source of territory
- cheaper influence wise ( extremely cheaper so expansion and winning is a possibility)
- more expensive in the mineral department (maybe energy too)
- More Hull and weaponry
Tech:
- grant more weight to border expansion tech
- maybe one or two more techs that increase territory even further
(or for starters double all border expansion ranges and see how it goes)
- advanced final tech that especially increases outpost territory gains by a large x% amount
=======================================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------Military:-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
general idea: 500~1000 naval capacity should be attainable but only through very hard work and commitment
I believe Armies don't need much adjustments apart from maybe a means to produce them faster
Spaceport:
- only one spaceport may hinder production massively ( maybe double production speed or use this
drawback to grand other benefits)
- upgrading spaceport should be a lot more expensive and grant more naval capacity in return
- alternative: much milder penalty for overextending naval capacity
- orbital coordination center to further enhance naval capacity
Tech:
- granting a repeatable tech that gives fixed amount naval capacity together with 50% increased naval
capacity tech this can become a good way to scale into lategame.
- Deep Space Sattelite tech that enables the ground control building with multiple tiers and a connection to
enhanced AI for the last Tier
Planetary Building:
- ground control helps coordinate space traffic and coordination thus increases naval capacity and might even
render space travel more efficient ( whatever that means
)
Outposts:
- with outposts replacing the role of colonies they may also be linked to naval capacity
=======================================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------Resources:------------------------------------------------------------------------
With only one colony the empire will be denied a lot of resource potential through planetary buildings. However thanks to better outposts the empire may cover a descent amount of space for mining operations. I believe the ability to temporarily enhance the homeworlds resource gains and a general improvement in mining gains should do the trick.
Governemnt Traits:
- think of oligarchy and despotic hegemony combined. Reduce the construction cost of mining and
research stations and boost their gains. High risk reward feature, in a war it is much easier to be crippled as
the empire relies a lot more on mined resources and technology.
Planetary Edicts:
- reduce all planetary edict costs
- unique planetary edict that reduces happiness / ethics divergence but kicks production into overdrive
Empire Wide Edict:
- unique to empire: boost resource production at the cost of research speed (reasons below)
Tech:
- more weight on repeatable 5% mineral and energy techs
- empire unique quality goods: advanced technology to refine your resources which makes them more
valuable to other empires. Basically we want other empires to be more likely trading goods with your empire.
=======================================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------Technology:-----------------------------------------------------------------------
So this is the real tough one. A single colony empire that is able to expand through their outposts will have a strong net gain in technology. Thus research will generally be a lot faster. To offset this, either penalties need to be in place, or the empire simply has to rely more on repeatable techs for other resources like energy and mineral gains. Therefore they are able to do more research but are also reliant on having to do more research to offset their weaknesses. I think this is the way to go here. Advanced tech advantage to be able to go tall instead of wide.
I have already introduced new technology necessary for the empire to properly work. These could be split into multiple tiers to further increase tech investments if necessary.
the empire should be heavily reliant on repeatable techs to scale into the lategame, thus without proper research the empire will always have less minerals energy, influence and naval capacity than a regular empire.
I did not make an extra section for influence as it's dynamic is heavily connected to how we pay for outposts. Currently there are two options I find appropriate. Repeatable tech that grants 0.5 ~ 1 influence gain and maintain outposts influence cost or replace outposts monthly influence cost by increased mineral and energy cost instead.
=======================================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------Now what do I need from you?-----------------------------------------------
Well I'm sure some of you have already tried building such an empire. I have done quite a few playthroughs myself to see how a current empire would fair, but my data is far from complete. I would love for those of you who have tried to share their experience and maybe even posts stats on their economical gains after such and such years. What different ethos you have used and what were the differing results.
This way we will be able to spot possible abusive combinations and create befitting ethos conditions and traits to suit the general gameplay of this empire.
I plan to realise this through special government forms. Hive, Central Command, Fanatic patriotism come to mind at first thought as name or concept for those. They should blend in seamlessly and not disturb the general gameplay of stellaris. Thus any other form of interaction with the rest of the game should feel similar. Thus the government needs to interact with traits editcs etc.. just like every other empire.
E.g. : an empires naval capacity and resources can be fluctuating. But it consists of a rather stable / fixed amount brought in by population and a heavily fluctuating component, the spaceports or mines. Raiding spaceports / mines or occupying planets can be a very effective way to counter huge doomstacks as they may lose the capability to support that large a fleet when the costs skyrocket. Our empire will need the same kind of interaction. Therefore our naval capacity needs a component, which is directly linked to outposts. Yet outposts need to be harder to be taken out just like colonies need that extra effort of bombardement and invasion - therefore the military strength increase of the outpost. Of course not all of the above mentioned adjustments need to be done - look at it more as a collection of possibilities from which we may draw - only testig will reveal which measures are necessary and fun.
So I hope people will support this idea =) I believe this can be an interesting concept. I for example enjoyed playing venice in CIV V a lot. I hope you did too =D and I want us to be able to have space venice =D
I'm planning to create a fair and balanced mod for an empire that runs a zero colonization policy.
The basic outline:
- never receives colonization tech
- cannot cede planets
- will need other sources of income and territory and military power
=======================================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------Territory:----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Outposts:
- main source of territory
- cheaper influence wise ( extremely cheaper so expansion and winning is a possibility)
- more expensive in the mineral department (maybe energy too)
- More Hull and weaponry
Tech:
- grant more weight to border expansion tech
- maybe one or two more techs that increase territory even further
(or for starters double all border expansion ranges and see how it goes)
- advanced final tech that especially increases outpost territory gains by a large x% amount
=======================================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------Military:-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
general idea: 500~1000 naval capacity should be attainable but only through very hard work and commitment
I believe Armies don't need much adjustments apart from maybe a means to produce them faster
Spaceport:
- only one spaceport may hinder production massively ( maybe double production speed or use this
drawback to grand other benefits)
- upgrading spaceport should be a lot more expensive and grant more naval capacity in return
- alternative: much milder penalty for overextending naval capacity
- orbital coordination center to further enhance naval capacity
Tech:
- granting a repeatable tech that gives fixed amount naval capacity together with 50% increased naval
capacity tech this can become a good way to scale into lategame.
- Deep Space Sattelite tech that enables the ground control building with multiple tiers and a connection to
enhanced AI for the last Tier
Planetary Building:
- ground control helps coordinate space traffic and coordination thus increases naval capacity and might even
render space travel more efficient ( whatever that means
)Outposts:
- with outposts replacing the role of colonies they may also be linked to naval capacity
=======================================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------Resources:------------------------------------------------------------------------
With only one colony the empire will be denied a lot of resource potential through planetary buildings. However thanks to better outposts the empire may cover a descent amount of space for mining operations. I believe the ability to temporarily enhance the homeworlds resource gains and a general improvement in mining gains should do the trick.
Governemnt Traits:
- think of oligarchy and despotic hegemony combined. Reduce the construction cost of mining and
research stations and boost their gains. High risk reward feature, in a war it is much easier to be crippled as
the empire relies a lot more on mined resources and technology.
Planetary Edicts:
- reduce all planetary edict costs
- unique planetary edict that reduces happiness / ethics divergence but kicks production into overdrive
Empire Wide Edict:
- unique to empire: boost resource production at the cost of research speed (reasons below)
Tech:
- more weight on repeatable 5% mineral and energy techs
- empire unique quality goods: advanced technology to refine your resources which makes them more
valuable to other empires. Basically we want other empires to be more likely trading goods with your empire.
=======================================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------Technology:-----------------------------------------------------------------------
So this is the real tough one. A single colony empire that is able to expand through their outposts will have a strong net gain in technology. Thus research will generally be a lot faster. To offset this, either penalties need to be in place, or the empire simply has to rely more on repeatable techs for other resources like energy and mineral gains. Therefore they are able to do more research but are also reliant on having to do more research to offset their weaknesses. I think this is the way to go here. Advanced tech advantage to be able to go tall instead of wide.
I have already introduced new technology necessary for the empire to properly work. These could be split into multiple tiers to further increase tech investments if necessary.
the empire should be heavily reliant on repeatable techs to scale into the lategame, thus without proper research the empire will always have less minerals energy, influence and naval capacity than a regular empire.
I did not make an extra section for influence as it's dynamic is heavily connected to how we pay for outposts. Currently there are two options I find appropriate. Repeatable tech that grants 0.5 ~ 1 influence gain and maintain outposts influence cost or replace outposts monthly influence cost by increased mineral and energy cost instead.
=======================================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------Now what do I need from you?-----------------------------------------------
Well I'm sure some of you have already tried building such an empire. I have done quite a few playthroughs myself to see how a current empire would fair, but my data is far from complete. I would love for those of you who have tried to share their experience and maybe even posts stats on their economical gains after such and such years. What different ethos you have used and what were the differing results.
This way we will be able to spot possible abusive combinations and create befitting ethos conditions and traits to suit the general gameplay of this empire.
I plan to realise this through special government forms. Hive, Central Command, Fanatic patriotism come to mind at first thought as name or concept for those. They should blend in seamlessly and not disturb the general gameplay of stellaris. Thus any other form of interaction with the rest of the game should feel similar. Thus the government needs to interact with traits editcs etc.. just like every other empire.
E.g. : an empires naval capacity and resources can be fluctuating. But it consists of a rather stable / fixed amount brought in by population and a heavily fluctuating component, the spaceports or mines. Raiding spaceports / mines or occupying planets can be a very effective way to counter huge doomstacks as they may lose the capability to support that large a fleet when the costs skyrocket. Our empire will need the same kind of interaction. Therefore our naval capacity needs a component, which is directly linked to outposts. Yet outposts need to be harder to be taken out just like colonies need that extra effort of bombardement and invasion - therefore the military strength increase of the outpost. Of course not all of the above mentioned adjustments need to be done - look at it more as a collection of possibilities from which we may draw - only testig will reveal which measures are necessary and fun.
So I hope people will support this idea =) I believe this can be an interesting concept. I for example enjoyed playing venice in CIV V a lot. I hope you did too =D and I want us to be able to have space venice =D
Last edited:
- 1
