To what use can science ships be put to beyond the early and early-middle game, where most systems have been scouted and surveyed?
Presumably, some anomalies will be difficult enough that you won't be able to research them until later into the game and perhaps new ones would keep appearing. But that would be rare enough that, most of the time, you'd just have a couple of unemployed science ships hanging around a space port, with the crew blowing their wages in the space bars and space brothels and getting space clap.
Maybe you'd even scrap them and just build a new one every time something came up that needed a science ship.
That'd be a bit of a shame, though.
What things could science ships do when they're not surveying worlds and researching anomalies?
A few ideas:
Presumably, some anomalies will be difficult enough that you won't be able to research them until later into the game and perhaps new ones would keep appearing. But that would be rare enough that, most of the time, you'd just have a couple of unemployed science ships hanging around a space port, with the crew blowing their wages in the space bars and space brothels and getting space clap.
Maybe you'd even scrap them and just build a new one every time something came up that needed a science ship.
That'd be a bit of a shame, though.
What things could science ships do when they're not surveying worlds and researching anomalies?
A few ideas:
- gathering intelligence on other empires: fleet numbers, technology, factions, etc
- doing generic "science missions" in your own systems which works like 'protect trade' in EU4 and where your science ships just flies around generating a small amount of research points from astronomy and studying planets
- improving relations with other empires by flying around in their space rescuing ambassadors, resolving local disputes and generally re-enancting TNG episodes. IRL warships do a lot of this sort of thing; not so much the ambassador rescuing but touring friendly countries, hosting receptions with local dignitaries, helping combat smugglers and generally showing the flag.
- interacting with your own planets: by curing plagues (etc), speeding up construction, improving population happiness, reducing the influence of factions or providing major bonuses the extraction of a single resource on a planet.
- acting as a less effective version of a research outpost for when you want to interact with primitives but haven't gotten around to building a research outpost
- counteract other empires actions with primitive worlds by doing things such as: giving them the means to detect passive or active observers (slowing the rate of science gain, because they other race has to be more careful), helping factions which are opposing the other empires covert infiltration or starting your own counter covert infiltration (with a chance of accidentally causing a civil war) or funding luddite or reactionary groups which oppose technological enlightenment. For maximum cold war shenanigans.
- one of your planet gets infected with a nanotech plague and you have to dispatch a science ship to find a cure. But it gets cancelled after one season.
- trying to interact with fallen empires, exploring their space and attempting to establish some sort of relationship with them. With a chance of gaining one item of their tech and a risk that they'll just get pissed off because of some inexplicable faux pas and attack your science ship. And a smaller risk they'll get *really* pissed off and attack your empire in force, lay waste to one of your worlds and tell you not to come back, ever, on pain of a full attack.
- disaster relief in your own or other empires systems; if it's another empire you get diplomacy bonuses.
- supporting combat fleets and providing bonuses
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