So this is a mod I'm considering doing. It's based off of my suggestion thread I posted, which you can find here: https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/early-game-specific-traits.958430/
I wrote that post, thought about it as I was writing it, and thought. "Why stop there?"
Why not have Race specific traits as well that you choose from?
Basically I'm looking for idea's, inspiration, and possibly help in forms of technical questions when/if I do get around to putting all the idea's together, or at least let this be a melting pot of idea's, and suggestions, and inspiration for someone who does have the time and ability.
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Starting Traits:
Starting traits would be things which slightly boost your starting point in the game, and gives your race a slight focus.
Examples:
Energy Surplus: +300 starting Energy
Mineral Surplus: +300 Mineral at start
Science Focused: +1 Science ship at start
Constructor Focused: +1 Constructor at start
Early Probes: 2-3 randomly chosen nearby systems are automatically explored.
Farm Focused: 1 Free Farm at start
Industry Focused: 1 Free Energy building at start
Mining Focused: 1 Free mine at start.
Military Focused: 3 free starting combat ships at start.
Tech would be in here as well though. But you can only choose 1 tech.
My example I gave in my suggestion thread is that my current race background story is that they are weak and fragile but very smart. To overcome their physical setbacks, they rely on robots to do the work for them, while they focus on scientific pursuits.
However I can't even play them properly until I randomly get thrown the Robot card. So allowing 1 tech to be chosen for every race to have automatically can help push the story and focus and make them feel a bit more different at the start. Any tech under say, 450 cost can be chosen. Some I'd say shouldn't be chosen anyway though, (like colonization), or ones that really give you a huge advantage by opening a flood gate of new tech (Like colonization again).
Race Focus Traits:
I know there are a few race trait mods out there, but I'm not really sure how good they are to be completely honest.
I feel like race traits should have more of an impact on play style than they currently are.
You'd again choose 2-3.
Examples:
Energy Weapon Focused: Increases energy weapon damage by 25% but disables all other weapon tech. (Disables other Weapon Focused Choices)
(This would have the same copy pasted effect for each weapon type)
(I was originally going to have it increase the cost of other weapons by 50% but really what would be the point in ever researching them, if you decrease the effectiveness of them, again why would you ever want to use them? So instead of having the other weapons keep populating your choice of tech, disabling the other weapons would actually be another slight boost to research as you'd not be given those worthless techs as fillers in your tech choices. )
Shield Focused: Increases empire wide shield strength by 15%, (Disables Armor Focused Choice)
Armor Focused: Increases empire wide armor strength by 15%, (Disables Shield Focused choice)
Regeneration Focused: Increases Shield Regeneration by 10% (Disables Combat Engineers Choice)
Combat Engineers: Allows your Armor to regenerate empire wide. (Disables Shield Regeneration Focused)
Eco-Friendly: All planets you colonize gain a +5 food bonus.
Energy Adept: All power plants give a +1 energy boost.
Mineral Adept: All Mines give a +1 Mineral boost.
Silver-Tongued: No "First Contact' negative when first meeting another race.
Humble Neighbors: Border Friction negative reduced by 30%
Scary Neighbors: Fleet Size Negative reduced by 30% (If a positive number, increases it by 30%)
Diplomatic Masters: Increases all diplomatic standings (Friendly, Cordial, Hostile, etc.) by 30%.
(Friendly bonus modifier would be increased by 30%, while Unfriendly negative modifier would be reduced by 30%)
Condensed Spaces: Gives +1 tile to work on for every planet under max tile cap. (Some planets are at the max size already and literally can't have more tiles due to game limits, but for those under that cap, you'll recieve +1 tile)
Spread out Living: Gives -1 Tile to work with on every planet, but increases happiness by 15% (An extra 5% added on top if xenophobe)
Engine- Saavy: Gives +10% speed to all ships, and reduces the emergency FTL, and jump cool downs by 40%
Low Signature Emissions: +15% to evasion.
Aim computers: +15% to accuracy of all weapons
Genetically Modified: Gives an additional +1 trait point to be used in-game once gene modification is researched
(Disables Strong Evolution)
Strong Evolution: Gives an additional +1 trait point in faction customization screen, but gives no free trait point with gene modification. (Disables Genetically Modified)
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THese are just some idea's.. thoughts?
I wrote that post, thought about it as I was writing it, and thought. "Why stop there?"
Why not have Race specific traits as well that you choose from?
Basically I'm looking for idea's, inspiration, and possibly help in forms of technical questions when/if I do get around to putting all the idea's together, or at least let this be a melting pot of idea's, and suggestions, and inspiration for someone who does have the time and ability.
--------------------------------------
Starting Traits:
Starting traits would be things which slightly boost your starting point in the game, and gives your race a slight focus.
Examples:
Energy Surplus: +300 starting Energy
Mineral Surplus: +300 Mineral at start
Science Focused: +1 Science ship at start
Constructor Focused: +1 Constructor at start
Early Probes: 2-3 randomly chosen nearby systems are automatically explored.
Farm Focused: 1 Free Farm at start
Industry Focused: 1 Free Energy building at start
Mining Focused: 1 Free mine at start.
Military Focused: 3 free starting combat ships at start.
Tech would be in here as well though. But you can only choose 1 tech.
My example I gave in my suggestion thread is that my current race background story is that they are weak and fragile but very smart. To overcome their physical setbacks, they rely on robots to do the work for them, while they focus on scientific pursuits.
However I can't even play them properly until I randomly get thrown the Robot card. So allowing 1 tech to be chosen for every race to have automatically can help push the story and focus and make them feel a bit more different at the start. Any tech under say, 450 cost can be chosen. Some I'd say shouldn't be chosen anyway though, (like colonization), or ones that really give you a huge advantage by opening a flood gate of new tech (Like colonization again).
Race Focus Traits:
I know there are a few race trait mods out there, but I'm not really sure how good they are to be completely honest.
I feel like race traits should have more of an impact on play style than they currently are.
You'd again choose 2-3.
Examples:
Energy Weapon Focused: Increases energy weapon damage by 25% but disables all other weapon tech. (Disables other Weapon Focused Choices)
(This would have the same copy pasted effect for each weapon type)
(I was originally going to have it increase the cost of other weapons by 50% but really what would be the point in ever researching them, if you decrease the effectiveness of them, again why would you ever want to use them? So instead of having the other weapons keep populating your choice of tech, disabling the other weapons would actually be another slight boost to research as you'd not be given those worthless techs as fillers in your tech choices. )
Shield Focused: Increases empire wide shield strength by 15%, (Disables Armor Focused Choice)
Armor Focused: Increases empire wide armor strength by 15%, (Disables Shield Focused choice)
Regeneration Focused: Increases Shield Regeneration by 10% (Disables Combat Engineers Choice)
Combat Engineers: Allows your Armor to regenerate empire wide. (Disables Shield Regeneration Focused)
Eco-Friendly: All planets you colonize gain a +5 food bonus.
Energy Adept: All power plants give a +1 energy boost.
Mineral Adept: All Mines give a +1 Mineral boost.
Silver-Tongued: No "First Contact' negative when first meeting another race.
Humble Neighbors: Border Friction negative reduced by 30%
Scary Neighbors: Fleet Size Negative reduced by 30% (If a positive number, increases it by 30%)
Diplomatic Masters: Increases all diplomatic standings (Friendly, Cordial, Hostile, etc.) by 30%.
(Friendly bonus modifier would be increased by 30%, while Unfriendly negative modifier would be reduced by 30%)
Condensed Spaces: Gives +1 tile to work on for every planet under max tile cap. (Some planets are at the max size already and literally can't have more tiles due to game limits, but for those under that cap, you'll recieve +1 tile)
Spread out Living: Gives -1 Tile to work with on every planet, but increases happiness by 15% (An extra 5% added on top if xenophobe)
Engine- Saavy: Gives +10% speed to all ships, and reduces the emergency FTL, and jump cool downs by 40%
Low Signature Emissions: +15% to evasion.
Aim computers: +15% to accuracy of all weapons
Genetically Modified: Gives an additional +1 trait point to be used in-game once gene modification is researched
(Disables Strong Evolution)
Strong Evolution: Gives an additional +1 trait point in faction customization screen, but gives no free trait point with gene modification. (Disables Genetically Modified)
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THese are just some idea's.. thoughts?