Space RTS civilization building/conquest titles often find the need to explain why so many civilizations arise within a similar time-frame and find a gimmick for spicing up exploration elements. Often the "ancient all-powerful alien race that disappeared/went extinct" is often invoked as a convenient and useful explanation. The narrative often goes time and time again that an ancient galaxy-wide spanning race/races ruled the galaxy then suddenly vanished/went extinct/transcended leaving an unoccupied niche for new races to take over. This trope is often over-used. Stellaris can set itself above the rest and take a different route with something more plausible and more exciting for gameplay.
To preface this post, I'll start with this video of Michio Kaku about the types of civilizations:
Most of us are already familiar with these classifications but one important thing to note is:
Today, Humanity is a type-0 civilization on the verge of becoming a type-1 civilization very very soon. Stellaris begins just after that fateful jump has been made--A race who hasn't annihilated themselves as a result of nuclear war, artificial ecological disasters, grey goo nanobots, super-disease, etc and managed to dodge civilization-ending asteroids/solar events. The type-0 to type-1 transition is often theorized to be a great filter in and of itself.
Indeed when we gaze at the universe today, it should be noticeable if a type-3 civilization is out there in another galaxy or if a type-2 inhabits our own galaxy, yet we see none. A type-2 civilization and above is basically immortal (outside of predation from another type-2 or type-3 civilization which is the "europa universalis" phase of the game). Given the age of the universe, the Fermi paradox says there should be civilizations of these kinds everywhere even in the small slice we've looked at so far, yet we see none. But there may be another reason outside of the great filter.
There is a theory gaining some traction that humanity might be among one of the first type-1 civilizations to soon arise ever. Not the first in all likelihood, but among the first. The Fermi Paradox assumes that intelligent life and civilizations could arise at any given point in the Universe's long history. This is incorrect. To make life, heavy elements beyond just hydrogen, helium, and lithium are needed. These elements have not always existed in large and sufficient quantities. It takes generations of stars to go supernova before sufficient quantities of these elements can be present to form life sustaining planets. Our star, a third generation star, carries heavy elements like iron that at present can only be obtained from previous stars that went super-nova. Its this third generation of stars that could first give rise to life. Our sun is one of them.
Stellaris could begin as the tale of the first among this first wave of civilizations who arise in the third generation of stars in their galaxy. We have our narrative for why so many type-1s arise at a similar time in the Stellaris galaxy (and maybe our own). Given a sufficiently large set of type-0 civilizations, some subset of these must emerge to type-1 status around the same time and be the first to do so relatively. This also provides the bedrock for the "exploration phase" talked about in Dev Diary 1. With many type-1s civs, comes many failed type-0 civs who almost made it to type-1 status but hit the big filter. Instead of exploring the ruins of a single super-duper galaxy-spanning type-2 or type-3 civilization whose tech would probably be beyond comprehension anyways, exploration should mostly focus on failed type 0 civilization who in the critical jump to type-1 failed.
Imagine a scenario where the Civilization of the Zogs stumbles upon the irradiated ruins of humanity's Earth. In 2100, the forces of NATO and the Warsaw pact (who never broke apart) waged nuclear war dooming humanity's chances of ever acquiring type-1 status. On a single large moon around the 3rd planet from the Sun, an intact rover (and a flag) was found preserved in the vacuum of space. From the lone rover, Zog scientists found complex integrated circuits much smaller and miniaturized far beyond anything current Zog technology could produce. Attempts at reverse engineering prove useful in advancing Zog computational technology.
Scenarios like the one above are much more satisfying in my opinion and better fit the theme and tone of Stellaris. It is certainly plausible that many failed type-0 civilizations could have made large advances in a particular field more so than others. Humanity may have made impressive strides in computer tech prior to type-1 status, Zogs may have mastered fusion power before going to space, etc. Its something that should and could plausibly be everywhere.
By avoiding the ancient all-powerful aliens trope and embracing a narrative of the first to emerge, Stellaris can breath new life, story, and gameplay into the space-civ genre. Above-all, by doing so, the universe of Stellaris might better reflect our own current situation--an attention to historical plausibility which Paradox does so well.
To preface this post, I'll start with this video of Michio Kaku about the types of civilizations:
Most of us are already familiar with these classifications but one important thing to note is:
Today, Humanity is a type-0 civilization on the verge of becoming a type-1 civilization very very soon. Stellaris begins just after that fateful jump has been made--A race who hasn't annihilated themselves as a result of nuclear war, artificial ecological disasters, grey goo nanobots, super-disease, etc and managed to dodge civilization-ending asteroids/solar events. The type-0 to type-1 transition is often theorized to be a great filter in and of itself.
Indeed when we gaze at the universe today, it should be noticeable if a type-3 civilization is out there in another galaxy or if a type-2 inhabits our own galaxy, yet we see none. A type-2 civilization and above is basically immortal (outside of predation from another type-2 or type-3 civilization which is the "europa universalis" phase of the game). Given the age of the universe, the Fermi paradox says there should be civilizations of these kinds everywhere even in the small slice we've looked at so far, yet we see none. But there may be another reason outside of the great filter.
There is a theory gaining some traction that humanity might be among one of the first type-1 civilizations to soon arise ever. Not the first in all likelihood, but among the first. The Fermi Paradox assumes that intelligent life and civilizations could arise at any given point in the Universe's long history. This is incorrect. To make life, heavy elements beyond just hydrogen, helium, and lithium are needed. These elements have not always existed in large and sufficient quantities. It takes generations of stars to go supernova before sufficient quantities of these elements can be present to form life sustaining planets. Our star, a third generation star, carries heavy elements like iron that at present can only be obtained from previous stars that went super-nova. Its this third generation of stars that could first give rise to life. Our sun is one of them.
Stellaris could begin as the tale of the first among this first wave of civilizations who arise in the third generation of stars in their galaxy. We have our narrative for why so many type-1s arise at a similar time in the Stellaris galaxy (and maybe our own). Given a sufficiently large set of type-0 civilizations, some subset of these must emerge to type-1 status around the same time and be the first to do so relatively. This also provides the bedrock for the "exploration phase" talked about in Dev Diary 1. With many type-1s civs, comes many failed type-0 civs who almost made it to type-1 status but hit the big filter. Instead of exploring the ruins of a single super-duper galaxy-spanning type-2 or type-3 civilization whose tech would probably be beyond comprehension anyways, exploration should mostly focus on failed type 0 civilization who in the critical jump to type-1 failed.
Imagine a scenario where the Civilization of the Zogs stumbles upon the irradiated ruins of humanity's Earth. In 2100, the forces of NATO and the Warsaw pact (who never broke apart) waged nuclear war dooming humanity's chances of ever acquiring type-1 status. On a single large moon around the 3rd planet from the Sun, an intact rover (and a flag) was found preserved in the vacuum of space. From the lone rover, Zog scientists found complex integrated circuits much smaller and miniaturized far beyond anything current Zog technology could produce. Attempts at reverse engineering prove useful in advancing Zog computational technology.
Scenarios like the one above are much more satisfying in my opinion and better fit the theme and tone of Stellaris. It is certainly plausible that many failed type-0 civilizations could have made large advances in a particular field more so than others. Humanity may have made impressive strides in computer tech prior to type-1 status, Zogs may have mastered fusion power before going to space, etc. Its something that should and could plausibly be everywhere.
By avoiding the ancient all-powerful aliens trope and embracing a narrative of the first to emerge, Stellaris can breath new life, story, and gameplay into the space-civ genre. Above-all, by doing so, the universe of Stellaris might better reflect our own current situation--an attention to historical plausibility which Paradox does so well.
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