Stellaris should avoid the "ancient all-powerful alien civ trope". Let us be the first wave!

[Lamahorse]

We aren't a smart species.

Everyone knows we are here. We broadcast our terrible television and radio into space. We have been announcing our presence to the galaxy for the last 120 years. We are visible to any space faring civilisation as we emit huge amounts of detectable light pollution.

We are heavily flawed by our human traits which leads to our flawed understanding of the galaxy and our place in it. Why we haven't detected anyone or contacted anyone; is that anyone smarter than us keeps their heads down and anyone who knows about us; has watched the last few decades and decided we probably aren't worth contacting. This is no universe of the United Federation of Planets where aliens work together, hold hands and ensure peace in the Gamma quadrant. Best way to put it, should humans leave this planet; we'll be taking our modified take on the ecology and biology that arose on this planet. We will be competing with other species for resources.

We are at the stationary phase of bacterial growth. At the point we start to be able to do 'things', we might discover at that point that all the useful resources and galaxy is colonised. Those that have gone before might not be too understanding either.

 

[Velorian]

We aren't a smart species.

Everyone knows we are here. We broadcast our terrible television and radio into space. We have been announcing our presence to the galaxy for the last 120 years. We are visible to any space faring civilisation as we emit huge amounts of detectable light pollution.

Unless a species has left behind a relay to keep an eye on us (and thus already discovered us) it would take thousands of years for those signals to reach very far.

As for their aggression it could go either way.

 

[*Aqua*]

Everyone knows we are here. We broadcast our terrible television and radio into space. We have been announcing our presence to the galaxy for the last 120 years. We are visible to any space faring civilisation as we emit huge amounts of detectable light pollution.

You forget that our signals are extremely weak. After 30 or so lightyears they are so weak you can't distinguish them from background noise anymore. There aren't much stars within 30 ly range. Maybe 20?


And now something completely different:
If there were an ancient civilization which lived 1 million years ago, what could remain of them today? I'm mean 1 million years isn't a short time frame when you think of corrosion and errosion.

 

[Lamahorse]

And now something completely different:
If there were an ancient civilization which lived 1 million years ago, what could remain of them today? I'm mean 1 million years isn't a short time frame when you think of corrosion and errosion.

I suppose you have a good point. Who knows how long our mighty infrastructure and monuments will take to crumble into ruins; however things like the Moon lander may for all purposes be quite eternal.

 

[RELee]

Having an option to be a part of the first wave would be nice. Hide several paths in the game where you can advance to the point where you kill yourself and the other advanced civs disastrously. Restart as a random race ready to join the stars and discover bits of your old civ.

Nah. Too complicated.

Would be cool though.

 

[TacticalRetreat]

We aren't a smart species.

Everyone knows we are here. We broadcast our terrible television and radio into space. We have been announcing our presence to the galaxy for the last 120 years. We are visible to any space faring civilisation as we emit huge amounts of detectable light pollution.

We are heavily flawed by our human traits which leads to our flawed understanding of the galaxy and our place in it. Why we haven't detected anyone or contacted anyone; is that anyone smarter than us keeps their heads down and anyone who knows about us; has watched the last few decades and decided we probably aren't worth contacting.

Ah yes, misanthropy. We have dismissed those claims.

Seriously though, SETI is NOT broadcasting signals into space on purpose. Because it's considered too risky.

 

[Lamahorse]

Honestly, I just think it's every biome for themselves out there.

However, we have God on our side. He be like, "Yo, these apes are in my image."

 

[Sinister2202]

The thing about ancient civ is that it makes sense in any sci-fi universes relating to space. Universe is quite older than you might think, and to think that humans and ALL other races are still new and "happened to be created around the same time" is a ridiculous notion. Dinosaurs existed millions of years before humans ever came around on Earth. There are planets and stars that died/blown up millions of years ago and their supernovas just happened to have reached your sight today. Humans and represented races can't be the ones that happened to be the only intelligent beings in the universe. There has to be previous ones also.

If exploring ancient civilizations is done progressively (you learn more and more as time goes by), then it could be interesting if ancient civs are randomized as well, so we discover something new every time we play new game.

 

[valergain]

The thing about ancient civ is that it makes sense in any sci-fi universes relating to space. Universe is quite older than you might think, and to think that humans and ALL other races are still new and "happened to be created around the same time" is a ridiculous notion. Dinosaurs existed millions of years before humans ever came around on Earth. There are planets and stars that died/blown up millions of years ago and their supernovas just happened to have reached your sight today. Humans and represented races can't be the ones that happened to be the only intelligent beings in the universe. There has to be previous ones also.

If exploring ancient civilizations is done progressively (you learn more and more as time goes by), then it could be interesting if ancient civs are randomized as well, so we discover something new every time we play new game.

Agreed. i just hope they don't do the whole Hyper-advanced raced that vanished due to "mysterious" consequences, and nothing we do can ever surpass them.

 

[Velorian]

If there were an ancient civilization which lived 1 million years ago, what could remain of them today? I'm mean 1 million years isn't a short time frame when you think of corrosion and errosion.

Surely that depends on what their ruins were made of, and whether they were on a living planet or somewhere without an atmosphere. Perhaps some of their stuff is nigh indestructible.

 

[prenda claw]

I quite like the philosophy of transencdence/singularity, where technology eclipses the bounds of flesh... where we eat of the Tree of Life and truly become like the God.

SMAC did that, but transcendence was for you, and not necessarily the alien other to accomplish.

It would be interesting to come across a post-singularity civilization in Stellaris, but what would that accomplish? If we talked to a fly, what would the fly understand?

 

[Invader_Canuck]

It's very possible that if we make it to type-1 status, we are among the very first generations of type-1 civilizations. The thing is, there will almost certainly not be second or third generations in this galaxy.

It's also very possible that the difference in age between different civilizations in this generation of stars could be BILLIONS of years. Even a million years is an astronomical figure in terms of technological development. Let's assume for the sake of comparison that there is a type1+ civilization out there that attained type 1 status over 1 million years ago. How would those people appear to us? We've had life on this planet for a long time, and simian primates are relative new comers. Who is to say that another planet doesn't get it's "just right" creature tens, or even a hundred + million years before we did.

Imagine, should we survive as a species, what kind of technological advancements we would make in a million years? We've made more technological advancement in the last 20 years or so than we have in our entire history combined. That process is only accelerating. It's entirely feasible for first generation civilizations in this galaxy to be so technologically advanced they might as well be gods.

That's why that ancient/all powerful trope isn't exactly far fetched. It's not only plausible, ancient seemingly all powerful alien cultures are probably the most likely outcome.

 

[Nidoa]

Without having read the whole thing...

There is a difference between having this one ancient space faring civilization leaving stuff all around, and many smaller ones leaving stuff all around. We are in a wave of civilizations that are all discovering space travel at the same time. Can't we push this suspension of disbelief (because that's pretty unlikely, but it's to get symmetrical starts) to say that there wasn't a single monolithic civilization that preceded us, but another wave of different civs? Bonus would be to in theory add to the diversity, which is the aim of having ancient extinct spacefarers in the first place.

 

[draqsko]

lets just look at the Detroit area of Michigan US to see how fast nature will just reclaim stuff.

You mean Pripyat, Ukraine? That place is overgrown now despite the radiation, but even nature recoils from Detroit.

 

[draqsko]

Could be a very cool mod though.

Instead of expanding and (relatively) quickly finding many other alien races, you instead find yourself mostly alone in a (relatively) small area of the galaxy but are still able to colonise dozens of stars. Eventually, relations in your empire change - maybe you splinter into many smaller states or two rival superpowers... an entire history of humanity is developed ingame over hours of game time... until first contact is made a hundred years or so later. Then the next true stage of the game begins.

Sounds pretty awesome to me.

So you want a Battletech mod for Stellaris?

 

[*Aqua*]

It's very possible that if we make it to type-1 status, we are among the very first generations of type-1 civilizations. The thing is, there will almost certainly not be second or third generations in this galaxy.

IMO we are already a type 1 civilization. We have all the necessary techology to harvest every kind of energy (chemical, nuclear, tide forces, EM fields, etc.) this planet can provide. But we don't need that much (yet).

Surely that depends on what their ruins were made of, and whether they were on a living planet or somewhere without an atmosphere. Perhaps some of their stuff is nigh indestructible.

Then it must be made of gold - the element with the slowest chemical reaction speed of the all. Even concrete which is pretty durable will break down after 100 years.
I guess only parts of megastructures like cities will remain if the form of large sand fields made of weird chemical components.

 

[Velorian]

Then it must be made of gold - the element with the slowest chemical reaction speed of the all. Even concrete which is pretty durable will break down after 100 years.
I guess only parts of megastructures like cities will remain if the form of large sand fields made of weird chemical components.

It could be made of an alloy or substance we don't know about.

Or it could be coated in walls of diamond, something even we could make. It could also be continually maintained by nanites.

 

[Zardnaar]

After 10k yeas there will not be much left. There was aTV show made about humans disappearing. Our graves would last the longest. The Sphinx will be gone in a few thousand years if we don't maintain it otherwise you would have to dig stuff up after a few thousand years and that is best case scenario.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_After_People

 

[Velorian]

Right, but that's human tech....

Seriously, does no one believe a million year old civilization would invent materials more lasting than steel and concrete?

 

[Kuschelflummi]

Like.. Titan?