MOTIVATION to explore/conquer the whole galaxy : RESOURCES

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Von Thoma
Warrant Officer
Posts: 45
Joined: Jul 29 2011
Human: Yes

MOTIVATION to explore/conquer the whole galaxy : RESOURCES

Post by Von Thoma »

The problem with near all 4x games is, WHY SHOULD I DO THAT , special in random generated map games !

If you are lucky , it could be that you have all you need on your starting area ... so you could research and build everything in the game ...
the fewer resources or techs you have, the higher the chance that will happen !

The problem is even larger, when all are basic items, which you need to play the game ...
so how could you spice up the game to motivate players that they want to explore/conquer the whole map !

DISTRIBUTE the resources in small clusters ... not possible here, because you need all resources to survive or even play "normal" ...

so you will need resources which are optional ... they improve your army , you need them to build a little bit better units
or to build special optional plants , which need that resources but don't need a resource on that hex, where it is build ... like that agriculture plant, which uses energy ... so would have been more fun, when you need the resource "mushroom" which only grows at poisonous planets .. of course you would need a basic plant, which could harvest mushrooms ...

or a special metallic resource , which only could be found on hostile moons ... so as you could see , the distribution works through random combination of planet properties ...

ENHANCED RAW RESOURCES for plants without need of an resource hex, where it is built ! 4 new and you have to remove the 2 plants which uses energy at the moment for that.
So for this game, we would need 4 resources for improved agriculture, ore, energy and goods plants. Makes 4 new resources, 4 basic plants for harvesting them and the 4 advanced resource plants ...
mushroom field (hex resource) -> Mushroom plant -> Mushrooms -> BIO Agriculture plant (uses mushrooms to produce agriculture) no resource hex needed
liquid ore pond (hex resource) -> liquid ore plant -> liquid ore -> LIQUID Ore plant (produces ore with liquid ore)
energy storm fog (hex resource) -> ... ... same logic as above
high magnetic sand (hex resource) ->

depending on the shortage the player has, he searches for that planet/moon or asteroids where that extra resource is ...
(place them on none habitat planets/moons/asteroids)
ALWAYS ONLY ONE TYP per planet

STRATEGIC RESOURCES 4
We could do that again for the units ... say land, air, naval and space units ... that is 4 more resources and the 4 harvesting plants ... you could even combine them with the 4 enhanced raw resources to build plants, with a higher efficacy/output
And yes we would need special blueprints for each unit type, which also need that resource to be build)
(Hide them at pirate planets)

LUXURY RESOURCES 3 (special for trading and improving domestic standing)
You said , we have 11 ... have ideas for dozens :-) more , anyway
Improve Moral for pop and units and foreign allies
(could be found on special moons and asteroids )

MOST IMPORTANT that resources should be hidden and only be seen, when surveyed , so you have an urge to send your explorer ships out ...
THAT INFO SHOULD NEVER BE POSSIBLE TO BE TRADED or it is boring again ...
when you find anything on a planet you get an UNKNOWN TECH , when researched, it shows what it is ... next thrilling moment , ohh what is it ...
only after that moment your survey ships know that resource AND IS SHOWN on maps, when surveyed

Easy task for 11 resources ... could be made more complex, like mixing them together and doing production chains ... but the above should do the trick, for the start !
As I said, now I don't have any urge to explore the galaxy ...


- landmarks would also improve that desire to see, conquer the map. When you build something there you get a buff for your whole empire
- hidden tech , where you have to land on a planet/moon and conquer a ruin , to get a better OR NEW blueprint of anything

this above was all optional , only to feel special, elite , but you don't need them to finish the game
___________________________________________________________________
The more complex way would be , that you NEED something from the map,
to continue to develop your nation, pop , technology, units etc. would be even more interesting !!!
BUT AI WOULD NEVER SUCCEED IN THAT TASK, and every game, which tried that failed terrible and crippled his AI ,
so the game was unplayable ! (e.g. units development in Civ, where AI still used terrible outdated units late game,
because it was missing, iron, coal or aluminum )

But you could combine all that together for a more satisfying victory condition,
like if you have all 11 resources, you could research and build a special plant on your home planet, where all your population transfers into inter dimensional beings, when finished,
where they don't need any material things to live in peace and harmony and leave the evil galaxy :D

Like that ...
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