FAQ: Planned Features

[sven]

This is a FAQ for information on features / changes that we have planned for SiS. The initial question set comes from a Q&A we did with Edward of SpaceSector.com, but, I'll try to update and maintain the content as the build continues to evolve. If you have additional questions that you think ought to be answered here, please let me know. Also, in an attempt to keep this post from getting too sprawling, questions related more specifically to the GUI can be found in this thread.

Q: What sort of distinctions will we see between races, we know about the habitat preferences and unique techs, but will there be racial traits (like bonuses to science or production) or any other more evident differences. Can you share with us some of the more unique elements of a few races (I saw Jim hint Humans will start without a Colony)?

Currently, the build includes racial population specializations -- for example, Orthin colonists produce extra science but less industry, while Teros get a bonus to production. Also, each race’s population has preferences for different planetary habitats -- some do better or worse on warm and dry or cold and wet worlds. Moving different populations around can help you to make the most out of available habitats, and further specialize planetary production.

All the races have customized home-systems, and in some cases this significantly changes their options in the early game. In the current build, Humanity’s starting condition doesn’t include any settled homeworld whatsoever, while the Haduir start in possession of Ashdar Prime, a powerful relic world.

In addition, each race will get at least one technological perk. Most of these are not yet in the game, but will be added before the end of beta. The Haduir are slated to get access to a relic Star Gate, while the Gremak will get early-game special weapons and cloaking devices. The Phidi will get a perk that gives them a bonus when hiring mercenaries from the various NPC factions -- a feature that will be available to other races as well, but which the Phidi will be well-positioned to take special advantage of.

Q: What sort of galaxy and game set-up options can we expect? Basically asking about galaxy size/shape selections, choosing the number of rivals, options to slow down or speed up tech, changing the diversity of the galaxy, and stuff like that.

Exactly how much to expose in the setup screen is something we’ll be adjusting as the beta continues. In the current build, you have basic options for galaxy size and density -- along with a choice of rivals, and an easy/medium/hard mode. In my mind, those are the core variables that a 4X game ought to provide. We’re also planning a few advanced setup toggles, along the lines of the resource density and “raging barbarians” options from Civ, that will give you some control over the density of third-party opponents and “peach” systems.

Q: What kind of random events can we expect to see in the game? Will they be limited to exploring new systems or will some happen by springing out on us? Will there be ‘space monsters’ that infest systems (not pirates but weird creatures)? Will there be roving threats that ‘invades’ the map (similar to the Crystalline Entity from MOO 2)?

We plan to include a variety of planetary and system specials, more interaction with the minor factions that are sometimes found on planets, and a few honest space monsters. We also plan to make the pirate and marauder factions much more active, rather than simply guarding systems, we'll be giving them the ability to launch raids on nearby systems, to offer shady deals, or even hire themselves out as mercenaries for the right price.

The current build includes a number of system and planet specials, along with fairly complete dialog trees for several NPC encounters. Marauder raiding fleets are also now operating throughout the galaxy. A few more features of this sort are slated to be added before release.

Q: What can we expect from Diplomacy and will the game have an Espionage system?

The diplomacy screens we put together during the alpha behave very much like similar screens in Civ V. But I think it’s important to emphasize that our goal for the AI factions is to create satisfying in-game characters, rather than artificial stand-ins for human opponents. The AI emperors won’t understand that they’re playing a video game -- and while they’ll certainly want to grow and prosper -- their programming won’t demand that they attempt to win the game at all costs. And that gives us some space to include AI behaviors that are more “character driven”.

For example, one feature we have in the pipeline are some diplomatic options loosely inspired by Mass Effect. We’ll be tracking your reputation with the various AI empires, and you’ll have the option of explicitly calling in a favor from a faction you’ve had good relations with in the past. Among other things, that’s a game mechanic that should be important in setting up a council victory condition.

Espionage is an interesting one. Right now, it’s not on our list of “must haves” before the game releases, but, I think a simple espionage mechanic (along the lines of Alpha Centauri's probe teams or MOO2’s spy system) could add a neat aspect to the game. I’d certainly like to include such a system eventually -- the question is whether or not we’d have time to get it into the initial release.

Q: Victory Conditions, what do you have planned and what are the ways you are hoping to implement that will address ‘end-game’ grind?

We’re planning to include a simple Moo2-style “planetary council” victory condition. In effect, if you and your allies control a sufficient fraction of the galaxy’s population, your remaining opposition will bow to the inevitable and surrender, rather than grinding out a hopeless war.

We also have plans for at least one relic world that will open a path to scientific secrets capable of handing you control of the galaxy. This means there probably will be something roughly like Civ’s “science victory”, with the caveat that it will be connected to certain special planets that may not appear in all games.

Eventually, I’d like to include an optional game mode that would shift the victory condition from conquering the galaxy to successfully defending it from some suitably extraordinary menace. Warlock included something like this with their “Armageddon” expansion, and I think it worked pretty well. I’d like to do something similar in an SiS expansion -- if and when we have time / money for it.

Q: What improvements or additions are you planning for the ship designer?

I think the UI needs to be reworked to filter the available weapons/systems based on the selected hardpoint -- that already feels like a necessary feature, and I think it’s only going to be become more important as the later tiers of the tech tree get fleshed out.

I also think most ships are going to need to have more hardpoints -- right now, my sense is that we have a number of cases where the available hardpoint sets have been excessively simplified. As of the latest builds, I'm fairly happy with the hardpoint mix. Though balance issues remain.

Q: Can you in your own words share with us which techs we already have access to, and which techs categories and eras we still yet to see implemented. Can you also tease us with what sort of technologies we might see amongst these technologies?

There are four technological eras in the game, and the current beta includes most technologies from the first two eras and just a few of later game techs. The “Dread Star” hulls will eventually get their appropriate complement of super-science world-destroying weapons, such as the Stellar Surge Beam and Black Hole Projector. Other late-game techs will offer new abilities to terraform and even create worlds, in addition to new ways to destroy them.

Beyond that, you’re likely to see a number of new techs as we refine the planet production rules. Specifically, as we start to experiment with mechanics for morale, mining, and farming -- you can expect to see a number of related techs appearing in game.

The mine / farm system, and associated techs, went in in November. Morale remains an outstanding TODO.

Q: You knew this question was going to come up. What improvements are you considering to the presentation the tech system?

I think it certainly is helpful to be able to look at a visualization of the complete tech tree -- most of the strategy games I played growing up shipped with a poster that gave you a big-picture view of how everything connected to everything else -- and as the beta progresses, we'll be making some poster-style visualizations of the available techs and posting them someplace prominent on the website.

We also have plans to make some simple changes to the current research screen to make it more intuitive to navigate and to reduce clutter, especially during the late game when techs pile up. An in-game tree view of some sort would be nice to have as well, and that’s something we may look into, if there’s time for it.

Q: Your focus is to keep the micromanagement low for individual planets, but by no means making it meaningless. I’ve read that you have discussed certain additions to be made on this front, like additional resources, maybe even food. Can you share with us what some of these planned changes are for colony management, along with any gameplay improvements you have planned?

We’d like to encourage a bit more variety in terms of the the roles than any particular colony can play in your empire. And we think that broadening the resource model is likely to be a good way of doing that. We have plans for adding a metal resource and matching mine improvements -- along with food/farms. Both metal and food will be global resources (like money) and they’ll play important roles in population growth and ship building.

The expanded resource system went in November, and after a bit of additional testing and tweaking, it's now reached the point where we're fairly happy with how it turned out. The strategic game certainly has some more depth, but, because the new resources are global, the planet micro burden has remained relatively low.

The other big change we’re planning in the planet management system is the introduction of colonist morale, in which each species on a world can be made either happy or angry by factors including the other races sharing the planet, the work you’ve assigned them, and the diplomatic choices you’ve made. So, if you have a number Phidi in your empire, you may need to think twice before declaring war on their brethren.

Q: Will there be modder support?

Most of SiS is written in Lua 5.2, and it's designed to be fairly modder friendly. If you'd like to take a run at modding your beta build, I've put together a quick modder's orientation page here.

[enpi]

I am not sure if I am allowed to pose a question directly here but feel free to delete it if not.

You said that you main focus in the game is on fleet and ships operations, so my questions are mainly relating to this topic.

Q: Will you have more "advanced" features for ship combat? For example will there be (ship module?) features which emulate submarines which are hunting down freighters and can be hunted down by other special ships like destroyers? Or will there be single modules like an todays AEGIS shield which benefits several nearby ships or even the whole fleet?

Q: Will there be larger ship modules which are going over 2 or more slots?

Q: Will fighters have to refuel every few combat rounds at a base/carrier? (like in the new game OOB: Pacific) This would increase the micromanagement but also the fun to field a carrier based fleet because it plays very different than a traditional fleet.

Q: Will there be a more involved ground combat system? If yes what are your ideas?

Q: Will there be logistics in the game? For example ammunition or spare parts? Would it then be possible to build ships which have only support roles like an mobile repair ship, ammunition carrier or tanker?

Thanks guys for your time.

[Arioch]

Q: Will you have more "advanced" features for ship combat? For example will there be (ship module?) features which emulate submarines which are hunting down freighters and can be hunted down by other special ships like destroyers? Or will there be single modules like an todays AEGIS shield which benefits several nearby ships or even the whole fleet?

We plan to have components which allow for special tactical actions in combat, such as the Gremak Distortion Field and the Orthin Shield Capacitor. Things like datalinks or Aegis radar, it seems to me, would be standard features at this advanced tech level; ships will automatically fire at missiles targeting a nearby friendly vessels if they have available weapons.

Q: Will there be larger ship modules which are going over 2 or more slots?

No plans for this at present.

Q: Will fighters have to refuel every few combat rounds at a base/carrier? (like in the new game OOB: Pacific) This would increase the micromanagement but also the fun to field a carrier based fleet because it plays very different than a traditional fleet.

Currently fighters return to the carrier after every attack. I do think it's a good idea to allow them to attack more than once per sortie.

Q: Will there be a more involved ground combat system? If yes what are your ideas?

I would like to have buildable ground forces of different types that can be stationed on a planet and transported around by ships in a manner similar to colonists, but it's not certain that we will have time to implement this. We definitely want a more visually compelling presentation even if we stay with the current system.

Q: Will there be logistics in the game? For example ammunition or spare parts? Would it then be possible to build ships which have only support roles like an mobile repair ship, ammunition carrier or tanker?

One of our core goals is to prevent excessive micromanagement, so tracking supplies and ammunition is probably not something we will do unless it is abstracted in a manner similar to the trade pool. Mobile repair ships could be a possibility, but repair is fairly trivial at the moment, and fleets don't often spend much time in enemy territory.

[Rylan]

Currently fighters return to the carrier after every attack. I do think it's a good idea to allow them to attack more than once per sortie.

Please do this. At the moment, strike-craft feel simply like reusable, low damage missiles. It would be best to have them either stay out and only return to refuel, or to return after the assigned target has been destroyed. Either solution would work well, and would balance it somewhat better than classic MoO2 if done correctly.

[blissauthority]

Please make it easier to queue up technologies for research; it's the one problem I have with your otherwise excellent UI. I appreciate the hyperlinks in the tech tree, but didn't intuit that you needed to use the hyperlinks to queue research goals until late in my most recent game.

Currently fighters return to the carrier after every attack. I do think it's a good idea to allow them to attack more than once per sortie.

Please do this. At the moment, strike-craft feel simply like reusable, low damage missiles. It would be best to have them either stay out and only return to refuel, or to return after the assigned target has been destroyed. Either solution would work well, and would balance it somewhat better than classic MoO2 if done correctly.

Listing the number of attacks each fighter gets would help with this, if you choose to go this route: something like "Strike fighters are armed with your two of of your best point defense weapons" or "Strike fighters will attack for 3 turns before returning to refuel."

[enpi]

I vote for a fuel tracker for fighters. When they run low on fuel, they have to return to a tanker or carrier to refuel. And next combat turn they can start again. That would enable fantastic tactical options and experience.

[Theodotus]

Currently fighters return to the carrier after every attack. I do think it's a good idea to allow them to attack more than once per sortie.

Please do this. At the moment, strike-craft feel simply like reusable, low damage missiles. It would be best to have them either stay out and only return to refuel, or to return after the assigned target has been destroyed. Either solution would work well, and would balance it somewhat better than classic MoO2 if done correctly.

+1 on this. Strike-craft don't feel quite right as they are now.