Admirals / Heroes / Government leaders?

[WoodMan]

Didn't at some point either Elliot or Erik say that this was planned for a future expansion?  Or am I just imagining it? [:D]

[nammafia]

Bad governors on bad planets will tend to go independent quicker. Either the Elliot or Erik did mention that they might consider leaders in future expansion.

[Data]

if they say it than it will be so (make it so, number one)
sometimes i think we're asking too much to soon too....
but they decide in the end, we've certainly have our hands full in the meantime

[lordxorn]

How about a system where you have Fleet Admirals, and Planetary Leaders that give bonuses ala MOO2, and then for each individual unit give them an experience bonus for ships destroyed. One thing that can make this right is to make sure the level cap is a long grind, I seen other games where units max out too easily.

[Data]

yap, gaining battle experience for ship crews (just as the ground forces also gain experience) is another great ideea; the way moo2 did it was at that time was interesting to say the least
how about saving crews and leaders in case the ship is destroyed to move them to a new ship, conserving the experience? come to think of it, this also comes from moo2
man, moo2 is the father of 4x gaming and DW the only one i've seen so far to be as revolutionary in our times

[Data]

btw, in a battle some of the crew can get killed which should lower the experience level, this way it will really be a long grind to reach the cap....similar to panzer general troop experience where an experienced unit that suffered casualties but replenished it's ranks with new troops would also get an experience hit to reflect the new mix

[gmot]

Having ships gain experience with each battle would be excellent. It would give the player more of an investment in their individual ships and wanting to through the more experienced ones into the tough battles and add another dimension to fleet management. Right now, all cruisers of the same design are essentially interchangeable. Doing for it ship itself should be doable - I think it would be hard to implement for a ships crew that could be moved around from ship to ship.

[Data]

maybe we could have a crew component that could be changed between ships or escape pods component like in moo2...for that matter, maybe we can swap any components between ships
i'm thinking of newly discoverd advanced ships which now you can either use as is or retire for tech advancement....but in theory you can use components that you don't understand yet if you take them from such a ship; maybe the advanced sensors on a scout, the advanced hyperdrive on one of your bb's, etc

i'm just throwing ideas around, don't know how easy or hard to implement they are; i'm perfectly happy with the game as it is now also, elliot should trademark this beautiful brain of his [&o]

[Simulation01]

I have already laid out my wish for and the concept of Admirals here:

tm.asp?m=2560505

Ok, what i'm thinking about is the ability to split your empire up into military zones that would be overseen by an one Admiral for each zone. These Admirals would not govern colony's...they would govern all military forces within those zones. The admirals would be able to do things like patrol the borders of your empire and in the event of war could be set to either a defensive stance or an offensive stance. That is to say that you would be able to set up a strategy for the AI Admiral and have him/her/it invade your enemy to the extent to which your strategy has dictated. You would also be able to take command personally, but you would have the option of delegating wars to your Admirals. These admirals would also be given new ships and equipment based on priority's that you are able to set....say the Orion sector is a hot bed of rebellion and discontent, so you give them more resources than say your home system sector which is secure and content...or you want to prepare for an invasion of the weakling state knows as "suckitall"...well you would increase the percentage of ships and supplies that flow to that sector until it has the resources you believe capable of waging your just war. In the event that you form an alliance with multiple Empires...something like NATO...you would then contribute to an integrated command structure and you would send a percentage of ships and supplies to the Grand Admiral of the Alliance!

[gmot]

+1 to that.

What's interesting about your concept Simulation is that it ties into the macro-level automation that is key part of DW. These admirals are like "sector generals" that would look after military responsiblities for a zone (e.g. one sector or multiple ones). And having them automated means you could manually focus your attention on one particular front, while setting an automated policy for your admiral to follow in another.

[Queeg]

Adding leaders who gain experience over time and have unique traits (good and bad) and who die from time to time would add a nice touch to the game.

[Shark7]

ORIGINAL: Queeg

Adding leaders who gain experience over time and have unique traits (good and bad) and who die from time to time would add a nice touch to the game.

Looking at it from a realistic perspective, and given the average human life span is between 70-80 years, and a leader would probably need to be at least 20 to be a leader, they'd need to die off between 50-60 years. The question is, how long in terms of playtime is that? Would it be worth it, or would they die off so soon that you can't really even build up their stats.

[Queeg]

ORIGINAL: Shark7

Looking at it from a realistic perspective, and given the average human life span is between 70-80 years, and a leader would probably need to be at least 20 to be a leader, they'd need to die off between 50-60 years. The question is, how long in terms of playtime is that? Would it be worth it, or would they die off so soon that you can't really even build up their stats.

I'm comfortable with some abstraction and suspension of disbelief here. If we already accept that we live in a time and place where can fly all over the universe - not to mention be alien species that presumably are unfettered by human frailties - then I can accept the notion that humans have figured out how to live longer. I'd set the "lifespan" of leaders to whatever makes them most interesting in terms of gameplay. They should live long enough to develop in an interesting way, but be sufficiently mortal for you to mourn their passing. How that works out in terms of "dog years" really doesn't matter to me.

[Simulation01]

ORIGINAL: Queeg

ORIGINAL: Shark7

Looking at it from a realistic perspective, and given the average human life span is between 70-80 years, and a leader would probably need to be at least 20 to be a leader, they'd need to die off between 50-60 years. The question is, how long in terms of playtime is that? Would it be worth it, or would they die off so soon that you can't really even build up their stats.

I'm comfortable with some abstraction and suspension of disbelief here. If we already accept that we live in a time and place where can fly all over the universe - not to mention be alien species that presumably are unfettered by human frailties - then I can accept the notion that humans have figured out how to live longer. I'd set the "lifespan" of leaders to whatever makes them most interesting in terms of gameplay. They should live long enough to develop in an interesting way, but be sufficiently mortal for you to mourn their passing. How that works out in terms of "dog years" really doesn't matter to me.

"dog years"[:D] lmao

I agree with queeg regarding the nature of Admiral lifespan.

[Haree78]

50-60 years is actually a LOT of game time anyway.

[J HG T]

Queeks point remind me of Revelation space books. In those humanity has developed means to extent their livespan with advanced and expensive treatments that only few can afford. Some human groups like conjoiners and ultras have other means extent their lifespan, mainly cybernetigs, implants and bio-modification. And if that ain't enough, in some stages of books story humns could transfer their mind into Alpha-class simulations that are basically copies of ones personality. Grea books. Definetly one of my favourite scifis.

In light of that I find it fairly beliveable that possible "characters" in DW could live several thousand years. Depending of race there could be some adjustments. Teekans and Shandars have quite different life-span, no matter the technology.

[James009]

Has anyone played anything like Geo Political Simulator? It has a way of simulating a variety of real world people in their respective positions that I believe could be applied to Distant Worlds. I REALLY like the idea of hiring and appointing different Ministers, Governors, Military Commander, and Captains from a racial or galactic pool for some small bonuses in fleets, production, and economy; best of all, they'd get better, more experienced, and improve over time. It doesn't have to be anything too complex either.

Additionally, the game could have some automated VIP characters running around doing things such as business leaders, notable Captains and "adventurers", scientists, and pirates making things a little more interesting.

Heck, you could go one step farther and implement the "player" in the game as the leader or a ship commander (whatever you plan on playing). At the start of the game you pick your race's leader and have a little more character coming from diplomacy with each race. Each race then may have multiple leaders, play styles or strategies, and potentially revolutions, coup-de-ta, and elections bringing some dynamics to the game.

There would certainly be some benefits but the balance would be the cost of implementing them and releasing some [more] control to the AI.

[Brainsucker]

Maybe not a fleet admiral, but an outstanding individual that you can put to anywhere you like.
For example, you want to role play capt. Archer of the NX-1 Enterprise, then put your Outstanding Individual to a ship; then you think that this individual is deserve more power, so you can put him / her to a fleet or to starbase. It's up to you. Consider them as the hero / the protagonist of your own imagination. But of course, limit them to 10 individuals, and make them edit-able. I mean, you can name them, choose a portrait, or put your own portrait. But the stats still random, so you won't create a perfect character with full stats in the game.

[Texashawk]

Actually, the game Aurora (a stupidly detailed spreadsheet-like 4X game) handles this concept very well. Hell, the various personae even have individual traits (for flavor only, but they could add bonuses/maluses to gameplay).

I also think Rebellion did a great job in this regard. (sad fact: this thread made me fire up a game of Rebellion after, oh, I dunno, 10 years...)

[Lord_Astraios]

I do like the Hero Systems from MOO2 and Haegemonia Legion of Iron.