Smothering Sphere of Influence Overdone

[Cauldyth]

More options are always appreciated by everyone. [:)]

[WoodMan]

Its a thing of beauty in my opinion.  Before they increased the sphere sizes I was still getting the same old problem of Empires being built on top of mine (like before the spheres existed).

[cmdrnarrain]

[font="times new roman"]I guess I don't see what your issue is now.[/font]
[font="times new roman"][/font] 
[font="times new roman"][font="times new roman"]Is it mechanical or visual?[/font][/font]
[font="times new roman"][/font] 
[font="times new roman"][font="times new roman"]It sounds visual, which if that is the case suck it up baby.   Borders are a wonderful addition to the game.  So what if you think there are to big.  No empire in this world or imagery ever claimed less space.[/font][/font]
[font="times new roman"][font="times new roman"][/font][/font] 
[font="times new roman"][font="times new roman"][font="times new roman"]I plan to build border stations surounding mine just so the filthy aliens know damn sure where the line is![/font][/font][/font]

[ehsumrell1]

ORIGINAL: cmdrnarrain

[font="times new roman"]I plan to build border stations surrounding mine just so the filthy aliens know damn sure where the line is![/font][/font][/font]

I like it Cmdrnarrain! [:)]

Here draweth the line damn it! Get out of my sky! [:D]

{i.e. Please excuse the Shaktur Firestorm Torpedoes heading your way!)

[Erik Rutins]

Ok everyone, please do not pile on solops for making a suggestion. There is nothing at all wrong with that and opinions can differ.

Regards,

- Erik

[WoodMan]

lol! PILE ON!

[ASHBERY76]

ORIGINAL: WoodMan

Its a thing of beauty in my opinion.  Before they increased the sphere sizes I was still getting the same old problem of Empires being built on top of mine (like before the spheres existed).

Indeed the reason I stopped playing DW was the disgusting mess the game would become at mid stage with colonies all over the place.I just did not have the time to figure out where and who owned what.A large enforced uniformed border system is needed when the game has unlimited range like DW.

[Manzikert]

I am not tyring to pile on, but I am very confused how what he is asking for differs from the current implementation?  He seems to be mainly objecting to the painting of that "in-between" space with color which YOU CAN TURN OFF with a filter. 

He does not appear to have any actual gameplay complaints, just display complaints, and those complaints can already be addressed through the current interface, so what is the problem exactly?

[GenChaos33]

How does SOI work? How does it get larger? How are planets/moons affected if in SOI? Manual definition is too generic.

[Nedrear]

SOI does not influence small parts, it influences systems. Every system in your sphere belongs to your empire. It scales with development and size of a colony.

[Malevolence]

SOI is determined by the colony development score.  Larger colony development, larger circle radius.

I've asked, but as far as I've been able to determine colonies are the only thing that influences SOI -- you can put half a dozen stations in a system, but it provides no SOI benefit.  Also, the SOI is not additive.  A small colony next to a large colony (or in a neighboring system) does not increase the circumference or strength of the SOI -- they simply layer on top of one another in terms of area.  The race of the population on the colony also does not influence SOI -- so a human faction sitting next to a neighbor colony of humans has no greater influence in terms of SOI.

i've suggested a change that models thermodynamic exchange properties, but I think they are satisfied with the current implementation.

[Dab42]

It sounds like the new border system would make you think about colonizing those below 50% quality colonies which were mostly never colonized before.

I don't have legends yet though - so, does founding a new colony close to a neighboring empires border cause your border to push out towards theirs?

If it does, then this would be a way to infiltrate. Cascade colonization gradually pushing their border back.

Now you just need an "Abandon Colony" command to get rid of the low quality colonies after you've reached your objective world.

I think a slider for border distance would be an appropriate fix; everyone could be happy with their own favorite setting


Off topic: I've many times wished for an "Abandon Colony' command. It would leave the population intact and become an independent world.

More OT: Bases should have populations (small, tiny even). If you had enough population in a system (in bases) to reach a certain threshhold, it would have a small (tiny even) influnce on SOI's.

[Bingeling]

I know that the next time I find a rare source I can not colonize, I will look desperately for anything remotely colonizable that could bring the spot into my SOI.

[Nedrear]

ORIGINAL: Bingeling

I know that the next time I find a rare source I can not colonize, I will look desperately for anything remotely colonizable that could bring the spot into my SOI.

Welcome to politics!

Russia: "I am sure our deepsea mountain back follows up to the north pole, does it not?"

*sends out researchers to plant a flag*

[feelotraveller]

ORIGINAL: Bingeling

I know that the next time I find a rare source I can not colonize, I will look desperately for anything remotely colonizable that could bring the spot into my SOI.

No need. Now you just have to declare war on whoever owns it and away you go.

[Gelatinous Cube]

Well.. once again, I like the borders. The free-for-all mish-mash of RotS would make me quit a game as soon as it got too confusing. Real borders are necesarry to prevent every war from being a 10, 15, or 19-front war.

[Moltrey]

Hmmm... well, in solops' defence, maybe it would be a good idea to discuss just how borders in space should work. I haven't had a lot of time with Legends yet, so, while I am enthused, I can't offer a definitive stance. That being said, the discussion got me thinking about all the numerous space books, shows, games, etc. and how they deal with borders, expansion, enforcement, determents, neutral zones, etc., etc.

I think one indirect factor is that when we start up a game, each race tends to have about the same amount of real estate, depending on your choice of how established the galaxy will be initially. (Maybe that is a future possibility, uneven positions at start?)

Second, my general experience with borders is that you have to be able to back up the positions your race has staked out, or your so-called "influence" is really very small indeed. I think this is the crux of what solops is getting at guys. Just because you have claimed and colonized one planet in a region, in my mind that shouldn't mean that a pre-defined radius from said new colony is always invoked due to claiming one system. Maybe a algorithm that takes into account the size and age of the colony, amount of military presence, and distance from the homeworld. The further away one is from your homeworld, the more "other" factors required to increase or maintain a significant influence. If I can keep a substantial military presence until the colony is above a certain population threshold, then maybe the influence radius increases as the population increases. **shrugs**


Just throwing some thoughts out there on this- I don't believe it is as straight-forward as some here think it is... call it my hunch. Obviously we are all just scratching the surface on gameplay with Legends, but alternative ideas/stances are worth pursuing in my opinion.

[hein]

i think pdwest take border by the good side, border in space may be a sort of cultural sphere which take into acccount the population size, the culture (in dont remember the term in game) and the age of the colony.

[HectorOfTroy]

Keep the borders, say NO to borderless space [:'(]

[Harry2]

Yes, i agree with this notion that the SoI should be based on more than one parameter.

Perhaps it should scale for each empire based on the range of their long range scanners? After all, how do you know if some-one is "sqatting" on your territory when you can't see them?

And general military capability has always been a big measure of an empire's influence in earthly history. Remenber, for much of the 20th century the economic and cultural influence of the Soviet Union on the rest of the world was minor, but it's military influence was huge. So scaling the SoI of each empire could be based on its relative (to the other empires) economic, cultural and , especially, its military (firepower) ratings.

..and a slider to scale the relative amount of the SoI makes sense as well.