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I would like to see more of the "living galaxy" concept fleshed out in an expansion.

There is only one type of colony.

There is a single tack to game development: exploration, expansion, exploitation, extermination.

And thats fine, but its not really a living galaxy-- I would like to see a fifth phase added-- "enrich" (or better, ameliorate). Actually, I'd like to see this phase utterly replace Exterminate. Shouldn't a "living galaxy" be able to live forever? Its the simulation concept of Distant Worlds I love, much less than the standard 4x MOO game.

Once you've carved out a nice empire, you can keep fleshing it out, but there isn't much left to do except build a fleet and send it on its way.

I would like to see: concepts of an ecumenopolis -- a world completely given over to enormous continent-spanning cities, and the agricultural worlds and trade networks that would be needed to establish such a world.

The warhammer concept of a Forge world is also fascinating to me. Many folks yell about building fortress ships-- it is my opinion that it would take a world given entirely over to manufacturing to produce such a vessel.

Finally, there is only one game in history that has ever done the Dyson Sphere or similar structures, mostly because the presence of such a structure would destroy the strategy of the game.

Distant Worlds in Sandbox mode, however, is perfectly suited to such concepts. Why not make use of all those endless resources, give some purpose to putting mining stations on every rock in the galaxy? Why does the galaxy have to descend in to chaos and extermination warfare so soon? Obliterating alien dyson spheres and cracking ringworlds, while sending all of the fleets to defend the construction of a mighty fortress ship in construction...

That would be cool.

Reference Topic: http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=2462771


It would be an AI nightmare if done just like that but I agree step by step it would be great to take it into that direction!

Living Politics, Living Galaxy, Living Diplomacy etc..

But I agree with the premise of your post completely; It is the "living" part of DW that makes it so great!!


A major component of this idea is the premise that reputation value can be made more important throughout the game (or less, depending on how institutionalization is progressing)


I would like to see the optional development of galactic institutions

Think of it as a founding of the UN, the prelude and the aftermath.

Stages:

1- Galactic Sovereignty: All races are out for themselves

This is the intitial stage at the beginning of exploration.

It is a state of political realism; there are no rules in galactic politics except those agreed upon.... for as long as you trust the other to keep his word.

Reputation is local and hardly relevant to anyone except immediate neighbours.



2- Galactic Council: In the face of conflict between sovereign empires there is need for Diplomacy (at least for the peacefuller races) (Meeting of Nations with nonbinding votes (unenforced ordinances))

Political realism, treachery and backstabbing are dangerous and unreliable tools. The more peaceful races realise this and seek to provide a Galactic forum.

A place where diplomacy can be conducted, where reputation matters. (since everyone knows eachother and .... gossips...)

Reputation becomes a concern at this stage; though not a very pressing one.



3- Galactic Institution: In order to arbitrate conflicts neutrally an institution is created which serves as the forum of galactic diplomacy. (Council of Nations with binding votes) (enforced ordinances, e.a. if you disobay a council law you are thrown out; trade with council races reduces; war's against you can be declared easily)

The Galactic forum has been given teeth and a rod to smash unruly children with!

The more aggresive members grumble but dare not withdraw because of the great benefits membership offers; the great risks upsetting this community and institution brings.

Reputation is very, very important in this stage.

If only they could find common ground amongst each other against this institutional behemoth......



4-Galactic (Political) Union : Economies & Politics have become so interwoven that war has become unthinkable. The only way forth is unity. But who will lead this body of nations? --> Diplomatic Victory for election winner.

The final voices of opposition have fallen silent and a new political reality has dawned.

Who will be found worthy of the honour of leading this galactic government??

Reputation is very, very, very important in this stage.

Revolting seems far fetched but is not entirely within the realm of fantasy yet; unless a (really) strong leader is elected ofcourse




This allows the Galactic Diplomatic setting to grow; the New institution can be created and destroyed only to be reborn again.

Aggressive races will despise it, but will they be able to resist it?

It is the brainchild of more peacefull (civilized?) and diplomatic races..



Such a body would also be uniquely qualified to serve as a rallying banner against an extra-galactic invasion


Ofcourse in some games there might be no such body to rally under.....

What will become of the galaxy then, I wonder....

[:D]



Addendum 1 - Territorial Disputes (Cyprus Style ):



Colonization in claimed systems is a political faux pas in DW and rightly so.



There are many strategies for resolving these issues but the more interesting and perhaps realistic is the possibility of creation an independent "buffer" state to govern the contested territory. (with strong links to both claimants)



This is thus a possibility for the intergalactic diplomacy enhancement proposed in this topic. An intervention by the Galactic Council (whatever it would be called) to maintain the peace and find an agreeable solution. (Give to A, Give to B, make independent, Become protected Council territory?)



This would open up an entirely new strategical approach.



-Will you play the peacefull liberal dove that aims for socio-economic dominance?



-Will you play the machiavellian prince of terror (sociopath!!) that shrewdly manipulates his opponents?



-Will you play the hawkish militairy genius that conquers his opponents through clever use of force & Diplomacy?



Ofcourse nations would also have the option to undermine the Galactic peacekeeping body thusly.



Historical precedent is the annexation of Austria, the intimidation-dismanteling and semi-annexation of Czecho Slovakia. The Cyprus conflict between Greece & Turkey.



Also: The vassal State of Transylvania between Hungary & the Ottoman Empire.

Modern example is the state of Bosnia-Herzegovina between Bosnia & Serbia


Many others probably


Addendum 2-Casus Belli & Just war

This part is mostly aimed at stages 2 and beyond and presumes the existence of an instellar forum or community of some sort.

Having developed relations with races in the galaxy reputation has become more important.

This means that war is not an activity that can be waged on a whim or because of a perceived slight anymore without hurting reputation.

This is the advent the Casus Belli & Just war doctrine.

When does not harm reputation?

- Formal Declaration of War because of the nessecity of expansion / resources (a refusal to share by someone for example)

- Self defense

- Appropriate use of force (sparing civilians; don't enter into total war)

- Using diplomacy first and force second

- Diplomatic Subjugation



What harms reputation?

- Surprise Attacks

- Aggression

- Total War

- Harming Civilians

- Annexation

---

These mechanics are already present in DW though not very "prominently".

The interstellar community would be a great way of pointing out to the player & confronting him with his "anti-social" behavior.

A median corruption value for the Empire Summary screen.

This would show the median value (not average) of corruption for all of your colonies allowing players a quick look at their empire corruption value rather than having to go through every colony in the colony window.

I accept different WARING SOUND with differnet FIRE event instead ONLY BA-BA-BA now...so ,that let me dispense with to seek what happened...

ORIGINAL: Fishman

The ORIGINAL constraints made perfectly good sense. It's these new arbitrarily added rules that are UTTERLY STUPID, such as civilian ships that are now completely incapable of completing their missions because they will run from anything they see, even if they have thousands of shields and are utterly invulnerable. Previously you could just set them to go about their business and ignore the attackers, but now they INSIST you set the strategy to something asinine, even when it is an utterly stupid behavior for the loadout they have. My solution was just to treat them like the mentally retarded morons they've become and not give them any equipment or survival ability at all, as their deaths satisfied me and my contempt for stupidity, and watching them be destroyed, often by my own wave blasters, gave me the same warm fuzzyness that keeping them safe from all harm previously did.

I tend to agree here. I should be able to arm civilian ships to the teeth if I am willing to take the reputation hit. Armed merchants should = diplomatic hardship.

I have got this REVOLUTIONARY idea when i was playing another space game... but let's go to the point:

What you guys think of a mode (Like the Ship Design Screen) where you can make you own COMPONENTS? Like i want to build a shield to take care of some pirates and then you just go to the Component design screen and create your own Shield,Armor,Sensor,Engine,Trust Vector Engine,Etc.And later design your ship with the components you have just created!

This could give the game much more freedom, because you build your "OWN SHIP".And also you have to get some tech to build better and better Components, and by doing so not making the game very easy.

Also i think the economy could be a little more easy.

Thanks for reading.

Xkd

I'd like to see more detail in the info screens. I know some of these have been mentioned before but these would make it much more intuitive to play:

Ship Details
In the ship detail or fleet detail screen I would like to see bars that don't just show fuel, but also shields and dots for troops carried.
I would like to see which(if) quick find number has been applied to the ship or fleet (Ctrl #).
I would love a check box that if selected it fires a pause event and dialog that the ship/fleet has finished that particular task. This to be applicable to automated and non-automated ships/fleets.

System Details
It would be good to see the value at a glance of each system and each planet within a system. Perhaps this could be a toggle key. Value would be based on population and resources.

Troops
Would be nice to be able to see troops that are understrength and so can't be extracted. Like the way ships have a red background if they are damaged.

Natural borders
Not sure how this would work but I would prefer to not see AI systems colonized within clusters of my systems. Would be good if these came up as disputed systems much the same way colonizing planets in a single system works.

ORIGINAL: Malevolence

I think that has been said before, but I stopped reading every post at page 8.

Please minimize Distant Worlds when ALT-TAB.

Yes, please! Make this happen. With the complexity/duration of these games, and the ridiculous launch time (please do something about that too) we need to be able to temporarily minimize DW to do other things. I needed to copy a file from my desktop, across the network to my wife's laptop but there's no way to do it with DW running. As soon as any application or file is selected, DW fills the screen and makes any file manipulation impossible.

Thanks.

Love the game, BTW.

need to have explorers automatically first explore ruins and abandoned stuff as soon as they locate them. I have this strong feeling they tend to skip them alltogether if they are located in free space and not at planets/ateroids etc..

Easier to see on zoom out map; abandoned stuff and ships shold have some kind of special glow so you dont have to re-explore already explored sectors for this, more over, already explored ruins is graphically the same as unexplored stuff on zoom out map, it should be greyed out or similair for quicker eye-reference!

..also, i want the private sector ships drawn on the zoom out galaxy view again, with latest patch i have to zoom in to a certain level to display them

ORIGINAL: vils

..also, i want the private sector ships drawn on the zoom out galaxy view again, with latest patch i have to zoom in to a certain level to display them

With the latest patch you can select check-boxes on what kind of ships you want to see when zoomed out.

ORIGINAL: taltamir

ORIGINAL: vils

..also, i want the private sector ships drawn on the zoom out galaxy view again, with latest patch i have to zoom in to a certain level to display them

With the latest patch you can select check-boxes on what kind of ships you want to see when zoomed out.

Said checkboxes are under the advanced button in options.

Could we have a "play in a window" option ?

Thanks.

[:)] Window mode would be very helpfull!
 
Seconded!

Minefields [8D]

I want to seed entire systems with mines !!!

Mines; Too much Mines!


Argh!!

I like the mines idea.

It would need proper implementation however. I've got no ideas on how to do that in DW at the moment.

ORIGINAL: Bartje

[:)] Window mode would be very helpfull!

Seconded!

the game is in window mode... there is no full screen mode.
It is simply a borderless window, sized to equal your desktop resolution, and set to be on top of the taskbar... however, by click on things such as the windows button you get get it to be "on top" of the game window.
The current implementation is absolute perfection and how every game should be

The current implementation is absolute perfection and how every game should be

Except that you can't minimize it to the taskbar and actually see your desktop...

Unless, that is, you know about shortcuts like Windowkey-D

ORIGINAL: Rustyallan

The current implementation is absolute perfection and how every game should be

Except that you can't minimize it to the taskbar and actually see your desktop...

Unless, that is, you know about shortcuts like Windowkey-D

Or the "show desktop" button.
so there you have it, 2 ways to minimize the game.

And the game continues to "run" even when not "in focus"... aka, if you have another window on top of it.

My suggestion: Linux and MAC port.

I know it is currently written in .NET. But I suggest checking out a product such as Mono: www.mono-project.com. Which allows for cross compiling.