Master Wishlist Thread

[Ghost Matter]

I wish you would sell on Impulse or other services. I cannot, for the life of me, stand Digital River. In fact, if it had been on Impulse, I would've bought the game months ago. I had the money and I would've known of it's existence.

I'd like the long version of this post here. [8|]

[Grave]

DW is greatest 4x game I ever play. Thanks to developers for this awesome gameplay!

I'd like to improvements in the management of diplomacy. And the minimum period for agreements, please! Declare the war, trade sanctions or something else? Ok, but so let it be at least a year as minimum. That would not have been possible to conclude some agreement and immediately break it.

[cswelleswatts]

Hi,

This game is truly awesome, but it does need some tweaking. I have several suggestions! (FYI Ive NEVER done this before, so this should be a testament to how much i enjoy this game (and how much room there is for improvement)

1. Make it so that resupply ships and gas mining bases can choose specifically which type of resource to mine.. ie caslon or hydrogen. Ive noticed that they mine both which leads to having the cargo hold filled with the wrong type of fuel - limiting its future capacity. If your ships rely heavily on one type of fuel or the other, you should be able to focus on mining that particular fuel (until you decide later on to change reactor type) - this brings me onto the 2nd point...

2. Make it so that you can control the movement of resources. I know that the private enterprise is meant to do this, which is great... but there are good reasons to make this possible. For one as with the issue above, I could take that mined caslon back to a space port and dump it off so it doesnt goto waste / makes more room for the fuel i need to use. Also this should be incorporated in such a way as to allow the design of fuel transports that can simply drop off fuel without the need to mine it first. This could also apply to construction ships and the components needed to contruct objects. Asside from the issue with fuel transportation, generally allowing you to move around resources yourself is just COOL, even if not all that useful. (it adds depth and detail)

3. The AI is broken when it comes to ship designs (I switch it off!). When I did use it, I noticed that the AI replaces the designs that I made. This is annoying especially for when designing the civilian transports. (I like to create larger transports with higher capacities / larger mining ships because larger ships tends to mean bigger profit / less travel time / more efficiency) - but if the AI replaces my design then the civilians will buy the new crappy AI design instead of my beefed up ones. This problem also applies to colony ships and contructor ships when contructed from within the expansion planner screen (the AI will only automatically select the latest design, and if the AI replaced my cool design, then ... well you get the point.)

That being said, I don't want to spend 20 mins at the start of the game pre designing ships because the AI doesnt do the greatest job. this leads me onto ....

4. Please make it possible to load AND REPLACE the ship designs when you start a new game so I dont have to spend 20 mins at the start of each game modifying the initial ship / port designs!!!!!

5. Although I note that you did add the capacity for manually cntrolled ships to auto refuel and return to current location (which is nice!!), you did not incorporate an option to disable this feature (PER SHIP). There have been a few occasions where I have had a fleet way behind enemy lines without fuel. Rather than have them all automatically (and annoyingly) decide to fly all the way back to my nearest space port it would be way better to disable that feature (specifically for those ships) so those ships are forced to wait at the system for one of my (frantically trying to mine for fuel and get upto the warzone) resupply ships to arrive. although I recognize that this situation occured due to my own mis managment - and I do not mind being penalized for my mistakes - there should never be a situation where my fleets perform actions that I do not specifically want them to do.

Im not sure if i should do this, but I noticed a few other suggestions that I wanted to repeat for the sake of showing the importance of them...

6). Being able to select a few ships, without making them a fleet and giving them an order to escort or patrol. Right now, if you select more than one ship. You can not give them a patrol or escort command. Only if they are in a fleet.

In addition, make it possible to issue commands to ship / multiple ships from within the command screens by highlighting the ships and right clicking to select a mission

Okay I will add more later if I need to.

P.S. please note I have indeed noticed the already amazing improvements you guys have made to the game. Thanks!!

[Igard]

I just copied this over from a discussion between Simulation01 and myself on the modders thread.

It makes alot of sense that a race would produce or manufacture something unique that they can then trade with others. Tholian silk is a good example or Romulan Ale.

Perhaps it could be designated as a 'Trade' resource. A new group of resources to go alongside, 'Luxury' and 'Strategic'.

Questions would be; How many special resources would each race have? (1 or 2 might be suitable); How much value would these have? (would they be as valuable as loros fruit?); and where do these resources come from? (do they only appear on the homeworld or do they get found on other worlds where the race colonises?).

[Simulation01]

ORIGINAL: Igard

I just copied this over from a discussion between Simulation01 and myself on the modders thread.

It makes alot of sense that a race would produce or manufacture something unique that they can then trade with others. Tholian silk is a good example or Romulan Ale.

Perhaps it could be designated as a 'Trade' resource. A new group of resources to go alongside, 'Luxury' and 'Strategic'.

Questions would be; How many special resources would each race have? (1 or 2 might be suitable); How much value would these have? (would they be as valuable as loros fruit?); and where do these resources come from? (do they only appear on the homeworld or do they get found on other worlds where the race colonises?).

That's a good evolution of what I was getting at. Two might be a nice idea.....If you've played Civ IV you might remember the concept they had going there, which was that if you had access to certain resources you could create a corporation that created certain trade goods ( that's not what I was thinking about when I made my initial post, but on reflection it could have bearing here ). The thing is you would make such a concept modifiable as well...say you create a custom race known as Romulans...well, one of their manufactured trade resources would be 'Romulan Ale' as you suggested.

Another cool thought is that an Empire might make certain products that are offered by other empires illegal because they might be desirous but have deleterious effects on the population like said Romulan Ale or Human Canabis. In case they are banned you could have a situation where an empire would set up a situation where they would be smuggled in...or say space pirates would set up some kind of smuggling ring that would have some negative effect on your empire ( which you would use your military to attempt to put to an end...I'm thinking of the current drug smuggling situation with Mexico and in the Gulf of Mexico...also with what is happening in Colombia ). Pirates in this situation might then play a greater role in the game...and if they have access to the kind of cash you're looking at with illegal goods transfers they could prove a nasty short term and long term threat to the stability of your empire.

wow...I think those are some pretty interesting thoughts...I gotta stew on this some more.

[karstenchu]

Dear Distant Worlds,

I've been a very good boy this year and just bought you. I thoroughly enjoy wasting away with your sweet code in my active memory.

For Christmas this year I want the following:
-New ship classes.
-Carrier
-Fighter
-Bomber
-Ship to ship boarding
-SPACE MARINES

Grant me these boons, Distant Worlds, and you will find yourself in the stocking of my friend, my foolish foolish friend, who still thinks that Sins of a Solar Empire is the best 4x. What an idiot!

Thank you,
Karsten

[martok]

Welcome to the forums, karstenchu! Glad you're enjoying the game. [:)]

ORIGINAL: karstenchu

For Christmas this year I want the following:
-New ship classes.
-Carrier
-Fighter
-Bomber
-Ship to ship boarding
-SPACE MARINES

Well the upcoming expansion is going to include these for sure. I don't know if there will be ship boarding or "Space Marines", though.

[karstenchu]

Thanks for the welcome! I love it!

Awesome. I'm pumped about the expansion then. I just thought that ship to ship battles like the days of yore would be cool with boarding vessels pouring forth to disembark grizzled space marines to capture enemy vessels would be awesome. Haha, but that's just me!

Ok, I'll go and try not to be too giddy!

[karstenchu]

Other things that would be cool:

Human pre-made starting system - I find myself frequently playing human and wanting to start off in our solar system. Is there anyway to make an option for humans to start off in their own, pre-made system. I feel like that'd be more like a story mode, I guess.

External map/ship design editor - Fun to do when you don't want to play the game but want to play the game.

Troop design - If we can design ships, why not troops? Then we can differentiate garrisons vs. marines vs. regular army.

[Shark7]

ORIGINAL: karstenchu

Other things that would be cool:

Human pre-made starting system - I find myself frequently playing human and wanting to start off in our solar system. Is there anyway to make an option for humans to start off in their own, pre-made system. I feel like that'd be more like a story mode, I guess.

External map/ship design editor - Fun to do when you don't want to play the game but want to play the game.

Troop design - If we can design ships, why not troops? Then we can differentiate garrisons vs. marines vs. regular army.

Not yet, but this is one of the things the modding community has asked for.

[adecoy95]

more special planet bonuses would be kinda cool. here are some examples!

super spy grid: this planet seems to be covered in sensors. the owner of this planet gains access to its 100,000 range long range sensor. (its not a tech you can put on other ships, its for this planet only)

nanite construction yard: construction projects at this planet are built 300% faster!

anchent planetary shield: this planet already has a self sustaining shield! no matinence cost!

cant think of any more right now. but you get the idea, more fun planet only bonuses.

[Fallschirmjager]

I have some fanciful stuff I would like to see added. However for right now I just have one request of something that is a NEED.

And that is some sort of summary screen when your exploration ships are done exploring a system. If you automate your ships then you never really know how the progress is going. I believe somewhere in the description of this game it is said that the emphasis is on exdploration and that is true from my limited time with the game. But right now it is a little bit of a pain to have to zoom out and then go through every single system that is uncovered. What is needed is a screen that comes up like a normal message that you can click on. When you do click on it a summary is presented of the findings from the system exploration. It would perhaps have the star type and then a listing of the planets along with their type. This would let you know if there were any worth colonizing since that is the main thing you want to get from your exploration ships.

This would really help streamline the game a little and take a little bit of the management tedium off.

[Kregoth]

Pirate game mode!

Came up with this during The live chat today but the basic idea behind it is playing as a pirate gang. You wouldn't make money in the same way as the base game. Instead you would make money doing deeds like attack private ships and stations which nets you cash and parts which you can use on the black market to fund your nefarious ways (like getting ships or parts to make your ships). you could also take on contracts from other nations like protecting convoys and attacking the enemies or spying. You would also gain attention the more nasty things you do the more the empires take notice of you and might gang up to take you out.

Perhaps the black market is based of which empires are near you, so lets say only a human empire is near by. You would gain access to human tech and getting tech from others would be harder based on distance and empire size? maybe instead of just instant purchase you would have a percentage chance of actually obtaining that item the more expensive/advanced the tech the harder it is for your black market contacts to smuggle it in.

I have far more vast ideas behind this and probably the amount that would need and optional expansion, but i think it would be a great addition to add and give other players a different kind of game to play and might bring in non 4x strategy fans into the mix?

(hopefully the expansion it self adds to pirates in the game they are fun but nothing more then an after though mid-late game, that is if there still alive by then.)

EDIT:
Came up with another idea for the base game why not have an option to sell tech to pirates over the black market? you could make more from it then trading it with empires but it effects your reputation as well as arming pirates with that tech.

[ehsumrell1]

ORIGINAL: Kregoth

EDIT:
Came up with another idea for the base game why not have an option to sell tech to pirates over the black market? you could make more from it then trading it with empires but it effects your reputation as well as arming pirates with that tech.

VERY good idea Kregoth....definitely make sure this idea gets placed on the wish list concerning
diplomacy for the next expansion. [&o]

[Kregoth]

Definitely will, would love to see some work on things with small independent colonies part of just colonizing them bugs me i think you should have to ask in a diplomatic way if they would like to join your growing empire instead of dealing with them as if they are newly found slaves lol. and having pirates grow as the game goes on would be great so ones that aren't snuffed or allied right away could become a growing concern becoming more dangerous and hostile the larger their force grows.

How about a research tech that allows us to domesticate creatures, Imagine deploying giant Kaltor's into hostile empires. Maybe even make them territorial and capable of breeding, If you dont take care of the giant Koltor infested area they could breed into a massive force one that would require a lot of military might to snuff out, or they might be knocking on your colonies door steps and wiping the populace out.

[Shark7]

Hmm...

Salvage: Any time you engage an enemy fleet you have a 1% chance of finding an operational component among the wreckage. A working component could be reverse engineered to allow bonuses to research.

[Lord_Astraios]

Story feature for the next game,  so we can mod it and do our own.

Salvage thats a nice one

Capturing a ship.  OF course,  cant be easy in the game but few events could happen when trying to capture one,  get something out of it like technology wise and boosting your research for a small percentage,  capture the ship and use it to join with your forces,  capturing the ship and all of the sudden it self destruct,  capturing a ship and it will give you some or slight intelligence of nearby targets or any info of the empire.

[Shark7]

Don't know. Ion cannons that disable weapons and engines are in. May be a precursor to boarding and capturing down the road.

Scripting was mentioned, so it is one of those still possible things.

[TheLastRonin]

Please increase the capabilities of the in-game editor. It is pretty much crippled for map making until we are able to change the quality and types and amount of resources of the planets and moons. Espicially the quality [:(].

[lancer]

Resource Slider

It appears that this hasn't made the cut for the Expansion. During the Live Chat Elliot didn't appear to express much enthusiasm for the concept. I can see why. Implementing a resource slider would be a sizeable job. You would need to adjust the AI and the games underlying balance. Not easy.

The reason I - and by the sound of it, others - would like a slider is to enable resources - particularly strategic resources - to have some meaning. At present - once your empire reaches a certain size - you have so many resources that they effectively become meaningless background fluff. The exception, of course, are the key luxury resources.

It would be nice if you actually had to worry about sourcing enough carbon fibre or lead to keep your empire running. Wars might be fought over certain strategic resources. They aren't called 'strategic' for nothing.

The trick is to come up with a way of doing this without having to redo the economic model, the AI and the game balance.


Here's a suggestion ----------------------------------------------------------------


Keep everything as is. Generate the maps with the same number of resource locations. No different.

Implement a slider. Call it a 'resource multiplier'. Magically find some space for it on the start-up options screen along with all the other sliders. (Not complaining, these are one of the games stronger points).

Game proceeds as normal. AI empires do their thing. Difference only applies to the Players empire.

Everytime you build something each component costs 'x' amount of certain resources. What the slider does is change this. If set to 'normal', obviously no difference. If set to 'scarce', for example, then all resource requirements are doubled. So a component needs 10 Lead and 1 Carbon Fibre to build. Now it needs 20 Lead and 2 Carbon Fibre.

All of a sudden your empires resource requirements have doubled. Hey, I need a new lead mine, pronto.

Fine tuning the idea would involve applying the 'resource multiplier' slider to strategic resources only. Luxury resources appear to work well as they are.

Further tuning would be to put a limit to the extraction possible from a single resource source. Eg. So you couldn't put a mega-mining base on a single Lead source and supply all your empires needs from this one location.

This is an exploit currently in the game but one that would be easy (I think) to fix.

In summary you would be able - if you wanted to - make strategic resources mean something and have an impact on your play. The private sector becomes even more important as does the search for new resource locations. Do all this with minimal impact on the existing game design.

Sounds good to me but then most of my own ideas do.

Cheers,
Lancer