Species Editor

Please give us a good one!

from GalCiv3 Forums

For me, the Species Editor is the first thing I look at in a game. 
...Well, obviously; it's generally the first thing you see after the menu screen - but when I decide whether to buy a game or not, this part of the game is what I browse on wiki pages, because it tells me not only what kind of features the game has, but also how well they are integrated, the kind of balance testing that was done, etc. 

...And it always really really annoys me how in every 4X space strategy game, the Species Editor simply cannot match up with that of one of the first 4X games I played, "Stars!". 

(Links for those who don't know what I'm talking about:)
http://wiki.starsautohost.org/wiki/Primary_racial_traits
http://wiki.starsautohost.org/wiki/Lesser_racial_traits
http://wiki.starsautohost.org/wiki/Category:Race_Design 

 

Anyway, some ideas and things I'm hoping for: 

  • Let us choose different rates of progress in different technology categories, so we can make a species that's good at most tech but sucks at coming up with weapons - or on the other hand, a warlike species who is good at nothing but making ships bristling with weaponry. If different species all get the basic "Laser" technology, one should go: "Laser surgery! Of Course!", one should go "Laser cannons! Of course!" and one should go "Holograms! Of course!".
  • Remove "up/down one step" choices; "+10% weapon damage", for example, is a lame attribute in itself. On the other hand, "+50% laser damage, but all weapons take up 25% more space" is the kind of attribute that can really define your play style. Conversely, sliders that can change a bonus between +100% and -90% for a variable point cost would let you fine-tune your species.
  • Let us design different aspects of our species. Classification & Biology, Culture & Specialties, Homeworld & History: 
    • "Classification & Biology" to tell you what kind of life-form your species is; Whether it's Lithovoric, Photosynthetic, Robotic and/or Gas-worlder - what kind of environments they thrive in, how fast they reproduce, etc. This could have effects later on, if for example random events treat different classifications differently.
    • "Culture & Specialization" gives stuff like "Tech Specialist: 200% Bonus when researching tech with tag X", "Cultural Obsession: ship modules with tag Y are 70% cheaper, but there must be at least one on every ship", "Jury-rigging: Ships regenerate in combat, making disabled modules come online again, but repair costs increase by 20%", "Xenophiliac: Better relationships with other species, and better trade, but less defense against spying or cultural conquest", "Opportunistic: Three times the pirate activity in systems your species inhabits, but your economy benefits each time an alien ship is plundered", "Anarchistic: morale penalties, but Guerilla warfare actions have a +10 bonus", "Trapmaster: Invaders on planets and on ships face penalties depending on number of planetary installations and crew life support modules, respectively - but building these costs 5% more", or "Tech Geeks: Every ship system will be automatically updated to the latest version, but the turn that a new tech appears, the economy takes a hit from the replacement costs". 
    • The "Homeworld & History" tab, gets you starting advantages, with Homeworld giving stuff like large population limits, oil reserves boosting production, rare minerals giving access to special tech trees, ancient artifacts boosting research, more habitable planets in the same star system, etc. History, meanwhile, could get you things like "Multicultural, twice the chance of colonies declaring independence", "Ancient Empire - Small colonies populated by your species are out there for you to discover", "starts game with tech X", or "Ancient First Contact: Relationship with species Z starts as 'good' and communication frequency has been established".
  • Put in cool interactions that can surprise the player. EMP pulses would be extra effective against robotic species, damaging their crews - but would do squat against organic ships. Gravity guns would be nearly useless against Heavy-worlders. Nuclear weapons would have no long-term effects against a species immune to radiation, and for one who LOVES radiation, it would terra-form a planet in the right direction. Lithovores might utilize a new battery tech to make a popular snack food, so would value the tech higher than a biological species would. A solar flare-up might trigger a population boom in a photosynthetic species, etc, etc. 
21,732 views 5 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

Stars!

I wonder if Brad ever played around with it.  So sad Stars! Supernova Genesis became vaporware.  I hope someone picks up the franchise someday.

Reply #2 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

It'd be useful and interesting if the races / species also changed and evolved over time throughout the game either based on events or decisions. 

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Reply #3 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

I'm not sure if species is the proper word to use in this game. Its is better than races though. I suggest civilizations. The Krynn for instance, are not one species but a collection of different sentient species that managed to evolve on the same world in harmony. It is one of their selling points of their religion. They've managed to avoid god awful exterminations and wars on their worlds that a number of different civilization have unfortunately done on their own worlds.

I suppose that is a different way of looking at things. Not every civilization is a single homogenous species to to begin with, and over time they may end up becoming a mix of a number of different species and cultures. Unless you go around exterminating undesirables, this may have an effect on your civilization (for good and bad).

Reply #4 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

In "Stars!", you had the concept of miniaturization - older tech cost less and less to make the more you exceeded its tech-level requirements, making it so using the newest tech was not always the best choice. 

I saw a suggestion on this forum that you could use this mechanic in GalCiv3, but have it be different for every civilization - one would make every component better armored over time, one would focus on increasing damage, another would decrease space requirements, etc.

Good idea, so I'm posting it here, since this is something you should be able to choose in the civ editor. Maybe you could spread the points around in 10% increments, so you have, say, 70% Damage increase and 30% Armor increase. 

There are several game mechanics you could base the efficiency increase on:

  • Research on related subjects, like Laser III giving +15% efficiency to Laser I modules.
  • Some "private market" mechanic, where efficiency increases are awarded semi-randomly according to economy/research stats.
  • Number of modules produced, with glitches fixed according to customer feedback. 

And of course, some civilizations would gain efficiency faster than others, depending on the abilities they purchase, wonders they build, etc.

Reply #5 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

@Chibiabos:

Yeah, it was a shame about Supernova. I'm hoping that sooner or later there'll be a kickstarter or something to buy back the game art assets, or make new ones. I would contribute, assuming I heard of it.

 

Evolution of a civilization over time is an interesting concept, especially since it doesn't have to be genetic, but cultural or tech-based. Maybe you could get a point now and then for building a wonder, Social Tech research, etc?

It would be cool if the culture of a civilization - their behavior patterns - would naturally alter over time, in response to interactions with other species. Say 5 points in the Civ Editor being free-floating and altering because of culture shifts, and some personality traits increasing or decreasing.
Being culturally influenced by a nearby civilization with democracy would make some races question their tradition of monarchy - or vice-versa. Being in a state of war for 100 turns might make a civilization more warlike and focused on weapons research. Being seen as friendly and harmless by the citizens of another civilization might cause them to riot if their leaders declared war on you. You could send spies to arrange incidents to shift your enemies' behavior into destructive patterns.