Advantageous random galaxy regions?

[AndragonLea]

One thing I've always thought should exist (but which doesn't, other than as planetary/solar system modifiers) has been a sort of feature like you would see in Star Trek.
There have been quite a few episodes that feature galactic mist that would confuse your sensors or disable your FTL, clouds of energy that would sap your ship systems or natural phenomenons that would hide a planet away - making it the perfect spot for highly sensitive buildings/key lynchpins of an empire.

Gas clouds that improve the general energy production of your empire and allow orbital installations to have no energy upkeep or a huge space anomaly that draws in asteroids with dense mineral deposits that makes the systems within it more likely to pop + 4 minerals of some such.
Things that just affect the structures in that region of space or only on habitable planets in that region, maybe even unique systems that are affected by precursor tech hidden in planetary cores or shroud effects that produce an interesting effect in one or more systems.

I hadn't previously considered this for Stellaris because the homogenous way the game was constructed made it seem like the developers didn't want any one planet/system to be much more valuable than another, but the introduction of Utopia with the new massive mega structures that can change hands, the possibility of food planets and ringworlds would really mesh in with this.

Obviously the various boni would have to be discussed for balance (wouldn't want accidentally spawning in the equivalent of a space gold mine to be an automatic win condition or spawning in the butt of the galaxy an automatic loss), but I really think that such galactic "natural wonders" and hazards would make the game feel more natural.

It would give you systems you'd like to hang onto, make defensive lines with fortifications feel more significant if they protect highly valuable systems within a particular phenomenon and maybe even produce natural defensive fortifications in the form of systems that disable energy weapons/shields or the like, causing one empire to field two fleets (one comprised of only armor cruisers/battleships to take advantage of their possession of systems with such a modifier and one comprised of the usual designs for fights outside of it).

Would you guys be interested to see something like that (provided it could be implemented in a somewhat balanced way)?

 

[TheNitram]

I agree with you. The game needs more asymmetry to make systems special.
The only way i've found to give a real worth to space is to play with Hyperlanes (because connections make every system special in a sense). They went in the right direction by improving luxury ressources and i hope they will continue to go that way.

 

[AndragonLea]

It would make sense in many ways, too. We already have systems like that present in grand strategy - regions that have abundant oceanic resources with profitable maritime cities and harbours or regions that allow for profitable fur trade/ivory trade or incense production.

Just a little something to give empires and regions more character (and maybe shape how they develope - an empire with abundant energy resources might forego a dyson sphere and go for a science nexus, maybe even research into mechanic ascension as their pops would practically be free, for example).

Much akin to the civ series, too, where finding certain natural wonders might make you switch entirely from a military to cultural/religious strategies.

Even if they don't, just having regions to covet and wage war over might be very interesting. A small federation founded by a rich species sitting on the equivalent of Space El Dorado bribing other races to guard them, etc. tt.

 

[sdeezie]

Nebulae already have a higher spawn chance for certain strategic resources. AFAIK, some of them simply won't spawn outside of a nebula, which makes nebula important to drop frontier outposts on, even before you've researched and revealed all the strategic resources.

 

[TheNitram]

Uuuu that is pretty cool! Thanks for the tip. That is the idea, i think it should be emphasized more.

 

[AndragonLea]

Yeah, but that's a rather weak thing, isn't it? I'd love to see it expanded upon. ^^

 

[LeibSSolmai]

I know of two hardcoded very valuable system at the moment:
1. The ruined Ringworld, the system has a completly destroyed Ringworld wie 5 sections witch each give you 5 engineering Reserarch for a total of 25/month in a single system, also its one of the only three options to get living Metal (the others are Cybrex Alpha and the Ringworlds of the Materialistic FE).
2. The system with the six 8 Minerals asteroids and the Hives of this strange Space insects which attack you after you built you second mining station in it. But if you only build one until you are strong enough to destroy the Hives you still get 8 Minerals/Month from this system.

Of course the Dragon system is also great, but you have to defeat the Dragon first before you get the treasure.

I also want more systems like this in the game, I hope it will be implemented sometimes in the future.

 

[AndragonLea]

I know of two hardcoded very valuable system at the moment:
1. The ruined Ringworld, the system has a completly destroyed Ringworld wie 5 sections witch each give you 5 engineering Reserarch for a total of 25/month in a single system, also its one of the only three options to get living Metal (the others are Cybrex Alpha and the Ringworlds of the Materialistic FE).
2. The system with the six 8 Minerals asteroids and the Hives of this strange Space insects which attack you after you built you second mining station in it. But if you only build one until you are strong enough to destroy the Hives you still get 8 Minerals/Month from this system.

Of course the Dragon system is also great, but you have to defeat the Dragon first before you get the treasure.

I also want more systems like this in the game, I hope it will be implemented sometimes in the future.

Sanctuary is also a very nice system, although I actually had to mod the game files to make it spawn in - I had played 200 hours without ever seeing it and got impatient.

 

[LeibSSolmai]

Sanctuary actually exists? I read once of it, but after I didn´t see it once in 250 hours playtime I considered it a joke or a part of some Mod.

 

[AndragonLea]

Sanctuary actually exists? I read once of it, but after I didn´t see it once in 250 hours playtime I considered it a joke or a part of some Mod.

It has a very tiny chance to spawn, so you can miss it very easily. I might actually have had it in a game, but on a 1000 star map it might have just disappeared in the clutter. Hard to say.

Suffice it to say that I wanted to see it so I think I downloaded a mod that made all unique systems spawn every game. A bit bleh, but the other alternative is either restarting all the time and using observe to see if it spawned or playing another 200 hours with no guarantee I'll ever see it. ^^

 

[CuddlyKitten]

I think giving resource modifiers is probably not the way to go. I would much rather see "terrain" modifiers to combat.

For example:
Dense nebula: Long range weapons have a reduced chance to hit, medium weapons have a slightly reduced chance to hit. Scanners cannot see into this system (you need to actually be present)
Asteroid field: Ships speed reduced by 25 % in order to avoid colliding with asteroids.
Pulsar interference: Tracking reduced on all weapons
Ionized particle field: Shield recharge rate increased for all shields
etc.

Would probably be pretty easy to make modifiers although you need a graphical effect in the system. But it could be strategically interesting and add some "depth" to the map.

 

[AndragonLea]

I was thinking a mix of both, actually, so not all of them do the same thing. One part that keeps games like this alive is the variety - you don't have a storyline, the game makes that for you. That's why I think its important that not all the stuff you see always means the same things.

That said, if I had to choose between the two, I'd also go for the combat modifiers. I thill think having stuff that impacts your economy would also be welcome, though. ^^

 

[Almond_Brown]

All good stuff indeed. I do have a question for the OP though concerning...

"if a natural phenomenon would hide a planet away."

How did you find that Planet in the first place...?

 

[AndragonLea]

Easy: by randomly exploring. I always found it a bit weird that you know immediately how many planets or planetoids/celestial bodies are in any given solar system just by cruising by from afar.
There are no later discoveries or surprising developements at the moment - although I hope that this will change at some point.

In the stories, a system that is hidden away either becomes life bearing (COP OUT, I hear you yell, as that would make somebody "finding" it superfluous ) or are found by explorers or accidents that force someone to stop where reason would demand that there be nothing interesting, only to find something after all!

In such stories there is also big potential for it to be a hidden pirate haven (space Tortuga ) or the hidden capital of a lost civilisation. There are a lot of opportunities there for a branching event.

In game, I'd expect something like an anomaly in a nebula region that - once surveyed and completed - allows the one who scanned it to gain access to a hidden system. Other empires would then only see the system if they traded star charts, had active sensor links with the one who found and cultivated the system or had a ship within sensor range when a ship flies into what appears to be the vast emptiness between systems where it should not have any reason to stop.

The system might either just be hidden from the overview until the event gives you the prompt, or might be "spawned" similar to precursor home systems when the event is completed.

Alternative options would be finding nav data in a ship graveyard or a map on the wreck of the pirate dreadnought.

 

[Almond_Brown]

Easy: by randomly exploring. I always found it a bit weird that you know immediately how many planets or planetoids/celestial bodies are in any given solar system just by cruising by from afar.
There are no later discoveries or surprising developements at the moment - although I hope that this will change at some point.

In the stories, a system that is hidden away either becomes life bearing (COP OUT, I hear you yell, as that would make somebody "finding" it superfluous ) or are found by explorers or accidents that force someone to stop where reason would demand that there be nothing interesting, only to find something after all!

In such stories there is also big potential for it to be a hidden pirate haven (space Tortuga ) or the hidden capital of a lost civilisation. There are a lot of opportunities there for a branching event.

In game, I'd expect something like an anomaly in a nebula region that - once surveyed and completed - allows the one who scanned it to gain access to a hidden system. Other empires would then only see the system if they traded star charts, had active sensor links with the one who found and cultivated the system or had a ship within sensor range when a ship flies into what appears to be the vast emptiness between systems where it should not have any reason to stop.

The system might either just be hidden from the overview until the event gives you the prompt, or might be "spawned" similar to precursor home systems when the event is completed.

Alternative options would be finding nav data in a ship graveyard or a map on the wreck of the pirate dreadnought.

Sorry my bad. I should have noted that your description seemed to indicate that the Nebula made finding said "hidden" system nie impossible. Your most recent description negates the "hidden" part as long as you survey the "nebula". That in turn makes it more a "shrouded" system as opposed to a "hidden" one.

The "hidden" pirate base thought usually indicates some far, out if the way location, most ships would never visit, for a variety of reason, none being the system is actually "hidden".

 

[Ezumiyr]

A lot of people already complain for the lack of balance at the beginning of the game (especially in multiplayer and in your home system). While I don't agree with them, adding more "asymetry" by making powerful systems more common would just make them even more unhappy.

I'm all in for more special systems, with more choices to do, though.
But not this :

Gas clouds that improve the general energy production of your empire and allow orbital installations to have no energy upkeep or a huge space anomaly that draws in asteroids with dense mineral deposits that makes the systems within it more likely to pop + 4 minerals of some such.

Sure, it would make those systems more strategic, but it would still be based purely on luck, contrarily to megastructures (that you need to build) or even specific ressources (which only provide specific improvements, and not an overall economy boost).

 

[PhroX]

A lot of people already complain for the lack of balance at the beginning of the game (especially in multiplayer and in your home system). While I don't agree with them, adding more "asymetry" by making powerful systems more common would just make them even more unhappy.

Dare I suggest that the answer is to have setup options to customise whether or not you run such things?

 

[Turnil]

Sanctuary actually exists? I read once of it, but after I didn´t see it once in 250 hours playtime I considered it a joke or a part of some Mod.

I found it in my game without any mods.
It's quite hard to get, but it will give you a great system.
I build a frontier outpost and began uplifting.
4 empires in one system.