I like the idea of some ambient life around the galaxy to interact with, like pirates, privateers, amoeba, whales etc. The thing is, these go extinct rather early in the game and they never seem to regenerate off-map or something. So I was wondering, why not link the rate of encounters with ambient life to the wellbeing of your empire? An example of this can be the addition of crime rates on your worlds, which is linked to the level of pirate spawns within your empire.
The crime rate of a planet can be determined by the happiness of it's population, and can be further influenced by things like slavery, unemployment or conflict of ethics. Crime on a planet can then cause random pirates to be spawned in areas surrounding the planet, with the amount of pirates and their spawn rate being determined by the level of crime on the planet.
This could easily become an annoyance but, a well-run empire can become awfully quiet in the later stages of the game, especially with the AI never attacking the player if you keep ahead of them technology-wise. It would be nice to have to do some policing within your own borders from time to time, or have some defense/police fleets around your colonies. Pirates do not have to be a real threat so that peaceful empires can still easily deal with them. Pirates can grow in strength if left unchecked, or even build a base in an uncolonized system if they are left to grow.
The crime rate of a planet can be determined by the happiness of it's population, and can be further influenced by things like slavery, unemployment or conflict of ethics. Crime on a planet can then cause random pirates to be spawned in areas surrounding the planet, with the amount of pirates and their spawn rate being determined by the level of crime on the planet.
This could easily become an annoyance but, a well-run empire can become awfully quiet in the later stages of the game, especially with the AI never attacking the player if you keep ahead of them technology-wise. It would be nice to have to do some policing within your own borders from time to time, or have some defense/police fleets around your colonies. Pirates do not have to be a real threat so that peaceful empires can still easily deal with them. Pirates can grow in strength if left unchecked, or even build a base in an uncolonized system if they are left to grow.
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