For future DLCs, I have two concepts that could definitely be explored to meaningfully expand the gameplay. I'd like to hear everyone's thoughts and suggestions! They're somewhat explored by certain mods, but with limited effectiveness that could be greatly improved with actual official content.
Note: I didn't put this in suggestions because it's not just a passing idea, but they're entirely new gameplay concepts that would require extensive debate to reach something that could be made playable and marketable.
1. Terraforming
The terraforming system in Stellaris is, frankly, unengaging. It's cost prohibitive, mildly useful at best, and definitely not a uniquely fun concept. Having a DLC expand habitability in general is pretty important, since terraforming is a key part to space exploration.
-Replace planet types with a temperature level and moisture level with general distinctions, probably 25 including the Gaia which would be middle for both.
-Different atmosphere types as an additional factor to habitability, each species could prefer one. It could be something like Oxygen, CO2, Nitrogen, Ammonia, Methane, and Sulphur.
-More tech and involvement to actually make it interactive. There could be tech tiers following increasing and decreasing of both temperature and moisture as a gradual process one could follow for example.
-Perhaps pressure? It would work well as an additional feature to actively engage the terraforming process if the other changes are still somewhat boring.
-Special worlds that would certainly be DLC rather than patch could add some buying incentive. There's tons of possibilities to compliment strategy, gameplay, roleplay, and it could certainly augment specific empire types as well. As an example, a world made of solid gold could become a trade hub, or one with sprawling underground tunnels beneath an unliveable crushing surface atmosphere that could be used by most empires, but better for Gestalts like robots or hive minds.
2. Transport of goods
How so much food can travel across unfathomable distances to feed cities is not explained. Having some sort of mechanic with associated techs would be interesting. Gameplay wise, having distance be harmful could really add another layer of strategy to planning out your empire. It could also give tall empires a better chance since being clustered would mean a stronger and more stable economy.
-Actual on-map transport ships that only appear when combat is a possibility, allowing them to fall victim to uprisen pirate fleets or be looted for their contents by warring empires.
-Teleportation techs possibly, it's one of the few sci-fi concepts not explored in Stellaris that could be used to lead to an endgame crisis or other unexpected problems to make up for the unbalance of it as an idea.
-Some transport ships would be directly owned by the civilization (while following visibility rules stated above) that would require direct upkeep and designing in the Ship Designer. Different empires would delegate different amounts of good transport to private holdings, which could certainly bring up interesting choices for players. Corporate Authorities could possibly even control the goods transport within other empires.
-Civillian built infrastructure as an extension of the capitalist vs. government debate that could grant free spaceport upgrades like tradehubs, or even privately owned spaceports in systems not controlled by the player that would also be subject to military attacks like transport ships.
Note: I didn't put this in suggestions because it's not just a passing idea, but they're entirely new gameplay concepts that would require extensive debate to reach something that could be made playable and marketable.
1. Terraforming
The terraforming system in Stellaris is, frankly, unengaging. It's cost prohibitive, mildly useful at best, and definitely not a uniquely fun concept. Having a DLC expand habitability in general is pretty important, since terraforming is a key part to space exploration.
-Replace planet types with a temperature level and moisture level with general distinctions, probably 25 including the Gaia which would be middle for both.
-Different atmosphere types as an additional factor to habitability, each species could prefer one. It could be something like Oxygen, CO2, Nitrogen, Ammonia, Methane, and Sulphur.
-More tech and involvement to actually make it interactive. There could be tech tiers following increasing and decreasing of both temperature and moisture as a gradual process one could follow for example.
-Perhaps pressure? It would work well as an additional feature to actively engage the terraforming process if the other changes are still somewhat boring.
-Special worlds that would certainly be DLC rather than patch could add some buying incentive. There's tons of possibilities to compliment strategy, gameplay, roleplay, and it could certainly augment specific empire types as well. As an example, a world made of solid gold could become a trade hub, or one with sprawling underground tunnels beneath an unliveable crushing surface atmosphere that could be used by most empires, but better for Gestalts like robots or hive minds.
2. Transport of goods
How so much food can travel across unfathomable distances to feed cities is not explained. Having some sort of mechanic with associated techs would be interesting. Gameplay wise, having distance be harmful could really add another layer of strategy to planning out your empire. It could also give tall empires a better chance since being clustered would mean a stronger and more stable economy.
-Actual on-map transport ships that only appear when combat is a possibility, allowing them to fall victim to uprisen pirate fleets or be looted for their contents by warring empires.
-Teleportation techs possibly, it's one of the few sci-fi concepts not explored in Stellaris that could be used to lead to an endgame crisis or other unexpected problems to make up for the unbalance of it as an idea.
-Some transport ships would be directly owned by the civilization (while following visibility rules stated above) that would require direct upkeep and designing in the Ship Designer. Different empires would delegate different amounts of good transport to private holdings, which could certainly bring up interesting choices for players. Corporate Authorities could possibly even control the goods transport within other empires.
-Civillian built infrastructure as an extension of the capitalist vs. government debate that could grant free spaceport upgrades like tradehubs, or even privately owned spaceports in systems not controlled by the player that would also be subject to military attacks like transport ships.
