End Game Crises - Winning the Game

[Neceros]

I really am enjoying the board gamification going on with 4X games lately, because I understand it can be far easier to represent things with smaller, manageable numbers. But I'm worried that one side of the crowd whom really enjoy 4X games (the simulationists) won't be represented if there's an inevitable end game.

I'm very eager for this game, and can't wait to download my pre-order.

I would very much like to see how far a species can get before they kill themselves off, or natural order takes them back. I don't want some forced date of end (which I've heard doesn't exist in this game), or if you get too much research you start to research literal end game topics to force a new game start, or like FTL (which was a great game) where you could only go so far and then it's over.

I'm eager to try a game with only starting humans on Sol, and perhaps one or two other races in a very large galaxy. I expect there to be pieces of my human empire that will break away and form new alliances and empires due to societal friction, etc.

The Blorg play-through is giving me a lot of fun stuff to think about, and give me hope at how complex and decision making can get. I'm excited, but I've been burned in 4X games often.

 

[Mordaith]

I hear ya OP. Some 4X make the Grand Strategy promise, and fall short. Others are killed by poor or sloppy AI. If CK2 and EU4 are any indication, we are in for a real treat.

Welcome to the Forums, BTW.

 

[Cyridius]

Multiple end game crises is meant to be a rare thing, and if I know Paradox they'll be rather spaced out due to a large MTTH, so if you can survive the crises(And these games are designed that you generally can if you play right) you should be able to play the game to your heart's content.

I would imagine if you want you can keep ignoring dangerous techs(Though the AI may not, and there are likely non-tech related crises).

 

[The Danish King]

Well, they have said that even if you "win" the game, you can just continue to keep playing. There is no definite "end".

 

[Neceros]

Thanks

 

[Aleks S. I]

The only issue I've seen with playing this type of game is there is no way for "tech regression" to occur in the game. So all your fragment empires would just have endlessly increasing tech until the end of the game. Which I think is something the devs should work on for a DLC given that this game is uniquely suited to it, what with fallen empires and end-game disasters.

 

[Mordaith]

The only issue I've seen with playing this type of game is there is no way for "tech regression" to occur in the game. So all your fragment empires would just have endlessly increasing tech until the end of the game. Which I think is something the devs should work on for a DLC given that this game is uniquely suited to it, what with fallen empires and end-game disasters.

I would love to see something like in the Foundation series by Asimov. Where a society becomes so advanced, that it has lost the infrastructure to maintain particular levels of technology. A decline to the point where they've forgotten how to use battleships.

What if an EGC dealt with the slow stagnation of science across the galaxy. The larger the empire - the more stagnant it becomes, and the more 'tech cards' it looses. Science becomes about maintenance rather than development.

 

[HybridSalmon]

I would love to see something like in the Foundation series by Asimov. Where a society becomes so advanced, that it has lost the infrastructure to maintain particular levels of technology. A decline to the point where they've forgotten how to use battleships.

What if an EGC dealt with the slow stagnation of science across the galaxy. The larger the empire - the more stagnant it becomes, and the more 'tech cards' it looses. Science becomes about maintenance rather than development.

If they can implement it to not be tedious. Technology spread could also be interesting for bigger empires. You assign each research category to a system and when it is researched it spreads throughout the empire. Meaning you can't build the newest tech on your frontiers till it spread over there.

I'd prefer to have some events depending on your government type which force you to make decisions which can fracture your empire.

 

[4verse]

What happens AFTER an end game crisis? Ie after you dealt with the crisis successfully?

 

[HybridSalmon]

Pretty much.

 

[Aleks S. I]

Alternatively, some sort of stagnation/complacency mechanic could also do this. For example, if your empire makes up (for example) 75% of the territory or overall power in the galaxy, or compared to all known empires, you could gain the "complacent" modifier which reduces revolt risk (your power is so overwhelming that people just accept you as galactic ruler) but also reduces tech research (and possibly other resource production) massively. You're the mightiest power ever. What do you need more technology for? Then, for actually losing technology, have a system where over time you eventually lose the ability to use the most basic technologies, and perhaps if a research lab is lost/destroyed you have a certain chance to lose a really advanced tech. The more research labs are lost at once, the higher the chance is.

For some real world examples: think how many people would know how to start a fire without any kind of modern technology. The art of rubbing two sticks together to start a fire is something that people just don't use anymore, unless they want to try it just for fun. Or how many people could actually make a bow out of wood and use it decently? These are both basic things, but our modern technology means that we have effectively lost these ancient technologies.
Now imagine if the team behind the Manhattan Project had been wiped out in 1950 along with all or most of their data. What would that do to the western world's understanding of nuclear reactions? Would we be able to make more nuclear weapons? How about nuclear power plants? That data was new, complex and highly secret. It took several years for countries like the UK and France to construct their own bombs, and they presumably had help from the US.
Meanwhile, technologies that aren't super new or super outdated would be the last to be lost. Things like combustion engines, electrical generators, computer programming, etc. are quite commonly known or at least understood, and as such it would take some pretty bizarre circumstances to totally remove all knowledge of these things from the world.

 

[lwarmonger]

For some real world examples: think how many people would know how to start a fire without any kind of modern technology. The art of rubbing two sticks together to start a fire is something that people just don't use anymore, unless they want to try it just for fun. Or how many people could actually make a bow out of wood and use it decently? These are both basic things, but our modern technology means that we have effectively lost these ancient technologies.

Why make a bow? "That board with a nail in it may have defeated us, but the humans won't stop there. They'll make bigger boards, and bigger nails; soon they will make a board with a nail so big, it will destroy them all!"

 

[Jarac Rassen]

Does the game really have an end? It seems like the type of game where you could keep going forever until you get bored or lose completely.

 

[Funk Biscuit]

What happens AFTER an end game crisis? Ie after you dealt with the crisis successfully?

I guess you pick up the pieces and try to carry on in a fragmented and ruined galaxy...

 

[Ziffallo]

There would appear to be no end other than boredom....which is an end in and of itself. But alas....you can start anew.