Idea for Federations

[ahhheygao]

I'd be happy with CK2 council mechanics and leader election for federation... or EU4 HRE mechanics that allow gradual centralization of federal powers.

 

[Jarac Rassen]

So don't use Federations. I'm sorry you don't like that they have downsides and aren't just outright OP. If the US lost a war with Mexico (dunno how that would happen, but what if...) and California was a demand of Mexicos then CA would have no say in whether it stayed in the US or was conquered by Mexico, only the US and Mexico are the deciders.

That's kind of a narrow view of things. The United States President is a pretty strong executive authority, but it's not a dictatorial position. You still need Congress (made up representatives from the states) to declare war in the first place. Even if the President wants a war, he (Constitutionally) can't do it without at least an approval from Congress. So the individual bodies that make up our federation do have a say.

Congress also MAKES LAWS. So again, our individual states have a say on how our nation is run.

To me, "if you don't like it, don't use it" despite its very inherent flaws is not a good argument. If you aren't the Federation President, it's not fun really being in one. You have no say on how things are run for DECADES at a time. And, as seen in the Blorg stream, if a President goes all war-monger despite everyone else disagreeing and you inherit that war, you can't stop it!

I doubt few, disperate species would allow this type of set up without some measure of control besides the rotation. Like a council who can oppose the Fed President when he makes a very deeply, unpopular decision only for the best of his own people. Especially if you can't stop a war that your predecessor started even when your term comes (as seen in the Blorg stream).

I know there will be far more options in the future when a Federations and Alliances DLC drops.

 

[parkerg12]

another issue is if the galaxy is big and only 2 big alliances left there needs to be a rescaling of war score so that a major war between the 2 actually changes things. and not just a simply transfer of 4 planets and a long peace after

 

[H4shX]

I'm not a fan of having a game mechanic that makes the player a totally passive entity in such a major area of the game. That's not a downside - it's just boring for the player, because you can't fight it. There's literally nothing you can do about it, making it frustrating and bad game design. It's solvable, of course :

- One solution would be to change the elections, so that a player can actively try to be president as often as possible - in which case your inability to do diplomacy when you fail to win the election seems a decent enough punishment. You could copy CKII's republics (bribe your way to the top), or EUIV's HRE election mechanic (make the federation members love you).

- A second solution would be to be able to influence the president's diplomatic actions. Threats, bribes, chantage, promises... could be used to make you get that one war you really need to get going.

- A third (and probably the easiest, but also less 'classy') solution would be to let the player declare wars, but only involving their own Empire, not the Federation. That way, you'll only be able to access you 'superweapon' (Federation Fleet) once every blue moon, but you can pick on smaller targets in the meantime. It does however dissolve that feeling of 'we are one entity now'...

Do I think they're going to redesign it this close to release ? No. It would be crazy, in fact. However, I do hope the current system won't stay in place, because as long as it is, being in a Federation will just be annoying. It makes players totally unable to access a major component of the game, for 80%+ of the time.

TL;DR : You should never take away something from the player (even more so when it's something as huge as diplomacy) without giving them some (difficult ?) way to get it back. This mechanic is just not engaging gameplay, and definitely needs changing.

Nice thread I started,

I agree with what he says!, the Second Solution is simialr to what I am saying!!, And add to it also instead of WAR only peaceful goals as well! As a Federation. There so much they can do with this mechanic. But I guess they leaving it open for a DLC.

 

[Slating]

make it so you can modify the war goals when you get to rule. or end the totaly unreasonable aggresion of the past president.