I'd prefer not to have humans. Maybe a footnote saying human race has gone extinct.
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Is a plant class of species a good idea?
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I'd prefer not to have humans. Maybe a footnote saying human race has gone extinct.
Well from what you can see in the first Blorg video Paradox already have a 'PLANT' alien type. I am guessing plant aliens will be future DLC since none of the devs have mentioned anything about or even acknowledged it. I hope the designs won't be too humanoid-like.
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I'm just going to list off all the phenotypes that are in the game / are planned for later expansions / likely planned for later expansions.
-Mammalian (Humans, Wolves, and through the power of modding inevitably cat girls)
-Reptilian (Lizards, turtles, Dragons)
-Avian (Birds)
-Anthropoid (Bugs, Insects Spiders)
-Molluscoid (Snails, Squids, Cthulhu himself)
-Fungoid (Moss, Piles of biomass, Blorg)
-Plant (was on Blorg stream, likely addition)
-Void (available DLC through the pre-order)
-Elementia (Rock creatures, Fire creatures, Ice Creatures, you get the idea, was discussed somewhere but I cannot find it)
-Synthetics (Robots, creatures of in-organic materials, also discussed somewhere I cannot find now...)
The only thing I believe missing from this list with respect to Earth like species would be a dedicated fish/underwater group. That all said it is likely that alien species would evolve in ways incomprehensible to us currently. So making something seemingly crazy isn't outside the realm of possibility.
-Mammalian (Humans, Wolves, and through the power of modding inevitably cat girls)
-Reptilian (Lizards, turtles, Dragons)
-Avian (Birds)
-Anthropoid (Bugs, Insects Spiders)
-Molluscoid (Snails, Squids, Cthulhu himself)
-Fungoid (Moss, Piles of biomass, Blorg)
-Plant (was on Blorg stream, likely addition)
-Void (available DLC through the pre-order)
-Elementia (Rock creatures, Fire creatures, Ice Creatures, you get the idea, was discussed somewhere but I cannot find it)
-Synthetics (Robots, creatures of in-organic materials, also discussed somewhere I cannot find now...)
The only thing I believe missing from this list with respect to Earth like species would be a dedicated fish/underwater group. That all said it is likely that alien species would evolve in ways incomprehensible to us currently. So making something seemingly crazy isn't outside the realm of possibility.
I don't want to throw down good hype because I'd love me some synths(or silicate-based organisms, if that's what you mean by "creatures of inorganic materials), but are you sure those aren't the result of fevered hype dreams? Because I've been kinda-reasonably-ish active in following the game around and I can't recall that ever being discussed seriously. Besides robots, those are already in the game, just not playable from the start, apparently.
Also, I'm not sure Void creatures are a separate category. All of them sound like an addition to an already existing class: Xenomorph=Reptillian, Evil Porcupine=Mammalian, Dinosaur Bird=Avian, Shadowy Arthropoid=well... Arthropoid and Fungoid Infected=Fungoids.
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Why not plants are cabon based and thus it is possible for them to form complex enough structures. And in the end the phenotype is largley a cosmetic choice in this game anyway.
What I would love is lifeforms based on silicon since most scientists think that is the most logical option for non-carbon based life. Since only silicon allows for the same level of complexity on a molecular level (at least as far as we know).
What I would love is lifeforms based on silicon since most scientists think that is the most logical option for non-carbon based life. Since only silicon allows for the same level of complexity on a molecular level (at least as far as we know).
I'll try to find it. I'm sure I read either a dev diary stating they were looking into synthetic and elementia. Also I hadn't looked at what the void creatures actually were (Didn't know it had been revealed) but a void phenotype is one way they could go. Imagine floating orbs of energy or hideous monstrosities or stoic beings of some gaseous substance.
Silicon-based life would require very different conditions to develop. IIRC chief among them would be far lower temperatures, due to silicon compounds being generally less stable than carbon-based ones. You could tie that nicely to gameplay and have them inhabit exclusively Frozen or Barren worlds, as they would find even Arctic ones quite hot indeed.
Oh that would make me a very happy Scary Hawk-like Thingy indeed. By the way, you can find them in the Steam pre-order description.
As far as I know, the main reason for the 'would live in much colder conditions' is because silicon based sugars are soluble in liquid nitrogen. The stability of silicon compounds in general is too much of a broad subject. Some are more stable at lower temperatures, others are more stable at higher temperatures compared to their carbon analogues. Then there's alternative atmospheric compositions and pressures as well. We don't really know what environments silicon based life would be favoured, we just know that carbon based life is far, far more likely.
Besides all of that, why would you presume that the phenotypes you see are all carbon based lifeforms?
I definitely hope that The plants are included at launch. If not I'm sure they'll be a DLC like the Portraits in CKII. I can see them doing this type of DLC with other species types maybe porifoid (Sponges), Chordian (fish) Amphibian or as other suggested rocks and such. I especially love the idea of more exotic ideas like fungoid and plant as they walk the line between what is recognisable and what is truly alien.
Some people like anime (and some people don't) - same as how some people like (or don't like) Star Trek/Star Wars/Master of Orion 3/Byzantium/the Blorg/etc. You may or may not agree with them, but it's perfectly valid for them to have that opinion.
On the topic itself I'm definitely up for there being more phenotypes, and honeslty plants are one of the only ones that stand out as not requiring new, specialised mechanics while still being fairly relatable (at least in terms of most players probably being familiar with the concept of what plants are). Possible mechanic/phenotype combo DLCs could perhaps include:
'AI Uprising': includes Mechanoid (and possibly 'Virtual') phenotype, the ability to colonise worlds inhospitable to biological life (Volcanic, Barren, Toxic etc.), more options for the use of/interacting with AI, robot and cyborg pops.
'Endless Ocean': includes Ambhibian and Piscean/Ichthyoid (fish) phenotypes, decoupling Oceans from Terrestrial tiles to give them specific uses, new mechanics for aquatic races.
There's a few other phenotypes that could be considered too (possibly as standalone DLCs):
Silicoid - for species that have a silicon-based biochemistry - look like rocks, talk like people. Would probably need the 'AI uprising' DLC (or something similar) first as they'd probably prefer planets that don't have an atmosphere (or at least one that doesn't contain oxygen) and/or are extremely hot (like 1000+°C hot).
Xenoid - for species that don't fit any Earth phylum (or any of the other 'phenotypes') - this group is for the players who really want to see exotic-looking aliens.
Humanoid - for the people who want their species to look mostly human - Vulcans, Elerians, Greys, Catgirls etc. go here. I don't really understand the appeal of this one but it seems a lot of people would like it.
Echinoderm* - includes starfish, urchins, sea cucumbers, sea lilies etc.
'Gelatoid'* - includes species from the phylums Cnidaria ('stinging jellies', anemones, corals etc) and Ctenophora ('box/comb jellies').
'Vermoid'* - includes species from the phylums Annelida ('ringed/segmented worms', leeches etc.), Aschelminthes ('round worms') and Platyhelminthes ('flatworms')
Poriferoid* - includes sea sponges.
Groups marked with a * could probably also be included under 'Xenoid' as I imagine most players would find them fairly 'alien' to begin with, and may not be considered 'interesting'/relatable enough to have their own specific group.
Finally - a note on Energy Beings - although they are a really interesting concept, I think it would be very difficult to include them in game as a playable phenotype as they would probably need to inhabit stars or supernova remnants. I'm also not sure how you'd represent their 'ships'. I don't however think that the scientific improbablility of their existence is really a problem seeing as Stellaris has a 'super-soft Trekkie' science setting (which is why I have no objection to silicoids being in game - even though current scientific opinion is that they're very unlikely to actually exist, if not impossible). If the devs find a good way of including them, then I'd be fine with it.
Finally someone that understand the fact that energy beings can't be in the game as a playable race. They are pure energy, they can't be harmed by normal ways, they can live everywhere, they don't need to breathe, don't need buildings or food to grow and don't have the necessity to do it. They also don't need ships for travel space (they are energy after all) How the hell would you like to play something like that without destroying all the core game mechanics?!
Also Synthetics and mineral can be pretty hard to adapt too. They can live everywhere, they don't need to breath, they are immortal, they don't need to eat... Would requiere a lot of adjustment for making them playable without making them extremly overpowered.
Finally i don't thing myself that we need 1345 phenotypes of species. With a plant phenotype (and we need them coz they are cool and really different than fungus) we are going to already have all the bigs groups of life on earth like planet. We don't necessarly need much more. Even if synthetic could be interresting for sure. The cosmetics DLCS are going to add more portraits for the phenotypes of the core game making us more than 150 races to choose from. It's already a big number.
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What plants (or plant byproducts, such as fruit and vegetables) would you use as a basis for portraits? I could see the most obvious being dandelions, cacti, some form of pitcher plant (there are some particularly nasty-looking types, such as Rafflesia, though the Venus Fly-Trap is the most well-known), and weeping willows that would make for awesome species.
EDIT: And then there's cool possibilities like species based around acorns, pitayas (aka Dragon fruit), any sort of layered, onion-like thing, romanesco, and of course, carved pumpkins for some alien-looking jack'o-lanterns.
EDIT: And then there's cool possibilities like species based around acorns, pitayas (aka Dragon fruit), any sort of layered, onion-like thing, romanesco, and of course, carved pumpkins for some alien-looking jack'o-lanterns.
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Everyone wants their Planet X aliens. But renaming all of the Groot will be hilariously tedious. But yeah, Plant people. Awesome. Gimme flower people, Gimme Tree People, Gimme a shambling pile of vines. What ever. Green is good.