New features or species you'd like to see

[HFY]

So because some other, completely unrelated feature doesn't exist this one can't either?

That's ridiculous.

If you don't understand the comparison between Bio-Trophies (who can only live in preserve buildings) and Aquatics (who can only live in oceanic developments), then there's not much room for discussion between us.

Enjoy your games.

This isn't so ridiculous as an idea. Right now, every planet has uncapped housing districts (and thus building slots can always be maxed, provided its over a certain size, given certain techs that give extra slots).

It might well be interesting if cities were capped [cap shared with industrial districts?], much like farms, they would be dictated by planet deposits (e.g. "stable ground" "river delta" or whatever. which give +X cities districts). Whilst Oceanic worlds could give +Y "Oceanic City Districts" - However this would require a re-work on how housing works [debatably, needed anyway, given the introduction of carry capacity] if you wanted fish people vs land people (so X/Y land housing, J/K fish housing etc). So for this specifically it might not be a great idea, given time vs payoff ("impact analysis").

But I think there could be some interesting things coming out of capping city districts, too. At least, it could lead to a few more useful Soc techs (something like unlock Dry/Wet/Cold/Tomb city development, opening more housing up in the midgame), and a few less cookie cutter planets (if cities are capped, building slots are rarer, and you cant always carpet them in labs... which probably ought to be rolled in to cities somehow, or a planetary tech district anyway tbf).

What's ridiculous is the idea that Tiles had no place for aquatic species, but the current UI does have a place. It's just too backwards to be taken seriously.


Now, you could create a new UI which did have a way to manage distinct types of housing, including limits on who is forced to live in Bio-Trophy preserves or who gets to live in Luxury Housing rather than the regular stuff, but that's a new UI and not the current one. It would have value beyond just accommodating the Mermoids, too -- you could have a prison-planet with a special slave type ("Prisoners With Jobs") who got over-crowded if you didn't build enough jail-type buildings, for example.

There are concepts from the current game which could be implemented to bring more value in a new UI -- as mentioned, Luxury Housing and Bio-Trophy preserves would be in there -- but again, that's a new UI.

Aquatic is just one more biome type in this game, and we know how biomes like Arctic / Alpine / Desert / Tropical / Temperate are treated in the game. They're not treated like places on a planet.

That could have been done in Tiles -- it would have been pretty easy to make maps wider in the middle, with different biomes represented as tiles, so you get terraforming to change your desert tiles into something more livable, or you get a desert species to live on those tiles -- and in that context, aquatic species would fit in nicely.


Ocean City Districts are a fine idea, but again how does that work in terms of the current UI? Even pops which are supposed to be housed specially are mechanically represented by having jobs which incidentally provide housing. Those pops can't be given normal jobs. This is okay for that one use-case, but it's not a viable system for housing in general.

The current mechanics and UI would need substantive changes, and there is no obvious place for those changes to be represented.

 

[Pancakelord]

What's ridiculous is the idea that Tiles had no place for aquatic species, but the current UI does have a place. It's just too backwards to be taken seriously.


Now, you could create a new UI which did have a way to manage distinct types of housing, including limits on who is forced to live in Bio-Trophy preserves or who gets to live in Luxury Housing rather than the regular stuff, but that's a new UI and not the current one. It would have value beyond just accommodating the Mermoids, too -- you could have a prison-planet with a special slave type ("Prisoners With Jobs") who got over-crowded if you didn't build enough jail-type buildings, for example.

There are concepts from the current game which could be implemented to bring more value in a new UI -- as mentioned, Luxury Housing and Bio-Trophy preserves would be in there -- but again, that's a new UI.

Aquatic is just one more biome type in this game, and we know how biomes like Arctic / Alpine / Desert / Tropical / Temperate are treated in the game. They're not treated like places on a planet.

That could have been done in Tiles -- it would have been pretty easy to make maps wider in the middle, with different biomes represented as tiles, so you get terraforming to change your desert tiles into something more livable, or you get a desert species to live on those tiles -- and in that context, aquatic species would fit in nicely.


Ocean City Districts are a fine idea, but again how does that work in terms of the current UI? Even pops which are supposed to be housed specially are mechanically represented by having jobs which incidentally provide housing. Those pops can't be given normal jobs. This is okay for that one use-case, but it's not a viable system for housing in general.

The current mechanics and UI would need substantive changes, and there is no obvious place for those changes to be represented.

I see what you mean now. Yes, mechanics changes aside (probably deep code changes too). Stellaris' planet UI feels like it has actively regressed over time. where once we had everything nicely presented on one screen, now we have multiple tabs, that are all, frankly, visually unappealing.
There have been some interesting mockups and mods in the past that tried to make the space we have more interesting, show some of the basically hidden planetary features/blockers and bring back old tile graphics behind buildings (which are effectively tiles).

But I do think UIX is a bigger hurdle than code changes, when it comes to interesting things happening on planets (think about it, basically all planetary features or mechanics etc post 2.0 have been tooltip driven, even branch offices for the most part. Large areas of the game have seen changes, but the planet view really hasnt changed too much).

 

[HFY]

I see what you mean now. Yes, mechanics changes aside (probably deep code changes too). Stellaris' planet UI feels like it has actively regressed over time. where once we had everything nicely presented on one screen, now we have multiple tabs, that are all, frankly, visually unappealing.
There have been some interesting mockups and mods in the past that tried to make the space we have more interesting, show some of the basically hidden planetary features/blockers and bring back old tile graphics behind buildings (which are effectively tiles).

But I do think UIX is a bigger hurdle than code changes, when it comes to interesting things happening on planets (think about it, basically all planetary features or mechanics etc post 2.0 have been tooltip driven, even branch offices for the most part. Large areas of the game have seen changes, but the planet view really hasnt changed too much).

Yeah, that's why I keep bringing up how the UI is just not there when it comes to this type of housing change.

Code can be made to do a lot of different things, but without the ability to see what's going on -- and we have a deficit of that right now, and this change would make things much worse -- without the ability to see and manipulate the pops in their housing locations, it's not a feature the game can handle.


Honestly the game could do something like a more advanced tile system, where each Deposit becomes a collection of slots which can be built up as Districts or as some kid of special building.

E.g. the Tropical Islands deposit normally grants +3 agricultural Districts, but what if you could choose between those 3 Districts or some kind of Tropical Island Resort, or an Equatorial Ring Tether Base, or an inescapable Prisoners-With-Jobs Plantation (to manufacture luxury goods for your upper class, or for export).

The Tropical Islands deposit graphic would expand to enclose 3 Farm districts (each of which has 2 Pop slots), or expand to enclose however many jobs were created by the specific buildings.

That might be doable -- but it would not be easy.

 

[xds41895]

The new things I want to see are improvements of the current things. Hopefully the "custodians" team will make some headway there. There are just too many weird omissions, or things that were glossed over, broken or superficial stuff that got left behind and never fully fleshed out, etc. I'd rather see serious, dedicated passes made over existing content, mechanics, AND AI and get them rock-solid before bolting on any new stuff.

Machine empires don't want to fly in crude inefficient organic boxes - *nor would they need to*. The Necroid shipset, brand new, was given serious Goth-flavored character (whether you like it or don't, it's definitely unique and distinct), and yet Machine Empires been waitin' for something that reflects an Empire that *isn't little squishy things trying to protect themselves from vaccum in a metal box.*

Machine world origin is beyonc meh. I get a tooltip that says this rectangle gives me 25 minerals. Of course having all the slots unlocked feels nice at first but it's not like you can use them all right away anyway. It should do Nifty Stuff the way Remnants adds some goodies and flavor from their Relic World. Stuff like that.

The ship AI needs to learn how to apply the breaks and stop flying right up the nose of the target when it's not set to Swarm, maintain distance, learn basic Naval station-keeping, and a whole list of things that won't fit here.

Event ships, each and every last one of them, needs to be updated to be merged into Fleets properly. Not just leaving some working and some broken and ignoring the whole thing, They also need to auto-update core modules just like your Science and Constructor units do. I'm looking at you, Nanite Interdictor with your crazy advanced magic tech and..... level 1 Hyperdrive. You're why we're always late to pick up the kids.

Someone needs to grab the new dev, or intern, or something, and sit them down and have them make a pass over ALL event text in the game. I've lost count of how many broken variable substitutions there are. It's silly and looks sloppy (and sometimes confusing...).

And so forth.

This is a great game; don't let it decay from orbit and fall into the gas giant core by the all too common trap of charging ahead always with new stuff and hype and never going back and fixing what wasn't finished or didn't work right or could use improvement. The more you add, the more it magnifies existing issues, until what seemed like "eh no big deal not a priority to fix" becomes a glaring embarassment.

An excellent point. Kind of a thing with all game though, expanded or upgraded features and fixes to already existing things would be prudent but, I think we all have an urge for more in the mix. With paradox games it's very easy to get lost in that desire for more content and features after you pour hours upon hours into each game.

 

[xds41895]

The only new feature I'm really interested in is expanded internal/faction mechanics. Other than that I'm more interested in refining what we already have.

Civil wars I think would be cool and I always felt factions were of little use as is

 

[Reedstilt]

I played some decent mods that added species and civics to the game one I was always interested in was subterranean species and or aquatic.

One idea I've had regarding Subterranean and Aquatic species to add a new tab to planets for "Subsurface Districts / Features" which come in two basic forms: Marine and Subterranean. Wet planets would have more Marine Subsurface districts, Dry planets would have more Subterranean ones. Cold planets would be a bit of a mixed bag, with Arctic Worlds leaning toward the Marine side of things, Alpine leaning toward Subterranean, and Tundra being balanced.

Most species would have to research various technologies to make use of their Subsurface features, but species that start with the Aquatic or Subterranean traits would start with their Subsurface features unlocked and have to get techs to move onto dry land / explore the sunlit realms beyond their caverns.

The alternative and far less complex version of this idea is that Empires with the Aquatic / Subterranean Origins get bonus to relevant planetary features. Like an Aquatic species might get more bonus districts from things like Great Rivers, Marvelous Oases, and Tropical Reefs. Meanwhile, Subterranean civilizations would get bonus districts from things like Fungal Caves, Mineral Striations, and Tempestuous Mountains. In this case, I do think we need a Geothermal Power-related Feature so the Subterranean civilizations have more Energy options. There are fewer thematic features related to that for them.

 

[xds41895]

Regarding Aq

One idea I've had regarding Subterranean and Aquatic species to add a new tab to planets for "Subsurface Districts / Features" which come in two basic forms: Marine and Subterranean. Wet planets would have more Marine Subsurface districts, Dry planets would have more Subterranean ones. Cold planets would be a bit of a mixed bag, with Arctic Worlds leaning toward the Marine side of things, Alpine leaning toward Subterranean, and Tundra being balanced.

Most species would have to research various technologies to make use of their Subsurface features, but species that start with the Aquatic or Subterranean traits would start with their Subsurface features unlocked and have to get techs to move onto dry land / explore the sunlit realms beyond their caverns.

The alternative and far less complex version of this idea is that Empires with the Aquatic / Subterranean Origins get bonus to relevant planetary features. Like an Aquatic species might get more bonus districts from things like Great Rivers, Marvelous Oases, and Tropical Reefs. Meanwhile, Subterranean civilizations would get bonus districts from things like Fungal Caves, Mineral Striations, and Tempestuous Mountains. In this case, I do think we need a Geothermal Power-related Feature so the Subterranean civilizations have more Energy options. There are fewer thematic features related to that for them.

Okay that's the coolest idea I've ever heard

 

[Shrike]

I'd love a planetary Invasion system that wasn't so boring, I dunno some kind of mini game that you win easily if you have enough troops and vice versa.

Also as paradox love completely changing mechanics just as you've got used to them I'd love a complete rework of the megacorp introduced trade system as well as the sector system as frankly they are rubbish..... Also wouldn't exactly complain if they introduced
AI that gave you a modicum of challange when you are in an evenly balanced war. But I won't hold my breath for that.

 

[Bezborg]

Nomadic migrant fleet species.

In game: a juggernaut with habitat mechanics. (Though this juggernaut can visually appear as a fleet, or various ships somehow joined together, like a makeshift station with engines)

Perks:

- can park over planets to extract resources, maybe even ruin them (strip mining). Doesn’t have to be habitable, though habitable planets could last longer before ruined. Ruining has severe diplomatic consequences.

- another type of exploitation: safe and non-ruinous, but much less resources. You might starve if your population is vast. Presents a moral and political dilemma. Various solutions, including culling/expelling/settling your own pops.

- closed borders means nothing to them

 

[ZeeHero]

Make espionage worthwhile.

More ship parts/sections/ship class variety, let us make under used ship hulls worth using, add special ones that are only avaliable with certain war doctrines, which themselves are dependent on gov type and civics.

Ramming speed corvette designs, corvettes can sacrifice half their hull to attempt to deal massive damage to a large ship like a battleship or titan, countered by having a certain level of armor (you'd need more armor plates than shields at equal tech levels)

Buildings that can convert a certain amount of food into consumer goods, could be called different things depending on the empire type, but something like "fine dining" or "artisinal chocolate shops"

 

[Maximus Light]

You know I would really just like to see one portrait in every species set that looked like it could be part of one of the other categories. Specifically a plant or fungus cockroach so I can make the Fanatic Purifier/Post Apocalyptic origin again.

For now I'm going to just mod in the beetle portrait as a plant one as well.

 

[Geodynamis]

I still want a Piscinoid Species Pack, since I had been expecting one by now. And with the standards of Lem update, any maritime traits & civics added should be shared with Molluscoids. I also wish the Humanoid species pack had more visual variety in its portraits in terms of hair and phenotypes.

But I also have some species portrait wishes to existing categories:

Humanoid - the Grays, Faeries, Gorillas
Mammalian - Bears (with polar and panda variations included)
Molluscoid - Space Cliones

 

[klopkr]

I want amoeboids! I made a post all about them! They're super weird and alien and a huge well of ideas for the strangest xenos.

Plus they're as much an order of life as the others.

 

[thinkcrazyhorse]

In terms of 'Features' the military industrial complex is noticible by it's absence, as is the banking/finance industry.

It would be great if you could build and sell ships, and possibly even munitions and equipment that boosted land armies.

Also, buying and selling loans, etc.

I know that finance isn't everyone's cup of tea, but it is a cornerstone of pretty much every civilisation for the last 3000 years (probably beyond that too).

 

[HFY]

I want amoeboids! I made a post all about them! They're super weird and alien and a huge well of ideas for the strangest xenos.

Plus they're as much an order of life as the others.

Their robot version could be grey goo, or maybe even some T-1000 "liquid metal" looking things.

Good tie-in for the L-Cluster.

 

[alphamikefox]

I'm still wishing for cloaking mechanics. I'm not interested in rehashing the realism debate, to me it's a basic trope of the science-fiction genre

And the planetary invasion mechanics needed an overhaul yesterday

 

[prismaticmarcus]

I'm still wishing for cloaking mechanics.

oh lordy, how would that work so it's fun, challenging, but not a roflstomp? i bet the devs have been asking themselves this for years.

 

[A2ch0n]

I would like to see mechanics for cloaking and mediation (links in singnature), some advanced internal politics and over all a upgrade for espionage operations to really have impact. It's actually impossible to split a federation i.e or spark a war.

In case of species packs, we have seen two very interesting species in the last trailers. One in federations and one in Nemesis. I really hope we see them one day.

From Federations:

From Nemesis:

 

[Aepdneds]

oh lordy, how would that work so it's fun, challenging, but not a roflstomp? i bet the devs have been asking themselves this for years.

Add decloaking time before being able to fire and activate shields (star trek)
Add that it can still be seen when a lane is being used by cloaked ships (star gate)
Let cloaking device use shield/armor slots (a lot of games)
Limit cloakable ship or reactor size
Limit speed while being cloaked (star trek)
Let cloak work only for small fleet sizes (this was implied in star trek)
Let cloak work only for long range scanners (some cloak in star trek)
Let cloak only have an impact on evasion (a lot of games)
Let cloak work only for a certain amount of time (like in the expanse)
Introduce counter technologies (a lot of games and in principal every science fiction show ever)
Let active cloak damage your ships, if you need technobabble for this: Shields can't protect you from cosmic rays while cloaked or the required energy modulation is putting a strain on your hull
Let psy species detect the enemy crews (Babylon 5 and Star Trek)
Make complete cloak a species trait (MoO 2)

There are dozens of possibilities to limit the usefulness of cloaking devices which were already introduced in science fiction decades ago and used in other games before.

 

[prismaticmarcus]

Add decloaking time before being able to fire and activate shields (star trek)
Add that it can still be seen when a lane is being used by cloaked ships (star gate)
Let cloaking device use shield/armor slots (a lot of games)
Limit cloakable ship or reactor size
Limit speed while being cloaked (star trek)
Let cloak work only for small fleet sizes (this was implied in star trek)
Let cloak work only for long range scanners (some cloak in star trek)
Let cloak only have an impact on evasion (a lot of games)
Let cloak work only for a certain amount of time (like in the expanse)
Introduce counter technologies (a lot of games and in principal every science fiction show ever)
Let active cloak damage your ships, if you need technobabble for this: Shields can't protect you from cosmic rays while cloaked or the required energy modulation is putting a strain on your hull
Let psy species detect the enemy crews (Babylon 5 and Star Trek)
Make complete cloak a species trait (MoO 2)

There are dozens of possibilities to limit the usefulness of cloaking devices which were already introduced in science fiction decades ago and used in other games before.

in terms of gameplay, how would be different to jump drive? i don't really have an opinion, i'm just throwing the question out there.