/begin rant/
The NPC factions in this game are seriously broken.
They start out well enough: do some fun little missions, get some nice little rewards . . . but once the scenario heats up, those same quests become at best a distraction and at worst a thorn in the side. I’m not sure how the difficulty scaling on the quest armies works, but they very quickly become strong enough that the reward for defeating them is worth way less than the units you lose in the combat. The faction-specific units you get as rewards, by and large, aren’t that great.
And that’s just when the quest army is conveniently located. I’ve several times been in a war with another player, with all my armies committed to taking that player out, when the NPC faction comes up with a quest on the opposite side of the map (and of course there’s only 10 turns to finish it). There’s a word for that kind of quest: IMPOSSIBLE.
Now, if all I had to do was decline these inconvenient quests, no big deal. But that carries a relationship penalty. And I’m already in a war; I’m not trying to start another.
But a lot of times you don’t have a choice because completing quests for one faction damages relations with the other(s). It’s not really plausible to play all sides because you’ve got, you know, other objectives to complete on this planet, so if you pick one faction, sooner or later you’ll be at war with their “rivals.” Never mind that there’s no actual in-game reason for the Spacers to be hating the Psi-Fish. They’re not at war with each other; they’re not competing for the same resources; they don’t actually interact at all. A player helping one faction doesn’t damage the others in any way. Yet we’re penalized like it does.
Neither can you just ignore them all equally. If you try, you’ll end up at war with all of them.
I really wish there was a third option between “We’ll help you out!” and “We declare war on you.” Something along the lines of “You leave us alone, and we’ll leave you alone” (at least for now). Live and let live. I don’t get your quests and units, and maybe it costs me a lot of energy or cosmite to get you to move off a strategic location, but at least I don’t have to worry about fighting you, and you don’t have to worry about fighting me. Mutual indifference.
But we don’t get to do that. Instead, the disfavored NPC faction decides to send ever-more outrageous demands, like HALF my energy, or ALL my cosmite—you know, things I need for my war effort! Eventually, they start demanding SECTORS. Sectors! The little OPMs who’ve never colonized a place in their lives think they somehow deserve MY sectors?! Who do they think they are?!
SCREW THAT.
And now we’re at war.
And if I actually have the time to prosecute it, it usually goes pretty well for me, because like I said before, their basic units aren’t that great. The Paragon’s defense turrets fail most of the time, you know? Which makes me wonder, what in the world were they thinking when they declared war on me? Sure, they have lots of armies scattered around the map, but they’re all defending something. They have to rely on event armies to take any offensive action. So what is a one- or two-province polity expecting to accomplish against an empire that covers half the map? Shouldn’t the Growth have a little bit more of a self-preservation instinct?
In all seriousness, the NPC factions should at least somewhat take into account the relative strength of your empire compared to their forces. Suicidal NPCs are not that fun. And if the scales are truly unbalanced, they should react accordingly. THEY should pay tribute to ME just to make sure I DON’T crush them.
And now we get to the most outrageously stupid part of NPC factions: ending a war with them. In my Vanguard campaign, not only did I capture and annex all of the Paragon’s dwellings, but I went around the map and mopped up most of their armies for good measure. In the diplomacy screen, the Paragon counted as “Assimilated.”
Did that mean our war was over?
No. Apparently not.
When I clicked on the now-annexed Paragon dwelling, their leader told me what it would take to end hostilities: a ridiculous amount of energy, an absurd payment of cosmite, and a sector. To which I have only two words of response:
B U L L C R A P.
Where do these tiny factions get off making this kind of demand?! These people are DEFEATED. They should be SURRENDERING to ME, not fantasizing that they somehow won this war!
Honestly, they should have surrendered to me a long time ago—probably when I took their first dwelling (where their leader supposedly lives). They should recognize that their best chance for self-preservation is in making it worth my while to not kill them. (Which, by the way, even the other AI player factions should do better at.) Which would lead us to a fourth possible relationship: subservience to an overlord.
Which is really what OPMs are good for in the first place.
/end rant/
The NPC factions in this game are seriously broken.
They start out well enough: do some fun little missions, get some nice little rewards . . . but once the scenario heats up, those same quests become at best a distraction and at worst a thorn in the side. I’m not sure how the difficulty scaling on the quest armies works, but they very quickly become strong enough that the reward for defeating them is worth way less than the units you lose in the combat. The faction-specific units you get as rewards, by and large, aren’t that great.
And that’s just when the quest army is conveniently located. I’ve several times been in a war with another player, with all my armies committed to taking that player out, when the NPC faction comes up with a quest on the opposite side of the map (and of course there’s only 10 turns to finish it). There’s a word for that kind of quest: IMPOSSIBLE.
Now, if all I had to do was decline these inconvenient quests, no big deal. But that carries a relationship penalty. And I’m already in a war; I’m not trying to start another.
But a lot of times you don’t have a choice because completing quests for one faction damages relations with the other(s). It’s not really plausible to play all sides because you’ve got, you know, other objectives to complete on this planet, so if you pick one faction, sooner or later you’ll be at war with their “rivals.” Never mind that there’s no actual in-game reason for the Spacers to be hating the Psi-Fish. They’re not at war with each other; they’re not competing for the same resources; they don’t actually interact at all. A player helping one faction doesn’t damage the others in any way. Yet we’re penalized like it does.
Neither can you just ignore them all equally. If you try, you’ll end up at war with all of them.
I really wish there was a third option between “We’ll help you out!” and “We declare war on you.” Something along the lines of “You leave us alone, and we’ll leave you alone” (at least for now). Live and let live. I don’t get your quests and units, and maybe it costs me a lot of energy or cosmite to get you to move off a strategic location, but at least I don’t have to worry about fighting you, and you don’t have to worry about fighting me. Mutual indifference.
But we don’t get to do that. Instead, the disfavored NPC faction decides to send ever-more outrageous demands, like HALF my energy, or ALL my cosmite—you know, things I need for my war effort! Eventually, they start demanding SECTORS. Sectors! The little OPMs who’ve never colonized a place in their lives think they somehow deserve MY sectors?! Who do they think they are?!
SCREW THAT.
And now we’re at war.
And if I actually have the time to prosecute it, it usually goes pretty well for me, because like I said before, their basic units aren’t that great. The Paragon’s defense turrets fail most of the time, you know? Which makes me wonder, what in the world were they thinking when they declared war on me? Sure, they have lots of armies scattered around the map, but they’re all defending something. They have to rely on event armies to take any offensive action. So what is a one- or two-province polity expecting to accomplish against an empire that covers half the map? Shouldn’t the Growth have a little bit more of a self-preservation instinct?
In all seriousness, the NPC factions should at least somewhat take into account the relative strength of your empire compared to their forces. Suicidal NPCs are not that fun. And if the scales are truly unbalanced, they should react accordingly. THEY should pay tribute to ME just to make sure I DON’T crush them.
And now we get to the most outrageously stupid part of NPC factions: ending a war with them. In my Vanguard campaign, not only did I capture and annex all of the Paragon’s dwellings, but I went around the map and mopped up most of their armies for good measure. In the diplomacy screen, the Paragon counted as “Assimilated.”
Did that mean our war was over?
No. Apparently not.
When I clicked on the now-annexed Paragon dwelling, their leader told me what it would take to end hostilities: a ridiculous amount of energy, an absurd payment of cosmite, and a sector. To which I have only two words of response:
B U L L C R A P.
Where do these tiny factions get off making this kind of demand?! These people are DEFEATED. They should be SURRENDERING to ME, not fantasizing that they somehow won this war!
Honestly, they should have surrendered to me a long time ago—probably when I took their first dwelling (where their leader supposedly lives). They should recognize that their best chance for self-preservation is in making it worth my while to not kill them. (Which, by the way, even the other AI player factions should do better at.) Which would lead us to a fourth possible relationship: subservience to an overlord.
Which is really what OPMs are good for in the first place.
/end rant/
Last edited:
- 2
- 1
- 1
