Playable Nomads/ Migrant flotilla

[Feild Marshal Jac]

I was thinking earlier today how neat it would be if you could play as a nomadic species among the stars with no real home world. This can somewhat be done with the space biomes but if you stumble across a giaworld then congrats your search is over. It would be an interesting challenge if that wasn't the end. If say there was a new origin where for one reason or another these spacefaring nomads can no longer live there. This could be for several reason. The planet could be shattered, taken over by a hostile empire, robotic revolution displaced organics, or turned into a toxicworld by pollution. Whatever happened they won't be able to go home for a long time and could even be an event chain for later in restoring or reclaiming the homeworld. The real problems would come in what to do to replace planets. Well what if instead of having population contribute to fleet capacity have the size of your fleet determine the pops you can support. To substitute districts and buildings the flotilla could make a civilian fleet that provides the jobs like research, energy production, and mineral refinement while also changing how many military vessels are made before the civilian fleet can no longer provide. It would also mix-up warfare as instead of capturing a starport and bombing a planet to the stone age or landing armies one would have to chase down a moving target that while large health has little military capacity and when damaged destroys industry and pops of the nomads. There could also be certain treaties a nomad could sign with another empire to make a environmental shelter on another's worlds similar to Megacorp's branch office system for a boon of fleet cap, minerals, or other resources.

 

[HawkWall]

I have been thinking something similar to this as well.
I envisioned a giant slow ship that can house pops, buildings and defences.
Like a small flying, modular "World Ship" if you will.

Would need to have some pros and cons, of course:
+ Increases in firepower the more pops and defences there are, tech would also affect this.
+ Resources are generated by staying in systems with black holes, pulsars, nebulae, neutron stars, etc.. With each type generating more of a specific resource. (Exotic gas for Nebulae, Dark matter for black holes etc..)
+ Houses a giant Shipyard module, that is also able to build more World Ships (This would be a very slow undertaking though)
+ Houses a giant Citadel module, with some of the fitting building-upgrades.
+ Able to get trade value by having a special Trading agreement with an empire and being within their space.
+ Able to use Wormholes and Gateways from the get-go. (Not L-Gates)
+ Friendly ships in the same system give happiness to pops.
+ Massive defensive capabilities.

- The World Ship cannot bombard planets, or orbit them. (Because of it's size)
- Pops can only live on the ship, cannot colonize planets or build habitats. (Can migrate to another World Ship though)
- Can not have Migration treaties.
- Can not integrate or be integrated.
- Immune to "aura" effects.
- Very slow.

Something along those lines..
Just for the flavor!

 

[Ragnarok Ascendant]

Okay, I think I've got an idea of how to go about this.

Origin: Nomadic Wayfarers

Desc: Fleeing the destruction of their home planet, these survivors have adapted to a life among the stars and the void.

Requirements: Is not Xenopobe/Fanatic Xenophobe.

Special:

• Starts with a unique 'Arkship' vessel that, while unarmed, is equipped with T2 sensors (to avoid jumping into enemies), and can carry pops, act as a shipyard, and can harvest resources.
• Starts with a 'Harvester Ship' instead of a Construction Ship. This ship can harvest local resources, at a significantly increased rate compared to a normal mining station (so 2 minerals becomes 10, etc). It costs 50 alloys. It can build one thing: another Arkship (requires Star Fortress and Habitat techs).
• Have massively increased resource storage.
• Start with the Hydroponics Farm Technology.
• Cannot build colony ships.
• Cannot build defense platforms.
• Species starts with Habitat Habitability.
• Treaties have unique effects.
• Treaties are not affected by distance (exception, vassalization)

The Arkship is upgraded on the 'planet' part of it by your various colony management techs, and can have its defenses upgraded to become a powerful force by researching what would be your starbase techs.

Commercial pacts allow you to access resources from host mining stations whenever you enter a system with your Arkships, in return for some of that boosted output going to the host. Migration treaties allow you to passively gain growth of host empire pops whenever you enter an inhabited system. Defensive Pacts are basically unchanged, but for obvious reasons are more meaningful given how you might be halfway across the galaxy, or be in the middle of what is now enemy territory. The Close Borders decision, when used against you, instead of Emergency FTLing away your ships for an indeterminate period of time, instantly deposits them in the closest non-closed star that is linked to at least one other non-closed-to-you star (this is to prevent your Arkships from being inaccessible). Vassalizing mostly just means a passive general resource buff, but comes with a problem - if you're too far away from the empire you've vassalized, they might rebel.

Nomadic Wayfarers are going to, by necessity, operate on a boom-bust economy as the game progresses - siphoning resources from local systems at high rates, then running off that stock until they reach a new resource vein. Minerals are going to be your biggest downfall as you will have no way to produce them locally (generators and hydroponics can cover for your other two 'main' resources, but minerals are gonna hurt you). Similarly, strategic resources will be a pain.

You're going to be reliant on diplomacy and keeping empires tolerating you in order to stay relevant in the late game, due to needing their resources and their space. Overall, this would play a lot like a megacorp (and could maybe be done as a megacorp overall). However, your fleet assets are going to be pretty darn ridiculous, and I would personally balance the Arkship after achieving maximum techs (Citadel, all the weapon tiers, etc) somewhere around Fallen Empire titans for sheer firepower.

EDIT: This Origin will also pair well with Barbaric Despoilers, giving you pops via orbital bombardment while you don't have to stick around for an actual war for very long.