Questions about pre-interstellar civilizations...

[jjake101]

- What kind of pre-interstellar species and backstories are possible? What are the limitations?
- Will multiple nations on a single planet be represented?
- What kind of interaction will we be able to have beyond study/abductions?
- Will there be intensive to make sure the player is not actually detected by the primitive species? How can the player handle/avoid First Contact?

(Maybe the subject of 'pre-interstellar civilizations' would make for a good dev diary?)

 

[Fourthspartan56]

1. They've mentioned various tech levels, like a bronze age or industrial age species.
2. Probably not
3. Slavery, conquest (maybe, not sure if a dev has mentioned it), and benevolent uplifting.
4. Probably something along the lines of just not scanning the inhabited planet with your science vessel.

 

[aruon]

- What kind of pre-interstellar species and backstories are possible? What are the limitations?
- Will multiple nations on a single planet be represented?
- What kind of interaction will we be able to have beyond study/abductions?
- Will there be intensive to make sure the player is not actually detected by the primitive species? How can the player handle/avoid First Contact?

(Maybe the subject of 'pre-interstellar civilizations' would make for a good dev diary?)

i'd like to see races from pre-industrial to pre-FTL space faring. that'd be an intresting mix of possibilities- pre-industrial (spiritual) species can be manipulated when you do what the Asgard did in stargate and appear to be gods, or an easy to uplift species you can influence and make instant allies out of.

i definately hope so. it's not like all planets have a homogeneous governing entity everywhere. in fact, homeplanets should have quite a variety (taking into account planet size and species) of countries. even in mass effect- the asari, the most preferably peaceful race in the galaxy still have a number of states on their homeplanet. same thing with turians (absolute monarchs), volus (merchant republics i think). if IRL humanity got cheap FTL space travel tomorrow, there wouldn't be one united front for humanity, there would be a Euroamerican colonial sphere, a russian colonial sphere, and a chinese colonial sphere. if this happens in the forseeable future, remember that I called it first.

i can definately see some kind of unofficial communications and contact being made. in star trek, the federation considers "first contact" to be when the federation government representatives (usually a ship crew) and the new government establish offical communications.

well really all you need to do to avoid brushing with a pre-industrial or even a pre-spaceflight civ circa 1980s tech at the absolute latest.

and yes it would

 

[kreissig]

1. They've mentioned various tech levels, like a bronze age or industrial age species.
2. Probably not
3. Slavery, conquest (maybe, not sure if a dev has mentioned it), and benevolent uplifting.
4. Probably something along the lines of just not scanning the inhabited planet with your science vessel.

Nailed it! Also....Liang Qichao is onto something there!

 

[lemonsquid]

i hope anal probing is accurately represented

 

[Safehold]

4. There seems to be an option in ethos to set how much interference is allowed on inferior species.

 

[TheCard]

4. There seems to be an option in ethos to set how much interference is allowed on inferior species.

You have to figure that there's probably going to be interference from non-government entities, right? For instance, a corporation that wants to expand their market to fresh homeworlds, or drunk fratboy aliens who decide to go space-cow tipping/mutilating/probing. This probably would get represented through events, as well as the planet's overall wealth or knowledge level?
Which would make it interesting to enforce rules concerning planetary interference. Blocking most civilians from having an influence on a planet would make them far less likely to realize the grand scheme of things, while having looser restrictions could slightly bolster your own economy and maybe raise happiness from all the cheap entertainment derived from reality tv shows your people can install on the planet's unwitting populace.
I mean, come on. Snooki's an alien, you guys.

 

[Kollatius]

Whatever happens, the bronze age stage prespace civilization is like looking at a free supply of sla- I mean servants

 

[Safehold]

You have to figure that there's probably going to be interference from non-government entities, right? For instance, a corporation that wants to expand their market to fresh homeworlds, or drunk fratboy aliens who decide to go space-cow tipping/mutilating/probing. This probably would get represented through events, as well as the planet's overall wealth or knowledge level?
Which would make it interesting to enforce rules concerning planetary interference. Blocking most civilians from having an influence on a planet would make them far less likely to realize the grand scheme of things, while having looser restrictions could slightly bolster your own economy and maybe raise happiness from all the cheap entertainment derived from reality tv shows your people can install on the planet's unwitting populace.
I mean, come on. Snooki's an alien, you guys.

Until they expose more of the economy and military setups, it is hard to extrapolate what effect, if any, can be had on pops, low tier or high tier civs.

I'm more interested in the Power hierarchy, or what others normally call the food pyramid or the totem pole. Who is superior, who is inferior, and how that interplay works out. Counts over barons. Dukes over counts. Great dukes over dukes. Emperors over dukes. And then there's the special duke that is more powerful than an emperor due to politics.

Having people above you and below, makes for interesting scenarios. Aside from the gameplay ramifications, it's a system that is its own meta game almost.

Once the military system and the economy is exposed a bit more, it'll be easier to see what resources, if any, can be extracted and how manipulative strategies may work in theory. The scripted events and system, I take to be slightly different than the "your own story" that pops up in simulations.

Pdox said something about the POPs being the star of the show, but I can't extrapolate any real conclusions, tentative or not, from that. Even with Victoria 2 as a semi proto comparison to draw off of. I mean that could mean POPs are like dynasties and family members in Crusader Kings II. That would be nice. Or it could mean POPs are crucial to gameplay and dev, like V2, but doesn't require a lot of gameplay fun to interact with. Meaning POPs are distanced from direct interaction by some kind of simulated layer or so, that makes it not easy to micro.

 

[MAHak]

i hope anal probing is accurately represented

Hahahahahahahahahahaha... that comment made my day

There should be a scientist personality trait called "anal fixation", which upgrades/improves your civilisations anal probing capabilities.

 

[TheCard]

I don't think Paradox is the place to go for anal probing capability upgrades.
Also, while they've said there won't be a focus on characters like there was in CK2, power struggles would be incredibly fun in space. Something I'd like to see is a "borrowed" individual from a pre-FTL planet somehow gaining influence in an interstellar empire. You know, like a situation where your people abduct a scientist who is way ahead of his/her time and he/she becomes one of your main scientists because while their world may be stuck in the Renaissance, they're able to run math circles around your physicists. Or a general from a relatively primitive world uses their out-of-the-box tactics to help you turn the tide of your galactic battles.
Not that I think it'll be implemented, but I think it'd be pretty nice if it was.