Synthetic Dawn, the price tag and a new shipset?

[exi123]

With the upcoming release of Aquatics, which i am really looking forward to, it once again comes to my mind that Synthetic Dawn, as a described story pack has very little content for the price tag.

For me, Synthetic Dawn stil feels more like a species pack which never got the full attention like the others, and never felt like a real story pack, because it added so less mechanics. A shipset for machines, looking more abstract like the Contigency would be really cool for example.

When the storypacks stay as they are, Paradox really has to think abou the pricing of these products again. Beefing up the cheaper species packs with the custodians and leaving the storypacks as an expensive nice to have gucci bag feels a bit off.

I own every DLC mentioned and do not regret bying them for that price, but comparing Distant Stars (which is stil very good content) with a species pack including origins, a shipset, portraits, traits and more... what do you think about that?

 

[Telenil]

I'm all for machine ship sets, but do note that Synthetic Dawn unlocks Machine Empires, including rogue servitors and driven assimilators.

 

[exi123]

I'm all for machine ship sets, but do note that Synthetic Dawn unlocks Machine Empires, including rogue servitors and driven assimilators.

I totally know that, and thats fine. The content in the story packs is fine. But with beefing up the species packs, the price for the story packs feels off. When Synthetic dawn dropped, the were already robots in the game.

 

[Tamwin5]

Synthetic Dawn adds the base ethic advisor voices, which IMO add a ton to the immersion of the game. And honestly, comparing it to Apocalypse or Megacorp it seems to have comparable amounts of content for only half the price.

 

[Me_]

I remember the devs explaining that shipsets are the most time consuming part of making portrait packs due to the modules.
If they added the ships they would have to increase the price.

 

[exi123]

I remember the devs explaining that shipsets are the most time consuming part of making portrait packs due to the modules.
If they added the ships they would have to increase the price.

Thats the whole point here. Species packs get a shipset and a bunch of gameplay mechanics. Synthetic dawn, which is a bit more expensive, has no shipset but some more mechanics attached to it. When the artworks of ships and portraits consume the most work, why are the storypacks more expensive?

Would be nice to hear if the custodians will add further content to the story packs aswell to get the content in line with the price tag, or? Dont get me wrong here, i am not complaining for a few Euros, but more content is more content, and they did very well with the last additions.

 

[Pancakelord]

We don't have any machines in the game that spontaneously pop into existence, they inherit their culture and designs from past/creator empires, with each machine portrait keyed to a bio- ship set.

Whilst this makes sense for RSes and DAs, even determined exterminators and unspecialised MIs do this. Personally I'd be happy if they:

1. Added an independent 'machine variant' (retexture) of each ship culture. Basically the existing shipsets but with animated/glowing circuitry overlaid on them.
2. And a bit like the Menacing ships, let MIs take an AP to Unlock 'contingency'-style "replicator" Corvettes/Destroyers/Cruisers that play slightly differently to normal ships.
   • Maybe they have a chance to auto repair/spawn from ships you destroy.
   • I'd rather see something mechanical added, rather than a straight art set.

For completeness I also think Hives should get a "Flesh variant" of existing ships - think of mammalian ships but with small 3d models of fleshy growths and blisters on them. For reference, think of the infested ships from warframe:

Whilst I'd like bioships - and machine ones - I personally wouldn't like every Hive/MI to look the same/use the same bio/machine-ship design.

If anything, when several gestalts randomly spawn, that will lead to less variety than them using the base bio designs. This is to say nothing of the work that goes in to all this (modelling, rigging, animating etc).

Rather, I think modifying the base ship sets is the way to go both for increased variety and for best 'return on man-hours expended'.

• And it is possible to edit the ship 3D models without affecting animations, game code etc.
• I've done it for my leafless plantoid replacer mod. It just takes opening/importing the mesh in to blender (or equiv) and re-exporting it as-is. (Obviously there is a higher bar if PDX does it, but it's exponentially less work creating ship variants -with 'fleshy bits' or 'digital bits' than a whole new shipset from scratch).

 

[rubert]

I don't really see huge need to add stuff to the Synthetic Dawn as the Machine Empires alone are a big addition, comparable to MegaCorp's coroporations at the very least if not even bigger as the machine empires differ more from normal empires than megacorps, imo.

If anything, the AI uprising event chain (was that part of the synthetic dawn or vanilla?) should be reworked, rebalanced and otherwise updated.

 

[Tamwin5]

We don't have any machines in the game that spontaneously pop into existence, they inherit their culture and designs from past/creator empires, with each machine portrait keyed to a bio- ship set.

Whilst this makes sense for RSes and DAs, even determined exterminators and unspecialised MIs do this. Personally I'd be happy if they:

1. Added an independent 'machine variant' (retexture) of each ship culture. Basically the existing shipsets but with animated/glowing circuitry overlaid on them.
2. And a bit like the Menacing ships, let MIs take an AP to Unlock 'contingency'-style "replicator" Corvettes/Destroyers/Cruisers that play slightly differently to normal ships.
   • Maybe they have a chance to auto repair/spawn from ships you destroy.
   • I'd rather see something mechanical added, rather than a straight art set.

For completeness I also think Hives should get a "Flesh variant" of existing ships - think of mammalian ships but with small 3d models of fleshy growths and blisters on them. For reference, think of the infested ships from warframe:
View attachment 767607
Whilst I'd like bioships - and machine ones - I personally wouldn't like every Hive/MI to look the same/use the same bio/machine-ship design.

If anything, when several gestalts randomly spawn, that will lead to less variety than them using the base bio designs. This is to say nothing of the work that goes in to all this (modelling, rigging, animating etc).

Rather, I think modifying the base ship sets is the way to go both for increased variety and for best 'return on man-hours expended'.

• And it is possible to edit the ship 3D models without affecting animations, game code etc.
• I've done it for my leafless plantoid replacer mod. It just takes opening/importing the mesh in to blender (or equiv) and re-exporting it as-is. (Obviously there is a higher bar if PDX does it, but it's exponentially less work creating ship variants -with 'fleshy bits' or 'digital bits' than a whole new shipset from scratch).

I've been long term waiting for bio-ships, but corrupted/infested ships are also a great idea. For bio-ships, it should be available from both an origin and an Ascension perk. Would make the most sense while still allowing for flexibility.

 

[evilcat]

I assume: Lithoids 8€ Synthetic 10€ Federations 20€
So for 2 more euro we get more playable content. The amount of Synthetic special govertments (Exterminators, Asimilators, Bio Triophy) is generally larger than specie pack. There is also maschine uprising. And voiceover. Not bad.
There is also an issue that some content in base game, so it is leaking from DLC.

I dont exacly desire shipset. But playable content is always welcome.
More robot trait
Some origin
Storyline Origin for dirty Roleplayers
Ascension perk
Anomalies/Events/Storylines
Levianthans/digsite but with branched storylines
Some Galactic Wonder (giga factory or something) Megastructure Sky Factory: Convert 1000 minerals into 1000 alloys, i think that would be interesting could be locked in Synthetic DLC.
That would be nice. But i do not have any idea right now.

What i desire:
Ability to dismantle specific type of robots and only that for alloys (to keep my specie window clean)
Some buffs to Bio Ascension/Psionics or some nerf to Synth pops, to keep 3 ascension on same level (this is totally not related with Synthetic Dawn).

I really like Bio hulls either as visual shipset or some end game modules.
To some degree robotic shipset would also be nice, just a lot of work.

I sympathise with desire but not my priority.

 

[MathyM]

I don’t care much about ship sets since I only look at them in the ship designer.

But we do need more Robot portraits, since pretty much every empire has a them, and as you conquer planets, you end up with a significant amount of repeated portraits.

 

[James Fire]

When the artworks of ships and portraits consume the most work, why are the storypacks more expensive?

Because they're selling you the mechanics and content, and the replayability it brings. New shipsets don't really offer any significant replayability. Adding a whole new empire type, with it's own playstyle, Origins, and civics does.

 

[EpicCanadian]

I don't really see huge need to add stuff to the Synthetic Dawn as the Machine Empires alone are a big addition Hive Mind reskin.

FTFY