First of all the new Le Guin update made these two things a lot better and interesting, but I personally think these changes should not be seen as the new system, but the foundation we should build even more.
1. Hive Minds: I think they make sense as they are, however I think there should be the option to play as a collective, referrring to a single being which is comprised of a large number of bodies.
I am not a game designer, so I can only suggest how they could work, having no pirates of their own species however having an extremely low admin cap.
Diplomacy would maybe be a bit harder as these beings do not understand individuality.
Maybe a bonus to overall fleetpower due to them being more coordinated.
etc.
Maybe Hiveminds could become a special type of megacorp later in the game.
2. Robots: Maybe Rogue servitors could have the option to play as their own kind of megacorp, being a corporation that basically created a utopian civilisation using robots.
3.Trade and Diplomacy: Right now these are too simple. Especially in direct trade with another empire we are not able to trade slaves as we can do on the open market. Also both do not have enough things to trade, only focusing on basic and strategic resources.
So how about we add these things to one or both of them:
Here you could have "Commercial Shipyards" which build ships to your specifications, but are unmanned and can be bought and sold, the buyer staffing them and having to fly them to their own territory.
Maybe you could sell the rights to use them or just allow other empires to buy complete fleets, even to their specifications, even if they use technology which is unknown to you. Maybe criminal syndicates could steal technologies this way.
With this a megacorp could have a cluster of systems in which the stations just pump out ships for sale.
Or, if not building complete ships, just hulls with an engine and hyperdrive to get them to the buyer, who then only has to spend ressources on equipment.
This could lead to very interesting mid- and lategame strategies, you giving your subsiduries and/or allies strong fleets to defend you or giving strong fleets to someone who also hates your enemies, prompting them to start a war between the two.
This leads me into diplomacy where I have to be honest and say I haven't thought about it that much, given I am writing this post because I want to sell ships.
Diplomacy and relations between nations are, as we all know, extremely complex. Not so much in stellaris, where you either annihalate someone or ally with them. There is nothing more. Of course this would be so complex it would be ridiculous to expect this to just be there, but we need more here than just an outburst of non-aggression pacts after a big war ends. This could be substituted with the advanced Trade above, but one thing I think is inexcusable in a grand Strategy game: Manipulation.
Why can't we manipulate other countries into changing ideology, going to war or just hating each other. Not only that, but there is no espionage. Imagine superior fanatical purifiers finding out you wanted to steal their technology and undermine their church. That's war.
Trespassing into closed territory: War.
A cloaked Stealthship being found in your allies space: Destroyed Trust.
What I want to say is that Stellaris is a beautiful game whch has an amazing gameplay flow. However to achieve that it had to be very streamlined and the features limited in flexebility, and once these things are added and everything is looser, letting the player do everything he wants and starting the biggest cockup-cascade in gaming history, this game could be one of the best. Maybe. ehh. hm. You know what I mean.
The A.I. would be way too hard to programme for this wouldn't it.
Of course as I said I am not a game designer and these are just rough drafts giving an idea on how I think the game would be improved, Not by adding new things, but by improving and the basic things in the game and giving them depths reminiscent of space itself (Get it?)
All of these things of course would have to be discussed wether they would work and how they would work and of course I haven't thought of everything.
So yeah.
There you go
I am not a game designer, so I can only suggest how they could work, having no pirates of their own species however having an extremely low admin cap.
Diplomacy would maybe be a bit harder as these beings do not understand individuality.
Maybe a bonus to overall fleetpower due to them being more coordinated.
etc.
Maybe Hiveminds could become a special type of megacorp later in the game.
2. Robots: Maybe Rogue servitors could have the option to play as their own kind of megacorp, being a corporation that basically created a utopian civilisation using robots.
3.Trade and Diplomacy: Right now these are too simple. Especially in direct trade with another empire we are not able to trade slaves as we can do on the open market. Also both do not have enough things to trade, only focusing on basic and strategic resources.
So how about we add these things to one or both of them:
-Leaders (Both)
-Individual Research points outside of research agreements (Both)
-Different rights (Direct trade)
Now the most fun things: All types of ships, including defense plattforms, colony ships and armies. This would not be limited for direct trade, but maybe only megacorps would be able to do this. -Individual Research points outside of research agreements (Both)
-Different rights (Direct trade)
-Open borders
-Shipyard usage
-Usage of buildings and staffing on the sellers planets, the produced ressources going to the buyer. Upkeep being also payed buy the buyer
-When you build things like buildings or stations you could pay for the needed ressources with money, the ressources coming from the open market-Shipyard usage
-Usage of buildings and staffing on the sellers planets, the produced ressources going to the buyer. Upkeep being also payed buy the buyer
Here you could have "Commercial Shipyards" which build ships to your specifications, but are unmanned and can be bought and sold, the buyer staffing them and having to fly them to their own territory.
Maybe you could sell the rights to use them or just allow other empires to buy complete fleets, even to their specifications, even if they use technology which is unknown to you. Maybe criminal syndicates could steal technologies this way.
With this a megacorp could have a cluster of systems in which the stations just pump out ships for sale.
Or, if not building complete ships, just hulls with an engine and hyperdrive to get them to the buyer, who then only has to spend ressources on equipment.
This could lead to very interesting mid- and lategame strategies, you giving your subsiduries and/or allies strong fleets to defend you or giving strong fleets to someone who also hates your enemies, prompting them to start a war between the two.
This leads me into diplomacy where I have to be honest and say I haven't thought about it that much, given I am writing this post because I want to sell ships.
Diplomacy and relations between nations are, as we all know, extremely complex. Not so much in stellaris, where you either annihalate someone or ally with them. There is nothing more. Of course this would be so complex it would be ridiculous to expect this to just be there, but we need more here than just an outburst of non-aggression pacts after a big war ends. This could be substituted with the advanced Trade above, but one thing I think is inexcusable in a grand Strategy game: Manipulation.
Why can't we manipulate other countries into changing ideology, going to war or just hating each other. Not only that, but there is no espionage. Imagine superior fanatical purifiers finding out you wanted to steal their technology and undermine their church. That's war.
Trespassing into closed territory: War.
A cloaked Stealthship being found in your allies space: Destroyed Trust.
What I want to say is that Stellaris is a beautiful game whch has an amazing gameplay flow. However to achieve that it had to be very streamlined and the features limited in flexebility, and once these things are added and everything is looser, letting the player do everything he wants and starting the biggest cockup-cascade in gaming history, this game could be one of the best. Maybe. ehh. hm. You know what I mean.
The A.I. would be way too hard to programme for this wouldn't it.
Of course as I said I am not a game designer and these are just rough drafts giving an idea on how I think the game would be improved, Not by adding new things, but by improving and the basic things in the game and giving them depths reminiscent of space itself (Get it?)
All of these things of course would have to be discussed wether they would work and how they would work and of course I haven't thought of everything.
So yeah.
There you go
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