Large gameplay overhaul proposal

[Miraak]

Outline

This proposal is meant to resolve the issue of starmade being almost exclusively a shipbuilding simulator.

(NOTE: this proposal disregards the existence of planets, as they are too laggy for large server use)

Part I Faction Mechanics

1. Automated Fleets: Fleets spawned from faction owned shipyard stations, with either generic or faction-made designs. These would fill the roles of patrol and mining fleets.
   
   
2. NPC Stations in Player Factions: These stations would be operated by the AI, and would serve as either defense stations or key supply stations either generic or designed by the faction(aka cities).
   
   
3. Automated Territory Growth: The territory of a faction would expand if the AI in said faction is allowed to create stations, and if there are sufficient resources to build a station.
   
   
4. Population Mechanic: To prevent exploit of the automated fleets, a population mechanic based around stations would be desirable. If this mechanic were implemented, stations would need to meet a requirement of food and housing(some form of sleeping area) for a population to develop there to operate said station. Populations could also be force migrated to another station to speed up its operation. This also would add a new food resource, which would need to be produced on stations.
   

Part II Economics

1. Galactic Market: A server-wide market where a player can put resources up for sale at stations equipped with a sufficient Market node (antenna would need to be larger the further away from the galactic center you are).
   
   
2. Faction Market: Similar to Galactic Market, except that it is only accessible by it’s faction.
   

Part III Faction Relations

1. Trade Deals: Would allow two factions to access the others Faction Market.
   
   
2. Federations: Factions would be able to form multi-faction alliances with customizable settings on elections, foreign relations, migration, etc.
   

 

[Airis Damon]

I would like planets to still remain, but if we must compromise, this is it.

 

[jayman38]

This makes the game much more automated and allows small player factions to keep pace with NPC factions. On the other hand, if additional costs of expanding an empire are ever implemented, auto-expansion could be a very expensive problem. (If resource starvation removed empire territory, then the auto-expansion could be balanced by that, leading to a generally-static empire that doesn't expand anymore... Pretty much what the resource-starvation gameplay mechanic is designed to accomplish.)

I don't think we need a new food resource. Just a rule for how our existing plants need to be used to support the population. The rule could specifically define the "population count" that the entity could support. Maybe use a modified version of the current power line rules, applied to plant blocks, to create a maximum count of population supported, instead of e-units-per-second. Plants can cover population needs of food, air, and clothing, not to mention "scenery", so no need to go into population support specifics, like "food blocks".

I almost think you could eliminate the drag of mining and factories with an option to simply give players a random bunch of useful blocks every once in a while. Sure, an admin could do so with a command, but an automated invisible "factory" (free stuff) seems like it could be a valid gameplay mechanic, to eliminate the need for infrastructure. (E.g. 100 blocks of armor of every type and color, lights, cannons, thrusters, jump drives, etc.) Leave some out so they still have to build something specific.) Maybe a designated "nanobotic factory chest" or something, to avoid clogging the player's main inventory.

Edit:
No need for antennae for the market. Just hand-wave it away as a function of the trade faction.

 

[StormWing0]

I'm of the opinion that any automation for player factions needs to be something they have to worked for. The AI module could be used for turrets and drones still but when it comes to fleet automation they'd only be able to go so far from a parent ship or station. NPC flown ships would be able to go as far as they wanted though.