C# Aurora v0.x Suggestions

[Steve Walmsley]

Is that deduction before or after commercial engine modifier?

Before.

[DIT_grue]

Can I suggest to limit possible weapons. For ships with diplomacy module just to ciws? I feel like this can be exploited if we can fit them with weapons for first strike.

Besides Steve's answer, while Star Trek roleplay doesn't fall into my own range of playstyles, it seems quite popular here - especially if we include themes recognisably trending in that direction or narratives that independently arrive at similar outcomes. Outright forbidding it doesn't seem appropriate or justified.

[QuakeIV]

I think its completely justified because the AI has a really limited ability to deal with it.  If the AI had some way to search the ship for weapons as it approaches their capital, then you should be able to put weapons on your diplomatic ships.  Otherwise its just silly to expect to get away with that kind of nonsense and expect the AI to make no attempt to stop you or check that you are lying about your diplomacy ship as it approaches something important.  You are arguing to put subterfuge into a game with no established system to fight back against that (including on your own behalf should the AI start doing that).

[Veneke]

Is it possible for ships to be grouped by race? For instance, in the screenshot below it would be useful for HOT, MAR, and JOV entries to be grouped together rather than going back and forth between them.
 

 
It's not a big issue, and only really a problem for situations like the above where you're trying to make sense of a jumble of information from multiple races clustered on a single body.

[Steve Walmsley]

Is it possible for ships to be grouped by race? For instance, in the screenshot below it would be useful for HOT, MAR, and JOV entries to be grouped together rather than going back and forth between them.

Yes, that would look better. Here is the updated version.

[SevenOfCarina]

Yes, that would look better. Here is the updated version.

Not to bother you further, Steve, but is there any chance we could specify certain colours for a known empire apart from the standard hostile/neutral/friendly? In this circumstance, contacts from Mars would be orange with orange text, contacts from Venus would be yellow with yellow text, etc. It'll make things a lot more readable, but it's fine as it is.

[Steve Walmsley]

Not to bother you further, Steve, but is there any chance we could specify certain colours for a known empire apart from the standard hostile/neutral/friendly? In this circumstance, contacts from Mars would be orange with orange text, contacts from Venus would be yellow with yellow text, etc. It'll make things a lot more readable, but it's fine as it is.

That might get confusing if there are a lot of races. I've tried to keep the number of colours relatively low on the map so it is easy to recognise different objects.

[SevenOfCarina]

That might get confusing if there are a lot of races. I've tried to keep the number of colours relatively low on the map so it is easy to recognise different objects.

Fair enough. What about moving the empire designation to the front? So it'll be like this :
[MAR] 2x Huangwen 6449 tons Thermal 6 0 km/s
And not like this :
2x Huangwen 6449 tons Thermal 6 0 km/s [MAR]

[Zincat]

That might get confusing if there are a lot of races. I've tried to keep the number of colours relatively low on the map so it is easy to recognise different objects.

Fair enough. What about moving the empire designation to the front? So it'll be like this :
[MAR] 2x Huangwen 6449 tons Thermal 6 0 km/s
And not like this :
2x Huangwen 6449 tons Thermal 6 0 km/s [MAR]

I think this would make a lot of sense, and be especially useful with many races or complex situations. After all, you're likely only caring about one or two at a time, and having the race designation in front allows to quickly skip all the ones you don't care about.

[Steve Walmsley]

That might get confusing if there are a lot of races. I've tried to keep the number of colours relatively low on the map so it is easy to recognise different objects.

Fair enough. What about moving the empire designation to the front? So it'll be like this :
[MAR] 2x Huangwen 6449 tons Thermal 6 0 km/s
And not like this :
2x Huangwen 6449 tons Thermal 6 0 km/s [MAR]

Yes, that looks much better, both for single contacts and groups

[Jovus]

Regarding diplo ships being limited in weaponry: I strongly disagree.

Almost all ambassadorial ships in history and the current world are armed to some degree or another. The Ming treasure fleet, HMS Victory, Perry's expedition to Japan, SMS Panther, SMS Goeben, and all modern aircraft carriers, just off the top of my head. I'd go so far as to say that an implication of the ability to project force is part and parcel of diplomacy, though I don't really expect that to be reflected in the diplomatic code because that would be super-complex.

Rather, I'd go the other way, even, and argue that any ship with a flag bridge should also be able to act as a diplomatic ship, albeit probably at a reduced ability compared to one with a diplomatic module attached; it wouldn't be the first time in history an ambassador has commandeered CIC for diplomacy.

Rather, I have a simpler proposal for limiting the possibility of people sneaking in warships under cover of diplomacy to get away with surprise attacks. If you have an active diplomatic ship in system or have had an active diplomatic ship in system recently (perhaps within a year?) and you begin hostilities, you take an extreme relationship hit with the NPR in question and with all others who witness or hear about the event (all NPRs with assets in system as well as all NPRs with whom they have established communications).

Could you still use a diplomatic mission to sneak ships in under the flag of peace for a dastardly bombardment? Yes. Is that necessarily a good idea if your galaxy has a web of diplomatic contacts in place already? Probably not.

[Scandinavian]

Another option would be to have the interlocutor automatically gain certain intelligence on the vessel acting as a diplomatic envoy. Perhaps simply accumulating over time, or perhaps as a prerequisite for reaching a certain relationship status.

While it is plausible that one might negotiate an armistice purely over video link, if you are negotiating a joint research initiative it is going to look at best standoffish to not invite the foreign delegation to come over to your embassy for some of the talks. Likewise, once you start issuing travel permits to alien nationals (which is, if not an absolute necessity for, at least strongly conducive to developing a trading relationship), aliens are going to start showing up at your consular offices. Some of those aliens are going to be spies, unless the people running the other guys' foreign intelligence services have rocks and gravel in their heads.

[Garfunkel]

You might not have the same environmental requirements. Pretty difficult to run face-to-face consular services or round table negotiations if your air is toxic to them. Let's not make things too detailed if they don't have to be.

[Jovus]

You might not have the same environmental requirements. Pretty difficult to run face-to-face consular services or round table negotiations if your air is toxic to them. Let's not make things too detailed if they don't have to be.

I'd be totally cool with a mild, scaling diplomatic penalty for different, exclusive environmental tolerances, with a much larger penalty for 'we breathe oxygen and you breathe methane', that distinction already being mechanically tracked in the game.

Sounds like an after-release sort of thing.

[papent]

I'd be totally cool with a mild, scaling diplomatic penalty for different, exclusive environmental tolerances, with a much larger penalty for 'we breathe oxygen and you breathe methane', that distinction already being mechanically tracked in the game.

Sounds like an after-release sort of thing.

Why would that matter? We can't build multispecies colonies. If anything not having any environmental overlap should give a diplomatic bonus as you won't be competing for the same real estate. For example conflicts and fighting between terrestrial predators and omnivores happen frequently because same needs. But I haven't heard of sealions trying to muscle wolves out of their territory.

I would agree with a worse odds in making contact and communication rolls and chances. Due to the differences and such.