I'm a sucker for the cosmetic stuff.
I would like procedurally generated NPR details, specifically, some mumbo-jumbo randomly generated information about
- biochemistry
- senses they have or do not have
- language/communication system
- sociability
this is a thread where we can brainstorm how these cosmetic effects are generated.
I would also like to have a point where the player eventually knows more about the NPRs.
Aurora is fun because of the poverty of information about aliens initially. First contact is thrilling, you're in some deep space void between worlds, en route on a routine survey, when all of a sudden: heat signatures! radar! friend or foe? Think quickly!...and so on.
But it's sorta jarring when the alien civilization i've been in contact with for 40 years has yet to disclose where their capital is. I can only RP-explain this once or twice before it gets old, and there's no easy way to SM explore without uncovering a lot of other details I'd rather not know. it's even worse when I learn that they've been fighting an existential war with a powerful opponent and I'm only just now learning about it.
I believe at a certain point, just like survey data is eventually shared, all the following data about a race should be shared
- physiological details discussed above
- all races they have made contact with, and their relationships with said races
- information about all systems where they have large colonies, and information about those colonies.
I don't know the easiest way to parse this into rules, but it's a conversation starter.
