C# Suggestions

[TMaekler]

I would love to see a truly randomly generated world with an intertwining research tree. What I mean by that:

Aurora is meant as a storytelling tool. And as such it works great. It though works only within its confined rules. Some kind of different economy model or what minerals can produce what goods is not in the game. Whilst being nice having those features (being able to define your own minerals and what installations use what resources for production) - the question is: would that be beneficial for the storytelling? I don't think so...

[Kiero]

Aurora is meant as a storytelling tool. And as such it works great. It though works only within its confined rules. Some kind of different economy model or what minerals can produce what goods is not in the game. Whilst being nice having those features (being able to define your own minerals and what installations use what resources for production) - the question is: would that be beneficial for the storytelling? I don't think so...

In my opinion, it would.
Just like spice in "Diuna"

[TMaekler]

You could just rename Sorium into "Spice" and role play it as only being found on one planet you rename "Arrakis" :-)

[serger]

I'll second the p.2) of the previous post by Kiero.
I think it will be great to have more situational research multipliers in addition to research complexes.
Now we have Ancient Constructs that are doing like that, but it might be much more consistent and less micro-heavy, I think, if research model will be more weighted in this manner.

There might be:

1. Instead of fixed amount of RsPs alien component can give while being instantly deconstructed - it might give fixed multiplier for the relevant research fields, while this research is going, with some chance of the researching component being broken in the process every construction cycle. (And that is local multiplier - components have to be in the same colony with research labs to give bonus.)
2. Ground force adaptations. The more population you have in some surface type (grav, atm, temperature, terrain) - the more global research multiplier you might have with this type of GF specs, representing cumulative practical experience your empire have with this surface (LOG function, I think, will be appropriate). It might be local and global both, so it will be very easy for you to research, say, desert low grav infantry, if your home world is low grav desert. In addition, GF construction cost might be lower (spec multiplier halved?), if your GF construction facility is located on the planet with the same surface spec, so it will be much cheaper to build up desert low grav infantry in the desert low grav planet.
3. Some small global bonus when a ship with Science Department and survey officer is stationed at specific bodies (Ancient Constructs and so on), even if there is no colony there.

[Kiero]

You could just rename Sorium into "Spice" and role play it as only being found on one planet you rename "Arrakis" :-)

But this is still predetermined.
My point is that with random minerals it is more like exploring the game world every time you start a new game. And it is different every time you play. Sometimes fuel can be gathered from gas giants and sometimes from asteroids.

[serger]

But this is still predetermined.
My point is that with random minerals it is more like exploring the game world every time you start a new game. And it is different every time you play. Sometimes fuel can be gathered from gas giants and sometimes from asteroids.

It will be great really, but it's very hard to code for Steve.
Even large gamedev companies have constant troubles with this sort of mecanics.

[TMaekler]

But this is still predetermined.
My point is that with random minerals it is more like exploring the game world every time you start a new game. And it is different every time you play. Sometimes fuel can be gathered from gas giants and sometimes from asteroids.

I fully agree.

[xenoscepter]

 --- Some thoughts on the talk about Boarding Combat and Armory Components:

 - What if there was a 4th type of Troop Transport Bay? This one would allow Static Units and Light Vehicles to participate in the defense of a ship. It could simply be bigger, and could maybe be labeled as "Troop Transport Bay, Security" On that subject, a 5th type of Troop Transport Bay called, "Troop Transport Bay, Landers" could have integrated Cargo Shuttles that were better than normal Cargo Shuttles for hauling Troops, but couldn't transfer MSP like normal ones can.

 - If there were a system of Ground Supplies, maybe GSP for "Ground Supply Points" or something, and LOG / LOG-S became re-usable systems instead of consumables; then tracking equipment for an Armory module would be as simple as having it drain GSP. Have GSP be a function of Cargo Bays, make some Fighter-Sized Cargo Bays (100 Ton "Tiny" and 25 Ton "Fighter" Bays) for small armories to stock up, and viola! Now it becomes possible to use Ground Support Fighters to use the CAP mission to cut ground forces off from their orbital supply lines. It also becomes possible to make small, interplanetary Mineral Shunts.

 - Most importantly of all, GSP means that boarding defense units don't need LOG / LOG-s, just a little cargo bay or three. It could work that Ground Forces tracked their supply as they do now, but instead of consuming the LOG / LOG-S, each force simply pooled together their total LOG capacity, and drew it's GSP from it. Having it be that a unit with both a LOG and LOG-S would draw it's GSP through one or the other, possibly prioritizing LOG-S or something. I dunno I'm just spit-balling here. Steve knows this stuff better than me and could probably do a WAY better job of balancing it than I could.

[serger]

Besides, is it possible to add some form of irregular combatants, instantly spawning before you can occupy a colony, in the same way as crews are defending their ships automatically?

I'll say - random roll on (pop*militance) to make quantity of squads, then random roll for every squad on the same factor to determine squad's size.
(Infantry with side weapons only and, say, halved morale.)

[TMaekler]

Ordering one fleet to join another works quite well - especially when the target fleet jumps into a different system - the join-up fleet can follow with any issues. So a QoL could be if I could give a join command to ANY fleet even if it is not in the same system and the join-up fleet would auto navigate and follow that fleet until it can join up. Possible?

[TMaekler]

Can LP Jump Points be colored differently than the default yellow color?

[Barkhorn]

Could we have ground units re-supply during the construction phase in addition to during battle?  It's kinda weird that a unit that has survived combat can't replenish its internal stores until the start of the next combat.

[liveware]

Could we have ground units re-supply during the construction phase in addition to during battle?  It's kinda weird that a unit that has survived combat can't replenish its internal stores until the start of the next combat.

Yes I second this. It's quite annoying having to maintain a separate logistics garrison alongside a depleted combat garrison after the combat garrison has been used once or twice and is out of GSP.

[liveware]

Another suggestion that I am stealing shamelessly from some other 4x games out there: planet specific 'special attributes'. These would be similar to how ancient constructs currently modify research rate, but could apply boni (or mali) to something other than research. Something like 'dangerous wildlife' might provide a malus to population growth but also provide a ground combat defensive bonus for example. This might require too much detail to program on Steve's end but maybe a more generic system is possible?

[liveware]

While we are on the subject of Commanders, I would like to have some additional ground combat commander bonuses that reflect the terrain bonuses that are out there.  I was thinking about this the other night when I was playing - I always create a 'Federation Marine Corps' who have boarding and low-gravity fighting capabilities.  When I'm fighting wars, these are the guys I usually send after any Low-G colonies the enemy might have.  I have also recently created 'Raider Battalions' - Marines with High-G capability.  I think it would be great if we had a '<Capability> Modifer' so that certain commanders are adept Jungle, Desert, Low-G, or Mountain Fighters and that the auto-assignment code is biased to place those Commanders into formations with those capabilities.  It is a smaller thing but I think it would reward some specialization of formations by having dedicated commanders who are expert in their capabilities.

I also think something like this would be nice to have.