Suggestions for a fresh campaign?

[liveware (OP)]

I've gotten to a point in my previous campaign where I have been resorting too often to SM mode to fix my empire's resource problems. So, I want to shelve that campaign for a while and begin afresh and try and get a more balanced economy worked out. I'm looking for some suggestions regarding some interesting game settings for my next campaign.

Currently, I'm planning another marathon-style conventional start campaign (last campaign ran almost 1000 game years and was pretty epic) because I like the build-up and the overall development of the empire from minimalistic roots. I started my last campaign with 10 million starting citizens and only the most basic of installations, and I plan on repeating this for the new campaign. I gained much useful experience in the last campaign and now possess a much stronger understanding of ship combat, ground combat, and terraforming. Next I want to focus on improving my understanding of mining, economics, and efficient use of civilian shipping lines.

Last game I found NPR generation rate was a bit too low, and even with about 100 star systems explored I had encountered only a couple of precursors. I never actually found any of the 4 starting NPRs that supposedly exist somewhere in my 1000 star universe. Next game I am going to start with an existing NPR in my home system to make things interesting from the start and I will also up the NPR spawn chance somewhat (I used 20% generation chance last time, next I might go up to 50%).

I have been avoiding invaders for fear of being too easily overwhelmed so I will probably avoid those for now, same with aether rifts (though eventually I will attempt those). The Earth death-spiral scenario might be interesting but if I do a conventional start and have to contend with a hostile NPR in my home system conducting an exodus will be very challenging.

I had also considered a multi-faction game start, but if I did so I would want to control only a single faction. I might attempt this next campaign in addition to the home system NPR.

Anyone have any interesting starting scenarios they want to share?

[Droll]

Conventional start scenario with slow research rates IMO is somewhat incompatible with the death-spiral scenario even on its slowest mode. I think the temperature disasters might be more interesting.

Also note that invaders and aether rifts don't come separate and they are packaged together.

For random NPR generation you could try to make a dynamic system. 20% when exploring all adjacent systems to sol - 30% for 2 jumps, 60% for 3 jumps etc.

[liveware (OP)]

For random NPR generation you could try to make a dynamic system. 20% when exploring all adjacent systems to sol - 30% for 2 jumps, 60% for 3 jumps etc.

That would probably allow me to at least get a functional mining empire off the ground. I almost always struggle to find enough of every resource in Sol to achieve any sort of long-term sustainability.

But then again, if I am in a constant state of interstellar war then I might get some use out of the lower tech research options and ship systems. That could make for some interesting design trade-offs.

[Malorn]

Well, you could give my 'exodus' game a try. Create a human npr on earth, then create your race on mars or titan or something. The catch is, the NPR on earth has WAY more population, but slightly less starting tech and industry. Oh, and make them xenophobic as possible. Do not adapt your race to the chosen planet, but allow yourself starting infrastructure to support a small population.

Basically, a race to escape the solar system before you end up murdered by the humans. It really changes the normal way I play a game. Early exploration is very necessary, as well as evacuating just about everything possible.

[liveware (OP)]

Well, you could give my 'exodus' game a try. Create a human npr on earth, then create your race on mars or titan or something. The catch is, the NPR on earth has WAY more population, but slightly less starting tech and industry. Oh, and make them xenophobic as possible. Do not adapt your race to the chosen planet, but allow yourself starting infrastructure to support a small population.

Basically, a race to escape the solar system before you end up murdered by the humans. It really changes the normal way I play a game. Early exploration is very necessary, as well as evacuating just about everything possible.

That's an interesting suggestion. Maybe next time around.

I've already created my starting race on Earth so I'm going to stick with that for now. I've added a pirate faction also on Earth, with equivalent installations to my own race but with much lower population, and have discovered that with conventional start you don't get any STO ground force capability... so that's going to be a challenge off the starting line for me. First off I will need to develop some ground forces to wipe out the pirates on the ground, their spaceport can be dealt with later on...

Game is still on pause at year 0 as I contemplate adding additional NPRs and other terrestrial factions.

[Froggiest1982]

I've gotten to a point in my previous campaign where I have been resorting too often to SM mode to fix my empire's resource problems. So, I want to shelve that campaign for a while and begin afresh and try and get a more balanced economy worked out. I'm looking for some suggestions regarding some interesting game settings for my next campaign.

Currently, I'm planning another marathon-style conventional start campaign (last campaign ran almost 1000 game years and was pretty epic) because I like the build-up and the overall development of the empire from minimalistic roots. I started my last campaign with 10 million starting citizens and only the most basic of installations, and I plan on repeating this for the new campaign. I gained much useful experience in the last campaign and now possess a much stronger understanding of ship combat, ground combat, and terraforming. Next I want to focus on improving my understanding of mining, economics, and efficient use of civilian shipping lines.

Last game I found NPR generation rate was a bit too low, and even with about 100 star systems explored I had encountered only a couple of precursors. I never actually found any of the 4 starting NPRs that supposedly exist somewhere in my 1000 star universe. Next game I am going to start with an existing NPR in my home system to make things interesting from the start and I will also up the NPR spawn chance somewhat (I used 20% generation chance last time, next I might go up to 50%).

I have been avoiding invaders for fear of being too easily overwhelmed so I will probably avoid those for now, same with aether rifts (though eventually I will attempt those). The Earth death-spiral scenario might be interesting but if I do a conventional start and have to contend with a hostile NPR in my home system conducting an exodus will be very challenging.

I had also considered a multi-faction game start, but if I did so I would want to control only a single faction. I might attempt this next campaign in addition to the home system NPR.

Anyone have any interesting starting scenarios they want to share?

Have you tried spending the amount of time you would normally spend between the conventional to TN transition and from the TN to actually jump capable transition to create something with SM a setup?

I have just finished to set up my latest campaign. It took approximately 3 or 4 days.

1 Terran Federation based on Earth
1 Martian Empire Based on Mars
1 Titan Corporation based on Titan

For this game I decided that the Titan Corporation was actually a conglomerate of private companies of the Terran Federation. They control all access to resources and fuel because of that. The Martian Empire was a result of a Solarian war between Earth and the Russian-Chinese-Korean factions which declared independence on Mars causing the war. All 3 worlds were terraformed to be 0 cost colonies.

Each race (I have used 3 races not all humans) have his own perks and of course preferred techs. All have existing mining colonies, ground unit and ships. All races have different starting infrastructure based on their history. For example On Earth there aren't any Fuel Refineries as they weren't need and or moved on Titan or terraforming installations as they were used to Terraform Mars and Titan. And things like that.

The Terran Federation relies on only 150.000 stockpile of each TN minerals on Earth all minerals are exhausted. Their priority is obviously getting out of Sol asap and find new resources.
The Martian Empire has a very weak economy but a strong military. They need to find a way to support their war machine.
The Titan Corporation has a very strong economy and also mineral output. They need to make sure nobody comes after their wealth and minerals.

Because of the above the Terran Federation has discovered Jump theory but not the actual techs to design a jump engine.
The Martian has an advanced weapon knowledge and a slight better sensor range.
The Titans have strong lasers with poor range as they were improving the tech for mining reasons at beginning. They also have all orbital researches completed along with all first tier modules for fuel and supplies etc as they were originally living on a station on Titan while the planet was terraformed. You have an option here: either you pretend the station was dismantled once the terraforming was completed to recover parts to build some ships or the station it's still there.

there is more to it on the above of course to balance things up. For instance the Titans have only 10 research labs while Terran Federation has 25...

In house rules:
Control all 3 races
No Civilians allowed. They have been exterminated or assimilated by the Titan Corporations.
100 years Truce in Sol only.
15% Research
5% Survey (but starting with Sol fully surveyed)
No systems within 4 Jumps (or 25 LY) of Sol can be claimed by any race.

[liveware (OP)]

I've gotten to a point in my previous campaign where I have been resorting too often to SM mode to fix my empire's resource problems. So, I want to shelve that campaign for a while and begin afresh and try and get a more balanced economy worked out. I'm looking for some suggestions regarding some interesting game settings for my next campaign.

Currently, I'm planning another marathon-style conventional start campaign (last campaign ran almost 1000 game years and was pretty epic) because I like the build-up and the overall development of the empire from minimalistic roots. I started my last campaign with 10 million starting citizens and only the most basic of installations, and I plan on repeating this for the new campaign. I gained much useful experience in the last campaign and now possess a much stronger understanding of ship combat, ground combat, and terraforming. Next I want to focus on improving my understanding of mining, economics, and efficient use of civilian shipping lines.

Last game I found NPR generation rate was a bit too low, and even with about 100 star systems explored I had encountered only a couple of precursors. I never actually found any of the 4 starting NPRs that supposedly exist somewhere in my 1000 star universe. Next game I am going to start with an existing NPR in my home system to make things interesting from the start and I will also up the NPR spawn chance somewhat (I used 20% generation chance last time, next I might go up to 50%).

I have been avoiding invaders for fear of being too easily overwhelmed so I will probably avoid those for now, same with aether rifts (though eventually I will attempt those). The Earth death-spiral scenario might be interesting but if I do a conventional start and have to contend with a hostile NPR in my home system conducting an exodus will be very challenging.

I had also considered a multi-faction game start, but if I did so I would want to control only a single faction. I might attempt this next campaign in addition to the home system NPR.

Anyone have any interesting starting scenarios they want to share?

Have you tried spending the amount of time you would normally spend between the conventional to TN transition and from the TN to actually jump capable transition to create something with SM a setup?

I have just finished to set up my latest campaign. It took approximately 3 or 4 days.

1 Terran Federation based on Earth
1 Martian Empire Based on Mars
1 Titan Corporation based on Titan

For this game I decided that the Titan Corporation was actually a conglomerate of private companies of the Terran Federation. They control all access to resources and fuel because of that. The Martian Empire was a result of a Solarian war between Earth and the Russian-Chinese-Korean factions which declared independence on Mars causing the war. All 3 worlds were terraformed to be 0 cost colonies.

Each race (I have used 3 races not all humans) have his own perks and of course preferred techs. All have existing mining colonies, ground unit and ships. All races have different starting infrastructure based on their history. For example On Earth there aren't any Fuel Refineries as they weren't need and or moved on Titan or terraforming installations as they were used to Terraform Mars and Titan. And things like that.

The Terran Federation relies on only 150.000 stockpile of each TN minerals on Earth all minerals are exhausted. Their priority is obviously getting out of Sol asap and find new resources.
The Martian Empire has a very weak economy but a strong military. They need to find a way to support their war machine.
The Titan Corporation has a very strong economy and also mineral output. They need to make sure nobody comes after their wealth and minerals.

Because of the above the Terran Federation has discovered Jump theory but not the actual techs to design a jump engine.
The Martian has an advanced weapon knowledge and a slight better sensor range.
The Titans have strong lasers with poor range as they were improving the tech for mining reasons at beginning. They also have all orbital researches completed along with all first tier modules for fuel and supplies etc as they were originally living on a station on Titan while the planet was terraformed. You have an option here: either you pretend the station was dismantled once the terraforming was completed to recover parts to build some ships or the station it's still there.

there is more to it on the above of course to balance things up. For instance the Titans have only 10 research labs while Terran Federation has 25...

In house rules:
Control all 3 races
No Civilians allowed. They have been exterminated or assimilated by the Titan Corporations.
100 years Truce in Sol only.
15% Research
5% Survey (but starting with Sol fully surveyed)
No systems within 4 Jumps (or 25 LY) of Sol can be claimed by any race.

I have not tried that approach. That is another interesting suggestion.

After reading through some of the fiction forums, I am leaning towards a cold war type of scenario where I try and control two major competing world powers. That might be an interesting way to build competitive ship designs which are somewhat balanced against one another, and would be an interesting starting point should I encounter an alien race later on.

[Vastrat]

Have you tried starting in a system other than Sol? I played a game starting in Alpha Centaury and found it quite entertaining trying to find the Sol system. (42 Systems away and past two precursers if you were curious.) The best part was designing the system, I learned a lot! Thanks to everyone who put up tutorials on the subject, and good luck with your next game.

[liveware (OP)]

Have you tried starting in a system other than Sol? I played a game starting in Alpha Centaury and found it quite entertaining trying to find the Sol system. (42 Systems away and past two precursers if you were curious.) The best part was designing the system, I learned a lot! Thanks to everyone who put up tutorials on the subject, and good luck with your next game.

I have not yet, but have considered it a few times. I think what I may ultimately end up doing is using SM to create an alien race somewhere in the galaxy as an opponent for the two human empires I am going to spawn and control on Earth. I'm definitely going with a cold war theme for the new campaign, conventional start, probably starting around 1950 AD, with 2 player empires, each with large standing armies but no space-based facilities. I will probably spend quite a long time setting up the initial ground armies... it's going to be awesome :-)

[Vastrat]

Sounds like fun. Happy gaming.