The problem I have with stuff like Rakhas for example spawning an instance for every planet is that after a while you can get clutter in the intel screen of all these dead races. It also is a bit redundant and unnecessary for the Rakhas to have an instance per planet as due to their nature they will never interact with other Rakhas and have very simple and uniform foreign policy regarding NPRs and player races.
Not per planet obviously. More like, there might be small chance on any game time for Raiders to appear again, and then they will do so in a random colonized system of yours.(maybe with preference to younger foundings)
The clutter would only happen if this comes too often, but technically, since they should only be able to re-appear once the old one is defeated, you could just recycle the other race just like with remnants. Tech can then be adapted too.
Under this rework, you would be able to have multiple Raider systems each emanating an aura of piracy around them from different directions, with the colony in the raider system (would be cool if they were the new DSPs so that even otherwise empty systems are candidates) producing a set amount of resources (+ whatever is looted) and with certain shipyard capacity producing new problems until dealt with. It might be a good idea to give the raiders strong static defenses for their colonies/defensive fleets so that the player needs to assemble some force to remove them, possibly different colony sizes for the raiders too for varying severity.
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I would absolutely love if they would just exist regularly in the world. Maybe, in order to make it more interesting, they could spawn in a system you haven't yet discovered (which might be generated upon each system you visit), so once you encounter some of their ships, you will have to go on a hunt for their hideout but without having directions.
Alternatively they could also spawn on one of those really distant planets in some systems. A real and difficult to reach pirate haven. Maybe their special traveling ability could then be to make lagrange point like inner system jumps, so only they can cross these distances effectively.
I might repost this to the suggestions thread if it finds popularity here but I really do think these new Raiders would fit the "no exceptions" philosophy of C# much better than "there is a magic system you can never legitimately access".
Absolutely agree. The magic exception race status doesn't sit well with me here. I mean, all spoilers kind of have to have some exceptional qualities to make them interesting, and they all do, but having one whose exceptionality is to be invulnerable, and to become more and more menacing as the game progresses... . It is like an exception even amongst the exceptional spoilers. They don't fit in line.
I like to imagine Raiders like communities from my and other empires that have turned into piracy. I used to create a race via SM at some points in my personal campaigns to simulate that.
Eventually, it makes sense that as you advance and other races advance, new people joins the piracy cause bringing in ships technologically more advanced pushing forward their scientific effort and knowledge.
I tried to think about it in this way too, but it doesn't really connect. If they are pirates of your own faction, they couldn't be more advanced, nor have access to mystery jump ability. And if they were pirates of some other race, you should be able to find that race and destroy them to make the tech progression and perhaps supply stop.
I can't see how there would be a hidden race around that goes to photonic drives and beyond, but is never found out about. Maybe you can argue this by saying the Raiders can jump really really far, so these guys might be from another quadrant or galaxy, but it all seems rather like hand winging for suspension of disbelief to me.
Now, if they just were said pirates/privateers stemming from player technology who would spawn sometimes, I guess I would like that solution too. It makes sense to have this.
Aren't the Invaders also supposed to advance as time goes on? It never felt like they were advancing at an appreciable rate
Oh, I forget they can do it too, because it is so slow. In my most recent game I have battled them for what, 50 years or more? They never seemed to improve in the slightest though, so I am fine with the current setup in this case. Especially since they can actually be defeated for good, so this has no runaway effect.