Official Suggestion Thread for 5.20 or later

[Vanigo]

I love those ideas! Would make it so much more satisfying.
Well, from a human point of view.

There is some sense to it, but you've got the figures for colonies way too low. It would take a new colony decades, at least, to get the thousands and thousands of cargo ships trading goods. Especially since a colony has to get pretty big before any meaningful amount of trade takes place, and all the colony ships coming in would reduce the economy to about -150% before things got going. And you'd keep getting colony ships coming even after the colony was fairly established, hurting the economy far faster than it could recover. So, millennia before you started seeing any income, probably. If this is going to work at all, it needs some big changes.
Drop the "new colonists hurt the economy" thing entirely. Say that richer colonies attract richer immigrants, or whatever.
Increase the effect of trading at least tenfold.
Add other causes of economic growth. Financial complexes should do the job, of course, and low unemployment should help. It should probably just happen naturally over time, as well, although this should be pretty slow. On the flipside, it would be quite reasonable if things like bombardment and unrest knocked things back a few points.
Most of all, it needs to be nonlinear. It should be pretty fast and easy to get from 10% to 50%, harder to get to 75%, and quite tricky to get over 100%. It should probably constantly degrade to 100% if it's higher.

[wilddog5]

I was thinking about earth to mars for the transport numbers so yes the numbers where a bit high but the colony economy would only drop if it was greater than 10% if it was 10% or somehow less than that the colony ships would not affect it.

Also I forgot to add that I consider only planets with less than 25M people to be a colony more is an established world and the colony ships should stop causing a drop as the persentage of arrivals to local pop is not sufficient to affect the total economy that much.

[Vanigo]

I was thinking about earth to mars for the transport numbers so yes the numbers where a bit high but the colony economy would only drop if it was greater than 10% if it was 10% or somehow less than that the colony ships would not affect it.

Also I forgot to add that I consider only planets with less than 25M people to be a colony more is an established world and the colony ships should stop causing a drop as the persentage of arrivals to local pop is not sufficient to affect the total economy that much.

Even so, short of shooting down every civilian colony ship that gets launched, there's no way you'd ever ever ever be able to get a colony over 10% economy. And once you got it to that point, well, a 25M planet only generates a few hundred points of supply and demand a year, total, so you'd be looking at about 60 years to get up to full, at best. Even if it is Mars.

[James Patten]

Regarding wrecks - I know it used to be that wrecks could only be detectable by an active sensor, and if you went out of range of the sensor you lost the wreck.  Now you see wrecks all the time and don't need a sensor.

Now you jump into a new system and immediately see all the wrecks that are there.  This gives the player good advanced warning that something's up in that system.

Can you partially roll the clock back?  So that undetected wrecks are invisible, but once detected by sensor they stay visible.

[sloanjh]

Regarding wrecks - I know it used to be that wrecks could only be detectable by an active sensor, and if you went out of range of the sensor you lost the wreck.  Now you see wrecks all the time and don't need a sensor.

Now you jump into a new system and immediately see all the wrecks that are there.  This gives the player good advanced warning that something's up in that system.

Can you partially roll the clock back?  So that undetected wrecks are invisible, but once detected by sensor they stay visible.

Seconded.

[UnLimiTeD]

Couldn't ships, just like base EM and thermal, have an R1000 Strength 1 1000%efficiency Grav sensor that is permanently on without emmisions, and use that for the detection of wrecks?

[Laurence]

Three more suggestions...

1. How about when an item is researched (such as a specific engine, search sensor, missile, or fire control), one of them is added to the ship components or missile stockpile on the population that the research is finished at.

2. Awarding population a very small construction ability (so that they can build something, like a factory).  That way they could do something if they lost or did not have any installations.

3. Add Conventional Industry to the list of Installations so low tech populations can expand their industry.

[Vanigo]

It's kind of annoying that when you salvage or capture an alien component that's identical to one you've designed, they're not interchangable.

[On_Target]

2. Awarding population a very small construction ability (so that they can build something, like a factory).  That way they could do something if they lost or did not have any installations.

Oh, this would be nice, and would make colonizing places quite a bit easier for me.  Maybe even make it so the colonists can only build certain installations without advanced factories?  So that, even if just in workshops, and by use of the unemployed workforce rather than any machinery, factories, infrastructure, and regular mines can be built.

It would be really sweet to not have to decrease my main planet's capabilities in order to set up a viable colony.  The process already takes a good amount of time, effort, and investment (mines, factories, and often infrastructure which all could be used to continue expanding the home planet's impressive construction abilities.  Plus they demand defenses.), with little enough gain (we get... faster population growth, more trade/taxes, and forward bases.  Anything else?).  This would make colonizing a bit more worthwhile, and show colonists who aren't completely at the mercy of their home planet to make any sort of real progress.

[Caplin]

While I can understand the reasons for the suggestion about population and being able to build installations on their own, I object just on the principle that this violates existing game mechanics.  I also wouldn't want colonization to become too easy.  I find the idea that you could colonize without denting your other planet's economies a bit unrealistic--as far as this game can b said to have realism, anyway.  I love the current system because it makes colonization feel like a long term project, as it should in my book.  I certainly wouldn't want to see that change too drastically. 

[UnLimiTeD]

The thought is probably more that currently, we have a paradox.
You need Industry to produce industry, so how did you get it in the first place?
Populations without anything should be able to build conventional Industry.

[Caplin]

Now that you put it in that light I can agree with the suggestion.  I actually considered it a bit and came to a similar conclusion myself.  Of course, just because civillions could build conventional industry doesn't mean they'd have to.  I withdraw my earlier objections and apologize for any defensiveness.

[mavikfelna]

I would suggest that for every 20 million unemployed they provide 1 conventional industry.

--Mav

[backstab]

The thought is probably more that currently, we have a paradox.
You need Industry to produce industry, so how did you get it in the first place?
Populations without anything should be able to build conventional Industry.

Try using Cargo Ships to transport Construction Factories to the colony site.  I normally set up the site with mines and Construction Factories first before I move in Colonists.  Then you will not need to be able to produce anything out of thin air.

[On_Target]

I would suggest that for every 20 million unemployed they provide 1 conventional industry.

--Mav

This is an elegant solution.  I concur; however, 20 million seems a little high, especially considering the 70% service and agricultural employment.  Did you decide on the number arbitrarily, or was there a reason behind it?  I think that 10 million would be just as viable a number; given that every construction factory is giving 10x the efficiency of building under this rule, it's hardly too much.

If this was implemented, having less than 10 million give at least a fractional bonus would be much desired.  I could finally task the commercial-settled colonies to begin development on their own dime.  (Bad enough that they start threatening me with rebellion if I don't give them local military presence, the ingrates!)