Suggestions Thread for v2.4.0

[Froggiest1982]

I would lik to see discoverable planetary atmosphere so that colonization levels for colonizeable bodies appears only after survey.

In theory you get a general value XX.XX (Assuming temperature, atmo, and water value is for instance 0), and after survey you get the actual data which will result in the proper and correct details.

Function could be flagged at start. Something like: advanced exploration on or off.

[nuclearslurpee]

I would lik to see discoverable planetary atmosphere so that colonization levels for colonizeable bodies appears only after survey.

In theory you get a general value XX.XX (Assuming temperature, atmo, and water value is for instance 0), and after survey you get the actual data which will result in the proper and correct details.

Function could be flagged at start. Something like: advanced exploration on or off.

This would be interesting as an optional flag, among other reasons it would make the appearance of certain spoiler races more surprising. 

[Mark Yanning]

I agree, this is much more realistic and it makes exploration more interesting. Nice idea

[Andrew]

I think it is very unrealistic but have no objections to options.
At the moment we can do spectographic analysis of the atmospheres of planets in other solar systems. With better space based telescopes and computers that will be easy to do, so any survey ship appearing in a system will be able to determine the atmosphere of all planets quickly without visiting them.
To be realistic we should know that atmosphere and size of planets in a system before visiting it. I see no reason or method to implement such a thing, however the current model of seeing the planet on arrival works.
There is an arguement that we should know if an alien homeworld is in a system on arrival as the emissions and effects on the planet are going to be detectable at interstellar ranges and the homeworld has probably been a large ondustrialised population for centuries. Of course I don't know that a xeno homelworld could be detected at interstellar ranges as we have not found one yet

[Demetrious]

I think it is very unrealistic but have no objections to options.
At the moment we can do spectographic analysis of the atmospheres of planets in other solar systems. With better space based telescopes and computers that will be easy to do, so any survey ship appearing in a system will be able to determine the atmosphere of all planets quickly without visiting them.

This. However, there are other options; the tolerances of possible NPR races could be widened a bit, with a diminishing probability as you approach the far ends of the scale, so while it's unlikely for advanced civilizations to arise on frozen worlds with oceans hidden beneath the ice, it's not impossible. Europa, ho! Similarly, ~certain spoilers~ of races who once existed long ago may well be orbiting planets who's conditions have changed over the millennia due to natural processes (ice ages on Earth for instance.)

Incidentally, the "emergence" behavior Steve's added for "advanced precursors" could be utilized for ice worlds like that (planets in appropriate temp ranges with a wide hydro extent and terrain type of "ice fields" or whatnot.) Entire pre-industrial civilizations hidden beneath the ice until you actually survey the planet. Or perhaps when their STO's light up your survey ship.

EDIT: If I recall correctly very large spoiler ruins are more likely on more habitable worlds (greater reward, greater risk, naturally) but having a lower chance of very large ruins on otherwise unattractive terraforming targets/w lots of minerals would also be interesting as the in-situ infrastructure would greatly lessen the cost of exploitation. On the other hand, since ruins can't be damaged by orbital bombardment there's no attendant incentive to clear out the enemies "the hard way" to secure the goodies.

[Froggiest1982]

I think it is very unrealistic but have no objections to options.
At the moment we can do spectographic analysis of the atmospheres of planets in other solar systems. With better space based telescopes and computers that will be easy to do, so any survey ship appearing in a system will be able to determine the atmosphere of all planets quickly without visiting them.
To be realistic we should know that atmosphere and size of planets in a system before visiting it. I see no reason or method to implement such a thing, however the current model of seeing the planet on arrival works.
There is an arguement that we should know if an alien homeworld is in a system on arrival as the emissions and effects on the planet are going to be detectable at interstellar ranges and the homeworld has probably been a large ondustrialised population for centuries. Of course I don't know that a xeno homelworld could be detected at interstellar ranges as we have not found one yet

Yes we can, however when we send probes we find different things and this is in our solar system, what is going to happen when we will be able to probe Alpha Centauri?

Not bringing water to my well, but again, just to remain in our solar system we still not entirely sure of several compositions in relation to life or water on Mars, and only now by having a rover on it and more advanced probes we are understanding the effective geology of the planet.

EDIT: Eventually , what I am seeking is not a realistic model but perhaps one where the gameplay would allow for more interesting and heroic exploration on a televised sci fi model instead of a NASA hard data driven one. Sorry if I haven't clarified that sooner

[Andrew]

Indeed we do not know about the details of Mars 6 billion years ago, that is somewhat different from knowing its atmospheric composition and Ice caps, amount of underground water is reasonably well known as well, If there has ever been liquid water or if occassional liquid water occures now we do not know I agree. However we do not have FTL sensors and also that is not what is being discussed. Correction we would not know about historical liquid water from telescopic observation or course the rovers have proved that billions of years ago there was .
We know the atmosphere and can have a decent guess about the amount of water on Exoplanets let alone planets in our solar system. We cannot measure the possible single celled life or such but frankly that does not matter at all and is not measured in Aurora at all, the native biosphere unless it has railguns does not effect colonisation. A change making the biosphere and how it interacts with other bisopheres might be interesting and would need planatery investigation to determine but that is not an issue here at all.
Although anything except microbes we could do a decent job of analysing at in system ranges and can even have a stab at interstellar detection, for instance we have a decent chance of detecting the signature of Chlorophyl in spectogrophy.
I think you are wrong , this does not matter. I am perfectly happy with adding an option called ;Spectographic incompetence or something to represent bad surveyors I just won't use it and think its silly

[Demetrious]

EDIT: Eventually , what I am seeking is not a realistic model but perhaps one where the gameplay would allow for more interesting and heroic exploration on a televised sci fi model instead of a NASA hard data driven one. Sorry if I haven't clarified that sooner

"I'd like more surprises" isn't a bad idea and given Steve's work with spoilers (first Raiders, then advanced Precursors) I don't think he'd disagree. There's more than one way to skin this cat...

[Steve Walmsley (OP)]

I would lik to see discoverable planetary atmosphere so that colonization levels for colonizeable bodies appears only after survey.

In theory you get a general value XX.XX (Assuming temperature, atmo, and water value is for instance 0), and after survey you get the actual data which will result in the proper and correct details.

Function could be flagged at start. Something like: advanced exploration on or off.

I think the problem will be similar to that of checking every thermal contact. While this might be interesting the first few times, the tenth time, or the hundredth time might get a little tedious.

Right now, there are certain planet types (a combination of size, atmosphere and temp) that are more likely to have have spoilers that fire first and ask questions later. Therefore, you either approach them carefully, or send a probe, or maybe a scout shuttle. If you remove atmosphere information (for example), all that does is expand the number of planets where you have to be careful. So now, you either have the tedium of launching a lot more probes, or shuttles, or you risk losing an expensive survey ship because you can't be bothered with all the extra micromanagement. So then, rather than take that risk, you probably start using a swarm of less expensive survey ships to avoid too much of a loss in a single incident and interesting decisions are removed, because the mechanics are now sending you down an particular path.

Also, we can detect atmosphere right now at light years of distance, so it doesn't seem realistic to eliminate that information, when you can detect any kilometre-sized rock within a light year.

In v2.6, there are going to be more inhabited NPR bodies - due to the multi-system setup - so exploration will be more eventful anyway. I am certainly discovering that right now in my test campaign. I'll post an AAR when I get time.