- You've got a contract to terraform a world and get the solar economy up to a certain level.
- You're leading religious dissidents on an illegal colonization mission
- You're colonizing a world with the dream of becoming its leader
- You're on the run and need a good pirate base that will support your clan
Some Ideas: Leveling-up Colonies Creating a colony might have several levels, each of which has to be worked up to. However, once you get there, each is stable and can be forgotten as you move on or expand. Levels might be:
- Level 0: The star system has one or more ships scouting around, maybe some probes and one or more tiny prefab bases (starside or planetside). There's no economy or population to speak of, but once to a certain level resource mining makes the system self-sufficient.
- Level 1: There are permanent bases (stations or towns) and a weak internal economy between them. The majority of colonists in the system (1k to 100k) mostly work in a single industry and most people survive at subsistence level.
- Level 2: The colony has imported or developed enough technology and industries (through businesses or rich patrons) to develop a strong internal economy. Population is diversified and usually has a good standard of living, there are many specialized bases and industries throughout the system. Population is usually 100k - 10 million.
- Level 3: Colony has grown to the point where a huge part of the economy relies on import and export. Population is well over 10 million. May be a participating member in a larger government (a confederation or republic) or may seek independence at this point.
Gameplay: Resources, NPCs, People Although heavy micromanagement usually is the way this is done, I want to focus on characters, stats and light resource manipulation. I think this might work like this: Resources: You have money and lots of different resources, but your colonies can only use 2 - 4 types per each colony level (level 0 colonies can't use antimatter, for instance, because they don't have the containment, transport or production facilities). Resources costs are modified by the economy the colonies evolve (e.g., black-market, agrarian, He3, etc) and your character/NPC skills. NPCs: Your unit limit is your people and how good they are. NPCs head a unit, perform missions for you and use their skills and personalities to enhance the economy or respond to events such as pirate attacks or riots. Not all NPCs work for you, though, and may pose soft or hard threats based on who they are (dissidents, cyborg messiahs, inside men, etc.) and how you interact with them. Social Problems: People are what make your colony function and grow. They come with religious, ethnic and factional alliances and may not like each other. Different people respond differently to different beliefs. Different buildings attract different crowds and make different factions happy or unhappy. You can keep them productive by (in general) spending money or interacting with leaders to learn special actions or resources they want.
Upgrading The upgrade path might go like this: >Direct player action (mining, fighting, gas giant/star diving for fuel) -->Deploying robot bases (cheap, but limited lifespan) ----->Tiny prefab bases (longer life, crews can repair, but must pay them) ------->Permabases (require choosing right factions and good resource supply) ----------->Full-on cities and space habitats (population only productive if happy, may have internal strife, but can be made self-governing at the risk of rebellion or them making rules not beneficial to you, based on how you've treated them) The whole star system might upgrade based on who you invite in at the permabase level. Cheap, hardworking Neopuritans, for instance, might work well for agriculture, but might also make it much more expensive or troublesome to bring in the hedonistic but highly scientific Transcender faction.
Gameplay Loop A possible loop might go like this: 0) The player's always burning money, and every construction project is a gamble which may result in lower quality, longer time or cost overruns. (Reduces with personal attention or competent NPC management) 1) Players can move almost anything in the system, but it all costs fuel or items (like nukes to change orbits of comets so they can green a world) 2) Fuel is gotten at risk to the ship (diving) or by using items (probes) 3) Players can carry and deploy automated mining bases to get free fuel, but these cost money and eventually wear out. 4) Once fuel's stable, pure metal deposits become a challenge. Asteroids are often cheapest to mine, as planets require launching and landing. 5) Prefab bases that last longer and are crewed come next. These can produce free fuel and metal, but crews accrue salary and need bioresources like oxygen and water. Limited special social events (like medical emergencies) occasionally happen to keep players personally involved. Weak hostiles (pirates mainly) may start taking an interest, as well. 6) Once the player upgrades a colony, they either move on or try to expand it. Once X colonies are connected (with ships or roads), with the right NPC they become one supercolony. Players can have 3-15 expansions at any one time (due to their skill limit on leader NPCs). Thoughts?
