[Cosmos2-code] RE: [Cosmos2-design] Some cool idea about Nebula, Black hole, Space gate, Space "High Way" !

[Ben K. <ben...@it...>]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: cos...@li...
> [mailto:cos...@li...]On Behalf Of Glenn
> Nilsen
> Sent: Tuesday, 13 May 2003 3:50 PM
> To: cos...@li...
> Subject: [Cosmos2-design] Some cool idea about Nebula, Black hole, Space
> gate, Space "High Way" !
>
>
> I have some cool ideas about nebula, black hole, space
> gate, space "high way".

Sound good keep them comming

>
> Nebula :
>
> We can hide the a fleet in the nebula. (Greatly
> reduced sensor ranges)

Will definetly do this. Ships in a Nebula will have an increased cloaking
value - Also shields will be reduced in combat .


> If we can gas mine nebulas, then we most have some
> ships how to do that, then we have some actual use
> from nebula.

Fuel scoops will be much more efficient.  They can refuel . The only gas in
the game will be air as for most races colonies will not be on compatible
planets and need to be supplied.

>
> Black hole :
> this is a funny one, if your fleet is going in to a
> Black hole then you will not know here they are going
> to, but after they have left the black hole, you will
> find your fleet. High risk of damages.

At this point they will be visable and ships going in that area will have
their course slightly altered ( eg more fuel ) . This may result in
collisions but more likely it will just take another turn. Combat could be
interesting though.

>
> Space gate :
>
> This is a good thing to have if the enemy attacks a
> friends and your fleet can help him quickly. Also for
> travel between your own systems. (Expensive,
> high-tech. Have to be built close to something with
> gravity? (planet/star) )

Yep expensive and high tech - may also have very high tech gates which are
just used by units eg not ships ... They are not usefull for attacking
though (except a backstab on an ally). I will limit the total mass which
moves through it per turn.

>
> Space highway:
>
> Something like the railways in Civilization: you use
> time and resources to build a link between place A and
> B, letting ships travel faster (something around 3x
> normal speed?). The most realistic would be if it was
> possible to attack it, disrupting traffick at the
> destroyed point. (OTOH any ships that enter would
> appear right among the attackers, making it risky, but
> possibly profitable)

No Im against this  , star gates( custom worm holes) will help somewhat. I
saw it used in MOO3 and SEIV ( though at high tech you can get around
this) )   but I feel the Stars free form creates much more interesting
strategy . The attacking opportunities are much greater and you have
skirmishes and sensors become important. With highways if you are more
powerrfull  your fleet just blocks the choke point. It also allows nice
minefields and cloaking .  Also transports need to be protected or they can
be skirmished ...and if a vacuum colony does not get their air and suplies
they die after a while ... much more interesting :-)

Supply is already a huge problem in space and hence bases and colonies are
critical. Along with fuel and travel times defenders have enough advantages
and I dont want to anymore by creating choke points.  The Colonies and bases
are the critical target similar to WWII blue navy strategy with bases being
key.  You can defend some of them but if you break up your fleet to defend
all you are susceptable to a big attack on a single point.

The earlier techs will not allow practical interstellar travel and will just
allow you to explore and colonise your system. I want to simulate a power
like US , China etc expanding from earth ( and one of the scenarios will
have a number of players based on earth) these will settle the system they
are in and develop. At a certain point players can develop Hyper drives or
warp drives and begin interstellar travel. Interstellar probes and
Generation ships are possible earlier but Im not sure on this ( it would
mean the gap to Hyper drives is larger)

In the early years turns  will correspond to about 20 years , this will
reduce as certain techs are obtained to about 3 months per turn at the end.
This WILL impact production but higher techs will increase this hence your
production (per planet) will not increase much in most games ( I have also
considered longer peace turns and quick war turns but I am not sure how to
work this in a multi player context eg if 2 players are going for it
everyone else is slow...) . I really want to show the fact that once
interstellar war starts with Warp drives you will not be able to build much
, hence you need to plan and rely more on diplomacy.

Ben