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[GentlemanRaptor]

eXplorminate is a relatively small channel/website that covers 4x games, and they might be interested in this. They're located at www.explorminate.com.

[Retropunch]

PTW, this looks fantastic!
I'm mainly interested in the espionage side of it though - this was always one of my favourite parts about 4x games, as it's the only bit that is really outside the normal 'grind'. You can (or should) be able to drastically change the landscape by assassinating a rebel leader, stealing tech or spreading dissent or whatever.

Unfortunately, most 4x games put this wayyyy in the background and don't make enough of it. As this is a 'high level' 4x, will you be making a lot more of Espionage?

[etgfrog]

MoO3? Unlikely, I loathed that game.

Well the big thing in my opinion is make sure the automation doesn't override the player's input. What was happening was the planets were considering the guidelines that the player set to only be 10% of the weight in what was built, unless you manually built on every planet.

[Asgarus]

Aren't there even some let's players in our community? (I can't think of any names right now, though...)

And... this looks and sounds fantastic, I can't wait to play it. Keep up the great work!

[GentlemanRaptor]

Tad30s does some, and his voice is just magnificent. He isn't really on Bay12 anymore (last active June 22nd of last year), though. Might be worth shooting him a message at his YouTube channel.

[flap]

Hmm, that's really a game I wish to play.
The "fleet, squadrow, ships" video was very interresting...

Will we have any chance to take part to alpha or beta testing ?   

[LordArchibald]

PTW, this looks fantastic!
I'm mainly interested in the espionage side of it though - this was always one of my favourite parts about 4x games, as it's the only bit that is really outside the normal 'grind'. You can (or should) be able to drastically change the landscape by assassinating a rebel leader, stealing tech or spreading dissent or whatever.

Unfortunately, most 4x games put this wayyyy in the background and don't make enough of it. As this is a 'high level' 4x, will you be making a lot more of Espionage?

Hmmm, depends what you mean, it seems you mean spying in a very broad sense (not intelligence gathering but assassinations, special ops and the like). I think it will be utilized by an audience system (your operatives reporting and proposing certain actions - based on alien race special traits) rather than by a traditional spy mechanic. Actually, I have some of these in my design doc... I don't want to make promises, the espionage/special ops system will be done quite late. But it will indeed fit the audience mechanic (also the AI mechanic - actually at the moment you are getting invasion reports "hacked" from the AI routines) so me making that aspect noticeably stronger than in other games is relatively likely.

MoO3? Unlikely, I loathed that game.

Well the big thing in my opinion is make sure the automation doesn't override the player's input. What was happening was the planets were considering the guidelines that the player set to only be 10% of the weight in what was built, unless you manually built on every planet.

The player won't be able to build manually on planets (exceptions). It's not planetary automation but autonomy.
Generally, the game is not about building milions buildings on hundreds planets. It's about the Emperor ruling the Empire. And a true emperor definitely does not concern himself with build farms

Hmm, that's really a game I wish to play.
The "fleet, squadrow, ships" video was very interresting...

Will we have any chance to take part to alpha or beta testing ?   

I plan to make crowdfunding (IndieGoGo) quite soon, one of the rewards would be early access of some sort. But note that at the moment the game is not playable nor balanced (there is a lot of unique mechanics - like hierarchical military and audience and I'm still finishing these). Once that's done it should proceed much more rapidly.

[94dima94]

PTW

[LordArchibald]

Exploration system:

(video) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpvMMDqkItY
(text) http://silverlemur.tumblr.com/post/120122207336/exploration

* You don't send scout units
* Miliary units can never enter unexplored system (starlane not mapped)
* Exploration is done by abstract "survey teams" each turn (1-3 systems per turn depending on your investment/setup) and it's a mix of automated and priority based system

In short, most of the time the trivial exploration choices the game will make for you (like: explore first all system neighbour to my colonized planets) while allowing you to take over anytime by exploration priority system. So you deal with exploration only if you have some non standard/special needs and don't need to deal with tedious trivial exploration you would do typically.

(the system is already implemented and works, as a player I like it a lot)

[Shadowgandor]

I'm thinking of an alien life form similar to a game called Creeper World. It was a strategy game where you had to place your towers in a way that blocked and pushed back an infinite amount of blob-like nanobots. The goal in that game was usually to destroy the source to stop the spreading of the blob. Something like this could work in this game too perhaps? It would at least be a unique 4x enemy!

[mainiac]

It would be cool if there were mechanics that rewarded using alien races as border states.  Having a human world invaded by evil aliens would create a rally around the flag but means you have a crisis you need to deal with RIGHT NOW or appear weak.  Having an alien realm invaded by evil aliens is an issue you can deal with but one that you can leave on the backburner if you want to deal with something else first.

[flap]

The most fun I would see with aliens, is if we could sometime cohexist in the same planets, but following very different rules (for example no using the same ressources).

This could for example create situations where we easilly colonize alien systems (as they would not resist), but generate the dangerous situation of having to meshed foreign empires (what happends if they suddenly want to get rid of you ?)

I could also imagine :
dormant aliens (such as the parasite) in planets you own,
aliens who can travel through another spaceline network, and thus colonize planet you don't normally have acces to...

I am sure that there is plenty of room down that track o do interresting things there !

[LordArchibald]

I'm thinking of an alien life form similar to a game called Creeper World. It was a strategy game where you had to place your towers in a way that blocked and pushed back an infinite amount of blob-like nanobots. The goal in that game was usually to destroy the source to stop the spreading of the blob. Something like this could work in this game too perhaps? It would at least be a unique 4x enemy!

Heh, funny you mentioned CW Yeah, there is a slight CW feel to the game (but a slight one). With some races (parasites) there is a sort of "pressure" that builds up from their homeworld and you need to build "blasters" on your planets to stop/slow down the "creep"

Definitely such or similar mechanic is compatible with the game (on some abstract level of course). Also I slightly try to go in that direction when possible (I don't want to make it a traditional 4X with no combat most of the game and then one battle and everything is decided - a gameplay where you try to stop a wave of aliens is much more to my liking).

My biggest problem is what to do when the "creep" breaks through your first line of defence (it kind of dismantles slowly/quickly your empire then unless you quickly move your squadrons to make a new line). My first thought is to give the player cheap/free yet limited (number of guns) stationary planetary defences AND make some rule that aliens have to stop for a turn or two (like supply lines mechanic for example, or by some other means) after conquering a world before proceeding furter into player's territory.
Note: I have not tested nor fully implemented that part yet so I just speculate.

It would be cool if there were mechanics that rewarded using alien races as border states.

Yes... I think it would be cool too. Althrough I'm not sure I can make that one work.

The most fun I would see with aliens, is if we could sometime cohexist in the same planets, but following very different rules (for example no using the same ressources).

This could for example create situations where we easilly colonize alien systems (as they would not resist), but generate the dangerous situation of having to meshed foreign empires (what happends if they suddenly want to get rid of you ?)

I could also imagine :
dormant aliens (such as the parasite) in planets you own,
aliens who can travel through another spaceline network, and thus colonize planet you don't normally have acces to...

I am sure that there is plenty of room down that track o do interresting things there !

coexisting on same planet - No... Well, partially no. Each planet has to be owned by a single race, but after conquest the old race stays (so a single planet can have several races as inhabitants). Also there most likely will be hidden rebel bases and pirates bases (they would exist on planets owned by others).

dormant aliens - definitely yes, I was thinking of "war machines" that are burried deep below the ground and then wake up on turn 300 and start wreaking havock and attacking everyone

aliens who can travel through another spaceline network - Rather not... I was considering it but it would be quite messy (map wise) and quite confusing. Conveying to the player the information how it works would be not worth the effect I suppose.
(coincidentally, the engine allows implementing something like that, but I guess I would skip it

Note there might be an option for artifacts that collapse starlanes/etc (the engine allows it) but again, I'm not sure it would be worth the additional confusion.

[gantrakk]

For possible neutral or friendly aliens could have aliens that live in gas giants, possible that they could be within the empires borders for some time before they are even known to exist. An immediate thought on trade of gases for heavy elements comes to mind.

There is also the possibility of other human territories of whatever governmental type you like either already existing or springing from non governmental groups doing their own scouting and colonising, with any kind of relations from future peacefully joining empire world to ally to trade partner to mortal enemy depending on whatever variables desired.

For snowballing have you considered that when sending more ships at the enemy along with more of your own ships suffering minor damage needing repair so having more ships unavailable for a while simply being deployed to a combat area is going to put more strain on the ships systems so will mean they need to dock up for maintenance earlier and more often so leaving you temporarily weaker at a possibly inopportune moment.

This often overlooked maintenance part of logistics can make for some nice problems or questions like do you send a really large fleet to make sure you win this battle and then have to repair and refit a significant portion of the fleet at once so having a time in which those ships can't react or a smaller fleet that should get the job done and not put such a strain on the maintenance docks.

There is also the question of if you even have sufficient maintenance and repair facilities in that part of your empire to send the big fleets let alone repair battle damage or does every ship cycling through the fleet have to fly several weeks/months/whatever to the battle area deploy for however long and then fly back for maintenance increasing the number of ships  needed to maintain a certain sized fleet? or if it is damaged so it can't make it back is it scuttled? making losses far from home more expensive or is it towed back by other ships increasing the number of ships needed again? or perhaps this is a question of if you win the battle as towing might be difficult when losing and as such losing when attacking could be really bad.

[flap]

coexisting on same planet - No... Well, partially no. Each planet has to be owned by a single race, but after conquest the old race stays (so a single planet can have several races as inhabitants). Also there most likely will be hidden rebel bases and pirates bases (they would exist on planets owned by others).

dormant aliens - definitely yes, I was thinking of "war machines" that are burried deep below the ground and then wake up on turn 300 and start wreaking havock and attacking everyone

Hmm, several races as inhabitants, that could lead to interresting mecanism.

Have you defined yet how it will work ?

• Will it have impacts on the planet ? (positive / negative)
• Are there any way to handle population migration / deplacement ?

Not sure that it would fit the game, but I could imagine synergies (positive or negative) between populations on the same planet, or even neighbouring planets...