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[ZeroGravitas]

We're fairly frequently at each other's throats on our own planet, within our own species.

Because we have the same biology and the same technology. We compete for the same things. Even though China is different from the US, they're competing using the same human standards for the same human things.

I can't fathom how two vastly different species would not be warring constantly if stuck on a planet together, especially if we consider things like natural resources.

Again, you're assuming they have the same physical needs. Our food needs are fairly specific. Maybe the aliens are equally specific and don't overlap (like they eat basal wood and dirt, or something). Or they're totally nonspecific and they can eat everything. Imagine they can "eat" basically any organic matter and have symbiotic yeasts inside of them that distill "garbage" to make digestible "food" for aliens.

Worse, I don't see how the newer species would've put themselves in that position willingly (without nefarious intent), and the older not consider such intrusion an invasion.

Incredibly context dependent. Maybe it's a planet that was part of no recognized political entity, or perhaps claimed by both, and only lightly settled by both over time. This question is meaningless.

How would we react, having enough trouble sharing resources with each other, if an alien species descended upon Earth and marked its territory, therefore restricting our own and everything that entails? What if the aforementioned dolphins were actually sapient, had a fully industrialized civilization, and declared large swathes of ocean their territory, asking some manner of payment to permit exploitation therein? It wouldn't be remotely pretty.

Uh... the vast, vast majority of the Earth's oceans are totally useless to us. Think of how useless huge tracts of Siberia and North America are (western US and Canada in particular). Then imagine those useless tracts of land covered by miles of ocean. And that's 2/3rd of the Earth's surface. If industrialized dolphins could do anything remotely useful with the ocean it would be a godsend. They could do whatever it is they want to do down there and anything we could trade with them for would be profit to us.

Or far more locally and personally, how would you feel if any random person walked into your home and said "okay, so I'm living here from now on"?

You have no imagination.

[Rolan7]

Maybe it's a bit different from an American perspective, where we have a ton of barely utilized space (mostly because it's not economical to utilize, or because we'd be destroying ancient ecosystems).  The idea of cohabiting a continent with something alien doesn't seem so strange, we practically do.  And then you have to consider oceans, icy poles, and deserts.  There is energy and life there, it's just not practical for humans.

[Greenbane]

Yeah, a significant bunch of aliens we meet are likely to be superbly symbiotic with us: they will do exactly what we don't need/want to do and viceversa. No clash whatsoever, and everyone gets rich. Nobody else wants common mineral resources like metals, so we can keep them to ourselves hassle-free. And the oceans are useless. Who needs water, food or more resources exploitable with future technology? Because it's all about just food, right? And that's bound to be different and entirely non-invasive and non-overlapping for each species, just like their preferred habitats. And who needs territory anyway? I mean, there's a whole universe out there, sure, but let's all share planets since that's bound to generate no significant degree of conflict at all.

Moving on, that ground battle screen looks interesting. The battle could have three phases and they may not even be sequential: the war on the ground might be the decisive part for the attacker, but wouldn't sustain itself without maintaining superiority in the air and orbit. And there's generals involved as well. Sort of reminds me of Hearts of Iron.

[ZeroGravitas]

Yeah, a significant bunch of aliens we meet are likely to be superbly symbiotic with us: they will do exactly what we don't need/want to do and viceversa.

Actually, most likely they don't breathe oxygen or survive in the same temperature range as us.

No clash whatsoever, and everyone gets rich. Nobody else wants common mineral resources like metals, so we can keep them to ourselves hassle-free.

Like you just said: minerals and metals are common. There is no need to fight over them. If you have a space-faring civilization, the idea that you would land on a planet to get metals is idiotic. Once you are flying in space, the last thing you do is land to get metal. This isn't a matter of science fiction; it's pure physics. Why would you land on a planet to get 1000 tons of nickel-iron ore when you can find the same thing floating in space, or on an uninhabited moon?

And the oceans are useless. Who needs water, food or more resources exploitable with future technology?

The oceans are useless to us, yes. Not sure what species you're a part of, but us humans don't have a use for seawater in any real capacity. Fish and sea plants are an incredibly minor part of human diets.

Sentient dolphins would probably increase human food and mineral availability, not decrease it. Growing kelp on the seabed is really difficult if you're a human. Presumably it's much easier if you're a sentient dolphin. Same thing with, say, deep water oil drilling and mining. Dolphin workers would be great both for extraction and for environmental cleanup.

Because it's all about just food, right? And that's bound to be different and entirely non-invasive and non-overlapping for each species, just like their preferred habitats. And who needs territory anyway? I mean, there's a whole universe out there, sure, but let's all share planets since that's bound to generate no significant degree of conflict at all.

I'm glad you're so sure about a hypothetical thing we have never observed a single example of. There could be interspecies conflicts, but there is little reason to think it would be motivated by the same things as intraspecies conflicts.

[Retropunch]

Yeah, a significant bunch of aliens we meet are likely to be superbly symbiotic with us: they will do exactly what we don't need/want to do and viceversa. No clash whatsoever, and everyone gets rich. Nobody else wants common mineral resources like metals, so we can keep them to ourselves hassle-free. And the oceans are useless. Who needs water, food or more resources exploitable with future technology? Because it's all about just food, right? And that's bound to be different and entirely non-invasive and non-overlapping for each species, just like their preferred habitats. And who needs territory anyway? I mean, there's a whole universe out there, sure, but let's all share planets since that's bound to generate no significant degree of conflict at all.

You're also overlooking that we blow each other up just for funsies sometimes. Literally ten minutes into meeting the first extraterrestrial life form we will claim they worship false gods/stole our oil/have WMDs/look funny and go to war with them about it. 

[gimli]

Yeah, a significant bunch of aliens we meet are likely to be superbly symbiotic with us: they will do exactly what we don't need/want to do and viceversa. No clash whatsoever, and everyone gets rich. Nobody else wants common mineral resources like metals, so we can keep them to ourselves hassle-free. And the oceans are useless. Who needs water, food or more resources exploitable with future technology? Because it's all about just food, right? And that's bound to be different and entirely non-invasive and non-overlapping for each species, just like their preferred habitats. And who needs territory anyway? I mean, there's a whole universe out there, sure, but let's all share planets since that's bound to generate no significant degree of conflict at all.

You're also overlooking that we blow each other up just for funsies sometimes. Literally ten minutes into meeting the first extraterrestrial life form we will claim they worship false gods/stole our oil/have WMDs/look funny and go to war with them about it.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[Rolan7]

Besides... who says the aliens have to be free?  Even if each alien used up exactly as much resources as a human, like say they're rubber-forehead aliens, we'd tolerate some degree of immigration.  We pretty much already do that on a race level...  And there are significant benefits.  It'd be even more tolerable with a star empire, where we aren't squabbling over survival resources anymore.  More optimizing our production of galaxy-influencing ships or trade goods or whatever.

[Shadowlord]

Yeah, a significant bunch of aliens we meet are likely to be superbly symbiotic with us: they will do exactly what we don't need/want to do and viceversa. No clash whatsoever, and everyone gets rich. Nobody else wants common mineral resources like metals, so we can keep them to ourselves hassle-free. And the oceans are useless. Who needs water, food or more resources exploitable with future technology? Because it's all about just food, right? And that's bound to be different and entirely non-invasive and non-overlapping for each species, just like their preferred habitats. And who needs territory anyway? I mean, there's a whole universe out there, sure, but let's all share planets since that's bound to generate no significant degree of conflict at all.

You're also overlooking that we blow each other up just for funsies sometimes. Literally ten minutes into meeting the first extraterrestrial life form we will claim they worship false gods/stole our oil/have WMDs/look funny and go to war with them about it.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

So, languages, are they a thing?

[Urist McScoopbeard]

Loving the ridiculous arguments and stuff, but since it has zero real relevance to the game could we like... stay on topic? I for one look forward to intergalactic slavery in all its wondrous forms.

[Teneb]

Loving the ridiculous arguments and stuff, but since it has zero real relevance to the game could we like... stay on topic? I for one look forward to intergalactic slavery in all its wondrous forms.

Fungoid master race will enslave all others.

[Cruxador]

So, languages, are they a thing?

There are communication difficulties at first contact, then you need to research the new neighbor, and after that language differences are irrelevant.

Loving the ridiculous arguments and stuff, but since it has zero real relevance to the game could we like... stay on topic? I for one look forward to intergalactic slavery in all its wondrous forms.

This post contributes less to the conversation than the ones preceding it.

[Orange Wizard]

So, languages, are they a thing?

There are communication difficulties at first contact, then you need to research the new neighbor, and after that language differences are irrelevant.

Yeah, both sides would (presumably) have a vested interest in communicating, and would be willing to co-operate for translators and such.

[majikero]

I think one of the dev diary said that taking an alien planet instantly unlocks their language but they will forever remember the "first contact war".

[Urist McScoopbeard]

I think one of the dev diary said that taking an alien planet instantly unlocks their language but they will forever remember the "first contact war".

If I recall correctly that only applies when you declare war on them basically as soon as you meet them and they haven't discovered you (or something like that)

[Dostoevsky]

The oceans are useless to us, yes. Not sure what species you're a part of, but us humans don't have a use for seawater in any real capacity. Fish and sea plants are an incredibly minor part of human diets.

The report is close to 10 years old now, but according to the UN Food and Ag organization fish accounted for 15.7% of the world's animal protein intake and just over 6% of all protein consumed. A sizable portion of that comes from aquaculture, but a sizable portion remains fishing. I'd argue that's not an insignificant portion. Not sure if you're from the US, but as I understand it the US tends to be a bit of an aberration on the fish consumption front (what with our cheap factory landmeats).

I'd also like to note that overfishing is a very real issue. Again using slightly old numbers, the percentage of fish stocks that are 'underexploited' has plummeted over the last few decades from ~40% to ~15%. Roughly 50 percent are 'fully exploited', and about 28 percent are 'overexploited' (the remainder are depleted or recovering from depletion).

On the game-related front--

I think one of the dev diary said that taking an alien planet instantly unlocks their language but they will forever remember the "first contact war".

If I recall correctly that only applies when you declare war on them basically as soon as you meet them and they haven't discovered you (or something like that)

From Dev Diary #20: "Like in most of our games, occupying a planet with your armies does not mean it immediately becomes yours, of course; you need to demand it in the peace talks. There is a notable exception to this rule though; so called “first contact wars”. Before you have established communications with another civilization, it is possible to simply attack them and even take one of their planets (but once you take a planet, communications are immediately established.) Of course, such early hostility will never be forgotten, and will sour your relations for the rest of the game…"