Greetings folks!
I am having a 'blast' as always and was thinking (which is very dangerous). I know we have the nicer extreme planets which are typically class 12-14+ being radioactive and toxic. However by that stage in the game, its really not as 'needed' for me at least (and I play on far fewer worlds available). Paul had done this to make colonizing more worthwhile in the late game. Which to be honest was a good attempt but I really don't bother. If there is a planet I want, I will USUALLY just DOW and take it.
I would love to see a change in the tech tree where extreme planet Terraforming can be had in 'age of expansion', and have the planet weights modded to have slightly more of these types when generating your galaxy. Also if the solar system thingy can create systems that are tighter together with say 2 normal planets and 1 extreme or 2 extreme and 1 normal all within the same solar system. I found that I enjoy creating specialty systems based on where I can gather production.
Which brings me to a further change. Can we bring back ( I see a DLC coming) the other extreme types? Heavy gravity (Soldiering bonus to transports from this world), Light gravity (trade bonus), Ice or Hoth type, (These are already in I think), Volcanic worlds, (you get the point). All of which are NOT specialized but would have their OWN arm of Terraforming which starts at the beginning. This initial Terraforming tech is the same cost at your econo one but then your specialty will be to:
- Lower unhappiness ( I can see an innate unhappiness built in to offset nice bonuses)
- Lower costs of maintenance of said planets by say 5%.
- Offset production penalty by 5 or 10% till you get to full specialization.
Now we have the Terraforming started which allows you to colonize ALL first tier extreme with the usual 50% penalty however AFTER you pick up your planetary specialization the tree forks into 6 or even 7 paths all research-able but only good for ONE type of extreme planet. I know this would clutter up the nice tech tree we have but really that entire line needs to be its OWN arm under the Green tech line, or we can have some arms under the production line but again starting at Age of Expansion.
This will make the colonization rush more frantic by giving the player choices up front for planning which I think is a good thing. My ideas are simply to load up the choices and add to the colonization phase of our 4x game.
Perhaps others here have better ideas?
Oh and can we do more with the Pirates. I am going to plug my ideas again about adding them as a 'special' faction that you can 'negotiate' with and have separate factions and goals in game but cannot vote in the UP and are generally HATED by everyone.
Happy Thursday!