Kinda like in civ 4 with indian tribes, you use a scout and when ur gona on a indian tribe square you get a random reward like gold or map or somit.

Yeah that for botf would be cool as in a random square holds a random reward or disaster. Using a scout would have greater chance of better reward?

That would increase the utility of the Scout, giving it another edge over the explorers (galaxy, sovereign)... I like it.

In my opinion it would be easy to code...

Small pop up window- Your scout in sector x,y discovers:

debris of ancient ship +1000 credits

splinter colony

ruins on ancient civilization +3 scan range for nearby space


Just exampls. in hope for improving Supremacy (or Bote)
gameplay.

Problem is. Splinter colony, how big would such a colony be? considering those were only a small group of people originally taking that voyage (the pilgrim fathers ) so without the constant swapping ppl overseas, america today would still be populated by winterhawks only (eh ok, I leave ground here a bit, get me back to earth asap lol, damn fast tongue..). no I mean, such a colony would have what 1 million habitants max, no much tech of course and rather useless IMO on a strategic level. Colonizing it on your own would probably prove much more valuable since your colonists take some new tech into the land. Well so if it is to be implemented then just as a start-period gimmick like in civ1,well let's see.

if a major voyage had been planned decades ago before the game started (a thing that is not so easy with level 0 tech...) then it must be known somehow (rumours etc.) so it shouldn't be that much of a surprise then.

you see, there are some problems there concerning the overall effect such a discovery would have on strategic level you know..

I agree in term of low population for splinter colony but tech rate could be quite advanced. I don t i know if you remember in ST Voyager season 2 (I think) Janeway dicovers in Delta Q. inhabited planet populated with humans! Human splinter colony I think Briori,that was name. Briori (humans) were kidnapped by aliens from Earth in mid 20th cent. and taken in Delta to custody. After some time they escaped... splinter colony... so on...so on... My pointer is they were advanced civ with space ships, replicators..

In strategic view finding splinter colony with some tech in distant space out of reach for colony ship could be precious (refueling ships, referent point for new explorations...)

okay if you see it that way.

I think one can add a "story" to the news box when finding such a splinter colony.

I was just thinkin, I mean the Romulans are a splinter colony too from the Vulcans so I though maybe particuliarly the romulans could have a better chance to find their own kind (which became astray during the long flight back when they "escaped" vulcan). Would level up their probs with minors a bit.

the feds only get big morale bonusses when they finally reunite as family with a long-lost "group of people". I don't think the cochrane engine would take them far enough and the thing with the aliens taking them away, well maybe to the delta quadrant which is not represented on the galaxy map of botf2 so we leave it with that one exception. In canon star trek, I think it could have been scarcely possible that the vulcans with their way better warp drive played taxi for a lot of humans willing to get to another planet and start over again after ww3.

well, to get a conclusion here, I think it's worth adding it but it must be adapted to canon star trek a little bit so not all races (depending on their warp tech and civilization history) get real grown-up colonies with enough population to be significant. The others get other bonusses/boni like morale, tech maybe or simply a small outpost. don't know how to implement this yet..

I concur with your conclusion Malv!

I think splinter colony should be implemented in way Skeeter describe it.

Random square holds a random reward or disaster:

-splinter colony (rearly-maybe once or never)
-credit
-space map of few systems
-tech bonus
etc.

Hm there is problem, in this thread are bunch of nice ideas as I hear Mike wants only 10 or 15 random events in game... I have no information about SPuste opinion for Bote

that's not so much a question about opinion but of how easy to implement they are going to be. I know he wants to do at least as many events as in botf but everything else is just up to "let's see"

I'm actually glad this thread has been kick-started - because when my computer broke, the randoms went with it! 8O

...It's not a total loss though, I had an old backup and have been slowly resurrecting the randoms. You have NO idea how useful my list of randoms on the previous pages have been!

...

The way people are treating Splinter Colonies ISN'T how I originally intended it - it's a completely different idea, in fact.

I intended Splinter Colonies to be a system that broke away from your Empire - they would essentially be like another minor race. After a certain amount of time, the system would eventually show up in the Diplomacy screen, but it ould take a LOT of hard work to get them to join you again.

The idea of having "Lost Colonies" could be added as a new random event - it would be very easy to create a "back story" for these Lost Colonies - ALL of the random event messages have been written in the spirit of Trek - they don't just simply say "x has happened, resulting in y", they have a proper message, with the system governor begging for help, or Klingon curses, or technobabble, and so on. That's the main reason why they have taken so long to write. (Ignoring the computer problems i'm always suffering from! )

I could quite easily write a message for this. How about:

Lost Colonies (You encounter a system inhabited by your own people. Overjoyed at finally making contact, the system decides to join your mighty Empire)

Federation
Centuries ago, when we first looked to the stars, a group of pioneers left their homes in search of a new place to call their home. Stories have long been told of their struggle for survival and search for paradise, but nothing has been heard from them since. Until now, many believed the stories were nothing but old wives' tales. Our scout vessel in system _____ detected humanoid life, and established first contact. To the astonishment of the crew, the inhabitants were found to be human! They met our crew with open arms, and are looking to a new future within our great Federation.

Klingons
All warriors have heard the ancient stories of when Kahless fought the tyrant Molor. Kahless taught us that true Glory and Honour can only be gained in battle against enemies of the Empire. But some cowards did not believe in the teachings, and fled to the Stars. At long last, our Imperial Navy has found these cowards in system _____, and after our warriors defeated their leaders in honourable combat, the peope submitted to the glory of the Empire. Break out the Blood Wine! Our ancient brothers are feasting with us once again!

Romulans
It has been said that long ago, during the epic journey of our ancestors, our technology failed us, and a great number of our brothers were left behind. During a mission deep into enemy territory, the Tal Shiar confirmed that an unknown colony of Romulans was present in system _____. We have annexed the Territory and claim it in the name of Romulous.

Cardassians
We are a resourceful people. In the time when the weak Detapa council ruled our people, they lost track of many of our brothers, who were left to fend for themselves deep in space. After many centuries, a military scout restablished contact with some survivors of this time. They have survived well and found a Planet rich in resources in system _____. Cardassia smiles on our lost brothers.

Dominion
The Founders are truly wonderous! The Universe if full of a great many wonders, and now we have discovered another of their precious gifts. A lost colony was found in system _____. Our lost brothers have been welcomed into the servitude of our great Dominion.


What do people think?

...

As for the Delta Quadrant not being in the game, Malvoisin, it's gonna be in Supremacy.

MStrobel has already set up the map so it is split into four Quadrants - all that is needed is for the programming to be set in place so that the races appear in the correct places.

...

I love the idea of having "goody huts" in the game. They wouldn't be something that I would need to write proper messages for, (Unless people want me to) would be truly random, and as people have said, would give more use to the lower-tech Surveyors and Scouts. It would also mean players would be more inclined to send a ship to explore EVERY sector of space.

...

It doesn't matter that Mike only wants to program 10-15 randoms - if he uses XML, more can easily be programmed in later if people want more. (:mrgreen:)

Obviously it is up to SirPustekuchen how many he includes - and which ones.

all four quadrants (or even the delta quadrant alone) on the map? Matress! My screen's exploding

no really, if you put the whole delta quadrant in the game, well remember, the borg are living there, and well they are way bigger than all feds, roms, and whatever combined, so that ain't possible without makin the game structurally inconsistent I'm afraid. Even if you say: I don't care about canon as gene roddenberry did say too, well then the speed isn't accurate anymore and one should be able to fly from sol to romulus in one turn or even an hour to give you a hint about the related distances we are talking here about

Travelling through a quadrant (50000 ly)
at warp 6 at warp 8 at warp 9 at warp 9.6
127 years 49 years 32 years 26 years

so if I'd have the upper left corner of such a galaxy (remember a sector is just tiny weeny 20 ly ) i'd never be able to get anywhere near the bottom right and that's not satisfying not to mention how many planet systems and colonies I could get and then had to maintain, that would completely screw up the game even just to include the delta quadrant in total.

botf and all botf2s will use an intersection or the "middle part" (though it's not their actual mid part of course) of all 4 quadrants combined as it is shown here: http://www.stdimension.org/int/Cartography/mwdiv.htm


nice workin out with the random event text. yes those splinter colonies in that sense are already taken into deep consideration here with us.

Matress, you are first Star Trek poet in history! lol

Hehe thanks, Zeleni! Here's a pressie for you:

Download The Random Events In Their Current Form

Check your popup blockers!

...

Malvoisin, we aren't aiming for the game to be 100% accurate to canon - when I say the Delta Quadrant is in the game, I mean there is a physical line drawn on the map to separate it into the 4 corners, and the races will be programmed to show up in one of the four different corners.

...I'm NOT saying there will be 10000000000000000000000000 sectors in the game!

ah well. that's exactly how I meant it. just misunderstood (deliberately? ) your remark about the delta quadrant in the game. Well, that way it's canon by mstrobel and well, you could also add to the picture, that it's 1/10 of the actual size of those 4 quadrants shown on the map

Regarding the matter of the "surprises" that could be found in a sector, I would like to add something. In BOTF I, sometimes you wouldn't send a scout to every single sector since with it's wide range you would already know what it contained without physically going into it. The fact of having a potential bonus awaiting at any sector (which may or may not include a solar system) would be enticing enough to make you send a scout to every single square of the map, which in turn gives more reasons to have a scout built instead of a larger, more capable vessel (besides from the fact that it would be cheaper, which does not seem to convince everyone)

yeah. I thought of adding resource stockpiles to some sectors that you could find and practically "beam aboard" like some of you might know from Heroes of Might and Magic, the resources laying on the ground there. Well, one could think of this as if a hidden transporter fleet is always flying with the scout and mining those resources from a sector the next turn if the sector's safe from any enemy's fleet.

We would obviously have to make sure that the AI was capable of receiving these bonuses as well - there wouldn't be any point in searching for them otherwise, because you would KNOW that you were the only one that could get them.

If you know the AI is able to receive them, you will want to explore the Galaxy as fast as you possibly can to ensure you get as much as possible.

This system would tie in really well with the science-through-exploration system that me and Dafedz created in the database. Basically, EVERY "natural" object in the game would be scannable - Star Systems, Nebulas, Neutron Stars, Black Holes, Wormholes, Phenomena, and so on.

You would get a certain amount of research by scanning these objects based on your tech level and a load of other factors - better tech means better results afterall - but the longer you leave itm the lower the relative bonus will be. Each tech level requires more research than the last afterall.

Having research and goodies would be cool bonuses to keep people doing more than simply building and killing.

I know its not a random event but it cross my mind to give some difference to botf 2 from orginal botf...

Trade center- This is how it works, one solar system with small population (traders, merchants, smugglers) max 1-3 mil is place of large economic turnover, it is crosspoint where all merchants come to trade their goods.

You as major power can not attack or colonize this sort of system cause is no need for that.

This trade center turnover is for example : 9 systems * 9 systems that is 81 star systems ( center turnover= 10% of 81 sys economic output-production) so trade center generates credits. In this way TC is good source of money for power which controls it. (in form of all sorts of taxes)

How to control it:

You can not cocquer trade center, but you can control all
adjacent squares 8 / 8
to collect 100% of taxes (all trade routs to TC make their way trough your space) if you control 4/8 adjacent squares you get 50% of taxes ...and so on...

This kind of profit would be a reason for great battles...just idea...waiting for construcive critic....

Hey, I had an idea for you about the "secret goodies" in different sectors. I think you know of Galactic Civilizations, and there you'd have different anomalies which your explorer could scan, giving you a bonus in tech, ship stats, or flat out resources. I don't know how difficult this would be to write, but you might consider having a random "treasure chest" generator that would put little goodies--maybe some you can see and some you can't--continuously throughout the entire game in different sectors. Think of how many times during the different shows they'd find something new and wondrous in a previously explored region of space. This would also give you a reason to keep scouts roaming both explored and unexplored territory throughout the entire game instead of just in your early expansion phase, then sitting in spacedock forever until you manage to break through another empire's barrier.

I was also wondering on a tangent if you've thought anything more about how you'll handle the Borg. I'm assuming they'll be based in the Delta Quadrant for authenticity, but also there won't be any major powers to oppose them anywhere nearby, right? Wouldn't that give the Borg a massive advantage of becoming insanely powerful, and kind of ruin all the hard work put into developing the minors of the Delta Quadrant? I for one would love to play as the Borg and assimilate the galaxy, but I also don't want, when I play as the Federation or Romulans, them destroying everything long before I can get there to find it as happens way too often in the Ultimate Mod 3. If this is a problem, I thought of a couple of possible fixes:

1) The Borg are confined to a particular region, away from all minors, and unable to expand except through slow colonization (I know, not exactly Borg standard, but keep in mind people will want to play the game and see all your hard work) for say the first 150-200 turns.

2) Minor races, at least in the Delta Quadrant, get defense bonuses with a chance of surviving a Borg attack, especially in space battles.

3) Assimilated minors have a chance of survivors recolonizing a farther away planet say 20-50 turns after their homeworld falls, hopefully well clear of Borg space, or perhaps they could ask a major empire/powerful minor for a system/protection if they're close enough or in contact.

4) The Delta Quadrant has a good number of powerful, expansive minor races who will join together--even if they hate each other--to stop or slow Borg expansion. I don't think they should go on the offensive, but if they'd join up to protect each other that could make them last a while, and then getting them on your side would be a lot more attractive even in spite of the increased risk of running into the Borg.

5) The Borg can only assimilate a max number of Delta Quadrant minors. I don't like this idea since it seems awfully fake, and any number will be pretty arbitrary, but from a programming standpoint it might also be the easiest to implement. Just thought I'd throw it out.

6) The Borg don't show up ever before say turn 200, or approximately as long as you figure it would take for someone in the opposite corner of the map to expand far enough to reach the Delta Quadrant.

I like the idea of having random bonuses scattered throughout the map, so don't be surprised if you see something like that later on in the game's development .

As for the Borg, they won't be implemented for a while (they're not critical to the game), but at present I intend for them to work similarly to BotF.

I thought the way the Borg would be handled was discussed in a previous thread? something along the lines of they begin by sending a scout, then progressively send out larger ships until then finally begin to conquer and assimialte worlds.

I hope the idea of exploration and earning research is still going to be implemented.

wheres Grand Archon MOE keeper of books and antiquities when you need him

*Shuffling noises*


*Key turns in an ancient, dusty lock*


*Light floods the room, blinding the keeper of knowledge temporarily*


*Out he shuffles carrying the awesome book of BOTF2 knowledge*


"Ahh here it is..."




The system that you mentioned cdrwolfe is the system that I have described in the random events. I must point out however that the randoms have not been agreed on by ANYONE yet, and it will be up to the devs to descide which of my randoms they will use - even if they decide to use my system!

It'll be up to Mike since he is the grand master of Supremacy decisions.

...We just need to inform him better.