Thanks

About the expanding theory of the minors, is it nescessary to have a set limit of expansion? Isn't a rate just enough? I mean, the purpose of such a constraint is to prevent the minors from outgrowing the major races, correct? I just don't think putting in a hard coded limit of systems is the right way to do it.

1. In the beginning of the game minors can still outgrow majors if they only have a limit in expansion but not a limit in the rate of expansion. If the minors start colonising like crazy the moment they can build colony ships it might be a problem.

2. In the end game, no minors can expand and (the ones that still live, that is) remain rather weal compared to all the huge major empires and be not much of a challenge to overcome.

Thus, I'd rather see a constraint in the forms of "the Vulcans can only colonise 1 planet every 30 turns" or something like that, and have no specific maximum. In that case, should they be isolated in a corner of the galaxy, then can continue growing like you expect.



Why won't a minor race be motivated to declare war for the sake of expanding? You will not expect it from a race as the Vulcans, but I see the Sheliak, Talarians, Andorians, Kazon, etc, etc. as guys who would gladly do that for that purpose. Perhaps put in the same constraints as said above (maximum number of planets to conquer) but I think that a mighty Kazon empire bordered by a single Mintakan colony would be all the provocation the Kazon need to conquer them.

you have to be aware that a minor might break apart once reaching too big empire sizes. It's a minor in the end and that's for a reason. It just cannot cope with being as big as a major can be (at least that's my "explanation" for not being able to make no difference between major and minor in terms of expansion in-game ).

of course, this all depends on each race and is not really realistic. but for the sake of gameplay..who wants the map overcrowded with sheliaks? plus, if they get as big as a major, I'm sure Vulcan, which is then threatened, changes its politics too and starts expanding. Then you got a spiral that draws every minor into a major role...

Expansion limits for minors should stay though, somewhat changed. Sheliak for example can normally expand until reaches 5 star systems after that he expands in slow pace obtaining about 1 star system per 25, 50 or 100 turns. With expansion limit and expansion modifier it's easy to balance entire galaxy.

Maybe, in other hand some minor powers should be set to limitless expansion like Gorn, Kazon, T'Rogorans.... They would act like major empires in diplomacy, expansion, war and maybe in victory conditions (Gorn crash human player) adding more trek feel to the game.

Also, few non playable minors with limitless expansion will make in future modders life easier, adding new empires without losing old ones. :

Hi all. Love the game so far! My questions about all this are -

1. Is it possible to make all minor race shipyards a kind of 'wonder' (one per empire type affair) with slightly larger ranges depending on their status - Primitive, Emerging power, etc? This wouldn't limit their imperial activity but rather limit their potential sphere of influence. This would mean not allowing them to have outposts that extended ship range either, however.

2. If they do have conquest ability, what happens if one minor race, say, the Andorians, conquers another minor race such as the Bolians and later signs a membership treaty? What happens to the Bolians and all the Andorians' other systems?

Hey RedSonia, here's your answers:

1) This is a VERY easy change to make in Supremacy's editor. All of the minor races just have three generic shipyard structures, the Basic Shipyard, the Medium Shipyard, and the Advanced Shipyard (Only the Empires have their own specific shipyard structures and models), so all you need to do as click on the "One Per Empire" option in the editor for each of these structures.

So it's a change you can make yourself. Open up your Supremacy folder, and look for a file called "SupremacyEditor2.exe" and click it. It can take up to a minute before the editor loads so don't click it again until you're sure nothing is happening. Click on the buildings button at the top of the screen, then double-click on the structure you want to edit in the top-right list of buildings. Go to the scroll list at the bottom of the page that loads up, and scroll right to the bottom. The "One Per Empire" check box is there. Click it. Then close the editor and save your changes when the dialogue box appears.

I'm not sure if the minor race shipyards are implemented in your copy of the game though; i'm working on a major content update and I haven't got a clue what is and isn't included in the default game anymore. It doesn't hurt to begin experimenting with the game now though.

Here's a screenshot of the sort of thing you'll see when you load up the editor. It was too big to put in a post:

http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/8328/oneperempirebg9.jpg


2) That's not something we've actually discussed, but I imagine that the minor races will behave like the Empires. You will be able liberate any occupied systems (And get a huge morale boost and other bonuses for doing so, as well as a penalty from the race that was doing the occupying for obvious reasons) but if a minor wipes out a minor race then that minor race is wiped out. The end. You won't get a chance to contact the extinct race, nor will you get their bonuses if you colonised what remains of their system.

This is speculation on my part as we haven't discussed it yet and the AI hasn't been implemented, but i'm sure Mike will post here if he has other plans for the minors.

Groovy!