6549

I’m not familiar with the governors, I only played up to Civilization 3. So I’ll restrict my discussion to MOO2 here.

In MOO2, yes, absolutely.

Look, the first couple of systems that I developed, let’s call them Sol and Alpha Centauri still have my best worlds in them. They have the biggest population center that I use to send colonists to new places, they still have the biggest production center, they still have the biggest science production planet. Those worlds all do feel distinctive and don’t feel generic, because I made all the decisions that made those worlds specialized the way they are. Well, I did, along with the distribution of random resources that I was dealt.

Do the planets that developed later that I let the AI handle feel more generic? Yep, as they should. I’m more attached to the original worlds, as I should be.

I don’t think this is the case is it? I thought in MOO2 you could create a default template for the AI to follow? Maybe I’m not remembering correctly. I played it mostly hotseat multiplayer, so maybe I’m remembering how we got really good at doing a quick template for the worlds that we did want to specialize. Either way, these are usually exceptional cases, for example, colonizing a Rainbow World, or some other special place, and you can make a little bit of time and setup a queue instead of automating that world. The game is designed for you to pay special attention to worlds that are different, that have more resources than usual, or worlds that are closer to enemy lines. You’re not falling back to micromanagement workload there as much as you are just playing the game. If a planet is near the front lines, you do want to do things differently there. If it has more of a certain resource, you do want to treat it differently, and it’s not much effort to do so. We’re talking an extra 2 minutes to setup the queue at each special place like this.

I still think this is exactly what happens in MOO2 even without this specialized UI. You tend to automate and most worlds (other than the ones you specialized) do tend to become generic because you’re more focused on the big picture. You’re at war with the Elarians, and you’re trying to get more spies to defend against spy attacks from the Darlocks, you’re trying to trade your new technologies with your allies for advantages before those technologies get stolen by spies. You’re trying to design a new ship that uses the new weapon you just developed, and you think this will be the big advantage in your ongoing war that will turn the tide.

I still think MOO2 is the perfect compromise in that overall design. It lets you get your hands dirty when you want to, it lets you automate what you want to, but it lets you do enough that it feels more personal than adjusting sliders. I think if you remove that hands-on decisions on each planet, and replace it with sliders you get what you got in MOO3: an impersonal game where it feels like you adjusted some sliders but you never made any meaningful decisions.

6550

Kind of like the sector system in Stellaris? Alternatively, find a way to keep managing individual cities/colonies interesting (like in Sorcerer King, though you usually end up not having to manage too many cities there), or simplify management (like Age of Wonders, even though it can become tedious there, too, especially on larger maps).

Exactly.

6551
  1. They are important early in the game, and lead to more attachment to the fate of a world and its development.
  2. The decisions later in the game aren’t as important and can be automated because you as the player are more focused on big-picture things.

This layering of decisions, of something being more important early and less important later leads to not only a feeling of being more involved in your empire from the ground up, it also leads more to the feeling of epic-ness. Remember when you used to feel every colony’s buildings were important, but now that’s small stuff compared to what things you’re focused on now? That evolution is part of why the game feels special.

6552

Nearly three years after release, Stars in Shadow released a massive patch with UI and AI upgrades. Gotta admire the devs for sticking with it.

My favorite:

Algorians and Lummox native population can now be enslaved and Harmonized.

I always wanted to harmonize with the native lummox.

6553

Love the comments about Moo1’s planet management over Moo2.

6554

Guys, I got an early build of Everspace 2 for tonight’s podcast, so I’ll be streaming it this morning. Yay!

6555

Coolness!

6556

I also preferred how MOO1 handled colonies compared to MOO2, though I certainly liked the idea that my new colony on Backwater VII now had some cool Quantum Fast-Food Restaurant or Holo-Wastewater System.

Are there any games that have a colony designer screen, which would be very similar to a ship designer screen? That way new colonies could slot in newfangled techs and existing colonies could refit themselves. The first few colonies built would be purpose-built, like the first few star frigates your star empire launches. But after your empire gets humming, you could pop out your Arid Colony Template or your Teeny Asteroid Colony templates by the gross – not just the colony ships that get them there but the colonies as they expand and exploit their worlds.

6557

Brian

Have you looked at Astra Exodus:

6558

I know it exists and am following its development, nothing more. I hope to get a preview build once they’re available.

6559

@BrianRubin and everyone else. Were you all gaga over Everspace? It’s very deeply discounted right now on Steam/

6560

If you are in the mood to perform, to shoot stuff well, I’d say yes. It’s a very fast paced ‘roguelike’ shooter. It’s not much about venturing into space… or being in a spaceship at all. It’s a M+K-control-game.

6561

Everspace is great fun.

6562

Hey Brian, any thoughts on Avorion?

6563

Haven’t played it in ages, but it’s a fascinating thing.

6564

Was just checking out the videos. It looks interesting but it hasn’t been patched since August.

6565

They patch fairly consistently, just not frequently. They do larger patches which are a bit less frequent.

6566

I played it just fine with an XBox controller.

6567

Deliver Us the Moon re-released yesterday. I’m really liking the world building and story in the game.

6568

The game advertises itself as being 1:1 scale WRT the size of solar system bodies. I will have to try it just for this.