Here you go, everyone! That's what I like about Ironclad & Stardock! They are listening to the community...

Ok, I love the ideas posted here.

A:Some random events a là GalCivII would be cool (could mean sth like a star is about to become a supernova, destroying the closets planets in the process; an alien artifact is entering the system and the one who controls it gains special abilities; etc...)

B:How about being able to evacuate the population of a planet and distributing the people over the remaining planets. Your planet is about to fall and the citizens start an exodus. The people would be redistibuted to fill up the population of other planets to their maximum. If the number gets higher then that, you are dealing with special consequences like reduced tax income fom those planets because of refugee management and perhaps social unrest. However, the less planets you have, the higher their moral, because they start to really fight for their lifes (there is no other place to go...) which might result in increased attack values of your ships... Might be difficult to balance, but perhaps sth to keep in mind...

C:I love the idea of a mother ship class (I have posted it somewhere else already... ). Have one ship per player, which dwarfs the capital ships (I am thinking along Star Wars). This ship can be equipped with a limited amount of researchable moduls, which can be destroyed in combat. Those modules can be exchanged at the "mother ship factory" (for lack of a better word...) for a price. But I guess, this is not really an idea for a diplomatic expansion... (well, it enhances your negotiation skills to some degree, I guess... "I see your point, now let me show you mine...")

D: Taking planets over without killing the whole population would be cool. It needs to be more time consuming than bombarding a planet back into the stone age. Otherwise, no one is using the planetary bombardement anymore, which would make several ships useless... I personally would like to have some dropships with troopers. They should have no weaponry thus they can't be used for actual space combat. You need to have a special percentage of soldiers compared to a planet's population (There might be some ground troop equipment researchable, which enhances your chances to take over a planet. And of course some fitting counter measures to them). Perhaps those can be used (after some research) as boarding parties to dissable/take over enemy ships. But again, maybe not the stuff for a non military expansion.

E: Distinct victory conditions have been mentioned. Well, I think this would be cool. Let's make an on adn off button for it, because not everyone might like it (like there is one for the pirates). You would win automatically, if you control 75% of all the planets. You might win if your cultural influence has reached 90% of the map. If you have two tradeports in 50% of the planets, you win an economic victory. Sth along these lines (Sorry, I am a GalCiv fan...  )

F: I think the idea of being able to slightly focus your planets on sth is pretty cool (the tech, economic and industrial capital a là GalCiv have been mentioned above. That's an awsome idea!). Perhaps each planet has two focusing slots in which you can build some specials... I am only worried, that all this stuff is slowly turning the game into a totally different, hugely micromanaging nighmare in the long run...

Here are the best changes/ideas so far:

GHenrikG

A spying system would be cool. You could sabotage the assembly of an enemy capital ship (the factory needs longer to build a capital ship; perhaps with an upgradeable research tech: the better you are in it, the longer it will take the enemy to build this ship) or structure. To prevent it from being a game breaker, I would suggest to introduce a cloaked spy ship, which needs to be in the system you want to sabotage. This spy ship can be detected via scouts and then being destoyed. That way you could bother your enemy a bit, without breaking him completely.

 Very good idea!!!

Kaloozu

Allow us to choose a specialty for our planets. We already have Capital, but what about Military Stronghold, or Trade Menagerie? Having the same kind of planets have no real differences is kind of repetitive. I'd like to make that big desert planet into a huge military outpost, that would grant me some kinda bonus. The bonus wouldn't be as big as if you had found a planet special ability, but it would give you planet based orbital guns or increased trade revenue on a planet with many phase lanes crossing it. Just a thought.

 I agree 100%

Haree78

Random events, On/Off selectable like pirates, things that could drastically effect large campaigns such as blocking phase lanes or making planets uninhabitable.  The events can be what you like, Asteroid strikes, Alien invasions, Star collapse, whatever, just these kind of things would add to the whole experience.  Maybe there are ally events also with ethical (which affects relationships) decisions that have an effect elsewhere such as economy, production etc.

More planet diversity.

On/Off selectable xenophobia so Vasari are more likely to like Vasari and hate other races and similarly accross all races.

Better missions from allies.  How about I am attacking planet X in X minutes, please assist.  And their happyness being affected according to the player response.  Or "I need an idea what faction X is doing, please check them out for me?" which would mean a scouting mission for an AI who you share ship vision with.

How about a more fluid Ally happyness system.  One where you can see the ralationships between all allies (perhaps with certain techs researched) and if you destroy ships or structures of an enemy X that another AI, enemy A, hates then the happyness between you and AI A goes up some relative amount, and likewise alliances with AI X would cause friction with AI A.

More diverse Planet development choices, think GC II but not as complex.  Pretty sure I have seen screenshots in the beta with this kind of thing but I'd love to see it concidered again.  Choices such as weighing up population with defence, or production or research.  And ofcourse race specific super developments that are expensive and are then considered like an artifact in game play terms (all other players are informed and changing planet ownership changes ownership of the artifact/development).

An espionage tech tree that can allow the following techs:

The current ones such as phase lane monitoring etc.  (Surveillance spies)

Alliance relationship and economy visability. (enemy leadership and governments spies)

Artifact visibility. (Planet spies)  High level upgrades give hints to the defencive level of planets and perhaps some (lagged) visibility of fleet strength at planets.

Perhaps the espianage techs also include a constant overhead to keep and can be 'scuttled' at no resources returned but need to be paid for again with the same development time etc.

I agree with everything & I love you're idea on Espionage

TFL Big Bang Theory

I think just simply carrying out non-military actions to bolster your development and more persistant standing with allies such that they won't suddenly turn against you. Perhaps a scale of reputation that prohibits agressive actions when in a certain band.

 mmmmmmmmm... reputation points... cool!!!

Valkajin

I think a great addition to the game would be to make the pirates more useful gamewise.  For example; At present there is one version of pirates, but what if there was another option beside the turn pirates on or off for the game that allowed you 2 choices.  First, normal pirates on/off.. or Second, pirates at lvl 1-10.  Where as if you choose to play the game with pirates on say lvl 4, then you do not get the standard pirates that normally attack..Instead you would get pirates that have much more than a single asteroid with no resources.  Consider the potential for fun here, since there could randomly be games where you and an opponent soon realize you both need to join against the pirates to defeat them.

Another idea for pirates, why should they  only simply attack?......Why not have the option to choose what you want them to do for all that money we bid/pay them.  For example; when you win the bid, what if you are given 3 choices, perhaps 1)attack random planet, 2) attack specific planet 3)attack specific target (trade center/space station/cap shipfactory)

 I second that! Making pirates attack the planet of my choosing is the way to go!

Phalnax811

Flak turrets on ALL Cap Ships

Not really a diplomatic thing, but a necessary one, especially with the carrier spam.

Keep it up people, you're ideas are great, if they could include those in the next expansion, it would make Sins THE best RTS ever!

Tech tree's that once you choose a path you cant go back.

I'm just going to add another call for espionage to the pile.  The larger games absolutely scream for it and there are quite a few variables that players could make subtle changes to with a cloaked ship in orbit.  Missions that would help the user but be small enough to avoid easy detection.  Things like:

Allegiance loss from culture - A spy increases the rate at which culture overturns an enemy planet.
 
Resource income Loss/Theft - A spy either reduces the income of an enemy planet or diverts a portion of that income to the aggressor.

Build rate reductions - The spy reduces the build rates of all projects at the targeted planet.

Direct sabotage - A spy attacks a portion of the planet's infrastructure.  Audio cues to the defending player will give the spy away while this is happening.

Diplomatic effects - I'm not sure how the diplomacy of the future is going to work but if there are any planet-based variables involved, spies could feasibly have an effect on those, too. 

Bounty-over-time - Spies could add a small amount of bounty to a player's total at regular intervals. 

And I'm sure there are plenty of other relatively subtle effects that could be added to this list. 

Also maybe instead of Portrait sets, you add individual portraits for each race, so you can pick all 3. On top of that add new portraits and few new badges!

One current weakness is the lack of any penalty for having a single huge fleet, when battles between several medium sized fleets might be preferred.  A logistics cost penalty could help, so that there is more drain for exceeding the level of supply points allowed in a single system.  A small cultural system penalty for only having a small garrison or no garrison would also help.  

However, the existence of another mission type for warships would lead to more involvement,  and convoy seems obvious.  Ambassadors ships are one option- there could be a physical element to diplomacy, with envoys and consulates.  Relations might be capped after a ceasefire- or at a level of ceasefire that only applied to diplomatic ships- until an embassy was established at the friendly power's capital, transported by a colony frigate or as already suggested a new diplomatic frigate.  The embassy would be lost if there was war and would have to be rebuilt.  Another option is a vital trade convoy, but the game has few mechanics that could be exploited for this.  How about another aspect of research, so that research that involves more than one lab has to have a trade ship moving between them?  If the ship was destroyed ongoing research would be suspended until it is rebuilt and returns to its route.  Raids might then be more effective, but if the research trade ship was rebuilt elsewhere than the sector where it was destroyed, raids wouldn't cripple research.

The scout mission suggestion is a good one- a demand for x level of intelligence on another faction.

Trading relationships were often based on power rather than economic strength- this could be reflected by having more complex trade treaties with tariffs that favour one of the factions.  A faction in a more powerful position could demand a more favourable tariff.

Relations could be more dynamic, so that improving them with one power costs influence with another.  Also, as already noted, there seems to be little xenophobia between the different types of factions despite the hatred for each other in the lore- there could be penalties in relations until 'intercultural competence' is fully researched.

The planets seem to lack variation apart from the artifacts.  The suggested player choice of planetary specialism is a simple and possibly effective method.  With a more complex planetary government system two styles of empire 'federation' and 'anarchy' could include planets of the other three types 'monarchy' 'authoritarian' and 'republic'.  A monarchy within a federation might be more inclined to join a nearby imperial monarchy.  There could also be more micro-economy, so that trade between planets with different environments or governments had a bonus.  Also, there could be different types of trade goods present on planets, depending on how the internal market was affected by the external trading environment.  Trading at a disadvantage, whether because of a tariff or the nature of the goods imported, could lead to a culture penalty.  If planetary or sector governors were introduced, rebellions could lead to civil war and the creation of new factions.   

The ability to assign a faction more than one start slot might be useful for setup, as the AI seems to perform poorly in locked teams.

 Okay, most of these are great ideas but I have to shoot one of them down

1. The idea about different types of goverments. It just sounds too complex, and also another thing. The Advent have a collective mind, and all of their minds are connected. So I don't think they would have more than one type of goverment, as they would all think similarly and would be repulsed by the very idea of something that would split them apart.

 Now its time for things that I think would be improvements.

2. I think there should be more levels for the AI in single player. Like instead of just choosing them to be aggressive, you could make it to where they would use guerilla tactics or if they will try to overwelm you using culture or something like that.

3. One thing that has been annoying me is the starbases. Once they are defeated, they are just destroyed and that's that. It should be changed so that at when it gets down to a certain amount of health left(example, 500 left or something like that) that it is disabled and enemey ships stop attacking it, as it poses no threat. It should then be able to be captured and partialy repaired because of the differences between technolegy, and it should not be up to its full fighting power because the race that captured it does not know all of it's secrets.  And it should not be able to be upgraded if it was captured. To combat them being captured, you could have some new upgrade that makes it self destruct if captured.

4. All star bases should carry a population because their as big as a colonizeable astroid.

5. The game shows orbital elevators, but it just shows their bases. Their should be some type of ring around the planet where the orbital elevators would be connected to. Or, you could take away the orbital elevators altogether and make it to where they are researchable, and that they are in the planet upgrades. It should greatly increase trade on the planet.Just a suggestion

6.Orbital guns that are have to be located in the planets orbit. For example, the TEC could have orbital guns similar to the ones in the Halo books and the other races something that suits their technology.

7. And last but not least, a subject involving phase lanes. No technology is perfect, and you would think there would be accidents where the ships never reach their destination. This could happen early in the game when technology involving phase lanes may be crude, and you could later research technologies involving the phase lanes that would signifigantly lower the chance of ships never reaching their destinations. Some people may be outraged over this, as they may be thinking " But I just spent all these resources on a capital ship and I lose it" You could make it to where cruisers and cap ships contain some type of stabilizer that prevents them from being lost to the phase lanes. But there should always be some chance that the frigates may be lost.

8. There is one class of ship that SINS is missing. It is the destroyer. It is more powerful than a heavy cruiser, yet it has armor and weapons that rival cap ships. 2 or 3 of these things= 1 cap battle ship. They should roughly cost about half a cap ship. Please, add these ships. They have been vital to all fleets, and a fleet isn't complete until it has destoyers in it. They are the missing link in Sins. I think somebody else mentioned them in some other forum. Can't remember who mentioned it

 Well, thats all my suggestions. Anyone care to comment on what they think of these suggestions. Also the idea mentioned earlier about customizeable ships was very interesting.

Hello kyogre!

Well, perhaps those random events should not be too overpowered... I guess you are right. But how about the following: A solar flare reduces the shields of all ships in a special region by 80%. Sth like that would have consequences on your play style. Is your race focusing more on armor than shields? Well, this might be a good time to attack those, who are relying on shields...

I was thinking along these lines. Yeah, perhaps it is not a good idea to implement a planet destroying supernova the way I suggested before. Would be a gamebreaker...

Someone suggested capturing planets without completely destroying the infrastructure. What if the culture-producing buildings "converted" planets to your cause? Everyone on the planet completely rebels and joins the "liberating" forces, instead of sitting apathetically at home waiting for a colony ship to come and bring new colonists. Whether the buildings already there convert as well or not can be discussed.

I also like the idea of the pirates being more of their own faction instead of free experience points.Maybe they should have small bands that roam around, moving from planet to planet, instead of waiting at base until someone puts enough money on someone else to induce them to attack. They're more like mercenaries right now. You pay them, they fight. You don't pay them, they fight you. Attacking one of the roving bands of pirates would give you resources, because you would recover whatever money or goods they've taken from their hapless victims. Also, they'd try to head for more unguarded planets, instead of the nearest one. 

Customizable ships sound cool. I wouldn't mind being able to choose from a collection of upgrades, instead of having only a few available.

just building on other people's ideas.

One thing my group of friends have pretty much reached consensus on is that a focus on capital ships for one of the next expansions would be great. This could be accomplished with two major actions:

1) Introducing some type of "Super-cap" ship. Along the lines of a mobile starbase in power potential, but a good deal more expensive. Think the Executor from Star Wars or Titans from Eve Online. The awesomeness factor from ships like this would be incredible because, let's face it, the reason all of us are drawn to games like this is the prospect of big ships duking it out.

2) Addressing the problem of cap ships losing most of their utility by late-game. Ideas put forth have been to increase the power gain by leveling up or the availability of cap ship specific research upgrades. Personally I would favor the later. The upgrades could nicely tie in with researching your way up to your races super-cap.

Of course the other ideas in the thread are great too! I'm particularly fond of the proposals for an espionage system.

Cheers.

F*ckin' true!!!

Also the pirates should have capitals and factories. And add some logistic slots to their asteroinds, jeeezzzzzz!!!!

i see a few posts for an'uber' cap ship, mother ship say, could be limited to 1 per race an it be the last thing u can research after the super weapons, and once built u could select its type from its menu, for example, a giant mobile factory, can build frigates on the fly but is unarmed or has a large array of large weapons but no defence against squadrons or a super carrier with large squadron capacity an anti squadron weapions but no direct combat ability and once picked it gains the lvl abilities specific to its type like the caps do.

not very dilpomacy based but would be nice in negotiations, "hey do this or il squash ur planets with my fat ship"

also saw a post asking for ship designer like galciv, that wont work on this at all but do any of you remeber an old game by the name of warzone 2100? it allowed u to make ur own but with more structure like pick ur body propulsion an weapon, that could work but that might be able to be an entirely new space game on its own

Hah! Let's take space ponies!!!!!