i think you should be able to make buy a upgrade to make trade ships fourm convoys

I dont know if its been said already but what if the pirates had away to capture your capital ships..

I mean come on RRR they are pirates lol

On the bases of other ideas in this post and in other's I have some suggestions:

1. Effect of random events:
As kyogre pointed out, it would be rather bad if a random event affects only a very localized region. It needs to affect the whole map, otherwise a single player/fleet would suffer/benefit from it. This would turn the game into sth way too much influenced by luck. I mentioned a solar flare, which might decrease the shield points in a certain region. It would be better, if this had an effect on the entire map (of course it must be an effect, which vanishes over time!). As shields are heavily used by Advent, one would need additional random events, which affects the other races (like meteor storm: 30% decrease of armor on all ships for the next five min, etc.).

2. Phase lane instability:
There might be either a random effect or a tech, which could affect phase lanes.

If it would be a researchable tech, I would suggest a ship, which is able to shut down a phase lane for half a  minute. This ship could be used offensively (after you have jumped into an enemy system, you can prevent enemy reinforcements to arrive imediately) or defensively (you know the enemy is about to jump into your system. This ship just gives you the time needed to get your fleet, which is two planets away, into the fight)

If it would be a random event, it would reorganize the phase lanes on the map and connects distinct planets. Of course this would have major effects on the game as new choke points would be created and old ones might be suddenly easily circumvented.

3. Diplomatic stuff/ cultural influence (based on chazzie's, rugby9's and wbino's ideas):
Some hero character has been mentioned once in a while (in other posts). I personally think that the capital ship system is enough. However, one could implement some specials in form of ministers: There could be an admiral, a trade minister and a propaganda minister. Each of them gives a bonus in their field of expertise. They are automatically located on an unarmed vessel. Depending on their level (which could be researchable or purchasable), their effective radius is either the planet in which the vessel is located, the current planet and the neighboring ones or additionally the whole cultural area of influence. Each race has only the three characters and they can't be rebuild. Destroying the vessel automatically kills the character. By research on a spy tech tree, one can locate the opponent's characters (first spy levels: the location of a character is in on of those five planets; second spy level: character is in one of two planets; third spy level: the exact location of the character).


4. Capturing vessels?
I would love to see a way to capture ships. But how is this supposed to work? What would be the benefit of it? Just to have an enemy's ship? Not good enough, in my opinion... It might be cheaper to build another capital ship from your own race rather than capturing one. I also don't really like the idea of obtaining the tech knowledge of a captured ship, because it would lead to a mixture of different techs, which in the end would blur the feeling of playing unique races.
What could be implemented however is the following: Once you have captured an enemy ship, you can bring it to a research station and inspect it there. Once this has been done, every ship in your fleet gets a small bonus in fighting this type of ship in future battles.

I guess, the main difficulty is to find ideas, which do not lead too far away from the current gaming concept...
Just some additional thoughts...

my idea for ship capture......

1. carriers get an upgrade like space marines just an example. They can only take a captal ship if its under level 6 and  has to have less then 40%HP.It will recive a moments worth of Inv like 60secs. So in other words if they are gunning for your captial ship  and take it you can distroy it befor they even leave. Also make an upgrade for adavance severty training making it harderd for ships to be taken. level one makes it 35% level two makes it 30%.

2 black market ships cost more and your upgrades have no effect but you can buy fully upgraded ships.

exmple maybe it would cost 20000 crids for a level 4 capital ship that has 70% hp. you can only by ships that are in stock. And much like the resouces they have differnt values.

What I mean by having ships in stock lets say theresa big bounty on your head you can sell ships to the black market to clear your name. Making the game intresting if you playing vs a playeryou might foce him to give up alot. Ships will only stay on the black market through only one pirate raid.What I mean is  you have 30 mins to buy your ships. cause once there off they will be coming with the next pirate raid.

And where do you get thease ships from the black market I am thinking make a natural station in where u send a a scout and then  you can pick up your ships. It doesnt move really tryt to stay away form your culture bar. If you do distory it pirate will put a larg bounty on your head like 100000. so if your on the war path ever ship you lose could be funding your enamys fleet meaning a counter attack is more likly to happen. Which if your fighting a tec you might been able to take a few planets but you have been taking heavy losse while more more of there ships are coming.

the destabelising phase lines sparked another, possibly more implementable idea for me:

next to the standard phase lines, there could be unstable ones, depends on the map. as is, using them would be a risk and the ships travelling inside might get destroyed. however, higher up in the tech tree, there could be a technology that allows to build ... well, a phase stabeliser, a gate. if built on one side, the lane stabelises and is a secure to travel as any other lane. upon destruction of the gate, the lane would destabelise again.

my take is either it can be like a tactical structure or an upgrade to a starbase. the difference to vasari phase stabelisers is a) all races can have them you only need one end built for it to work and thus it could lead somewhere completely different and not inside your empire. the difference to wormholes is that a) they are not a grav well themselves and they are destroyable or a risk if not secured.

though on second thought, the idea of needing only one portal and go through the lane secure then seems vastly overpowered. maybe I'll think of something later.

idea spawned from freespace 2 end.

also, I'd like to note that I am not very keen on diplomatic ships and the like. there is enough in a ship and planet level, diplo - as little as there is - is one of the things that's a bit more abstracted and empire wide. I'd just like it enhanced by many functions along with transparence.

capturing vessels is probably pointless if we think about the masses of ships present and things going on. it works well for a homeworld type of focus, but in an empire game? I dunno.

though the alliance sounds like an interesting concept. some benefits from being in it, but being bound to its decisions presents an intriguing trade off.

I was also thinking of some kind of research partnership. sort of like the trade treaties, only it gives you a slight bonus in research. you know, two heads are better than one and so on.

but really, the most important thing that is lacking in diplomacy is the following: there are just too few motivations for races to cooperate or go to war. that's logical, since it's such a war-related game, but without some non-combat content, that's all there ever will be. think about it, in gal civ II you had ethical alignment among other things, in civ IV you had religions and a ton of government options and so on and so on. if there should be any depth in diplomatic relations, then races need reasons for agreeing or disagreeing, for liking or hating one another.

admittedly, judging from the background story that might seem difficult, but then few races as monolithic. some parts of tec may not be as much into the war as others, some may have been horrified at what was done to advent so long ago, others may have grown extremely bitter due to the onslaught brought on them by the vasari. in the vasari, some groups may be tired of running for so long and considering to band with those stubborn locals to put up a stand against that age-old threat that had been hunting them. and so on. in this case, it may be good that we don't know all that much about all the races, it leaves back doors as to who some parts might not be as opposed to friendlier relations as the main portion.

and so, with lore consideration also, we could have a better explanation of why some ais will cooperate and some not and what can be done to change their mind. as of now, we have little to offer them. give them resources of any kind. hurt their enemies. end of story. and even that later is strange. why are those guys their enemies? because they didn't give resources? because they didn't hurt me? that's part of the reason why I pushed for government types or anything that can both give interesting choices on its own merit and serve as a basis to foreign relations. vasari faction one likes dictatorships and central planning, but hates federations and free market? sorry player two, your liberalism got ya. advent player two likes free market, but hates freedom of though/ liberalism ... whatever? well, they won't hug you, but you're not top killing priority. and so on.

sure, the map limits who can effectively kill whom, but them, close borders can be a negative factor too and deteriorate relations or sth. there are ways.

so ... give us more options in which we can differ or agree with other players/ ai. more we can offer and demand. that would go a long way to some nice diplo. andinternal politics does not have to be super complex. a few, overseeable options is all that's needed. I'll try an example.

governement option 1, empire: bonus to ships and tactical construction.

government option 2, federation: bonus to allegiance

ecnomics option 1, free trade: trade bonus

economics option 2, protectionism: flat bonus to homeworld. maybe 100% effectiveness of hw credit bonus

religious option 1, theocracy: bonus to culture spread, lower cost for culture centres

religious option 2, freedom of religion: bonus to research

you can pick one in each category. now remember, I don't claim it's balanced, or even clever, but I'd say it's not overly complicated and tbh I wouldn't go far beyond that in a game like sins. but as I tried to show above, these not only represents some cool choices for your won sake, but also in foreign relations. suppose an advent ai wants you to use theocracy even though you'd prefer the research bonus? want to risk a war in the long run? suppose a tec ai wants you to adapt free trade even though your empire is still fairly small and you don't have trade ports yet? and so on.

of course, on problem is that different options are preferable depending on the race. a combi of tec with the trade bonus would be powerful. advent with an extra research bonus could also prove deadly, but as I said, these are more to be seen as a proof of concept, don't exaggerate the actual boni I chose. the idea counts.

"and that's all I have to say about that." (go get that anny, shouldn't be difficult again.)

Considering the pictures the Hubble Telescope has been able to take over the past few years of our close neighbors, why not grant say the TEC a telescope that fills up a tactical slot in orbit around a planet? It can offer real-time surveillance of a single planet, as long as it is pointed in that direction, ala the Novalith cannon. Or, perhaps a special launching station in orbit that hurls satellites in an orbit, offering surveillance as long as it is near the grav well of a planet. It cannot be controlled once its target has been set, and it follows the traditional oval orbit around the star.

I like the idea of a super-ship, but I think a better soultion would be to expand the RPG element of capital ships. Sure, we train ship crews and captains, but other than the ability to name them, what really sets a rank 10 Kol apart from another rank 10 Kol? So, I propose putting in another skill tree for each capital ship, one that slightly modifies each ship as it follows the path. There would only be three different trees, one for each race, and each tree would have say four branches. So, the TEC capital ship "attribute" tree would looke like this:

Hull Strengthening--> The crew decides to increase the armor on the ship past naval recommendations due to repeated battles without drydock. This permanently increases the armor and hull points of the ship, but reduces speed.

Shield Strengthening--> The crew, upon numerous encounters with the alien races, has found tricks to increase the shield strength and recharge. However, this requires a great deal more energy, and as such reduces the maximum amount of anti-matter.

Fame--> As the ship captain has laid waste to many a fleet and planet, his notoriety has grown. To help repel culture in local systems, advanced communications devices have been installed on the vessel. This increases the culture repel rate, but lowers max speed, lest the communications become distorted.

Expert gunners--> The best marksmen from around the Empire have flocked to the ship. They are renowned for their ability to notice fluctuations in enemy shields, allowing for brief bypassing of shields. This tree grants a slight chance of shield by-pass by ship gunners (note, not strikecraft launched from ship).

Tacticians--> Hardened tacticians are now at the command of the ship's captain. For each rank, they enable the fleet (note, you must create one) to jump faster, turn faster, and provide a slight bonus to the duration/cooldown of the ship's special abilities.

Just some thoughts, not sure if anyone else has suggested something like this. The point is to allow for ships to become speialized beyond their original role as the situations dictates. So, one can turn their prized Kol into a true tank, allowing their carriers to spread culture, and allow their dreadnaughts to pummel the enemy even harder.

Though, I agree that in my last post abotu this I shot for the moon with ridiculousness, I think its still pretty valid as far as inspiration goes.  I mean, this community is obviously very supportive of its game. 

The diplomatic system itself doesn't seem to be getting a lot of comment.  1, I would like to offer missions of my own to my opponents.  2, I would like to see a racial difference to the handling of diplomatic issues.  3.  The Advent's culture should be incredibly pervasive 4. I see no reason why the Advent couldn't take control of entire worlds via mind control instead of destroying them. 

It seems really strange to talk about "diplomacy" without a human representative.  I mean, the Advent have a personality, but it appears that there are personalities within the personality: anima, seers, leaders (with their glowy eyes), those unfortunate ones that drive around disciple vessels and get blown up all the time, etc.  And certainly, the flavour of diplomatic situations are the people involved in them.  People talk with people in the real world, and there is no "progress bar" in diplomacy. 

So, commanders or ambassadors or figure heads or personalities are a really good idea for Sins.  The game designers have already proclaimed that the game is of "unrivalled scale."  The scalar quantity that is missing right now is the human one (or Vasari, if you get my drift).  And I think that the diplomatic update mat be the best time to try and tackle that challenge. 

The TEC I think are realistically the only race that sees diplomacy as humanity does (in general).  And therefore, really, a true expansion to this games "diplomacy" would focus on how each race sees it.  The TEC may get diplomatic options on the diplomacy screen.  The Advent though are far as I understand only seek to make everyone a part of the unity, this is not diplomacy but culture.  They make you their friend only if you become one of them.  And the Vasari are entirely alien, they are oppressive and do not regard either TEC or Vasari as anything but a barrier to the exodus.  Their diplomacy is mass genocide.  How then can diplomacy be handled?

Hm, my understanding is that the Vasari are more in line with the Drengin -- i.e., genocide is a bad idea, because then where will you find slaves to run your empire?

Hm... Diplomacy per se... That is actually a tricky one... I guess, you need to implement a system, which allows a bit of freedom...

The treaties should not be researchable. You need to be able to offer them at any timepoint. Both sides (or more) need to agree before a treaty can be accepted.

1. Trade agreement: boosts trade income by 5% per contract partner

2. enforced ceasefire: A countdown shows up during which the ships of the negotiators can't fire at each other. The time for the countdown needs to be agreed upon.

3.fragile ceasefire: A countdown shows up, during which the ships can fire at each other whenever a player wants to. This automatically negates the cease fire. The time for the countdown needs to be agreed upon. (this one is solely dependent on the goodwill of the players).

4. shared information: The partners share their intel of the enemy. However, you don't give any details about your own strenght/planets.

5.allience: all information is being shared, including ones own teritorry and ships. With an allience, one can coordinate attacks. You can specify a planet/ship/structure (if the intel is available), set a countdown to a specific time and that way tell your ally what you plan to attack at which specific timepoint. He then can join (or attack your homeplanet, while you are gone...).

6. Research treaty: research is faster for all players involved in such an agreement. One can decide, which branch of the research tree of the other player get's the bonus ("No, why shall I help your weapons research? You will attack me with the result later...")

Trade system: One could need an extension to the black market. In it , you can choose a specific player, offer ships or planets and demand sth in return.

With which part? The Vasari diplomacy part or the stupid ally mission part?

Samurye.

The ally missions. This system needs to be changed. However, I read somewhere, that the developers at Ironclad are already working on it.

Samurye, what do you think? How should the system be changed? I suggested an agreement/treaty system. But perhaps we should still inclue some kind of missions... At least the player should be able to give missions to others...

A couple ideas...... First I love the ability to design ships if only for the look of them (gal civ) but, rather than take away from the predesigned ships in the game.. how bout use the idea that has been tossed around here regarding the super cap ship.  for example allow the customization of "that" ship only at the start of the game.  Each player simply chooses from a set of choices that allows your Super Cap to look more personal... that is if your empire grows large enough to actually be able to build and sustain it.  That way each person who plays will have yet another aesthetic feature to draw them into the game.  If you scroll down far enough you can see dreadnaught written on the side of the ship,,,, how bout being able to scroll down and see your own Super Cap ship name on the side of that bad boy that you just picked out the style for a moment ago.

Second, I do not like the idea about mixing techs, however, consider this; IMHO after playing Tec non-stop I already know exactly ALL my moves from the get go.  I only change somthing if I learn I can speed up my advancement, therefore, I Have found that the tech tree is somewhat predictable for me... or atleast with all the time I have been spending lately playing, it seems that way.  In either case, how about having perhaps 1 or 2 alternative paths to choose from for each race.....I know that sounds like alot and from the programming side I am sure I have suggested a mountain of work but, consider if it were possible a player could potentially choose the same path as is in game atm or completly veer off that path towards the other research path/paths.  Perhaps just one alternavtive path could be chosen or a mixture of the original and new research path rather than mixing the different races research.  In this way each race keeps its own distinct feel while enhancing each of them to become more customizable with ever more options.

I would love to have planet trading in black market (player can set a price and start an audition for it so that it sells on highest price.

And no coward AI.  Seriously all other game AI don't flee like hell, I mean without putting up any fight they just run like hell anytime anywhere anychance whenever your ships, armada, fleet arrive or get close to their planet or ship.  That just making things not that fun, its like taking freebies from AI.  And I know about playing online, but most of the time you might just met people like to l33t taking that gonna play word war or somehow make you feel low with their superior language or some sort.  Just trying to express what I think of online, of which I face most.