Good to know. But growth shall be promoted and encouraged.

Make a post a bout this thread on twitter, send a link in the mailing list, give heads-up to TfB, contact previous founders, etc.

I want to see the game as a roguelite. Star Control has tremendous potential for this due to its unique 1v1 skill-based combat system. The success of Hades, Risk of Rain 1&2, Slay the Spire, Dead Cells and the like should tell you that there is a lot of demand for well-crafted skill-based roguelites.

In turn with a roguelike approach you allow yourselves the capacity to explore multiple stories in an emergent order that does not tire the player who does not have a lot of time to explore a whole galaxy, or patience for flying to and fro and scanning planets, which by itself is something that is not engaging at all.

Way I see it could be done, you create an "Enterprise-style" scenario, where the Star Control tasks the player to boldly go where nobody has gone before etc. Perhaps there is an overarching goal, such as reach so-and-so mysterious signal through an unstable wormhole which always takes you somewhere new in a sector etc.

Each run, the player will start with a new ship and will have to go through a number of encounters/solar systems. The normal encounters would be things like recruiting alien commanders, new ships for their fleet, ship upgrades, more crew, or *resources for earth to exploit etc. There should almost always be a choice for a player to make on what to take with them however, this is really helps to keep a player engaged.

All these new acquisitions would become part of the player's build for this run and the more they manage to combine their choices,they more powerful they become.

And of course, there will be enemies to face. Either before every encounter like Gunfire Reborn, or perhaps an either/or case like Slay the Spire. The enemies will be standard SC combat, with a number of elites and a number of bosses (typically 3 in ascending order of difficulty) which the player will have to defeat to complete a run. All this with a main difference from standard SC:O. Afterwards, there is no way to reload if things go bad. All results are final. Any crew lost is not recovered until the player find an event that helps them do so. And if they lose their main ship, that it! Player will have to reinitiate their run with a new ship.

However this doesn't mean there will not be a consistent story behind the campaign, and this can be told during exploration, as well as after their death and rebuilt of a new ship. I urge anyone to take a look at how Hades does storytelling as it's honestly brilliant and surprisingly engaging, even though the story is drip-fed in between runs.

*Planetary resources would not be harvested by the player typically, but rather marked for earth to claim. This way after the player inevitably dies, they will have a way to use these resources as permanent upgrades for all the rest of their runs.

I really wish to see a SC game with a greater focus on combat, which is not cheapened by free crew refills and very little player agency. There is a tremendous potential to reuse the engine you already have to make a killer SC roguelite.

It would be interesting to see:

1.  Persistent and coupled reputation among other starfaring civilizations (the GC equivalent would be having good diplomatic relations with the Torian may make it harder with a Drengin).

2.  The ability to win using "evil" genocidal or enslavement methods like the Hierarchy rather than just the Unite The Galaxy like the Alliance.  This may necessitate two different factions to win with.  I want to win the Dread Lord way as well as the Arnor in GC terms.  

3.  Colonization as part of the economy rather than a straight Credits for ships and Resources like SC III.

4.  An enemy where multiple objectives must be met to win in a nonlinear order (destruction of their shipyards impedes ships, destroying bases impedes patrols, etc.)  ahead of the climatic encounter.

5.  Allies have persistent effects from the enemy (can't spare resources, fighting too many) such that the player has cleanup missions to relieve ally pressure.

6.  Persistent resource effects.  In SC2, you can kill enough starbase crew such that they are more expensive.  I'd like to see a bit of stress with shortages to drive targeted resource collection.

7.  Research makes combat ships better.  Potentially a third ability per ship after research unlock?

It would be cool if the ships in your fleet (or crew members you recruit in SCO) had more of an impact on the gameplay/story. Maybe the occasional 2v2 or fleet vs fleet battle. Maybe the ships/crew open up new dialogue options. Maybe even the power or number of ships affect dialogue. Could have a mission where you rescue a ship in your fleet or crew member. In general -- it would be cool if the fleet was more than options you choose in fights--would be great if you really felt like you were in charge of a live/dynamic fleet. 

I loved stuff like having allied the races appear in your star system after you allied. I really like to see the galaxy changing based on your decisions and alliances. Would be great to have even more of that. More options after you ally, more technologies, more dialogue options. (Same thing when making new enemies I suppose.) They hybrid ships were easily my favorite part of the expansion. Actual gameplay changes as a result of your alliances. 

PHEWWWW.. All these comments about over sophisticating things gives me a headache. NO...The answer is simple, really it is:

The next Star Control Essentially Needs:

More retro style gameplay (but with modern graphics). Though planet lander scouting was repetitious in SC2, it was nice to see the whole planet from the 3rd person perspective.(so explore this option, with a modern take on it)

Bring on board Paul and Fred.

Personally all the complication gives me a headache, keep it simple "KISS" is Genius !

Thats how Star Control became successful in the first place.

Keep the game action oriented, dynamic and engaging. Thats what got me immersed when Star Control 2 was released.

"I Second Lone Utwigs comment "Do not over-complicate the gameplay by adding too many parameters and do not descend into micromanagement hell."

It would be great if Brad, Paul and Fred can work together on this one, bringing back more of the old style engaging gameplay !

Don't take away the immersion, don't do what 4x RTS + added politics has done to Pure RTS. It kills the game.

People often give opinions to over sophisticate things, when in fact when all is said and done, and the game gets released, they play the game, they themselves realize, that the winning formula pioneered back then IS the winning formula, no fixing needed if it ain't broke !

Did the joint venture flame down for good ?

or is Paul and Fred brewing anything new on their own ?