(01-31-2020, 05:51 PM)Oggal Wrote: I propose that the airport require being finished before it will begin to import goods and workers from system colonies. This is a simpler challenge than the old, needing a broker, airport, and power while still giving players a chance to learn about the requirements of building on remote uninhabited celestial bodies.
Brokers aren't involved in city trade anymore. Brokers only trade with spacecraft and send shipments to other solar systems. Instead buildings simply fetch whatever they need from other buildings they are connected to.
Power plant was not required in order to start trade in the old days. With the large amount of materials needed to construct a power plant in the current system, it would be a nightmare to force a player to manually ferry the needed construction materials for it. Unless you want to make the good old space rocket totally obsolete and force players to build a rocket-drive spacecraft.
It is not far fetched (pun intended?) that civilian cargo ships can land at an airport that is under construction. All civilian trade and commodity transportation is invisible to the players, so it doesn't matter much anyway.
As it is right now, there isn't even a difference between the different trade connection link types. A building can always fetch materials from another building at the same speed rather it is connected by road or space. This might be changed some day, but who knows.
As it is right now, intra solar system colonization is not hard. But what purpose is there to make the most basic action hard to do once?
(01-31-2020, 07:14 PM)Oggal Wrote: This, blockading planets, is a lovely idea that should be discussed further in a separate thread. (I'll link to it here if I make such a post later today)
Blockading worlds does indeed sound somewhat interesting. Also block (or even plunder) shipments that are sent from or received by the solar system.
But yes, it is off-topic and likely better to discuss it in a separate thread.