We were talking about this a couple weeks ago, and people were talking about it last night too. So lets start a new thread for this.
See also: (Idea thread) Formal War Declaration
I was playing with the idea of instead of declaring war on an empire, since empires are a weird and easily exploitable entity. And cities can be deleted or rebuilt in an instant, such as bulldozing capitol and building a new one. Maybe it would make more sense if you had to declare war on a solar system rather than an empire or city.
A solar system is a place that contains stuff and and it can't be changed (aside from its name). The owner of stuff in the solar system can change at the drop of a hat via surrender mechanics or be bulldozed. But most of the value is the solar system itself.
Also at the same time to slow down the amount of damage a single attacker can do in just a few hours, it would also be beneficial if the attacker had to leave warships in a solar system for an extended period of time to not make all attacks end within the same hour of the attacker entering the solar system.
This would also slow down wars a lot, making for a more relaxed and strategic movement of ships and frontlines.
Example for thought:
An attacker goes to the solar system they want to capture or destroy. They can freely attack all military targets in the solar system, such as; spacecraft, space stations, and military buildings. But they would not be able to harm civilian buildings right away.
In order to target or capture civilian targets, the attacker would have to contest/siege the solar system by removing defender's military presence. Then the spacecraft would have to remain in the solar system for an extended period of time, broadcasting propaganda and such on the hail channel so the inhabitants knows about it. Could even be a whole week for the capital solar system of an empire.
The defender can then try to stop the siege, or even broker peace with the attacker. Even if the defender is totally unable to do anything to defend themselves and no peace can be found, they will have time to request help from others. When the siege completes the attacker can destroy or capture any city, building, or world in the solar system.
In the end, this would mean that civilian targets can't simply be destroyed over night. The attacker would have to leave at least one spacecraft in the solar system, preventing them from destroying a whole empire with just one spacecraft over night.
Ok, let whatever else brainstorming begin!
See also: (Idea thread) Formal War Declaration
I was playing with the idea of instead of declaring war on an empire, since empires are a weird and easily exploitable entity. And cities can be deleted or rebuilt in an instant, such as bulldozing capitol and building a new one. Maybe it would make more sense if you had to declare war on a solar system rather than an empire or city.
A solar system is a place that contains stuff and and it can't be changed (aside from its name). The owner of stuff in the solar system can change at the drop of a hat via surrender mechanics or be bulldozed. But most of the value is the solar system itself.
Also at the same time to slow down the amount of damage a single attacker can do in just a few hours, it would also be beneficial if the attacker had to leave warships in a solar system for an extended period of time to not make all attacks end within the same hour of the attacker entering the solar system.
This would also slow down wars a lot, making for a more relaxed and strategic movement of ships and frontlines.
Example for thought:
An attacker goes to the solar system they want to capture or destroy. They can freely attack all military targets in the solar system, such as; spacecraft, space stations, and military buildings. But they would not be able to harm civilian buildings right away.
In order to target or capture civilian targets, the attacker would have to contest/siege the solar system by removing defender's military presence. Then the spacecraft would have to remain in the solar system for an extended period of time, broadcasting propaganda and such on the hail channel so the inhabitants knows about it. Could even be a whole week for the capital solar system of an empire.
The defender can then try to stop the siege, or even broker peace with the attacker. Even if the defender is totally unable to do anything to defend themselves and no peace can be found, they will have time to request help from others. When the siege completes the attacker can destroy or capture any city, building, or world in the solar system.
In the end, this would mean that civilian targets can't simply be destroyed over night. The attacker would have to leave at least one spacecraft in the solar system, preventing them from destroying a whole empire with just one spacecraft over night.
Ok, let whatever else brainstorming begin!