01-15-2022, 04:02 AM
(01-15-2022, 01:25 AM)Haxus Wrote: Here’s a thought that could be explored.
Avatars accumulate points based on online time.
Some large number of those points could be spent to establish a new empire.
The game could start up with two to five existing empires that always allow new players to join.
This of course would be a rather large change and there would be a bit of controversy. I kinda like the idea and am interested to see how it would play out, but at the same time I think a lot of people like the idea of the independence and culture of creating their own empire out in the void.
On the other hand playing as part of a larger empire gives you plenty of protection and there is plenty of space in the galaxy in this game so there's nothing stopping you from founding your own worlds and growing them on your own, so to speak.
I keep up bringing up vassalization mechanics but I think a crusader kings type "realm" would work for a public empire like that, or even for empires that want more players to join them. A sort of non-revokable option that makes it so that worlds colonized by players in the realm become their sole non-revokable property would help for players to expand without fear that people higher on the totem pole can just kick them and take everything they worked on. On the other hand, in this psuedo-vassal association, the vassal has to pay a tribute of all the resources they produce and any officers on their worlds (maybe leaving one or two for the vassal to use) are levied by the liege to use to make the military stronger.
This is a more secure option for larger empires because unlike a "true" current vassal, this type or vassal can never rebel or part ways, or their demense (property) is revoked. They also cannot lock down Q255 with their worlds completely, since they'll get paid as tribute. This provides more hierarchy options to larger empires where they can assign these feudal vassals to positions in the fleet and perhaps award them for their services in battle. Having plenty of vassals going out and securing habitable worlds also greatly benefits the liege since they get all the officers to appropriate for defense and conquest, and they get an empire full of players that can be appointed to positions where they can manage fleets and defense and such.
Phew, that's a lot. I admire your commitment to simple design and so I want to boil the above down to the simple components it has:
Empires elect to become feudal
Once they do so, and if they open up to new players, new players, those new players join with a protected "subject" status (to differentiate from normal vassals)
Subjects are normal citizens of the Empire
They don't run their own empires like vassals do, and cannot found or join another empire without leaving and forfeiting their lands.
Any planets subjects found become their personal "demense" and cannot be revoked from them, with the exception of perhaps an empire wide vote.
While they retain full sovereignty of these planets (others in the empire, including the emperor, cannot build or interfere without the subject's permission. The subject pays a fixed tribute of all resources produced (the tribute is set when the empire becomes feudal) and a percentage of officers they produce, but at least one. They essentially get to govern their planets autonomously without being disturbed.
Those are the core ideas. I like the idea of requiring players to play as part of an empire a bit before spreading their wings, but this comes with a potential downside of more tyrannical players abusing the people who play in these public empires and the feudal system is designed to offer some protections while also allowing subjects to contribute positively.
Here are some bonus ideas for galactic hegemonic drama:
Emperor's can hold a vote to change the tribute and levy requirements
If the vote passes, everyone who was against the vote gets the option to break off and form a rebel empire, potentially breaking large empires if the vote is very contentious and close, forcing emperors to choose carefully when changing laws.
Emperors can decide that they are in fact, the Senate, and change laws without consulting anyone at all.
This includes revoking another subject's demense without an empire wide vote. Of course, the downside is that ALL other subjects get the option to revolt, including the one being revoked. This one might be a bit harder to balance and prevent abuse with, so perhaps it can be locked unless there are a certain number of subjects.
Alternative empire government mechanics aside, I really like the idea of forcing this community play at the beginning, since I think a lot of the mechanics around permissions and public / private spaceships and assets gets overlooked.