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Author Topic: Faction and Outpost Management  (Read 2086 times)

Drayken

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Faction and Outpost Management
« on: October 01, 2017, 10:15:11 PM »

While perusing through recent suggestions, I starting thinking this: Why hasn't anyone suggested adding and/or improving the management of factions and outposts? What we have currently is pretty lackluster, you can start your own faction but you can't seem to do much with it at all. Even if you joined one of the default factions or modded factions, you can't seem to do much in them like rise through the ranks or become involved with their internal politics. If anything, the politics and diplomacy system in this game is very lackluster. There is also an extremely lacking system we have to manage our own factions and outposts. What I suggest will compose three parts.

Faction Management
The system that we currently have in terms of faction management is extremely lackluster. I believe that we should have something more indepth and intricate so we don't get seemingly bored trying to work within an AI faction or attempt to start our own factions.

In terms of AI factions, there should be a two pronged rank system that also incorporates AIs and where the AIs and/or players can command and/or make fleets that are being commanded by a lower ranked commander if they are in the military or if they are ranked politically and have control over a sector of outposts or an outpost that they manage, and a politics system that is dependent on what kind of government the faction is and the players can influence this system such as laws regarding illegal commodities, economic focus, war, assassinations, etc.

Players should be allowed to start off or enlist into the military. There, they gain access to the first tier of military ships that they can requisition with whatever seems fit like requisition credits gained from missions and kills for their faction or they can acquire as many ships in their ranked tier as their reputation and rank warrants them. Consistently doing missions for their faction and participating in wars and battles should allow the players to be promoted through the ranks which gives them increased salaries instead of basing it on their fleet size. This should be done in such a way that it heavily depends on their kills and reputation with the faction. Currently, the rank system should go like this for most factions that follow the traditional navy officer ranks: Fleet Commander, Commodore, Rear Admiral, Vice Admiral, Fleet Admiral and Supreme Commander/Executor/etc.

Players should be allowed to also start off or apply for a government position. They can be accepted or denied due to their reputation with the faction and what they have done for the faction such as missions, kills, etc. They should start off as a low position in an outpost's government like the base commander, etc. They should be able to rise through the ranks by their meritorious actions in their political position, by garnering support from a more powerful politician, by reputation alone, etc. The positions that should be in this system should be from real world nations such as the USA, Britain, etc depending on what kind of government they have. There should also be a variation on how they can climb the ranks due to this. Depending on these positions, the player will have the option to do what they are allowed to do in said position. For example, the player can manage their outposts ranging from the economy to the military if they are a sector governor.

For player started faction management, they should be allowed to manage all aspects of their faction such as economy, diplomacy, military, etc. Player factions should have their own budget that is influenced by taxes and upkeep for outposts, fleets, and people in power such as officers. Players should also be allowed to take money from the budget and use the faction's funds to build new outposts (this is being covered afterwards), commission new fleets, etc. They should also be allowed to manage and customize their fleet such as choosing which factions' ships to utilize, designing the ships that will go into the fleet, commanding fleets to defend, attack, etc. In diplomacy, agents should no longer affect diplomacy as much and options to improve or reduce relations with other factions should be added such as sending ambassadors, offering trade agreements, beginning non-aggression pacts, etc and depending on which factions they commit these actions to should influence the relations of other factions like what we see when we capture outposts of other factions. And since we are on the subject of diplomacy, there should also be more events and options for diplomacy such as starting coups, assassinations, etc in order to "liven" the diplomacy system and give more options when dealing with other factions that oppose your or the other faction's regime.

Outpost Management
Outpost management should be divided into three categories: industry, trade and military.

Players should be able to have their own military industry, building equipment or ships from blueprints that can be acquired from other factions if they have high enough relations with them. Other than that, the new economy system fills out the rest.

Now for trade. Outposts don't seem to have permanent trade routes to other outposts and the player themselves cannot seem to influence the tariffs or focus trade on any specific goods. Players should be able to establish their own trade routes and trade fleets between their own outposts or other outposts that can help gain profits or acquire resources for the outpost's industry that it cannot produce themselves or is lacking in. The new economy system will seemingly improve the sector's economy of the entire game so that doesn't need to change.

If anyone has started their own faction and captured their first outpost, they will notice that the AI provides them their defenses, disallowing the players to influence it at all. There should be a system that should allow increasing or decreasing the garrison of the outpost and managing patrol and defense fleets that can come from the faction itself. Managing the fleets themselves has been stated previously.

Constructing Outposts
Now here's the fun bit with all of these suggestions, why do we have planets and systems that have not be colonized? Only for surveying and mining? We can't build outposts on them??? Absolutely ridiculous. We and any AI factions should be able to build outposts out there, not just have civilian fleets go out there to survey and mine them. Construction tugs should be added and should be used to construct outposts that can take time and will require metals and supplies from any freighters that the fleet has or acquire these resources from other outposts via faction supply/trade fleets
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CrashToDesktop

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Re: Faction and Outpost Management
« Reply #1 on: October 01, 2017, 10:33:01 PM »

Not sure if you missed the most recent blog. :) All good ideas of course, and most of them coming soon(tm).  Though we've known Outposts were going to be a thing ever since the bar at the bottom of the screen had Outposts on it (though removed to make room for Officers a few years back or so if I remember correctly).
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