Hello everyone! I'm relatively new here, been going in and out of this forum for a long time, only now I made an account, but this isn't about me either..
Something about Starsector has been nagging me for a while, it's the Player Faction Emblems and the player faction overall, they're so repetitive, lack color and taste and meaning, do we have modded flag alternatives in this forum? because everywhere we see features like extra hulls, factions, weapons, but not so much on interface, UI and Faction Customization, It's amazing we are able to build a faction, honestly the game would have lost it's appeal to me a long time ago otherwise, but as it stands right now, it is a little... "In need of more features", I would put it that way..
That whole doctrine section is kind of a mess, I really... REALLY wanted a option to "toggle" on and off certain ship hulls, techs and weapons, giving me more control of my own ships, what if I want a Freighter only faction, that has converted carriers? and does smuggling on the side, I know, it is stupid, but it is also "freedom" and "option", more banner options, perhaps the ability to change the UI colors so you don't have to always stick to that Blue/Grey theme
Faction Commands, what if you are a smuggler? or a pirate? or a Junker? Why can't you give your mothballed ships to your colonies and have them retrofit it into resources? as a pirate perhaps you should be allowed to have more fleets flying around, doing piratey things, have your faction officer captains build raid camps and you can earn a income from their "raids", criminal playthroughs are a little limited, what if you wanted to extort whole colonies and slowly corrupt them into joining you? example: you corrupt so much their officials with your black market smuggling, raids and extortion, they have no choice other than pay you to stop, or eventually join you
Have your faction fleets have more of a presence in the galaxy, especially in player sectors, if you have a system close of another have a extra fleet go on patrols there as well their original system reinforcing stability at each sucessful patrol cycle
If you are a Junker, why not have your fleets go around salvaging and mining? hauling ships and goods you can take off colonies or leave them there so the colony can "recycle" or convert into ship hull resource
I play heavy on exploration and I think exploration is like second nature to SS, YOU SIMPLY MUST explore, why not have your fleets go around? chartering systems, tackling [REDACTED] and hauling goods back to their origin colony, something like that you even join too to help them success in their adventures,
Build your own Detachments and fleets with the Officer of your choice and command them to go on raids, attack any designated colonies, or very simply, follow you, donate them resources, money, ships and weapons, asign them underling officers, watch their progress as they travel the void, collecting bounties, raiding or exploring, while you sit back and simply let the game play itself for you, if that's what you want, you Illusive man you
Free Ports are amazing, but why bother? players are already *** the Hegemons enough with all that AI tech running their colonies, free port is just another extra DARE for meager rewards
Independents as "One" faction is a bit of a mistake, they're like the UN of the galaxy, when they should be local powers with local problems, not a galaxy-wide entity, leave that to Major Factions, maybe the solution here is having seperate sub"indepedent" factions that only register crimes against that in their own, in their slice of the galaxy
But I have some ideas...
this isn't solely ranting and whining....;
Merchant's Guild/Corporation (access to unique trade routes, hulls, resources they can "unlock" as they gain reputation, access to unique siphon stations and toll booths around player systems, access to unique buildings players can construct near or inside their trade partner colonies via Privatization, better value of their goods on the market, access to a banking system you can invest your money, borrow money to factions, hire mercenary fleets to protect your unique toll booth/gates and routes, ensure factios pay their dues on time)
Criminal Syndicate (access to raider camps, pirate connections, smuggling and extortion bonuses, access to unique black flag hulls, use asteroids as hideouts, wildcat exploitation of resources of certain systems without permission of local authorities, corrupt colonial officers into paying you to leave them alone or joining you, unique opportunities for some real shady deals for smuggling, harvesting organs, or enslaving/kidnapping colonial populations, slaves can work as crew or marines but are "poorly motivated" for obvious reasons, access to unique buildings you can construct near or inside rival colonies to steal their black market resources, increase their drug and organ outputs, more rewards from free ports and instability, sabotage rivals fleets and production)
Adventurer's Guild (access to unique explorer hulls, unique exploration and salvage opportunities, research new technologies to reverse engineer some arcane techs you can hoard, access to a museum unique building where you can store collections, access to a unique "void megascope observatories" that can see who is entering your systems in real time, pinpoint new exploration opportunities, maybe even the restoration of the Gate Systems and invent new transporation techniques, unique benefits of using AI technology via research, creating artificial captains that require no payments, robot crews)
Salvagers Company (Access to asteroid mining, unique hulls and droids, resource recycling, unique forge buildings and mega structures you can build like turret/battery platforms around your colonies and entry points, salvager droids going around your system collecting salvages, more automation features, unique robot hulls)
Religious Cult (Access to unique buildings that can "convert" systems into your faith, a religion popularity meter/beliefs and ways to influence either fear or respect, blessed hulls and artifacts giving mod-like benefits, more stability from using less, or more technology depending on the belief doctrine, converted systems pay some income and increase crew outputs, for factions with both religious cult and criminal syndicate traits they gain unique organ harvesting opportunities, but that throw a lot of shade on their outlook, religious cult need to be credible, any taint and their whole organisation can face terrible consequences, every faction could have a belief or disbelief system religious cults could work with or against, drawing either the adoration or ire of Factions, you provide stability, benefits industry and well-being of systems that invite your cult.... while you smuggle drugs and organs on the side, steal their resources under their nose, if thats how you roll)
Mercenary and Military, PMC(Access to more battle worthy hulls and weaponry, access to unique industrial buildings, access to faction diplomacy hiring you to "protect" said system, or be a corsair and attack other factions for a contract, when the contract ends, relationships restart, it's all business after all. You could have the faction you've just crippled hiring you to attack your prior contractor, access to income via sending your fleets to protect system the AI asks you to, better officer training and recruitment, easier access to midline tech ships and Detachment creation, "unique diplomatic ways to create new wars, you need it")
These Factions traits are not exclusive,
they can be like an additional "c" character configuration you can unlock by playing and "leveling" your faction, eventually, maybe.. even unlocking all traits, of course some traits do not synergize well and will require conversions like merchant and syndicate, mixing Salvager and Adventurer having powerful systems that could eventually need a debuff, for that there could be a unique "cohesion" feature, how likely to break apart the player faction is to became sub-factions, I find it every weird player factions never rebel, you never have to deal with opposition from within.. that's very odd, also... "unique" ways to deal with that depending on the faction traits, gulags, prison camps, asylums, conscription Synergy benefits can change the entire outlook of the faction;
Military Religious Cults can become Brotherhoods with access to unique hulls, doctrines and overall benefits to cohesion, stability, how other factions perceive you, think Brotherhood of Steel or Brotherhood of Nod, depends on Belief doctrine, Military Cults can convert systems they are protecting, gaining new followers on regions they are employed, they gain unique Ships with propaganda broadcasters that benefits the entire fleet and cripples enemy fleets of a differing belief or disbelief system
Religious Cult and Salvager company can become Techno-Cults based on their belief doctrine gaining access to jury-rigged Robot Fleets, Forgeworlds that benefit industry, unique system placements like self-recycling station, faster low-tech hull manufacturing, giving stability and increasing cohesion whenever the Player Faction builds something new, be it ships, robots, platforms/megastructures
Religious Cult and Criminal Syndicate can become Cartel-Cults, gaining access to unique game mechanics where you can both convert and corrupt systems, giving faction-wide corruption, freely pursue smuggling, exploiting of rival resources, gaining crew and slaves, while boosting that system stability, destroying them from within and bringing them to your side, plus benefits from both Religious Cult and Criminal Syndicate
Because synergies can be so powerful, reaching one will lock other faction traits from being completed, these above concern only the religious aspectFaction Design where you can change your faction colors, UI and even emblem, ship doctrine where you actually "toggle" hulls, or customize patrolsIf anyone has a suggestion or a critique feel welcome to do so, more brainstormers the better, what do you think of Synergies and Faction Traits? Maybe Merchants Guild and Adventurer's Guild synergies?
Thank you for your time, excuse my ST English mistakes, have a good day.
