19
« on: June 20, 2023, 12:54:07 PM »
1. The Problem
Starsector lategame has a few issues, and while its generaly a variety of things (lack of new exploration content, basicly having found all the loot you need), Colonies are often an aspect that seem more broken in design than in lack of content.
Colonies, while really cool, are often also some of the weakest gameplay out of an otherwise great package. but despite that, due to the large power boost they give, they start taking up a significant part of the gameplay loop in the lategame. While this isnt an issue by itself, as moving the primary way the player gets put in to battles from exploration to colony management makes sense, it often fails to actually put the player in to the combat gameplay as it is supposed to. This is improved with things like the Hostile Activity event now, but at its root it slowly expands to take up all your time.
A player has to make a choice on where they spend their credits on. In the lategame, this is often:
1. Expanding the Colony.
2. Expanding the players fleet.
The issue with this is, that putting money in to the fleet is wasteful. Why ever spend money on something that makes far less money than the simple upgrade you could purchase for the colony. Just upgrade the colony, wait a few months, and boom, now you have even more money, which you can use to make a stronger fleet!....but you spot another upgrade that could improve your cashflow even more, so you decide to go for it first, and repeat. This is an extremely passive playstyle which the game heavily encourages. This is not an issue every player will run in to, but it is an easy trap to find yourself in. You will often see people that reach this part of the game, waste a year on colony, and then stop their run.
2. Proposed Solution
My personal solution to this would be to split the players currency and the player factions currency in to seperate inventories.
Implementing this basicly means:
- Faction Currency is used for expanding colonies and the faction.
- Player Currency is used to expand the players fleet.
The player of course would still get their own share from colony income, but not a cut that breaks the games scaling, becoming a late-game variation of a faction commission, which will help you keep your fleet afloat, rather than paying for all of its expansion. This removes the feedback loop that pressures players in to hyperfocusing on the colony improvement.
Now, keeping the two entirely seperate however would be a mistake too. The player should be able to move their own money in to the factions bank, but this should be something they only have to do early game to jumpstart their faction. This keeps the requirement of a certain amount of progress from the player to reach this part of the game, without forcing the player to give their credits away for ever.
It opens the door towards more Structures and Industries that either provide quality of life or incentives that arent displayed in forms of credits.
In the current game, this is basicly Heavy Industry, as it allows you to construct your own ships.
Meanwhile tech-mining, as it doesnt create money, unless you get really, really lucky with its rewards and sell them, is often a less desireable choice.
Mods like IndEvo already play in to this side of colonies, and i think this change would make it even more desireable to use those kinds of structures first, instead of immediately growing the factions growth.
3. Side Effects
In the first place, it doesnt really make sense that the player, as a sole person, has access to the entire factions funding for just their own fleet. It basicly paints the player as a dictator by default. of course they basicly are as they have total control anyways, but i think the other aspects are easier to ignore.
Bounties become more desireable again as the cut from the faction income may provide the fleets upkeep, but not enough to expand it.
I think another large benefit is that having a colony fail is a lot less punishing.
You will still loose that colony, but that will be the only punishment you have. If one of your colonies really messes up right now, it can quickly make your fleet bankrupt.
This also means that you can introduce stronger colony threats without it feeling bullshitty, as there is a bit less on the line.
