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[itchylol]

Screenshot of saturation bombardment log: https://i.imgur.com/inYApSS.png

[Alex]

Ah yeah - it's story-mission-important, and destroying it before you finish the story missions would brick them. You can, however, destroy it afterwards. A couple of colonies are like that; it should probably say *something* when you bombard so it doesn't look like a bug, though...

[Histidine]

it should probably say *something* when you bombard so it doesn't look like a bug, though...

I'd suggest letting the player go ahead and brick the story missions, but with a "the thread of prophecy [will be] severed" warning beforehand. Don't know how to do this without breaking the fourth wall too blatantly and/or failing to actually communicate what the consequence will be, though...

[Thaago]

it should probably say *something* when you bombard so it doesn't look like a bug, though...

I'd suggest letting the player go ahead and brick the story missions, but with a "the thread of prophecy [will be] severed" warning beforehand. Don't know how to do this without breaking the fourth wall too blatantly and/or failing to actually communicate what the consequence will be, though...

I feel like a clear message in a popup is a good solution because it respects player agency but communicates clearly that some parts of the game won't be available for them anymore. Of games I've played, Morrowind did it and it worked well in my opinion. It let the player kill any character, but put a message on screen saying something to the effect of "A character critical to the main story has been killed. If you wish to complete the main story, load an earlier save." It broke the 4th wall, but I feel like thats ok - all of the help popups break the fourth wall too and those are ok.

[robepriority]

I mean, wiping one of the foremost  planets off the face of the sector and dooming hundreds of millions should be a plotline in and of itself.

Unless there's some lore shennanigans about fleet loyalty, I would suspect that your 2IC and all your captains would attempt mutiny before commiting the largest omnicide possible.

[Kakroom]

it should probably say *something* when you bombard so it doesn't look like a bug, though...

I'd suggest letting the player go ahead and brick the story missions, but with a "the thread of prophecy [will be] severed" warning beforehand. Don't know how to do this without breaking the fourth wall too blatantly and/or failing to actually communicate what the consequence will be, though...

Yes please.

To be honest, not to be overdramatic about the Video Game, but a Main Story Line restricting your actions on the world to a selection of dev vetted/built options is kind of my worst nightmare design decision for this game. I'm fine with story missions if they're kept to the side and don't really interfere with the player/sector's own emerging narrative; when they start to impinge on that like this, that's just the worst.

[Linnis]

it should probably say *something* when you bombard so it doesn't look like a bug, though...

I'd suggest letting the player go ahead and brick the story missions, but with a "the thread of prophecy [will be] severed" warning beforehand. Don't know how to do this without breaking the fourth wall too blatantly and/or failing to actually communicate what the consequence will be, though...

I feel like a clear message in a popup is a good solution because it respects player agency but communicates clearly that some parts of the game won't be available for them anymore. Of games I've played, Morrowind did it and it worked well in my opinion. It let the player kill any character, but put a message on screen saying something to the effect of "A character critical to the main story has been killed. If you wish to complete the main story, load an earlier save." It broke the 4th wall, but I feel like thats ok - all of the help popups break the fourth wall too and those are ok.

Yes, but in morrowind saving was part of the lore and one of the critical characters knows the player has this ability.

Don't know if SS would benifit from such a thing though.

[Sordid]

Yes, but in morrowind saving was part of the lore and one of the critical characters knows the player has this ability.

Don't know if SS would benifit from such a thing though.

There was also the back-path through the main quest, allowing you to finish the game despite killing critical characters (contrary to what that message told you).

[intrinsic_parity]

I think in a perfect world, you would write branches of the main story to account for major things the player could do, but in practice, that might be an excessive amount of work for the benefit. Maybe this is a place where you could have an alternate version of the mission where the planet is destroyed though? That seems more elegant.

[Scorpixel]

I mean, wiping one of the foremost  planets off the face of the sector and dooming hundreds of millions should be a plotline in and of itself.

Unless there's some lore shennanigans about fleet loyalty, I would suspect that your 2IC and all your captains would attempt mutiny before commiting the largest omnicide possible.

It's not just one of the foremost, it's THE foremost. Population wise Chicomoztoc is home to over half of humanity in the sector (if colony size is lore-accurate and the combined uncivilised space population does not go above size7).
Killing the heart of the Hegemony would immediately shatter it, and while every other faction may scramble for what's left, the economic, political and social repercussions to what is the real-world equivalent of wiping-off Asia from the map would be a bleak picture.
And TT actually attempted it!

[Midnight Kitsune]

I think in a perfect world, you would write branches of the main story to account for major things the player could do, but in practice, that might be an excessive amount of work for the benefit. Maybe this is a place where you could have an alternate version of the mission where the planet is destroyed though? That seems more elegant.

Excessive is an understatement. I know Meso tried this with his THI missions and he stopped after the first mission due to just how much more work it added

[Megas]

If I decide to use cores to run my colonies, I will wipe Hegemony off the map to eliminate inspections once and for all, since money alone will not get them off my back.

Also, I had bad memories with factions causing trouble with my colonies, and wiping them all out seems like a good victory condition.

[Chairman Suryasari]

I prefer mission failed/brick/unfinishable rather than railroading player to finish the quest before letting players do whatever they want, especially in a sandbox game. It doesn't need to be as complex as New Vegas, just let the player do whatever the player pleases, player own choices and narrative should above the game narrative itself in a game like Starsector.

Like the comment above "I hate the space mosquito so called Hegemony so I bombed their population.", imagine game narrative get in the way of player narrative, "Well, i hate them so much that i spend 30 year annually bombing them from the orbit but i don't have the heart to completely wipe them because, reason i guess..." this ain't it chief.

I usually don't really care about "essential NPC" in linear game but in sandbox game? No, this isn't the right call.

[Megas]

I want to play Ming the Merciless who torments or annihilates planets for fun!

More likely, I just sat bomb the core worlds because they keep poking and poking until I get sick of it, put them all out of their misery, and get peace of mind again.

[robepriority]

I think in a perfect world, you would write branches of the main story to account for major things the player could do, but in practice, that might be an excessive amount of work for the benefit. Maybe this is a place where you could have an alternate version of the mission where the planet is destroyed though? That seems more elegant.

Population wise Chicomoztoc is home to over half of humanity in the sector (if colony size is lore-accurate and the combined uncivilised space population does not go above size7).
Killing the heart of the Hegemony would immediately shatter it, and while every other faction may scramble for what's left, the economic, political and social repercussions to what is the real-world equivalent of wiping-off Asia from the map would be a bleak picture.
And TT actually attempted it!

Starsector genocide run