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[ApolloStarsector]

This game has given me over 100 hours (possibly hundreds of hours) of fun. One area of the game that is far too easy to brute-force is raiding and conquering the core worlds. In the back of my mind, I'm aware that I can simply amass a few thousand marines, and the core worlds are no longer a necessary threat. Some players respond to this point with, "redacted, ordos, etc. are the true endgame". I don't think there's actually that much enjoyable variation in farming ordos or the the various other powerful redacted ships.

The fleshed out player colony system, including resource management, warding off raiders and AI inspections, and diplomacy, are a far more enjoyable and enduring aspect of the game. But if the core worlds are easily wiped out or conquered, this aspect of the game is no real challenge or necessity. I think the game would be much more fun if there were a game/difficulty mode where the challenge in this aspect of the game was increased. I'm aware that Nexerelin has income-multiplier and growth-multiplier settings (including the "starfarer" mode), but this doesn't go nearly far enough.

Suggestion - offer a game/difficulty mode that:

1. Limits the total number of marines that the player is allowed to have at once.

2. Limits the total number of ship deployment points that the player is allowed to have at once (i.e., the player will not be able to have more than 4-5 capitals in their fleet).

3. Makes AI factions more aggressive with attacking and raiding the player colony.

4. Eliminates the possibility of salvaging a capital as a vulture or explorer, as this catapults the player out of the early game instantly.

Proof that this would be popular to many players: the popularity of difficulty enhancing mods such as ruthless sector and starpocalypse, both of which I have enjoyed greatly.

[ANGRYABOUTELVES]

The fleshed out player colony system, including resource management, warding off raiders and AI inspections, and diplomacy, are a far more enjoyable and enduring aspect of the game. But if the core worlds are easily wiped out or conquered, this aspect of the game is no real challenge or necessity. I think the game would be much more fun if there were a game/difficulty mode where the challenge in this aspect of the game was increased. I'm aware that Nexerelin has income-multiplier and growth-multiplier settings (including the "starfarer" mode), but this doesn't go nearly far enough.

This is mostly a modded-game problem. In vanilla, if you wipe out the core worlds to make colony maintenance less difficult then you lose the vast majority of your income because you have no customers. I somewhat agree that the existing markets are too easy to decivilize in vanilla, to the point that it's sometimes possible to do so by accident.

[ApolloStarsector]

You could make the same argument regarding conquest in Civ5, and it would be equally silly. As it stands, you have to pretend the core worlds are a threat when really, they don't need to be at all. Conquering worlds isn't a mod feature, it's in vanilla. You can take the horse to the water, but you can't make it drink.

[SCC]

Conquering worlds isn't a mod feature, it's in vanilla.

Unless you mean decivilising/satbombing a planet and then colonising it anew, it's not.

[ApolloStarsector]

Oh, very surprised by that. I stand corrected! My main point still stands, however. Why all the complex colony management and defenses, fleet doctrine, etc, only to defend against pirates and hegemony AI inspections? It just doesn't make sense. It's on the cusp of being a great 4x game. Maybe it's not meant to be. At this point I've moved on and will check back when the next release comes.

[SCC]

Starsector, after all, is a work in progress.
But Alex has definitely said 4X is not the direction it's going in, and SS is going to be more personal than that. Colonies aren't meant to just sit there, though. The "orders" tab might not be finished, but Alex does want colonies to do something more.

[ApolloStarsector]

Well said. That does make sense. I respect Alex's vision. And I especially respect the modders who turn it into 4x!

[landryraccoon]

I'm going to echo that "conquest" balance isn't a thing Vanilla should be addressing.

It's a mod feature. I personally prefer to play in a style that's more like Privateer / free trading than Genghis Khan. I would actually like to see more interesting peaceful diplomatic options with the various core world factions.