Tons of things could go around the sun, power stations, factories, tanning salons, defence systems, communication arrays etc. But I suppose the issue is, in a system with multiple empires, who gets the star?

what about having new weapons based on solar research items like how to reproduce the solar power like in spiderman 2 the movie. And then a kind of comando unit that can hack left over buildings instead of having them destroyed for you to rebuild then again.

Such 'take over' will cost some money of course, but at least it will be less than rebuilding the unit itself and less time too.

Its called fusion power -- solar power is utilizing the radiant energy of a star, in Spiderman 2 they wanted to to harness the actual atomic process that the sun uses to produce that radiation. And while I'm not 100% sure, I'd be quite willing to bet that antimatter power is much more powerful than fusion power.



Someone has played way to much generals.

The thing about anti-matter is that if you had the technology to "harvest" any substantial amount, it would have the destructive power to put an end to any and everything. You would not only be able to destroy the surface of a planet, but completely destroy the planet itself. No need for fleets, armies, or any of that good stuff. I have a hard time thinking of a Universe at war with anti-matter being plentiful. It would make a good "very rare" hard to build and expensive bomb. Only in enough in quantity to destroy a planets surface. An epic weapon?

The sun with solar energy stations would not work to well... where would the energy be stored? really efficient batteries? The suns radiation causes a large "black out zone" all around it where communication becomes impossible due to interference. This might make for good use of a secret base? An almost cloaked research center or just an area where your fleet could travel unseen. You may be able to use the zone as a strategic staging point for ambushes or to just hide your numbers to provoke attack.

Just a thought. I have not played beta yet

Well... In reality (because I like scfi to take reality into account as much as possible) Current solar panel technology has only about 12% efficiency. You could imagine that by the time this game is to take place efficiency should be at 100% or better!

There would be no need for a space station orbiting the sun with the task of harvesting solar power when you could build a complex on a planet for a fraction of the cost. No doubt solar panels would be common place on rooftops or at large complexes. If anyone has not noticed "energy" has become the single largest issue in the world today. Iran, N. Korea, The whole mid-east, Alaska, the worlds depletion of usable oil fields. I could write a book on energy efficiency in the world today and our direction for the future. We are looking to alternative fuels and refining our current technologies to get as much energy out of our current resources as possible. You could argue against that, but you would be wrong on the overall.

With all that said, you must consider where we are today and where we will be tomorrow in order to create a believable universe. I always feel much better about a game if I believe "it could happen".

point: solar energy orbital stations orbiting the sun are inefficient, solar stations based in earth orbit connected hard line to the surface using an "elevator" made from carbon tubes more likely... as wild as that sounds.

Actually, placing solar panels near the sun is far more efficient because of the greater concentration of solar radiation. Take a look at Dyson Spheres.

Perhaps players should be able to create some kind of "solar outpost?" Maybe it could be an upgradeable structure that allowed for trade or research bonuses? Late game it could even be used as a hyperspace inhibitor for the sun.

Each player should only be able to build one, but the sun itself should remain neutral, forcing players to fight each other over control of the sun.

I can.

If you can get 110% efficiency, you hardly need those solar panels. You're creating energy out of nothing

I like your suggestion. It is really nice and good idea. Hope all members here can understand this idea. I'm really interested in your suggestion.  I will post here after getting sufficient knowledge regarding to your suggestion.

 

API Pumps

No kidding, I noticed this earlier, but I didn't want say anything about. This has got to be one of the oldest necro posts, because I suspect posts can't get much older than 2007.