We already know there will be no campaign mode in Diplomacy. i have not read anything remotely concrete about the possibility of a campaign.
But gamers are greedy monsters, with bottomless stomachs and regenerating fingertips, they never tire mashing buttons.
If i were to give Sins a campaign mode, it would follow the spirit of the random map generation. I would just push upwards the already great scope of a sins game, giving it a galactic view.
A galactic view would display the player a galaxy, which would be divided in 8 rings. it would also be divided in 8 'slices' (like a pizza). Each piece would be called a 'sector' (64 sectors total). Each sector would be subdivided with further rings and radial cuts, to make approximately square areas, called 'quadrants'. The inner sectors, in rings 1-4, have 8x8 quadrants, while the outre ones have 8x16 quadrants, since they are wider. the first ring does not touch the galaxy center, but has a hole in it, since there is that massive black hole at the center of the galaxy, and very close to it is a too high energy anyway, with om many starts too close to each other, which cannot be colonized anyway.
Each quadrant would then have 16 subquadrant (a 4x4 grid) and is called a 'system'. By the name you can guess that each system MAY contain a solar system, but they can be more varied than that. Each system may contain:
Nothing. it is a void system
- A star system. 1 or more stars, no planets. other features (asteroids, gas clouds etc) are possible.
- A planetary system. 1 or more stars with at least 1 planet. Other features are possible.
- A dead system. No star, but other features are possible. (e.g. big system composed of asteroid fields).
The action would unravel as follows:
The galaxy would be populated with a few hundreds of factions. Each faction would control a few systems. The other systems (the vast majority) would be void (no one controls them), empty (i.e. no sentient beings with jump technology are living there) or neutral (populations not interested in associating with space empire, nor willing to become one).
Each faction would receive a few goals to drive them, much like in a WAR game you get the 3 cards with objectives. They would also have optional goals, which can give bonuses as the game progresses.
Travelling from system to system should not be free. Similarly to the game we know, there should be jump lanes and wormholes to help travelling. In fact, using brute-force technology should be possible, but super-expensive to get a fleet with colonizers on a system without any easy access to it.
That alone is good reason to make the players travel along narrow paths and clash against other empires, sooner rather than later.
The goals given to each player should be in several tiers:
Epic Goal- the ultimate goal(s) set up for your empire to achieve, and be writen in you history thoughout the millenia. Those take very long to complete, and accomplishing them is like finishing the campaign. During an Epic goal you will complete several 'Long term' goals, probably even as a requirement to accomplish the Epic. Examples: be he supreme human empire in the galaxy, holding more than 50% of the human population and controlling at least 10% of the systems; Create the greatest merchant empire ever known, creating a commercial ring around the galaxy core 3rd ring.
Long Term Goal - Take up a good time to achieve, but not nearly as much as an Epic goal. Will probably involve several 'Medium-term' goals. Examples: Find and control the long-lost home planet of our legends. It is in one of the quadrants in sector 4-5.
Medium Term Goal - Goals which require a few steps to accomplish, If you plan it right you can do it in around 10-15 games. Example: find and control a way to travel through jumps from quadrant 2-8 to quadrant 4-8.
Short Term Goal - Those can usually be accomplished in 1-5 games. Example: it is reported that an ancient artifact in this SYSTEM has hints which point to our home planet. You must find it for our archaeologists to study it. (scope of 1 game)
The player would be given 1-3 Epic Goals to choose from to pursue. Choosing one will not dismiss the others, it is simply a choice of following the path to accomplish that goal. According to the Epic Goals, the counselors will hint at Long term goals which will help accomplish that, with statements showing which of the Epic Goals will be helped by accomplishing that Long Term Goal. From the long Term Goals, also medium Term Goals will be displayed as means to fulfill it. Smae Thing happens for Short Term Goals.
Some missions can be time-limited, so that they expire and the player cannot complete them anymore if he takes too long, while others not.
The Goal system will be dynamic except for the Epic Goals. So, if the player does nothing to accomplish a certain goal, eventually it will be substituted for another. The player can also 'pin' a goal he intends to accomplish, so that it wont be replaced, if he is working on another.
The Galaxy map would be dynamic and probably turn-based. I envision this facet of the game as the Total War game series.
Here you will see that despite you defeated the Xonari Precepts in your last combat, they are still alive and well as an empire, and even more pissed against you; you will surely find them again in the future.
Combat can be initiated by either the AI or the player. If the player is not willing to enter a specific combat, the game should solve it automatically.
There should be rare resources available on only certain planets, which are prominent on the Galaxy map but do not show up on the combat game.
Diplomacy would play an even more important role, because making peace would have an even bigger meaning.
There should be another tech tree too, to make stuff at the galactic empire level. These improvements would not be the same as the improvements at the combat level we are used to.
Planets should be customizable to specific ends, which require massive resources. For example, a system with a planet with a 'paradise planet' trait could be toggled to be a purely commercial system. This makes it more friendly to the population to go in, and to receive visits from foreigners (from empires at peace of course). This generates the potential for much more money generation, but forbids tactical structures for your empire when fighting in it. Thus, this option should only be enabled in systems which are well-enclosed in your system.
Other kinds of artifacts should be available too. It should be possible, for example, to find a deactivated phase lane generator, which could create a permanent phase lane to another system. If the player, through successive Goals accomplishments, gather all the tech pieces to activate it, he can boost his travelling through the galaxy with an additional passage.
Other artifacts which should be available would be empire-specific. For example, home planet beacons could point the way to the home planet. They provide no technological benefit in a battle, but they help advance in a Goal.
Espionage will be important too, since the goals of your neighboring empires can greatly affect your strategy. If your neighboring empire is at peace with you, but has a Goal which will sooner or later involve dominating planets which are part of your empire, you should probably get ready to defend.
Another resource which should show up are Specialists. Specialists should improve a certain aspect of the game. They would evolve, getting more skilled at one (or more) of its abilities. They could have 10 levels max.
Specialists would be placed on either a planet, a structure or a ship. If the structure/ship is destroyed, or the planet razed, there is a high chance the Specialist will die.
Specialists:
Admiral
Placed on a capital ship, starbase or capital ship factory. When not in a fleet, effects only the ship/structure he is in.
Quick shot - each point reduces cooldown by 2% for all ships on the fleet. 5 levels.
Defender - each point increases shields by 2% for all ships on the fleet. 5 levels.
Runner - each point increases speed by 2% for all ships on the fleet. 5 levels.
Die hard - each point gives in 100% the admiral will survive ONCE (i.e. if the ship is destroyed, he escapes). 5 levels.
Engineer - each point increases repair speed by 2% for all ships on the fleet. 5 levels.
Spy
Can be placed on any structure, ship or planet the empire has access to, friend or foe. Skills:
Strategic report - every few minutes send a piece of information about the gravwell he is in (tactical strctures, logistic, planet development, fleet size)
Intelligente report - chance of getting a piece of information about the broader state of the enemy empire. one of: owned gravwells, empire-wide economy state, diplomatic status against other empires, one of the enemy's Goals.
Sabotage - when engaging combat on a gravwell the spy is in, he will have a chance to reduce the effectiveness of an enemy structure.
Detect spy - will look for foreign spies. If an enemy spy is found, there is a good chance the enemy will be killed.
Die hard - same as Admiral skill.
At the core, this design is basically an excuse to tie several fights one after the other, giving the player a longer goal. Keeping it close to the 'randomly-generated' goal, The missions would not need to be overly detailed, neither flesh out too much the lore of any of the 3 races.
A few Epic Goals:
Create a massive commercial ring to dominate commerce throughout the galaxy. (control a strip of commerce-specialized adjacent systems on adjacent quadrants on adjacent sectors, and at least 50% of the non-void systems on the sectors)
Guide all races on the Galaxy to the path of enlightenment (make peace with all factions, and ally with at least 50% of them, while also making at least 50% of the empires live at peace - no war with anyone else)
Dominate the Galaxy (control at least 50% of the population (all races) and non-void sectors of the galaxy).
Unify your race as a single empire (destroy all empires of your own race, and also have at least 1/3 of the galaxy population).
A few Long Term Goals
Find the long-lost home planet and control it. (either a beacon-quest, hopping through several systems to find the clues, or a puzzle quest, finding bits and pieces to get the final destination).
Dominate the sector (all non-void systems)
Destroy our arch nemesis, Empire XXX (pretty self-explanatory)
Surpass allied Empire YYY economically without making war with them (war == automatically lost the Goal; requires hunting resources and strenghtening the economy).
A few medium term Goals
Create a wall of armed systems to protect our borders from our enemy (militarize all sectors bordering empire XXX)
Fight your way in the sector 3-8 and seize control of quadrant 2-5, which is a choke point for navigating between the left and right portions of the sector.
We fount the first half of a phase lane generator. Our intelligence gathered that somewhere in this quadrant there is another one. Find it. (artifact search)
A few short term Goals
Making a fearsome armada to be reckoned with (maximize the fleet in a combat in a specific system)
Defend planet X against the invaders for at least 30 minutes to maketime for the colonists to flee, before the inevitable invasion.
Seize control of planet Fubar in 1 hour or less, to save our spy from being killed. He has important intellgence information about the enemy.
We found out that another beacon exists in this system, pointing to our home planet. Find it (needs to use the artifact search command)
System specialization - A system can be specialized to certain tasks, to further the empire growth. All system specializations will have some change of balance in logistic/tactical slots, and will sport super-versions of the structures commonly found in a gravwell. Those structures must be defended thoroughly, as they are expensive. Likewise, the attacker would have great benefit if he manages to destroy them.
Commerce - Commercial specialization implies on a reduced militarization - no tactical slots would be available. Instead, there would be super-structures - Super trade ports, industries or orbital resorts - which would need to be protected from any invaders. Like a string of connected trade ports, a string of commerce-specialized system will generate more income.
Technology - A tech system will increase the default technological level and spread this tech level to neighboring systems, in a 2 system radius. This has the effect of having the tech tree having levels already unlocked. A cluster of Technology specialized systems increases the base tech level further and spreads it even further away. It cuts in half the availability of logistic and tactical slots.
Example: a single tech system at sector 4-4, quadrant 4-4 spreads 1 tech level in a square 2 systems to the left, 2 to the right, 2 up and 2 down. All tier 1 techs are unlocked on those sysems by default, even with 0 research hubs.
If those were 2 tech systems adjacent to each other, it would spread 2 tech levels for the first 2 neighboring systems, and 1 tech level to the farther ones.
And so on, up to 8 tech levels.
Culture - Culture systems spreads, well, culture. And Allegiance. Clustering culture systems increases the intensity and distance of the culture spread, but culture also spreads even further by commercial lines. Culture-specialized systems also have no tactical slots.
Military - Military systems are very important, as they can help greatly defending from enemy invaders. They can have fleets ready to deploy to neighboring systems. They have increased tactical slots, cheaper to produce ships, and only 4 logistic slots per gravwell (for factories). Technological systems base tech spread is doubled for military and defense, halved for diplomacy and civilian. It does very little to help empire-wide economy.
Firewall - A firewall is an extremely militarized system. It blocks commerce from going through it, has no logistic slots, increased tactical slots and has space for one extra starbase per gravwell (2 at the star), except un-colonizable ones. It is a frontline and relies on Military systems around to replenish its fighting force. Fleets can be deployed from firewall systems to adjacent systems as well. A system can only be set up as a Firewall system if it is adjacent to a Military system or another Firewall system.
Battles taking into account several systems
let's say we are in a quadrant where 2 empires, A and B, at war are fighting. It has the following config:
System 2-1 (A)
\
System 2-2 (A) System 5-2 (
\ /
System 3-3 (A) ----- System 4-3 (
/ \
System 2-4 System5-4 (
Straight lines represent the 'super phase lanes', which connect stars (or 'super phase lane generators' - not exclusively owned by Vasari - which can connect to a starless system)
If the systems are not specialized, each system can produce reinforcements in the forms of either fleets or resources. Commerce systems can only send money as reinforcements. Military systems can only send ships.
Non-specialized systems can send reinforcements every hour of gameplay in the combat screen. Specialized systems can send a greater quantity of its type of reinforcements.
So, if A wants to invade B, he could prepare by specializing 2-2 as a military system and 2-4 as a commerce system, so that they can feed 3-3 with more resources.
A would then prepare an invading fleet to take over 4-3. He would set up how much of the resources from the neighboring systems would be transferred to 3-3, and how much resources 3-3 would spend on the invasion effort.
An invasion combat game would play differently from a standard Sins game, since one player would control most or all of the map. What would change is that the invader player will periodically receive reinforcements at the star, as well as a resources.
it would take clever tactics to set your foot on the system, as well as resource management ot the galaxy map level. If system 2-1 is also militarized, it can supply 2-2 with units, so 2-2 can in turn supply even more units to 3-3, which will also have more available to send to the front.
Sending reinforcements should gradually deplete resources, as wave after wave come in, they would eventually get thinner and thinner, so the invading player might choose to give up a fight if he thinks the defenses cannot be cracked without stronger resources.
Each system should have reserves, which they should be able to move beween systems at a loss, use when specializing systems, or to supply the frontlines.
The player should be able to move in and out of any combat which might be happening, going back and forth between combat and the galaxy screen, so that he can, for example, set up a supply of reinforcements to a defending planet. An AI would automatically take over the combat management if the player goes to the galaxy map. He should also be able to indirectly control a combat. In this case an AI would be controling his fleet and he would only set up missions, like the ones currently available in Diplomacy, but a bit more fleshed out. Commands such as 'attack this planet', 'build a starbase here' or 'create a commerce line connecting these gravwells' should be available. He can set up the missions, a priority level for each and let his AI busy fighting while he goes to the galaxy map. When getting back to the combat he is asked if he wants to stay on the tactical management of if he wants to take over direct control of the action. The player should be able to switch between those combat modes back-and-forth at will (tactical or direct control).
A single combat can be happening in fleshed-out detail though (memory and performance restrictions). If another combat starts elsewhere, the player will be asked which front he wants to be resolved automatically and which one he wants to follow in detail. If a combat if left for automatic resolution, it cannot be entered anymore.
Of course, it's a very ambitious idea, would take a long time to be coded if it ever happens, and games would similarly take ages to complete. There is also an uber large amount of details and consequences the above system would have, which means: testing and tuning, ad nauseum.
Online gaming could have one or several galaxy maps as well, so players would be able to choose if they want to fight just a quick fight on a random map, or control an online empire and fight against other players on an epic battle for control of the galaxy. Galaxies will eventually reach a state where a player has supremacy, an a voting system can let the other empires acclaim a player as a winner. A score of all players would be saved for the ages to come.
Friends should be able to create their own private online galaxy at the servers, so that they can play with each other without unwanted guests on their combats.
