the great space-race
 

well, i dont have much time to devote to new games, but I thought I would at least offer up this idea. I have tweaked a giagantic cluster map to be a massive race course. Players start at one end, each in their own system with a one-way warp point out onto the track. they must then travel through 12 clusters (some multiple paths, some chokepoints) to get to the end system.

To win the game, the player must colonize the planet at the finish line. colonizing this planet will give them an ancient ruins with all the techs on it, so a victory condition of 100% techs discovered should end the game at that point.

SM would be disabled, so that people could not skip straight to the end. the starting point of the race would be a sector that damages (destroys) ships so that no one could blocade the starting point, you would have to move off of it the same turn you move onto it.

I was thinking of doing it with omnipresent view on, so that someone cant sneak some little ship ahead at the very beginning of the game and win without anyone else having an opportunity to stop them. mainly because thats what I would try to do myself, and I know it would piss people off.

If anyone is interested, I will open the game on PBW. I dont know if I will have time to join myself, though.

------------------
"...the green, sticky spawn of the stars"
(with apologies to H.P.L.)

Re: the great space-race
 

some things aren't clear yet
1. there is one "finish" planet? ( probably yes)
2. when do the paths of the players merge. they do merge don't they ? oh wait, all of the starting system are connected with one warp point the the starting point

i like the idea, too bad i don't have time to play it either

Re: the great space-race
 

Just some thoughts, is the finish line so far away that a fast/cheap colonizer would run out of supplies before reaching it and thus dropping to speed1? A single black hole at a choke point would make the finish line unreachable by slow boats. Are all the races of the same colony type as the finish line? If could be a serious handicap if your race was ice bound and the finish line was rock or gas. If all the races had the same colony type, it would make it more challenging. Perhaps too much...
--
TAZ

Re: the great space-race
 

there is one rock planet at the finish line right now. my reasoning was that while ice and gas dwellers would have to spend points researching that colonization type (or stealing colonizers to analyze) that they would be able to colonize planets with less compitetion and so it would ballance out.

if you dont think that that sounds ballanced, its pretty easy to add two more planets at the end.

there are a few black holes that must be crossed at the end of the race, and the finish line is in a nebula system. That means that you cant win without max levels in some kind of sensors, and you will either need quantum reactors or a large fleet of repair resupply ships. even a colonizer with a solar cell would get wiped out on the Last leg of the race.

------------------
"...the green, sticky spawn of the stars"
(with apologies to H.P.L.)