Early start

[Windborne]

I had an idea a while back and thought I'd drag it out of the closet and see what everyone thought about it. The idea was basically to allow the players to start out with no knowlege of warp points, no ability to see them or pass through them.

In such a game the players would be forced to develop their home system more fully before heading out, but would not remain as isolated as in a game with "no warp points"

I envision a game where you start out only slightly more advanced then earth is now, with no idea as to how, or if, a warp drive could be made, early advances would allow you to first detect warp points, and then pass through them.

Your first ships in a game like this would be shuttles, small fighter-like ships, capable of travel inside the system, but unable to withstand passing through a warp point. Then would come unmanned satellites or drones, sent through the points as early explorers. Finally the array of ships and fighters we are all familiar with today would come into being.

The high point in this model is that by the time each race has left it's system it will have already researched a number of unique technologies and evolved a mode of operation, instead of simply beginning to spread from here to forever with just the starting technologies.