Never ending PBW games because of Stellar manip

[Gozra]

I had to get in on this. In Last man Standing We have a turtler. But He opened into systems that an opposing player was able to turn on a system shield. So We (3/4's of the Galaxy) are on the out side and it has taken us over 100 turns to stop the turtler and push him back in his hole. He can't or won't come out and we can't or won't go in 'YET' so I think we may see the greatest warp point assult in all of SEIV history with 4000 or more ships and bases on each side. Even now PBW cannot process the game because it takes a dedicated computer over 30 min. To process the turn. So we are connected but neither side has the strength to attack. And it is well known that the only way to win is by attack. At any rate. all things being equal a big empire that gets warp tech first can usally write the final chapter in a game.

[hese]

I am that turtler in Lastman. Or actually all remainging empires are hiding underneath their systemshields. Everybody is equally quilty over here. Shieldless empires were slaughtered quite fast as they were unable to break through systemshields and warppoint ambushes while fleets warpped inside their homeworlds.

Last time i broke free i lost over 1000 ships and managed to destroy 3 systems. Before that i was only empire who hammer it's way through warpambushes into procteded systems.

It's indeed quite hard for each sides: Other side has stockloaded ringworld and armada of bases and legendary trained fleets awaiting and outside lays 4 empires, covering 3/4 of galaxy (two talismans) guarding the gates. If/when i break free it's just another systemshield with warpambush, or ringworld system that is instantly recolonized after glassing, or ringworld under construction with solar bomb awaiting for fleet to arrive.

SEIV combat mode indeeds makes games stall in the endgames. Fleets are enormous and starter gets an huge advantage so combat gets quite difficult. So each side can't afford risk of attack and losing fleet and allowing opponent roam free for awhile.

[Paul1980au]

What is needed is for the events "open wormhole" natural random opening to occour or be set in PBW games or random ship movements - i guess in such a refined situtaion yes the game could end in a stalemate - but the no combat for x turns and the largest empire winning is one way to prevent this.

[hese]

Personally i would implement limits for fighters, bases and ships for sector. As there allready is for satellites & mines. It wasent on datafiles so i suppost that it can't be modded?

That would decrease penalty of defender firing first and make combats bit more evenly. When fleet sizes exceed 100 things are get out of hand. Sure players would still bring hundreds of ships to fray, but with separate fleets and intercept orders they would fought in different order.

[Alneyan]

That would be a nice idea indeed, and you could mod a part of the solution. (Basically, make Bases act as satellites, making Bases subject to the satellite limit per sector) Something along these lignes might be done for stationary fighters (outside combat at least) as well.

However, such a suggestion would be difficult to implement for ships, as you could have two fleets of the maximal size on the same sector at the same time. I am not too sure on how you would work around this. The same problem goes for fighters able to move on their own, plus the fact that fighters can be launched during a combat.

This being said, I would also like less ships involved in battles from the midgame onwards. And then, there is the matter of Stellar Manipulation and choke points, which can act as a powerful deterrent for any offensive. (Basically the situation you describe. It doesn't happen too often, as you need two players to reach the same position at about the same time ; otherwise, the one without Warp Openers/Closers is slaughtered very quickly.) But it seems like I am digressing here.

[PvK]

If you made some very-high-tech killer drones which use a lot of supplies, then you could have something to discourage fleet accumulations, because an expensive drone attack could threaten a fleet concentration, but would not be cost-efficient against moderate-sized fleets, because it would only be good for one battle (thanks to a high supply use - perhaps high supply use to move from sector to sector, which would eliminate the drone if it moved). Needs refinement and balancing, but perhaps it could address the mass fleet issue.

PvK

[clark]

What about modding the system shield to reduce system happiness, system intel, research, organics, rads, minerals, and if possible, production.

You'll have to think long and hard about using one of those, no?

How about it increases the chance of bad events in the system? (you are afterall playing with powers you can barely comprehend...muhahaha)

Or, it needs the power of the sun, so it's either sphereworld, or system shield?

Can you give facilities a maintenance cost? If so, make it a killer so that you can afford them for only a couple systems...