Next patch requests

[Captain Kwok]

MKShep:

I really like that idea! I can't tell you how many times when I've gone to name a ship and can't remember which names have been used nor come up with a new one...

[Val]

I think racial anger modifiers would be great - something that would allow you to represent long standing hatred between races!!

Would also be nice if you could set anger modifiers for use of certain weapons or actions - so you can set an AI to react negatively to a race that uses a planet killer.

One thing I would love to see is more abilities for Warp Points (and other stellar objects) - top on the list are :
1) Delayed transit Warp Points - Set a time delay for how many turns before the ships get through, or alternately set a movement cost to use the Warp Point so you can tell a ship to jump and it will stay 'in queue' until it pays the full move cost.
2) Warp Points with auto close time delays - These warp points will automatically close after a set number of turns. This would better allow the simulation of 'warping' through space (imho).

Would also be cool if they get the restrict tech to ship type thing working.

[dmm]

OK, maybe these aren't appropriate for a patch, but I can ask.
1) Scenario Editor
2) Add genetic engineering area (to biology tech tree?), which would allow you to colonize other atmospheres. Obviously, each race would start with one of these techs for free. Would help the AI a lot, since it is too stupid to shift captured pop around.
3) I like the idea of restricting colony modules to a specific planet size, but I only like it if you could research the other planet sizes. So a Gas race might start off with only Huge and Large techs, but could research the other sizes.
4) Allow players to use racial points to buy techs at setup. At least some techs. For example, you could have a space-rats race that is stupid and unlovable but that breeds like ... well, like rats, and that can colonize both rock and ice or both O2 and CH4 atmospheres. Another example: a cowardly psychic race, with lousy offense and defense, but it starts with mind-control tech (but no prelims to it).
5) Anything that will help no-planet races/monsters come into being.
6) Allow the option, in Single Player or HotSeat, of manually entering combat results. The player(s) could derive the combat results in any fashion of his/their choosing: dice, RTS, arm-wrestling, StarFleet Battles, etc.

In a nutshell: Add variety wherever possible!

[Krakenup]

1) Improved ministers.
2) Improved ministers.
3) Improved ministers.
4) A popup dialog box for colony ships asking "Do you want to leave the planet without loading population?"
5) Hard code the QNP system. The current system makes no sense. The easiest/best way would be to make the engine size, cost, supply storage, and supply usage proportional to the hull size. The same could be done with the bridge, life support, and crew quarters. There would be reductions for colony ships and transports, but their combat speed would be way down.
6) Add a "Maintain current formation" option to combat so that if the leader moves forward 2, everybody moves forward 2, and if the leader moves back 2, everybody moves back 2 instead of trying to wheel the entire formation around.
7) Make mines and minesweeping less than 100 percent effective. There should be a chance that a mine will miss and that minesweeping will fail.

[Growltigga]

a miraculous patch that somehow keeps the strategic and design playability of SEIVG but then jumps to a 'Homeworld-esque' visual extravaganza on the tactical side

yeah yeah I know - no chance but I keep on smoking this shoe polish and hoping!

[Suicide Junkie]

5) Hard code the QNP system. The current system makes no sense. The easiest/best way would be to make the engine size, cost, supply storage, and supply usage proportional to the hull size. The same could be done with the bridge, life support, and crew quarters. There would be reductions for colony ships and transports, but their combat speed would be way down.

Ahhh! No!!!
Even though I love QNP, and am pretty much using it exclusively, it SHOULD NOT be hardcoded.

Adding it to the default data files is fine, but for goodness sake don't hardcode things like that!

[damien]

I used to play a pretty cool Star Wars derived strategic game. I cant remember what it was called, but it introduced characters with different abilities into play, and these characters (with help from special forces and spies and such) were the ones who performed intelligence activities.

Id like to see every ship have a captain, every fleet have an admiral, every world or system have a govenor or a general, and so on and so forth. If your ships have master computers then those would be AIs; treated as characters like any other.

You could infiltrate these characters onto other worlds to make contact with rebels or steal technologies or whatever.

I dont think you should be able to perform espionage on an empire you have no contact with. Intelligence is something like trade, and linked to trade - its potential grows with contact and time.