by Happy Corner » Sat 26. Oct 2013, 05:52
I don't think you should try to remake MOO2 or GalCiv... 4X-style empire management and battles would be too much effort and take focus away from exploring.
If you DO throw in something like this, I'd rather it take a somewhat different approach. Like, you might charter a colony ship and even pick a planet for it, but you wouldn't be in control of the colony itself.
Logically, why would you? You might be a great prospector in the eyes of the megacorps, but that doesn't mean you know dick about running a colony that can't just fly away from its problems. They'd rather have one of their own executives in charge, thank you very much. Wait, what's that? You paid for the colony ship and YOU want to be in charge? Nope, sorry, you'll just have to settle for a cut of the colony's profits. Why are you so intent on playing boring old Space Governor, anyway? Go back to the unknown frontier and do what you're best at, dammit!
Instead, you could be more like a patron of your new colony.
You'd stop in every now and then, collect your profits, and recommend buildings for them to build (and maybe donate some of your own cash to help them build it faster). Naturally, a lot of these buildings could be prospector-friendly buildings like stores, a fuel depot, a company office, a Mudd's branch, and so forth. Any stores should have gear/augments that you can't get at the space stations, and there could be a few special buildings or bonuses that only colonies can have. Placed thoughtfully, the colony could help a lot in areas of the galaxy that are distant from the space stations.
Colonies could also be a source of quests (get rid of X that's hurting us, go make a deal with the nearby Y settlement, take this cargo to station Z, and so forth), and completing them would be another way to help the colony grow.
Maybe there could be a minigame where you try to pick the right spot for colonists to mine or grow food or place a building, but again this aspect of it probably shouldn't get TOO involved and micromanaging. Each planet might have only had so many areas to use, and some areas would definitely be better for some things than others (thus the player would have to consider his decision carefully).
Finally, a successful colony would of course count among your assets if you manage to retire.