Things to do with very large networks

A place to discuss mods in development and concepts for new mods.
Post Reply
User avatar
Periculi
Fleet Officer
Fleet Officer
Posts: 1282
Joined: Sat Oct 13, 2007 7:48 pm
Location: Necroposting in a forum near you

Been playing around with the topology generator and having a great time. A really simple set of XML instructions can create a massive labyrinthine star network using the "path" type plus give you some nodes at the edges, for example- in each corner where further processing for node distance from a node can give you some interesting divisions of the network, or dividing it up like is done for ecosystems, or seeding in some random nodes and then growing them into little star kingdoms or something - a lot of power in the current topology system.

It was too easy really- I mean, with no effort at all I suddenly am able to produce 850 to 900 system node networks with a surprising depth of detail in what might be placed in there thanks to the topology processors available now.

For me, once I saw the network produced was immediately itching to jump into a ship and explore the whole thing. As long as it's got some stuff to discover, right?

And in a network that large would be a monumental undertaking to manually detail out all those systems and what might appear in them. So was thinking about procedural generation, and what could be done in a massive network like this. More environment embellishments, rare and exotic star types and other systems perhaps?

An adventure based around survival and exploration was one direction I thought could be interesting. Maybe something more trade focused, or like Star Control Origins where we have many empty stars, with planets to visit, but also alien civilizations to discover and trade with and perhaps secure their friendship, or go to war with and wipe from the galaxy entirely.

Just rambling here, and curious what you might think about filling large star networks with interesting things to do and see.
relanat
Militia Captain
Militia Captain
Posts: 941
Joined: Tue Nov 05, 2013 9:56 am

Awesome. Any chance of posting a mod so we can have a look?
The current games are very linear, having a 'sprawling' galaxy, like TBR, is different and good IMO. But trying to follow mission chains in sprawling galaxies can be difficult, requiring a lot of travel across different areas. Generating missions where the player is would be a better approach as opposed to got to 'system X which is 20 systems away and do this next mission'.
The randomly generated galaxies in some of the older mods were great.
Game creation time at startup can get excessive as system numbers increase but I think it can be delayed now, not sure.
The hard part is varying the systems. As galaxy size increases systems become too common and the galaxy becomes 'more of the same'.
Copying systems from other modders would help (TFS, Semesta, etc :D ) or create a heap of new ones or use older ones from previous versions.
Some ideas: different background colors; different nebula colors, textures and sizes; mixed up orbits rather than concentric circles; more than two stars in a system; planets you can actually crash into!; asteroids being sucked into gravity wells/black holes and exploding; big empty eerie stations, dyson spheres, ringworlds; solar flares.

Having an adventure where you had to produce hundreds of ships as you expanded your empire until you meet the enemy aliens and have a big war always sounded good. But I'm not sure how to create something like that. And lag could be a problem unless weapon effects were downgraded.

A trading game would be nice too. Set up trade in one system, have it interact with other systems, conquer those systems and integrate them into your trading empire.

The ability to control and order fleets would be a nice addition, it would make it 'larger' than a 'first person' game (if that is the right jargon).
Stupid code. Do what I want, not what I typed in!
User avatar
Periculi
Fleet Officer
Fleet Officer
Posts: 1282
Joined: Sat Oct 13, 2007 7:48 pm
Location: Necroposting in a forum near you

I do have some experiments in a github you can check out relanat: https://github.com/Periculi/TranscendenceModExperiments - there is a quick setup for large network generation in there- and it can take a while for the network to get built but that doesn't bother me much. Planets I have always been in favor of developing more as destinations to "orbit" (dock) and maybe land on if you have the equipment. I don't want to change the current way planets behave because I think a lot of people depend on the planet camping mechanic to survive in permadeath.
Post Reply