Endgame content filler - simple orbital station

[Tev]

Well, devs abandoned making more polished endgame (for now). I think we need some better filler until automated spaceship-factories are implemented . . . Devs’ time is precious, so it has to be simple (also so it can be potentially made into a mod).

I always liked the idea of launching many rockets. They might make something offscreen, I don’t really care, as long as it gives meaning to those launches. And that led me to the idea of simple orbital station.


Core ideas:

• EDIT (needs emphasizing): whole station is offscreen, you just see its stats
  - remake win condition to “send S.O.S. message to Earth”, achievable with 10 or less launches (so everyone can “win”, but also feel like he did something useful)
  - number of launches enables more research (you get experienced with space stuff)
  - some research / orbital modules will make rockets cheaper (like productivity modules: investing a lot resources to make more efficient factory in the long run)
  - modular station that can grow infinitely
  - station requires refueling so you need to launch rockets (say at least once per 10 hours), else it deorbits

Now to make making building some offscreen station worthwhile you need to add some bonuses. I came up with 3 things: (no interplanetary stuff, let’s keep it simple to make)

• - revealing all explored areas + ability to look anywhere (where you’ve revealed map). Large factories are slow to travel around, so you can “pay” for remote supervision (player action shouldn't be allowed I think)
  - beamed power: solars are more efficient in orbit + never shaded, so you can invest in really expensive and really reliable and space saving power source
  - ion cannon: logical extension of beamed power + to make late game expansion easy and fast

Implementation would be easy:

• - New recipes (partially dynamic, based on research) and research (tied to number of launches)
  - Orbital station would have some simple overview showing it’s fuel / energy / ports (for docking and modules).
  - “Observer” mode would have some button on the global map and would show you selected area - basically what YARM does (for selected mining site).
  - Ion cannon would be tied to observer mode, and would in the simplest version just wipe all entities in one chunk, maybe with some modified beam animation.

I tried to figure out some kind of balanced preliminary research tree and numbers here (google spreadsheet). I might do the mod myself, but I won’t have time for it until Christmas, and I’ll have to learn a bit about lua first. I’d like to persuade devs to implement it (in 0.13, 0.14 . . .), because real ion cannon graphics would be cool, but if some experienced modder wants to take a shot at it I wouldn’t mind . . .
I think only one implementation is desirable, for many reasons, but I don’t know . . . Say what YOU think I appreciate any comments - they will be helpful for me if I try to make it myself

[tmr_2000]

How come none of the science requires purple?
I just though as all of the current endgame stuff requires purple, so this should follow the same format.
Otherwise, a very good idea, and i would love to see it made!

[Tev]

How come none of the science requires purple?
I just though as all of the current endgame stuff requires purple, so this should follow the same format.
Otherwise, a very good idea, and i would love to see it made!

Well on low biter difficulties you might even struggle to get artifacts for vanilla research. So requiring tens of thousands of more artifacts would be a bit sadistic

Even in my max-biter factory I have only 30k artifacts after ~100 hours . . .

[matjojo]

I might try and help on this project, I'm not really good at balancing, so the number you created are a good start. Lets look at the response and I'll try and make something when I have some more time

[bobucles]

There's nothing "simple" about creating a completely new game layer with its own set of rules.

This is expansion pack tier.

[Tev]

No, it's simple, you just need some logic around research and recipes and one object in game state that stores state of the station. And simple interface showing that state. There could be some animations (esp. for ion cannon), but not much for a mod. If devs choose to implement it they'll probably spruce it up a little but apart from that cannon nothing major is needed.

Please read the OP (and look at the spreadsheet] before responding again.

[TuckJohn]

There's nothing "simple" about creating a completely new game layer with its own set of rules.

This is expansion pack tier.

I made a huge 500 word rand on another thread, but I dont think that it would be appropriate to put it here. Instead, here is a summary; DLC= Bad. This is AAA game idiocy. If I want to give the devs more money, I can donate or gift the game to a friend.

[bobucles]

Instead, here is a summary; DLC= Bad. This is AAA game idiocy. If I want to give the devs more money, I can donate or gift the game to a friend.

For a space station layer to be satisfying in ANY way, it means thinking up new mechanics, new objectives, and a whole new system for interacting between ground and space. It's like adding a whole new game on top of the game. Otherwise it's just "factorio with a starry background".

Taking on a massive project without thinking of it as a whole new expansion pack's worth of effort is pretty stupid.

[Zeblote]

Instead, here is a summary; DLC= Bad. This is AAA game idiocy. If I want to give the devs more money, I can donate or gift the game to a friend.

For a space station layer to be satisfying in ANY way, it means thinking up new mechanics, new objectives, and a whole new system for interacting between ground and space. It's like adding a whole new game on top of the game. Otherwise it's just "factorio with a starry background".

Taking on a massive project without thinking of it as a whole new expansion pack's worth of effort is pretty stupid.

The game isn't even finished. People already talking about expansion packs is, quite honestly, hilarious.

[Hakusho]

This is expansion pack tier.

I think this is referring to the size of an expansion, not to a real expansion anyone would plan atm

[roman566]

Instead, here is a summary; DLC= Bad. This is AAA game idiocy. If I want to give the devs more money, I can donate or gift the game to a friend.

For a space station layer to be satisfying in ANY way, it means thinking up new mechanics, new objectives, and a whole new system for interacting between ground and space. It's like adding a whole new game on top of the game. Otherwise it's just "factorio with a starry background".

Taking on a massive project without thinking of it as a whole new expansion pack's worth of effort is pretty stupid.

What interfacing? You do not build anything in space. As I understand, you just send some resources via the rocket and click 'I want this and this' then a nice counter goes up and you get the 'this' you wanted. There is no 'space layer', just yet another interface showing some numbers and having options like 'reveal map' and 'call orbital strike' etc.

[ratchetfreak]

Instead, here is a summary; DLC= Bad. This is AAA game idiocy. If I want to give the devs more money, I can donate or gift the game to a friend.

For a space station layer to be satisfying in ANY way, it means thinking up new mechanics, new objectives, and a whole new system for interacting between ground and space. It's like adding a whole new game on top of the game. Otherwise it's just "factorio with a starry background".

Taking on a massive project without thinking of it as a whole new expansion pack's worth of effort is pretty stupid.

What interfacing? You do not build anything in space. As I understand, you just send some resources via the rocket and click 'I want this and this' then a nice counter goes up and you get the 'this' you wanted. There is no 'space layer', just yet another interface showing some numbers and having options like 'reveal map' and 'call orbital strike' etc.

a space layer is planned

[roman566]

Instead, here is a summary; DLC= Bad. This is AAA game idiocy. If I want to give the devs more money, I can donate or gift the game to a friend.

For a space station layer to be satisfying in ANY way, it means thinking up new mechanics, new objectives, and a whole new system for interacting between ground and space. It's like adding a whole new game on top of the game. Otherwise it's just "factorio with a starry background".

Taking on a massive project without thinking of it as a whole new expansion pack's worth of effort is pretty stupid.

What interfacing? You do not build anything in space. As I understand, you just send some resources via the rocket and click 'I want this and this' then a nice counter goes up and you get the 'this' you wanted. There is no 'space layer', just yet another interface showing some numbers and having options like 'reveal map' and 'call orbital strike' etc.

a space layer is planned

Didn't you get the memo? It was dropped. Devs announced it couple weeks ago.