Research Station
Description: A modular facility akin to that of the champion-vessel this facility would be used to research and develop the various assets contained with this and other expansions. It would function by having at first four slots from which the player would be able to construct research modules pertaining to elements they desire to research. However this form of research could easily be made more involved than the base-games by involving the requirement for rare elements or metals to make it far more costly. Additionally a time-delay akin to that employed by the survey ship could also be used.
- So how would the player get these upgrades/research unlocks? Knowledge cost? Seeking out fragments like in the Spire campaign?
Data Farms
Description: Once the player desires to switch their current research objects they may opt to 'Eject' the Data-Farm which contains the research materials and schematics required to produce these new assets. These would be extremely vulnerable to attack and with their destruction the ability to produce or reproduce assets creating this research methods would be lost requiring the player to start from scratch. However with certain more expensive research objects the player may only have one chance and thus protecting these Data-farms is of the utmost importance.
Okay, this is cool that the player can switch stuff...still curious about the in-game costs though...
Eden Station
Description: A modular station with expansion and adaption being its central ideals this facility would be constructed over the original Homeworld Command Station and would allow players place the foundation of a facility which could be later expanded by mounting expansion modules to create a vast infrastructure from which the player would be able to better prepare for their war against the AI. However construction of such a complex would be lengthy requiring research, vast energy and metal reserves and perhaps even rare materials.
I wish you could be a bit more specific about the benefits and costs on this level. The idea sounds cool but it is still just a vague abstraction without details fleshed out.
The Star-Harbor
Description: An immobile structure capable of hosting a plethora of warships. Its design represents a bygone era and thus lacks the Armour and weaponry required to survive in this new Era. Costly to construct it should only be constructed in core worlds of the empire.
Reason for implementing such a concept?
Basic Explanation: Primarily to reduce the resources employed by the AI-War.
From what I have observed units continue to exist whilst other maps are selected. This would allow these units to be removed from play until they are required.
However if this not this case it still provides a method for players to better organize their fleets and deploy them only when they are required. This element could be bolstered with a pop-up screen akin to that of the ship production menu, however the ships and caps displayed represent the number of units stored internally.
When you say "hosts a variety of warships" and "Primarily to reduce the resources employed by the AI-War" what do you mean exactly. Sorry for nagging for specificness, but unless I get more data on what these can do its hard to say if they are good ..or even suggest how to improve them.
Mini Unit & Mechanic Expansion Idea: Landfall
High Question: Why on earth is the command center in space?
High Answer: Due to a lack of ground-side facilities and lack of sufficiently powerful broadcasting facilities.
Having ground facilities would be cool...again...more specifics on this please..get into the meat of the game mechanics, that is where the fun is at for designing stuff.
Mini Unit & Mechanic Expansion Idea: Corruption of the Machine
Local Area Hacking Units
Description: Craft with an extremely low ship-cap, these ships would operate in a fashion akin to that of an electronics warfare vessel in that they directly interfere with the AI's control over it's ships. Each craft would host one module slot capable of holding hacking modules [Which would have to be researched]. These modules would act to remove a single immunity from an AI-Craft within the preset range of a unit.
This is extremely cool. Thank you for being specific on what it can do in game. I would love to remove nuke immunity from certain star-ships or hunter/killers. These things could be a great ticket to nailing a really tough AI fleet ball. Good call.
Mini Mechanic Expansion Idea: Beyond the Core Worlds
Core Idea: The Inclusion of Sub-Systems into a select few worlds. These would be placed at the boundaries of systems and would lead into worlds/areas of space deeper into the systems, making certain systems more valuable. On harder difficulties the AI could also employ this, creating a proverbial gauntlet of death which takes the player through several sub-systems before finally reaching the Command Station.
Although I do like the idea of having more planets in a system for larger solar system wars, I don't feel like this would be good only because it already exists and it would require designing an entirely new interface for the game. MkIV worlds serve as gauntlets to the Core worlds. And the AI homeworld is already a gauntlet of doom with all of it's invincibility networks. Your idea just would not be adding anything new.
World Concept: Asteroid Field - A dense cluster of rocks which move in a constant motion, proving far to dangerous for normal extractors. These areas would provide the player with additional resources however protecting the mining ships would require a degree of micromanagement. Additionally the destruction of an asteroid would also destroy the resources contained within said asteroids.
This is cool, I think people would like to see more life in the game and more economic stuff, plus it makes warheads much more dangerous to use around this area and gives more valuable targets to the AI.
Mini Quest Expansion Idea: Preservation of the soul
Description: Archives detail the creation of an advanced life-extension program who's purpose was to download the human mind upon the moment of death. From what few records we have gathered this was placed within a sub-space domain created during an unknown period. Perhaps the AI may know the truth about this matter?
A cool description but....what would this do in game?
