Immersion suggestions

[keith.lamothe]

@Keith, remind me, why did you decide turrets shouldn't be buildable on planets you don't control? The Ark and flagships do provide some local power. I feel like Beachheading with turrets was a fun gameplay mechanic in AIWC.

That was in AIW2, with Ark and Flagships providing some small local power, but I took it out when I removed the power cost from turrets and other such changes.

Now that the power cost is back, and a galaxy-cap to boot, I could restore the ability for flagships to power turrets. I agree that this would be fun (it's also a good use for the turretry-pattern thing, as it gives you a quick "dump turrets!" button if one is defined with suitable logic)

I suppose the Ark could do so too, but I think that would confuse the message of "keep your King out of enemy territory" that we've been trying to send.

[etheric42]

3d ringworld model exists in Stellaris.

[x4000]

@Keith, remind me, why did you decide turrets shouldn't be buildable on planets you don't control? The Ark and flagships do provide some local power. I feel like Beachheading with turrets was a fun gameplay mechanic in AIWC.

That was in AIW2, with Ark and Flagships providing some small local power, but I took it out when I removed the power cost from turrets and other such changes.

Now that the power cost is back, and a galaxy-cap to boot, I could restore the ability for flagships to power turrets. I agree that this would be fun (it's also a good use for the turretry-pattern thing, as it gives you a quick "dump turrets!" button if one is defined with suitable logic)

I suppose the Ark could do so too, but I think that would confuse the message of "keep your King out of enemy territory" that we've been trying to send.

I'm 1000% for this, for flagships, since it would be great for beachheads being a thing again.  I agree the Ark shouldn't do it, since that would be confusing.

[x4000]

3d ringworld model exists in Stellaris.

Hmmm.... isn't that more of some sort of mechanical partial-Dyson-Sphere?  I thought ringworlds were these inexplicable rings of actual terrain, just out by themselves?

[etheric42]

A lot are represented that way.  But the cover of the Niven novel "Ringworld" looks closer to Stellaris.  Dyson spheres are in that game too as energy accumulators.

[BadgerBadger]

I've always understood a ringworld to be a transitional step toward a dyson sphere. It's simpler to build than a dyson sphere since it's just a ring, but it's trying to accomplish the same basic set of goals.

[etheric42]

Depends.  Ringworlds came from Niven and (if I remember right) were about creating habitable areas in the goldilocks zone.  Dyson Spheres came from Dyson and are about massive energy collection.  I suppose you could live on a Dyson Sphere too and I suppose Ringworlds could collect solar energy too.  Interestingly Dyson wasn't actually envisioning a complete shell, but instead a cloud of platforms/panels.

But since these things aren't real, people make of them whatever they want.  Halo (the video game) I think really popularized the Ringworld and that may be why we get this image of visible terrain features on the inner ring and not orbiting a star.

Picture of a work-in-progress Dyson Sphere from Stellaris

[x4000]

Wowzers, that's a cool image.

Anyway, food for thought perhaps for later.

[Draco18s]

Hmmm.... isn't that more of some sort of mechanical partial-Dyson-Sphere?  I thought ringworlds were these inexplicable rings of actual terrain, just out by themselves?

The "inexplicable terrain" aspect is the fact that if you have a big enough ring and give it a spin, you have surface "gravity" on the inside surface. Give it some walls to hold in an atmosphere and you can put whatever you want at the bottom. The "backside" as it were is still giant plates of unobtainium holding things together, the topside has terrain on it because humans like trees.

It's like a circular cross section of Babylon 5. And fifty bajillion times bigger.

[x4000]

Oh!  Okay, that makes sense why it looks that way, then.  I wasn't really sure how this was posited to exist.  Completely artificial, got it.  I really need to read that at some point.  At this point I'm finishing up the Bobiverse books, though (sooo good).

[Draco18s]

Oh!  Okay, that makes sense why it looks that way, then.  I wasn't really sure how this was posited to exist.  Completely artificial, got it.

Oh yeah. Definitely. They're called "megastructures" for a reason!

I really need to read that at some point.  At this point I'm finishing up the Bobiverse books, though (sooo good).

Bobiverse is amazing. I listened to it on Audible and it was very well done. I wouldn't say that it pushes the boundaries at all (the hostile alien race reminds me of at least one other, older work of fiction). But it is a finely crafted story.

[x4000]

I like the perspective of the Bobs, and how this basically handles the idea of a Von Neumann machine in a fresh (to me) way.  The idea itself is not new, remotely, but the way it is personalized is fantastic.  I read something else from the perspective of a Von Neumann machine a number of years ago; can't remember what it was, but it didn't have the same personality.  I think... maybe it was Spin, by I forget the author.  Basically the earth gets wrapped up in a giant shell for a number of years, and the premise of that is really cool.

Anyway, yes, the chief antagonists here aren't that novel, but the way they are handled has me interested.  The way the combat plays out so differently every time, it also never feels stale, which is really good.  The anthropology aspect is also interesting.  Plus all the general geek references.

[Draco18s]

Right, right. Exactly.
It was fresh, even if it wasn't unique.