Advanced Save Game Six Empires Huge Map and Minor Races

[UesugiKenshin]

The sole game with as much depth as BotE in the space strategy genre is Distant Worlds and that is for hardcore science fiction wargamers and was not a big seller here in America. But that likely cannot run through windows emulation on Exagear on the Android. So that would work for Windows PC users and can be modded.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distant_Worlds

It was not popular as it doesn't have any flashy graphics and was so cerebral.

Otherwise it is on a single planet like Alpha Centauri.

The original Homeworld and some sequels will run on Exagear as that uses software graphics emulation.

These would be good choices.

[UesugiKenshin]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=10yD3ZCzQAI
That established a fan base and that allowed the later Distant World Universe many years ago and now a sequel is coming out.


I think if BotE wanted to be more and become a serious storydriven commercial product, it could actually beat it. But I don't see any energy to aim towards that goal.

[UesugiKenshin]

For a game to really succeed, the programmers need to be paid, or make it so modular that the programmer creates just the skeleton, and the fan community can add in story, major and minor race details, design ships, add new maps and sound effects, and new research. They add the muscles and skin and make it living and dynamic.

Why isn't BotE just naturally distributed with millions of Android tablets? Then the fan base is large enough that lots of creative types work to mod it.

BotE never went the FreeOrion route and FreeOrion never saw tablets as the way to grow the fan base.

[UesugiKenshin]

Even with Exagear 3.02 now having some graphic patches, the frame rate would be so low that Distant Worlds or FreeOrion just won't work. It was a miracle that with a 2 or 3 gigabyte tablet now can run Rome1 Total War.

This means that for some time to come, someone could create a BotE successor that is an entirely new project and commercial grade, and thus unrestricted. It would use an elegant design and not be full of animations, but not just a conquering wargame with 2D RTS elements. Trying to outdo 14 different space 4x MoO2 games that are MMO and pay to win, just makes no sense.

So many players have entirely left the MMO market as they might spend hundreds of dollars incrementally and so it makes them angry and frustrated. That is killing their own fanbase. In addition to that, there were ruinous issues with Eve Online.

A success would be story driven with many ways to win and likely with missions. It probably is offline and specific to Android tablets.

[UesugiKenshin]

In my opinion, Shogun Hex Commander could plausibly use the top down strategy map and then RTS battles, and be applied to the space strategy 4x genre. But that really can be a pay to win situation. People progress and get stuck. That also is supported by ads but that is buggy and where it crashes too.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=R3wxQ92L_wY

What they elected to do is create Space Commander which is a very tired RTS space roleplay game where one pilot builds up his or her ship. It is very simplistic and not a grand strategy 4x game.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Wf6eqVinvvg
It feels like a button masher and bores me. The former is interesting, this is so old hat.

[UesugiKenshin]

I like to imagine that nobody else in the history of BotE...
1. Finished all tech by turn #400
2. Made 100 million in the treasury
3. Created 1.5 million intel points
4. Created an armada of 2000 totally maxed out starship with the best equipment
5. Crushed all 5 other major races and minor races on a maximum map

Because the alternative is nobody spent thousands of hours actually bug testing it, and that is why it is not balanced.

I'm not that smart.

I believe in my gut that most people play on small maps and so these issues did not arise. But now I have played multiple maxed out galactic maps for many hundreds of turns. This might have been fixed earlier and wildly succeeded.

Based on reviews, I think a lot of players give up in frustration, when this is fixable. At the very least this needs a walk thru video on several key points.

How to terraform?
How to sabotage and how to prevent it?
How to make millions and how to create resource routes and how to avoid it?
How to power up planetary defenses?
How to use the manager?
How to create a proper fleet?
How to do an invasion from start to finish?
How to manipulate diplomacy?
How to know what the people of your empire expect a leader to do?
How to finish research in the least amount of time?
Which special research types are the best?
How to use the ship designer?
When do you start making ships and troops?
How do you build outposts and starbases to push back the enemy declared territory?
Which empire should a player be?
How are civilian casualties determined?

[UesugiKenshin]

The players have to first know these things are possible, and have to know how to do them. But I bet most are frustrated and then feel confused. Just reading the wiki posed even more questions despite it being great.

[UesugiKenshin]

90% of my 510+ inhabited sectors are at 200 morale and this is due to tetroin use, colonizing like crazy in batches to push northward so my range improves and can then attack fractured Khaoran remnants and Rotharians. If the morale maximum was set to 300, then I bet 70-80% would be there as every colony adds 3+ and every subjugated inhabited sector done with benevolence (no bombardment) yields 4+.

This triple threat with the morale becomes a self-feeding phenomena that causes a jubilant mood of victory. It is plausibly the highest morale boosting feature in the game by picking the Omega empire. It is unnatural as the Omega are a wrecking ball across 50% of the galaxy.

Not even Caesar's victories come close. Obviously they would be the greatest conquerors of all time. If there were a measure of the mood in the military, they would be almost be drunk with joy as there haven't been any fatalies among ships or ground invasion forces. 100% victory so profound that it is GLORY. The danger is troops would get so blind with it and distracted that accidents would happen as the soldiers would think they were invulnerable. The sergeants would have to be wary because the ordinary enlisted would get reckless.

[UesugiKenshin]

Such unnatural victories are honestly a mistake and they would not ...could not last and so it would start feeling hollow and meaningless. And then some soldiers would get killed, and spoil everything as the rank and file then expected effortless conquest. This is an ass whooping or a blowout victory where in high school sports, you let everyone play who ordinarily is on the bench so all the players taste victory.

[UesugiKenshin]

The Khaoran are still alive, just not as an empire, and just now due to range limits, I can send a fleet and a ground invasion force. As empires implode, then you cannot sabotage them (the same as any unaffiliated minor race which now the Khaoran would be labeled). Technically if they have any money, they might be able to have repaired a space docks or military shipyards during this interval, and rush a ship into production? That seems logical and something you should watch out for. Nothing comes up on scans.

[UesugiKenshin]

Nevermind. This is a remake of Master of Orion.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6tx4qmRUOjA
https://www.gog.com/game/master_of_orion

It's remastered with graphic updates only and $29. Not Free Orion. 'Pretty pricey and has a low rating. It has high requirements all things considered with up to 15 gig for storage.

Homeworld did a remastering a few years ago, and while people initially gushed about it graphically, some purists were upset as they screwed up tactical formations which was the whole point of the game.

[UesugiKenshin]

There are two situations now where enemies of the Omega live on inhabited sectors that are tiny even miniscule, yet have populations of 3.0 billion and 0.8 billion. I thought having a 6.4 population was pushing it just to use up available space. A place less than 10.0 will struggle and as currently configured, won't be able to produce its own planetary defenses.

This actually qualifies the Earth as a hopelessly low population zone then by my reckoning.

It's ugly to bombard these places into extinction. The numbers are so low in testing that the 3.0 population did not mount a defense at all, so no civilian died with a ground invasion. I can rush bare bones infrastructure as the population can't grow and so cannot complete these things in any timely manner.

Recall that the Khaoran empire imploded. So I am actually taking out places with large populations in the north that have Khaoran populations even though they are now treated like a minor race. They can however create starships and troops, so in some sense, given time, maybe they are mediors. It's plausible they will defend, but might attack. I don't know what would happen.

What would be the correct way to deal with such people? If attacking a major race at some point makes their empire fall apart, and they became truly minor race species, then even though they can make military forces...they cannot attack. If instead, the minor empire imploded, yet they still can leave, they are mediors, and so are a threat.

[UesugiKenshin]

Who knew that this could even happen? If you can honestly neutralize a major race so they cannot leave and become purely a minor race, then you might just leave them alone at that point as you have plenty of inhabited sectors.

As the player, you decide at what point you win even if no predetermined milestones exist. I'm of the sandbox school. When you personally are satisfied, that is when you win. This is why I want a transcendence goal and that can be as simple as finishing all research and having that last research tech allow an arbitrary building on your original home sector.

[UesugiKenshin]

If someone else just really likes conquering, they might bombard these places and vaporize the inhabitants and then let Nature take its course.

Or they might feel responsible and act as an administrator over these leftover inhabited sectors.

Others might declare the minor races are innocent and never attack them.

BotE can be open ended.

[UesugiKenshin]

If research levels at 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, and 20 then allow a major race to learn anything useful that the minor species know or even that other major species know, and so the player's empire can make anything or do anything to be as strong as any other, there is no legitimate rationale to conquer them at all.

You could declare a win as you are the strongest. You could be purely defensive and build up a standing military force and all planetary defenses and just quit...and be perfectly satisfied. I think that this an admirable goal.