I realize there was a thread already started here (
http://forum.spaceo.net/index.php/topic,3771.0.html) and alot of good ideas came out of that including the interactive missions which have now been implemented. I have some more ideas and wanted to start a new thread to see what other players thought.
The main goals are:
Attract more players to SO and keep them.
Make the Gold Membership more valuable by creating more benefits.
Create more activities that can be done without turns and increase SOs playability without overbalancing the game.
1. Make a "Gambling" area where players can indulge in Blackjack or some other easy-to-code game of chance. This would cost no turns and the Max Bet would be based on the player's Commander Level. (Max Bet= Commander Lvl^2*5000) Gold members have their Max bet raised by 200%
2. Create a PVP Arena at an out-of-galaxy area players can jump to for 0 turns. Once their fight is over they immediately warp back to the galaxy but are able to return indefinitely. The Arena would be just like a system except that no 'real' attacks are possible. If you want to fight someone you must challenge them and they must accept. In the Arena no fights are real in that you do not lose your ships. No real damage is dealt no ships can be captured and no marines are killed. The Arena would NOT be somewhere to make money but more of a proving ground to see whose ships are best. Gold members would be able to enter a tournament with 10 lvls of NPC fleets. If you can finish all 10 levels your name is placed on the bulletin board in the Arena for all players to see. How long it took, what power etc. This would not affect gameplay besides allowing your opponent the chance to see what fleet composition you had.
3. Because the Interactive Missions are doing so well I thought we could expand on that idea. In the Mothership Missions tab you could add a section with 4 headings:
Away Missions - Explore the planet's surface.
Scientific Discovery - Space based exploration.
Diplomatic Negotiations - Interactive story telling.
Weapons Lab - Crafting
Away missions would be at least 10 steps with many possible outcomes, but low success rate for a reward. It could be nearly anything such as exploring a cave complex, long abandoned ruins, crop ciricles or whatever. Rewards would be VERY basic. (Hack Cards) (100-1000 workers) and based on your Commander Lvl. Gold Members would recieve 200% rewards.
Scientific Discovery would be almost identicle to the away mission but based on spatial anomolies.
Diplomatic Negotiations would be somthing totally different. The mission difficulty could be based on your reputation and Gold members would have the ability to earn a valuable "Schematic" if they conclude peaceful negotiations with the aliens.
The schematics would be an item that could then be used in the Weapons Lab mission. Without a Schematic the Weapons Lab is unavailable. Schematics provide a recipe of trade goods that are required to build the standard items. For example
Schematic Name: Prophet's Dark Energy Ray
Item Ability: Attack +25%
Market Value: 500,000,000
Ingredients(each): High tech scanner * 1000, Super Conductors * 5000, Rocket Fuel * 100,000
The use of ingredients would give the trade goods more use and reduce the ability to use crafting as an exploit as long as the ingredient value was very close to the market value of the finished item. Of course if a player wanted to spend hours buying everything on the market at a decent price to craft items for slightly less that is their option. Each schematic would only produce 1-10 of each item and if you craft multiples you need more resources.
Please post your thoughts and let's all help emi make SO the best game on the net!
