What is/is there an end game?

[UsF]

I think if you are able to create multiple storytellers, wouldn't they be things like "Spaceship arc" "Pirate arc" "Trading arc" "Wildlife arc" "Xeno Arc" and things like that and you would want to be able to have your storyteller to mix them together? I am currently unsure where the random context comes from. I think a mixing of story arcs that is randomized and could be customized by the player at the start would be a good thing (think setting Pirates to high would not mean more pirates but more pirate story arc events). Those story arcs shouldn't all be fixed (pirates always being negative), but be branching paths and somewhat randomized paths to give lots of re-playability. Imagine the pirate-arc having a randomized path of the pirates suddenly deciding to communicate with you, asking you to turn the area into a pirate base, which would suddenly mean that you, if you accept, would need to take care of several uncontrollable NPCs, but they would protect you (as long as you provide for them). In the end, there could be branching paths like them demanding you build a spaceship for them too, where you could do so, not do so (possible fight?) or try to secretly escape when they are busy fighting something.

I hope that made somewhat sense. People could decide to have a calm game by setting arcs to low/none, so story events wouldn't fire as much or even never to just try and survive.

So for endgame that would mean
"Spaceship arc" - build a spaceship to escape
"Trading arc" - maybe possible to get a trading spaceship to land, if you are really trade heavy, could trigger things from the pirate arc of course
"Pirate arc" - try to steal a pirate spaceship as a possible endgame, should it happen
"Wildlife arc" - I guess this would cause a lot of savage animals roaming your area in the search for food
"Environment arc" - dangerous environmental changes could happen (flooding, climate change, wildfire spreading to your area)
"Xeno arc" - hostile non-humans threaten your existance (could be sentient plants or people, natives from the homeworld)
"Science arc" - trying to build a teleporter to get you off planet could lead to the teleporter turning back on you, opening a portal to a "fun" place, which you must survive until you can reprogram the damn thing to work again (and try a second time)
"Society arc" - could lead to people demanding democracy, dicatorship or simly cause trouble from people starting to hate each other as things get better and better and they don't have to work with each other as often
"Economy arc" - Things like farming could cause endgame plants to mutate from your crops by science, so you can get better output or it could cause catastrophe

That's a few ideas for how to set up endgame.

[Hypolite]

Now, I havnt played the game, but couldnt you make them Un-manned Trading stations that just kinda float/fly around searching for outposts/ships etc...

Or it could be land trade instead of spaceship trade. It would make more sense in a "building a new spaceship" scenario. No outside communications, just trade with other moon dwellers.

[AspenShadow]

Just an honest suggestion, but the best scenario to getting around the logic-trouble of trading with other spaceships; not just locals, would be solved by saying that the planet/moon you've crash-landed on is designated as a no-fly-zone/quarantined, or is a pre-spaceflight world that the greater galactic community are banned from interacting with.

That way you'd communicate to passing ships who'd airdrop supplies you bartered for. Pirates and slavers don't respect the law and could land remote-controlled shuttles on the surface to set up an assault/base or simply to cart off your colonists. [This way you could take apart shuttles that don't escape for materials and excuse the possibility of using it to leave because it only works thanks to greater ship in orbit.]

Thoughts? Comments?

[DNK]

In DF, the game increases attacks and their difficulty based on the cumulative value produced by the player. If you make a spaceship build the end-game goal, you can make it so that it requires a lot of valuable parts/fuel resources. It may be not so difficult to get the infrastructure in place to slowly churn these out, but as your stockpile grows each day, the ferocity of enemy attacks grows with it. This may not be linear growth either...

Point is that as you get closer to that finish line, you have to spend more and more resources/manpower on defense and triage. With any medium+ difficulty storyteller, this should mean that you would even need to start preparing in advance of the final spaceship run given how much value/ferocity would be built up over its course (simple passively reacting to the increased difficulty would not be sufficient for a typically experienced player).

Additionally, adding in new attack elements with certain levels of ferocity would create new situations in the later game. For example, adding in siege machines or other war machines or better weaponry. This makes sense since at first perhaps you're only under attack by roaming bands and local resistance, but as your value of production increases, you become a larger and juicier target that draws in more advanced, larger, and more coordinated attacks from afar. Hell, if aliens were found with a near-complete spaceship on Earth, what wouldn't we throw at them to get it?

Or even if the aliens eschewed a ship and just built up their tech and facilities. Each level up in tech should have a correspondingly higher (like 10x) amount of value attached to it, and the difficulty curve for assaults can also go up a level once the cumulative value also increases 10x or so of the previous value limit.

So, like basic furniture is $1 of value, as are basic walls. Basic power generators are like $5. Advanced power generators are $50. Hi-tech power generators $500. So, at $0-100 you get small bands attacking, at $101-1000 you get larger ones with basic vehicles, at $1001-10,000 you get like a modern army, at $10K-100K you get the whole deal, like a full on fortress defense.

[xTAMERx]

Endgame Scenario:

-> the Federation of Planets find your Colony!
--> you*ve illegally settled on that planet
---> you leave, or you*ll be ereased
----> endless strom off sieges
-----> losing is FUN! 

[Yarkista]

Endgame Scenario:

-> the Federation of Planets find your Colony!
--> you*ve illegally settled on that planet
---> you leave, or you*ll be ereased
----> endless strom off sieges
-----> losing is FUN! 

Eh, "losing is fun" depends on the game.

[Semmy]

Endgame Scenario:

-> the Federation of Planets find your Colony!
--> you*ve illegally settled on that planet
---> you leave, or you*ll be ereased
----> endless strom off sieges
-----> losing is FUN! 

Eh, "losing is fun" depends on the game.

If done within the right parameters losing can be fun.

If the sieges are just non stop critter throwing on your planet its not.
But if you can actually make something real out of it.
Regroup after a siege rebuild train up. Its like onslaught how long can you last before it becomes to hard.

[Ferigad]

Honestly... the fun about a simulation game is that i can play it again with a different gamexperience. At least for me. Endcontent could be nice, in a spirit of ending a story, but a goal itself like to build a escape ship or create a time/space teleporter (No, don´t try to test it! You will end up with a Teleglich! *wink,wink*) isn´t that mutch needed, i guess.

I would like to see that more effort goes into variarity of the things you can construct and the possibilitys of cross-interaction. Like a Water pump. First you pump water and use it to drink. Later you use it to synthesize chemicals, and then you could use it to create gas based fuel system, just as a example, or even create a new grenade with the gas or gas-driven tools/weapons that use compressed oxygen and so on.

I think loosing is fun could work pretty well with this Sim, btw. It only depends on what you can do and create. I really wouldn´t mind if i end up after days with 300 colonists and a giant smooth running mashine, then a virus hits my colony and boom i got a mass riot and chaos going on there! Muahaha. Yeah that would be fun and tottaly worth it as a "end"game content.

[ZebioLizard2]

I'd rather have some sort of endgame where I create a thriving settlement that begins to attract people to it as they hear about it.

[Pheanox]

Depending on the lore of the game, I actually like the idea of eventually after having a successful, thriving outpost, you are contacted by the Federation and are offered membership as a colony of the Federation.  Then how the game continues from there I don't know.  Your outpost becomes the capital city of a colonization effort or is just a game ending scenario.

[Yarkista]

Depending on the lore of the game, I actually like the idea of eventually after having a successful, thriving outpost, you are contacted by the Federation and are offered membership as a colony of the Federation.  Then how the game continues from there I don't know.  Your outpost becomes the capital city of a colonization effort or is just a game ending scenario.

Wow, I realy, realy like this idea, it would be a brilliant end game, or late game thing which could ebe expanded into more and more things.

Best idea I've heard so far on the foums.

[Spike]

That's a pretty good idea for a succession game style of play.  Build the colony up, and then send out new colonies.  Personally, I'd prefer a variety of goals, not just every game being "build a ship to escape".

[YBenjius]

Just an honest suggestion, but the best scenario to getting around the logic-trouble of trading with other spaceships; not just locals, would be solved by saying that the planet/moon you've crash-landed on is designated as a no-fly-zone/quarantined, or is a pre-spaceflight world that the greater galactic community are banned from interacting with.

That way you'd communicate to passing ships who'd airdrop supplies you bartered for. Pirates and slavers don't respect the law and could land remote-controlled shuttles on the surface to set up an assault/base or simply to cart off your colonists. [This way you could take apart shuttles that don't escape for materials and excuse the possibility of using it to leave because it only works thanks to greater ship in orbit.]

Thoughts? Comments?

I also think this needs more explanation in game. Maybe it's not completely the right topic to discuss this, but I'm with you on this.

Depending on the lore of the game, I actually like the idea of eventually after having a successful, thriving outpost, you are contacted by the Federation and are offered membership as a colony of the Federation.  Then how the game continues from there I don't know.  Your outpost becomes the capital city of a colonization effort or is just a game ending scenario.

Also liking your idea! This sounds great, maybe there should be a 'pirate alternative' depending on your AI-storyteller or your gameplay. Also, the game doesn't have to end right there, maybe you can build up a colony after this and get some kind of perks from your previous game. (It may be that this is a bit to far away from the core game, just putting out my thoughts).

[Spike]

Well, since Tynan said you could find tech levels from primitive to god-like high tech, perhaps the landing pods all come with some kind of highly advanced Matter Transmitter (Not for use with living matter!).  Automated trading ships drop your goods in landing pods, and your transmitter will beam your goods up.  But if you try to beam yourself up, you turn inside out.

[Pheanox]

After your successful colony is approved by the Federation (Or whatever centralized government there is) a passenger ship is sent to your world to join.  Unfortunately, the ship breaks down, and 3 hopeful new colonists get stranded on yet another world...

New Game + mode.