Ability to attack or otherwise spit on "peace talks"

[Limdood]

Little story first:

So in my most recent game, I had a psychic ship less than a day after....a mechanoid raid.

all of my traps were down, no turrets left.  I had lost a colonist in the previous raid and had to harvest an organ from a prisoner to replace a colonist kidney, so mood was already going to be rough and I couldn't let the ship sit.  All i had was my defensive position.  So....I called in some favors.  I called the outlander factions and requested military aid after springing the ship.  I knew the outlanders would get obliterated  and make only a small dent in the mechanoids, so when the allies engaged, I marched out my troops and tried to "judiciously" engage the mechanoids.

As the fight progressed, all the outlander melee troops were down, and two heavy charge blaster centipedes were turning towards my clump of troops (marched them out in a tight group and let them stay that way so they could engage quickly, since i was on a timer before the outlanders dropped).  I sent in my 3 shielded brawlers at the 2 centipedes, dropped one of them after taking a casualty (seriously, my colonists seem to only ever die from perfectly healthy -> 1 shot in the heart -> dead) and finally was mopping up the last centipede...when the last nearby outlander chucked a frag grenade...right at one of my brawlers' feet.

Tried to run as soon as i saw the grenade in the air, but couldn't clear the blast with the centipede swinging too, and the brawler was insta-killed.  I was trying REALLY hard to take the game as it happened, and not save scum back out, and I was doing well, and it had quite an effect....I felt a lot more attached to these colonists than i usually do when i play.  Naturally, I did what anyone would do in that situation - I ordered all my colonists to fire at the allied grenadier.

Their faction goes hostile, I shoot them up til they flee, and back to our regularly scheduled program...






...Except now they send me a peace talks request.

...And i'm still upset.

I don't WANT to be at peace with them.  I don't WANT to "just ignore" the peace talks.  I don't even really want to "make peace" and then attack them later....I want to send a message.

I want to take my colonists, get to the peace talks, and send some sort of message, right then and there.  I mean, I'd settle for just straight up attacking the peace talks, and likely, if this suggestion gets implemented in any way, that's what we'll get - the ability to negotiate peace or attack peace talks instead of insta-peace.  But I'd really like to, like, drop pod a bunch of human meat and leather onto them, or light the entire surrounding area on fire, or otherwise show my extreme displeasure with them through some act of vandalism and/or violence.

So my suggestion/request is this:  Allow us to show up to the peace talks with NO intention of making peace.  Obviously, attacking a peace conference would make you look bad, and should probably involve a negative faction hit with ALL factions as a result.  It's certainly not an efficient or ideal course of action if you're trying to make or keep friends with ANYONE, but it'd be really gratifying, and it'd fit in with the story-generator and FEEL immersive.

This no-save-scum game I'm going through is the first time i've really felt the whole "we're creating a story, not just playing a game," and there are plenty of things i've fiddled with in the game.  Lots of mods I use.  But right now, I'd love to march in, in force, and just lay waste to a peace talks, and the game doesn't allow that.  It feels like a missed opportunity to make a small change and add just that tiny bit more player agency to the game.

(side note, in case anyone's wondering, since i CAN'T attack the peace talks, I think I'll go smash up one of their settlements, RIGHT before my negotiator arrives at the peace talks, just for that lovely moment of irony)

[Pangaea]

Thanks for the background story. I can sympathise and understand how frustrating that must have been. This idea is really good, and it's funny you should mention it since it's what happened in one of my recent games. From the raiders. 0.1 days before my crew arrive at a peace talk, the buggers show up with a large siege. Guess they didn't want peace after all.

Would be interesting with an idea to slaughter peace talks like you describe. But it would also mean the other side will need to show up in considerable numbers, so gamers' exploitative nature doesn't turn this into free resources.

[Limdood]

Well, the idea is that even if you completely outgunned the other side and it would be a cakewalk to kill them all, there should be "political" consequences to attacking a peace conference.

Easily coded, there could be a -20 faction relations change with all factions (I say easily done, because the functionality already exists in game to gain faction relations with multiple factions when you destroy a faction base...kill a pirate base -> +20 relations with everyone else).  Possibly a bit more involved, but perhaps reduce the likelihood of at-war factions offering peace talks for the next 2 quadrums to 1 year or so.  Or implement the followup idea:

Factions could attack YOU at a peace talks.  It always amazed me that peace talks were a 100% safe undertaking.  I mean a group of people who would benefit and is actively trying to weaken and destroy you sets up a meeting at a spot THEY determine for you to meet them....and they never just use it as an ambush?

I know that there are "critical" successes and failures with peace talks (peace talks success, peace talks triumph, peace talks flounder, peace talks backfire as possible results).  The "backfire" result should probably result in an attack, in addition to a chance of them just outright ambushing you (along with the consequences of betrayal, perhaps significantly more likely if you've betrayed THEM or anyone else at a peace talks before).

Sure, people will probably save scum these occurrences, but there's really no getting around that - and the stories that "peace talks turned bloodbath" scenarios will spark would be awesome