Crazy wish list for the map/scenario/campaign editors
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Stardock Forums
Stardock Forums
See if you can deduce the nature of my campaign. 
Overall, I think to pull most of these off, the scenario and map editors may need to be combined. I like the idea of scenarios that don't require a specific map, but many attempts to create a story will require some influence on the map. I expect 90% of this to be completely unworkable, but it really depends on what's already there in GalCiv to hook on to.
1) Temporal/locational/tech/situational triggers. Combinations of these as well, eg, 10 turns after discovering Universal Translators, alien ship spawned 10 parsecs from Earth, destination Earth. After talking with humans, ship turns around and heads for map edge to leave "known space". Another useful example: radar pulse that reveals an area of the map, and then a story board pop-up window explaining what the player is supposed to do over there. Story board pop ups... maybe even movies, for those who can make 'em... are worth 5000 bc each!
2) Enemies optional! I may create some later, or have the player deal with relatively peaceful alternatives. Maybe someone wants to make a Tutorial style scenario which helps a player understand more about a particular aspect of the game.
3) Strange, new "Victory/Defeat" triggers. Many of these may be defeats if an alien is allowed to accomplish the task.
a) Set an alternate tech for victory -- eg, Battleship is highest tech in Scenario -- elaborated version of Tech victory.
Have a ship of type A,B enter area X,Y -- eg, move fleet containing at least a Survey ship and a Colony ship to position marked, so they can retreat to a galaxy far, far away.
c) Survive for X-turns.
d) Harvest X ammount of (specified?) resources.
e) Secure X planets of at list Y Quality.
f) Make X gazillion BCs.
g) Influence dominate X sectors for Y turns -- elaborated version of Culture victory.
4) Branching Campaign tree. For example, I create a scenario with an economic victory (BCs galore!), an influence victory, and a specific tech victory, each of these could lead to a different start in the next map. In an even more extreme case, suppose someone manages to save the Alamo despite my best efforts to make the scenario unwinnable except by retreating? Then I can make an even more impossible Scenario, which also short circuits most of the Campaign just for these crazy overlord types! LOL
5) Stories in the Campaign tree. At the very least, we need to be able to put up a story section between each Campaign segment. If we can throw in some movie fun, all the better!
6) No Fuel or Planets required! All you have are ships ya start with. For this kind of Scenario to work better, however, I think we need a special Repair and Resupply ship. Kind of like how the Battlestar Galactica kept the fleet of refugees limping along while crossing the galaxy in search of the lost homeworld of Hegira... no wait, got that mixed up with something else... Hmm, actually, a Terror Star can sort of fill that role at the moment, excepting the fact it's slower than molasses in winter!
7) Alternative backgrounds for the map. For example, when crossing the intergalactic void, it would mostly be black. Or if the player falls into an alternate dimension, and then this big hand comes over and grabs their ship...
8) Reinforcements travelling from map to map. If you can carry your first Survey ship through ten maps, it might get to be pretty nice at the end there. Utterly unlreaistic, of course, but hey, we're having fun!
9) Most ludicrious idea yet... Keep a save game from the middle of scenario 3, to be used in scenario 6... but the "human" player is played by the computer, since the current human is a time travelling agent -- who has to stop a Yor time traveller from disrupting the past!
Note that being able to import a saved game to be exported as the basis for a Scenario may be a useful feature in itself. Sounds kinda familiar, doesn't it?
10) Playing a minor race! Create a "dominant" species for the map, the player and the rest of the races are weaklings by comparison, and must secure the "2nd best" position -- at which time the next scenario kicks in. The Dominant already owns 1/2 the map, and is far enough ahead in tech to be untouchable, eg. has up to Avatar tech, while the player (and other minors) has at best Battleship. The Dominant must be unspyable, peace oriented, and event immune, in order to prevent it from wiping our the wimps. Perhaps the Dominant keeps the minors around for the trade routes. LOL
Alrighty then... try to top my crazy ideas, I dare y'all! The more Rabid the better the idea!
~SDC~
Overall, I think to pull most of these off, the scenario and map editors may need to be combined. I like the idea of scenarios that don't require a specific map, but many attempts to create a story will require some influence on the map. I expect 90% of this to be completely unworkable, but it really depends on what's already there in GalCiv to hook on to.
1) Temporal/locational/tech/situational triggers. Combinations of these as well, eg, 10 turns after discovering Universal Translators, alien ship spawned 10 parsecs from Earth, destination Earth. After talking with humans, ship turns around and heads for map edge to leave "known space". Another useful example: radar pulse that reveals an area of the map, and then a story board pop-up window explaining what the player is supposed to do over there. Story board pop ups... maybe even movies, for those who can make 'em... are worth 5000 bc each!
2) Enemies optional! I may create some later, or have the player deal with relatively peaceful alternatives. Maybe someone wants to make a Tutorial style scenario which helps a player understand more about a particular aspect of the game.
3) Strange, new "Victory/Defeat" triggers. Many of these may be defeats if an alien is allowed to accomplish the task.
a) Set an alternate tech for victory -- eg, Battleship is highest tech in Scenario -- elaborated version of Tech victory.
Have a ship of type A,B enter area X,Y -- eg, move fleet containing at least a Survey ship and a Colony ship to position marked, so they can retreat to a galaxy far, far away.c) Survive for X-turns.
d) Harvest X ammount of (specified?) resources.
e) Secure X planets of at list Y Quality.
f) Make X gazillion BCs.
g) Influence dominate X sectors for Y turns -- elaborated version of Culture victory.
4) Branching Campaign tree. For example, I create a scenario with an economic victory (BCs galore!), an influence victory, and a specific tech victory, each of these could lead to a different start in the next map. In an even more extreme case, suppose someone manages to save the Alamo despite my best efforts to make the scenario unwinnable except by retreating? Then I can make an even more impossible Scenario, which also short circuits most of the Campaign just for these crazy overlord types! LOL
5) Stories in the Campaign tree. At the very least, we need to be able to put up a story section between each Campaign segment. If we can throw in some movie fun, all the better!
6) No Fuel or Planets required! All you have are ships ya start with. For this kind of Scenario to work better, however, I think we need a special Repair and Resupply ship. Kind of like how the Battlestar Galactica kept the fleet of refugees limping along while crossing the galaxy in search of the lost homeworld of Hegira... no wait, got that mixed up with something else... Hmm, actually, a Terror Star can sort of fill that role at the moment, excepting the fact it's slower than molasses in winter!
7) Alternative backgrounds for the map. For example, when crossing the intergalactic void, it would mostly be black. Or if the player falls into an alternate dimension, and then this big hand comes over and grabs their ship...
8) Reinforcements travelling from map to map. If you can carry your first Survey ship through ten maps, it might get to be pretty nice at the end there. Utterly unlreaistic, of course, but hey, we're having fun!
9) Most ludicrious idea yet... Keep a save game from the middle of scenario 3, to be used in scenario 6... but the "human" player is played by the computer, since the current human is a time travelling agent -- who has to stop a Yor time traveller from disrupting the past!
Note that being able to import a saved game to be exported as the basis for a Scenario may be a useful feature in itself. Sounds kinda familiar, doesn't it?
10) Playing a minor race! Create a "dominant" species for the map, the player and the rest of the races are weaklings by comparison, and must secure the "2nd best" position -- at which time the next scenario kicks in. The Dominant already owns 1/2 the map, and is far enough ahead in tech to be untouchable, eg. has up to Avatar tech, while the player (and other minors) has at best Battleship. The Dominant must be unspyable, peace oriented, and event immune, in order to prevent it from wiping our the wimps. Perhaps the Dominant keeps the minors around for the trade routes. LOL
Alrighty then... try to top my crazy ideas, I dare y'all! The more Rabid the better the idea!
~SDC~
There, I made up for that ergonomic thought.