Yet people complain that 10 damage to a planet is small...

after sleeping and refreshing my brain, I do see why a population drop is stupid. haaahaaha.

Considering that the damage cap is 20 and a planet can easily have over 1000 population, dealing several times the amount of damage these days, 10 damage is like a slap in the face after you are dragged across hot coals and quenched with sulphuric acid to cool yourself down... with the resulting half dissolved body getting slapped across the chops with a fish by a penguin.

What I am saying is that if 1 point of planet health does equal 1 million people, then even if you hit the cap of 20 damage you are actually killing 20,000,000 of the population.

Quasar: A small research station orbits a quasar.

Tiny
Mining: None
Artifact: None
Research: Very Rich +

Increases energy recharge for the controlling player by X (Dan can pick how much)
Cannot be expanded. (The expansion would make the research station large enough to be struck by the solar radiation and get destroyed)
Cannot be terraformed. (The light from a quasar is not suitable for plant life)

... balance > realism

+1, especially in this game, and a lot of people forget that.

Generally speaking i find that CoD players seem to have no sense whatsoever when it comes to balancing stuff... one of the best balanced games I've seen in a while is RUSE. It's an RTS game .. basically rock paper scissors and there are 6 playable nations. Each nation has it's strengths and weaknesses... I play it on console.

Quite possibly the best RTS on Xbox 360 and PS3 (I xbox personally)

Alas, no more threadjacking


May I propose a "Battlestation" type planet... eg Deathstar-esque.

Here is some new "upgrade planets":
Gold: made by using a Planetary Aura artifact on a metal planet, raising its artifact and mineral resources by 4. (and turning it gold of course)
Trizotica: made by using a Tridium Igniter artifact on a exotic planet, raising its size by 1 and all resources by 3. (the purple clouds change into yellow, purple, and blue neon colors)
Wishing Star: made by using an Ambition Engine artifact on a dyson planet, raising its size by 1, maxing all resources, and giving it 5000 passive attack, defense, and cloak (a bright white light glows from the dyson in a grid-like pattern, see Zophah Saga part 4)
Magnus: made by using a Forge Missile artifact on a volcanic planet, raising it's size by 3 and mining by 3 (massive refineries spontaneously built all across the surface)


Also, how about prefix and suffix planets? added bonuses that can be activated (by artifact) on any planet regardless of type but can only have 1 prefix and 1 suffix per planet.
*A few suffix:
Orbit: has moons surrounding it, giving 10 more size to the planet
Ring: has rings of spacial debris around it, giving 3 more to mineral resource
*A few prefix:
Ancient: has tall spires of unknown origin rising from it, giving 3 more to artifact resource
Suppressed: has half population size but gives +15% to the planet's attack and defense

+1, but aren't dysons good enough?

Here are my ideas, though they may have been mentioned before:

Glass
Rare

Once was a desert planet, orbiting a nearby star. After a few billion years, the star collapsed and exploded into a white dwarf. The explosion reached the desert planet, colliding with the sand and rocks and fusing them together to create glass. Now it is orbiting another star, but even with its sunlight, the glass planet is very difficult to see.

Mining: None-Sparse
If they were to be massive mining structures, the planet would easily crack and break into pieces. <--Especially when it breaks layers and layers.
Artifacts: Average-Rich
Who knows? There might be some artifacts made out of glass from the explosion.
Research: Rich-Mega Rich
How did the explosion fuse all the sand and rocks together to make one whole planet?

Passive Abilities:
+250 cloak (or what ever you guys want it to be)
Since glass is transparent, you would not see the planet unless it was colonized or it was glowing due to intense sunlight.
+250 Defense
Since this glass has layers over layers (like Earth with each one with heavier elements and harder), when one is destroyed, another one that was below is now open for attack but it is more harder and stronger.

-------------

Jungle
Common

A planet entirely covered in vegetation. Has life supported due to massive supply of underground water. Some early civilizations colonized here and built some wells and dug up some lakes here and there but are now extinct due to a massive drought.

Mining: Very Sparse-Abundant
A planet covered with vegetation all over won't have much minerals to discover but there might be some minerals preserved deep underground.
Artifacts: Very Abundant-Rich
Ancient civilizations have colonized here before. When they became extinct, all that was left were the buildings and artifacts on the planet.
Research: Extremely Abundant-Very Rich
How did the planet survive for billions of years with only one underground water source? How was the planet created? These are questions researchers want to know.

Passive Abilities:
+25 Population
More vegetation and water means more life. The planet can sustain more population.

Natural Defense > +100 attack
When there were ancient civilization, they worshiped the God of Nature. The Nature God made all the stronger vegetation protect them from all threats as a gratitude for their worships.

------------

Black Holes
Rare

Black holes are created when a giant star collapses on itself. As they suck up everything, even light, in their area, there is a very likely chance that there will be no production at all. There is a very small chance that the black hole has reached its end and explodes everything that was pulled in.

Mining: None
Nothing can escape the massive gravity force of a black hole!
Artifact: None
Same as above.
Research: None
Research stations cannot come close to the black holes and their probes and lasers will only be pulled in.

Passive Abilities:
Singularity Explosion = Random chance for a planet. Cannot be a Dyson. (happens only once, there are endless amounts of planets after the black hole ends its life with a pop, but only one is shown to you by your research station.)

I'll think of more later. Any other suggestions?

Nothing should increase a planet's size by 3.



I like the idea of rings around Gas planets at least. Perhaps a mission artifact to do that?

I think these three ideas are interesting, but I have a few things I would like to input.

For the Glass: How would a planet of glass work? If anything were to attack it, the planet is made of glass and would probably be destroyed. I like the resources though.

For the Grass: How about instead of a Grass planet, it be a Jungle planet? I think that would be a cool idea.

For the Black Hole: I don't understand what you mean. Are you saying it has a chance to blow up and make a new planet? If so, then I like the idea. It would be interesting. Especially if it just chooses to create a planet at random. I mean, you could get any planet that there is and you wouldn't know until it happens. One draw back though, the black hole shouldn't be able to make Dysons. Other than that, I like it.

Oh, and I almost forgot a comment for the Grass or Jungle planet: The passive abilities you gave it, I don't like that idea. A ability shouldn't weaken you, it should help you. I don't think me or any other players would want to lose population temporarily.

Okay, so I have 2 planet suggestions of my own.
1) Sun planet:
Mining: Abundant-Very Rich
Artifact: Extremely Sparse-Abundant
Research: Average-Rich
Rarity: Rare

Made by using a device on a Barren planet to heat up its core and make it erupt into a ball of fire. A name for this device: Central Core Explosive (If you don't like it, then you can choose your own. I made this one off the top of my head). You would get this item from a mission.

2) Electric or Static Planet:
Mining: None
Artifact: None
Research: Very Abundant-Extremely Rich
Rarity: Rare

Made by using a device on a Gas Planet to surge the clouds of it with electricity and making the planet turn into a ball of lightning. A name for this device: Static Coil (Like I said for the other device, if you don't like it, then you can always change it). You would get this item from a mission.

Any feedback?

Wouldn't the gas explode? Or something? I can't remember. They sound like they could work, just need some fine-tuning. I don't know what, though. Something just seems....off.

Thanks for your input. I have changed it but if you have any other inputs for my edits, feel free to say so.

Here are some other suggestions:

8-bit Planet
Extremely Rare

A planet from a classic 8-bit game came to life as someone has discovered how to make things go inside or outside 8-bit gaming machines.

Mining: Sparse-Very Abundant
A planet with 8-bit minerals won't be as good as real ones but it's good to make classic 8-bit games!

Artifact: Rich-Mega Rich
Artifacts made of 8-bit material would be a breakthrough for scientists as they can make other 8-bit materials from them!

Research: Extremely Rich-5x Mega Rich
How did the planet come into being? Scientists are now actively searching for the person who made this discovery.

Passive Abilities:
Classical Cloak > +150 Cloak
Classical 8-bit cloaking machines are cloaking the planet but can be hacked by playing a classic game and win. (Pac-man)

-------------

16-bit Planet
Extremely Rare

A bigger brother of the 8-bit planet, this 16-bit planet is larger and has more resources but less cloak as the machines are only made by 8-bit materials.

Mining: Average-Extremely Abundant
Larger materials, larger minerals, larger planet, there has to be more than the 8-bits.

Artifact: Extremely Rich-3x Mega Rich
Larger materials used to create this means more studies about how these work.

Research: Ultra Rich-7x Mega Rich
Now, who discovered how to create 16-bit planets from a 16-bit machine!?

Passive Abilities:
16-bit Fighters > +125 Attack
Some hangers were installed during the early development of this unique planet. They contain of fighters that are programmed to attack all threats to the player that commands them.

-----------

I have ideas for the 32-bit and the 64-bit. I'll post them on the next post. Any comments?

I havent read all through the posts so forgive me if im repeating.

Instead of planets there is space phenomenon that can be found that is specific to a certain production. Maybe their sizes would be small but the resources amazingly high and they cannot be made bigger with artifacts. maybe only 15-30 space but megax15 resources.


Astroid belt, mining only
black hole, research only
moon, mining
space port, artifact
orbiting junk yard, artifact

or maybe instead of space for planet structures just a straight up resource production value for owning it?

Idk, i guess i just like the idea of adding rare things that are not planets or planets that are more common but are small and have high resources.

Planetary passives would include many things you are talking about.

i didnt read all the posts so some of the ideas i post up mightve already been posted

Asteroid field (not a planet)
resource - mining

Debris field (a vast region of ship wreckages)(not a planet)
resource artifacts

nebula (using special artifact (black hole generator >.>), you can turn the nebula into a gas giant)
resource research

Radioactive planet (minimal population due to radiation)
resource mining/research

antimatter planet (planet made of antimatter)
resource mining/research

war torn planet (planet ravaged by war)
resource artifact/research

Eco planet (planet with extensive wildlife)(upgraded version of terra)
resource mining/research/artifacts

ice hydrogen planet (planet made of drozen hydrogen *using a mass surface melter will turn it into a gas giant*)
resource research

other stuff like, planets can get bonus, like a terra planet residing in a nebula can have passive cloak bonus
planet residing in nebula (cloak and research bonus)
planet residing in asteroid field (mining bonus)
planet has a moon (all resource bonuses and slight increase in planet size)
planet orbits pulsar star (research bonus, however cloaking is reduced due to EM released from star)
planet orbits wormhole (planet dissapears from peoples starcharts every now and then)
planet orbits a supergiant star (cloaking due to massive EM interference)

you should also consider that we can build orbital defensive stations instead of just minefields, eg
laser defence station
ion defence station
plasma defence station
phased defence station
etcetc

orbital shipyards produces several npc depending on race ships that defend the planet, has a limit of how many ships that protect the planet at once and when the ships are disabled, there gone for good until new ones are built.

orbital starbases that provide extra attack/defense
orbital weapons terminal provides extra attack
orbital maintenance station reduce upkeep/repair costs
orbital mining station (can only be built if theres a asteroid field)(mineral production)
orbital artifact station [sounds lame~] (can only be built if the planet resides in debris field)
orbital research station
orbital fighter bay produces several small fighter ships (high def/low attck) that protect the planet
orbital communications relay , reduces legion alert by 10 mins per
orbital galaxy pub just for fun station (provides small bonus to population)
orbital habitat station (increase population)

these new structures occupy orbital space, not space, space is used for your production builds reserach station/mining stations while starbases occupy a special space called *orbital space, the larger the planet, the more gravitational pull therefore can house more orbital stations. anyways, asteroid fields, nebulas and debris field have no *standard space but only orbital space therefore you cant construct nanite labs or arcology's on the those places.

Another idea, you should add planets occupied by npc's eg - crimson blades, rogue science league, dark smugglers, terran outsides etcetc of course these planets should have some quality resources eg - dakr smugglers tend to colonise artifact planets, TO's like to colonise mining planets and crogue science like to colonise research colonise etcetc

of course your going to have problems fitting all this into the research tree
might i recommend a new research branch called orbital construction and when researching this tree, it contunually unlocks new and unique stations.
of course its not as simple as that. but just mentioning these ideas. ive always wanted to create my own sci fi game. might as well help

commonwealth - delta surfers

Look through the search of suggestions and post later on what is new. I bet there is good ideas in there but I see too many already posted.