Why Does the Game End?

I think it would be interesting to let races continue the game as long as they have a troop transport/colony ship, but it would be extremely annoying having to "mop up" enemy ships when going for a military victory

I actually really like this idea - the last surviving memeber of your race, without a world, making one last attempt to get back into the game.

A good addition, I reckon. Though, much like the Terror Star, an addition that you should be able to disable if preferred.

I can't help but wonder that you might run into trouble with range... Unless you had a starbase of course.

Good point if your without a planet or Starbase at all ( and generally the AI is pretty good at targeting your Starbases first if any ) your ship would not be able to move anywhere at all. This would mean that in order for it to work your last ship(s) should have a limited range. Of course if it's a troop transport ship as your last resort it should be allowed to travel only as far as the nearest planet and attempt invasion ( provided it's not blasted outta the cosmos before you get the chance.)

The range issue, would be more funly resolved if you could have some sort of resupply ship that you could add to a fleet that could support so many logistic points at any range.

Probably best done with a huge module that you could add to a cargo ship.

Maybe they could use the location of each transport ship at the time your last planet was conquered, an you can only travel the distance to the end of that radius (since range is, after all, a limit on range because of how long the people on your ships can survive without anywhere to re-supply).

Exactly, I mean, the surivors shouldn't be given the luxury of being able to fly wherever they want, whenever they want. But on the flipside, in later stages of the game your range is a fairly large area.

@Stroker Ace: That is a great idea, just like disabling minor races and certain types of victories, you could turn this off as well. I just think it would really add to the roleplay experience.

@ Gallagher: That would be a really neat addition, sort of like a moveable starbase only without all the extra added bonuses that go along with it. I've always found it a real pain when I want to conquer someone, or trade with them only to find that I cannot fly the distance to reach them!

So my next question is, do the Stardock people read the forums? Or is there someone I have to write to, or is there some kind of procedure in order to get these kinds of things to them?

Quite frankly, It would suck if you had to mop up every last starship.


I feel that if a race survived with nothing but an unarmed transport/colony ship and there were no undefended colonies or uncolonised ones then the game should end - However if some millitary force remains then the game may end.


Y'know, Its like trying to break down a 12" wall of tempered steel with a feather otherwise

Sounds like a good idea.

This idea was done in Alpha Centuari, and it was fun, 95% of the time... As someone earlier mentioned, it is annoying if your going for a Conquest Victory, as not only can you not win until they are totally wiped out, but depending on how fast they can move, and how early in the game it actually is (and I've seen a race wiped out in the first 10 weeks) then it could take you ages to find them.

By which time the beggers have now got another 15 - 50 colonies, all producing ships, and you will have to fight every single one, because they won't be banded together in a fleet, oh no, because that would be too damn easy.

Then, while your concentrating on destroying the vile things, they sneak off again, or take one or more of you inner planets, and then you have two places you need to attack... Then it becomes three, because they take another couple of planets elsewhere.

The process becomes too long.... I agree it is a good idea, as long as its an option like disabling the minor races.

Perhaps the range could turn into a countdown... You can go wherever you want but if you don't get yourself a new planet before it runs out, all the people on the ship die because Life support fails.

It would give you a small chance to return, but you wouldn't have to mop up the remainder- just protect your borders until they all die off.

Perhaps, instead, when a race is conquered, or it surrenders, the conqueror (or the race it surrendered to) gets all it's remaining ships and starbases. Or they become rogue ships, like the pirates or the escaped prisonners. Don't have to kill them for military victory, but they are still around, and attack weak targets of opportunity. Even in fact grab planets, if they have transports left.

As a human player, if you managed to get all your worlds conquered, there might be an option that you would get assigned a 'newly habitable' planet somewhere in a remote corner, as far away as possible from the race who conquered you.

The AI would just surrender without any planets and I'll just quit the game when I know my last few planets are going to get owned very soon.

As a human player, if you managed to get all your worlds conquered, there might be an option that you would get assigned a 'newly habitable' planet somewhere in a remote corner, as far away as possible from the race who conquered you

Well, it shouldn't be a hand out since survival isn't really something you just happen to come across regularily when you are being destroyed by the enemy. Besides, quite a few people have said they would like the idea if it could be turned off (to make those conquest victories easier) and I would have to agree.

@3xman: Jeez, where is your fighting spirit? haha


Maybe the people who no longer have planets could incur a penalty to the amount of moves they can make in a turn? That way they could be easier to track down, but would still put up a fight if you did manage to catch them. (In other words, in later stages of the game, they wouldn't fly from one side of the galaxy to the other and back again!)