Solar Empire Universe MMO Concept

from Sins Forums

Before I start with my suggested concept for a Sins MMO, I will give some background information on a web browser game called Travian. It is upon that game that I drew my inspiration and realized that SoaSE could do it so much better.

The Concept:

Like Travian, a massive game play area would be established. As more players join the game more stars would be generated leading to a expansive procedural universe.

 

 

 

Each time a new star is created it would receive an (x,y) coordinate based off of its position. This will be important for calculating distances as well as travel times between star systems for player interactions.

 

Just like the current RTS, if you have vision of one of these star systems you can zoom in and then the play is identical to the SoaSE RTS.

 

The major contribution from Travian is the game pace. And this in many ways is the reason why Travian has been successful and other MMORTS fail. The pace of a standard RTS game ranges from 15min to a few hours. Far too short for a MMO thus MMORTS get boring quickly. And so, my suggestion is build times of ships, structures, titans have more of a Travian pace. And so would travel times between star systems/planets. It also allows for more deliberation and strategy on each move as sending a fleet to a distant star means you can't get them back for a long time in case of invasion.

 

Build times would range from a few minutes for a frigate to a few days to construct a titan. And like wise resources would collected even if you were offline as in Travian. 

 

Game play:

 

Game play would consist of a player creating an account and at that point an unoccupied star system would be the spawning point. If none exist the game would generate a new grid of star systems. A player would start with no planets or structures. Just a single capital ship that can establish colonies giving the player two options. Establish their planet in that star system or phase jump to another star's coordinates. This would allow friends to play together or loners to go their own way. While other players can settle the planets in your system if you haven't already, no two players spawn in the same system. Early game for a player should consist of taking planets and dealing with pirates.

 

Midnight attacks?

One of the biggest issues with MMORTS are the midnight raids while you are sleeping. Travian deals with this in three ways and would work for this concept as well.

1. Hours to days travel time to distant stars.

2. Notification of inbound enemy forces giving defending player time to prepare.

3. Allowing allies from different time zones the ability to come to your aid through the use of alliances.

 

 

I thank you for your time.

 

 

9,530 views 7 replies
Reply #1 from Sins Forums Top

I think this is a very interesting idea.  If travel between stars is very slow and players can get notifications of inbound fleets (as long as they have at least one starbase in the star's gravwell), it would be possible to add new players continuously without disrupting play.  And/or, you could have a 30-day signup period, and then start a universe/game with all of the registered players (each with his own star) at that point in time, and then let it play out from there.

Slowing down movement between planets in the same system would also be an important corollary of this basic concept.

My suggestion would be that travel between stars should take at least 12 hours, so that no one would have to stay up all night to worry about "sneak attacks".  Other than that, seems like a very interesting concept.  Hope it gets some attention

Reply #2 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting HLT, reply 1

I think this is a very interesting idea.  If travel between stars is very slow and players can get notifications of inbound fleets (as long as they have at least one starbase in the star's gravwell), it would be possible to add new players continuously without disrupting play.  And/or, you could have a 30-day signup period, and then start a universe/game with all of the registered players (each with his own star) at that point in time, and then let it play out from there.

Slowing down movement between planets in the same system would also be an important corollary of this basic concept.

My suggestion would be that travel between stars should take at least 12 hours, so that no one would have to stay up all night to worry about "sneak attacks".  Other than that, seems like a very interesting concept.  Hope it gets some attention
End of HLT's quote

 

In Travian it is highly advised you form alliances with nearby towns for that very reason, little warning of incoming danger. In this concept it could be the same. Add to it that you can relocate to any star you have an X,Y coordinate of to play with friends, the need to form nations if you will with neighboring star systems would turn necessity into political game play where personalities clash and agreements have to be reached for everyone's well being. Or else... :)

But to more directly address your point yes most of the time I would like to see travel between stars be just like travian where it could take over 24 hours to arrive and equal time to return. And I would like to see the ability to detect incoming fleets to your star as an innate ability of your capital planet the moment it is built.

Consider the depth of game play this would add. Everyone would be under immense pressure to reach agreements on the management of fleet assets as all of their very existence in the game could be threatened by being left out of an alliances protection.

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Reply #3 from Sins Forums Top

We already have a game like this. Its called EVE Online.

Reply #4 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting Sinkillr, reply 3

We already have a game like this. Its called EVE Online.
End of Sinkillr's quote

 

EVE while an awesome game in its own right isn't an MMORTS, thus this concept is very different than EVE.

Reply #5 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting Sinkillr, reply 3

We already have a game like this. Its called EVE Online.
End of Sinkillr's quote

EVE is Spreadsheets Online, an entirely different beast.

Reply #6 from Sins Forums Top

Do developers post on concept ideas now and then?

Reply #7 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting Levj, reply 6

Do developers post on concept ideas now and then?
End of Levj's quote

Yes, but this is pure fan fantasy. If the devs are going to do a Sins MMO, its because they want to do a Sins MMO, not because someone on the forums explained why they think it is feasible/a good idea. All we know about the future of any Sins games is there will be another patch coming out soon and it is possible there might be another DLC. Ideas that cannot be done as one of those things probably won't be commented on as the devs don't usually spoil their long term plans. ;)  And this would definitely be a long term project.