![]() One key issue was how an underwater species without limbs to manipulate tools would start building spacecraft? Our answer to this was to create a more diverse story that places them as part of the larger galactic conflict and some manipulation by the Elder species. We felt that the Selach's aquatic trait wasn’t a sufficient trait on its own, so we also made them master traders. They seem to always seem to benefit from most situations. Their disposition for cooperative hunting means that Selach prefer trade over open conflict. Turning their eyes to the stars, the Selach see unlimited resources to exploit for their own gain. Realizing that "The Exile" was preparing them to be used as weapons of war, the Selach turned against the Arcturan and murdered him. Although the specifics in the oral traditions of that time are vague, within a generation the Selach began to use mechanical appendages and began a directed industrial revolution. This changed a thousand years ago after the last war when an Arcturan now known only as "The Exile" fled to Tuun. Their homeworld is completely covered in water, lacking any surface landmasses, and despite being a complex language using species, the Selach never developed the use of complex tools as they lacked appendages for manipulation. This species began as pack hunters that in the end formed a complex and rigid hierarchy leading to a dictatorship ran by "The Executive" who works with the Corporate Congress. The Selach are an aquatic apex predator with incredibly long lifespans but a low fertility rate. All it cost was two small moons…” Erica Praezelis, Human Negotiator grab some popcorn and enjoy the show as you watch both sides engage in automated fights.“Trade negotiations went well and freighters with Selach goods will be arriving at Proxima colony within the week. So to give players a quick synopsis: expect ground combat to be similar to the Master of Orion series, i.e. You were able to invade their world so quickly and so well that you were able to capture enemy intelligence before it could be destroyed. Secondly a new feature would be introduced that allowed for players to be rewarded with a higher probability of stealing technology from the species they invaded. ![]() High troop counts would logically lead population feeling unable to rebel or more easily supressed. The first is a planet with conquered citizens who are far less likely to rebel. Players who have significant forces left after conquering a planet can look forward to two big rewards. The ground combat system in Lord of Rigel will reward players who seek big victories in ground combat. As we have discussed before, all games are meant to be rewarding so the question became how could we reward the player in a meaningful way, but not add another layer of unneeded combat? The answer was as simple as modifiers. ![]() After really soaking in what he had to say the design team began to think about what was missing in a simplified combat system. We thought we were set on using a similar system to Master of Orion series, when a friend of a team member asked about ground combat and brought up that there had to be some sort of middle ground between simple ground combat animations in the Master of Orion series and some overblown turn based combat system for ground combat. This is just too much, especially considering the capability for 1024 star galaxies, where there would be the potential for a thousand plus battles. So if ground combat were to be intricate and similar to ship tactical combat a player invading a star system with 5 colonized world could be looking at 10 battles. How many times can a person get excited from invading the 20th or 30th system? Maybe you are invading 5 systems in a turn. While we all like to blow stuff up, after a while the player gets fatigued. Combat can get tedious and break up the core gameplay after a while. Why not move towards the more intricate combat system of some other 4x games? The answer is, as always - pacing the game and rewarding the player. Remember Lord of Rigel is a foundation for a series not the end! With that in mind we initially approached ground combat similarly to Master of Orion 2. Additionally, you know that with Lord of Rigel while we want to shake things up a bit we also don't want to stray too far from known concepts that work. As many of you are aware by now we here on the Lord of Rigel Development team are long time fans of the Master of Orion and Civilization series. This week's design series installment is going to discuss ground combat.
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