I haven’t seen anything about this previously except for a “momentary thing” back in 2016, so forgive me if this is something that does already exist (in some regard)...
Dynamic Populations
Here’s my thinking...
When you spend your time grafting away in the BGS influencing the politics, making your people happy, providing them with bountiful trade and a generally elated lifestyle, those happy people are going to have higher birth rates... more so than that, talk between systems is going to get around that your slice of the galaxy is a haven, and people will want to live there. Transports full of passengers should be looking to move to your neighbourhood but currently... they aren’t?!
Therefore, I believe the following should be considered for implementation to further allow for more dynamic playwith the BGS:
Population Data
- Populations become fluid with a minimum and maximum value set;
Minimum = 5000 * (Number of planetary bodies / 8)
Maximum = 1000000 * ((Number of planetary bodies / 8) + 4)
For example:
System with 1 Sun, 3 Planets, 1 Moon becomes 4 planetary bodies. Minimum population becomes 2,500. Maximum population becomes 4,500,000.
System with 3 Suns, 14 Planets and 46 Moons becomes 60 planetary bodies. Minimum population becomes 37,500. Maximum population becomes 7,500,000.
Station data
- Stations upgrade from smaller stations, to medium, eventually to the large 20-sided docks we’re all familiar with, based on the criteria required:
Maximum number of stations allowed = (Number of Planetary bodies / 8) + 4.
For example, using the same two systems above:
4 planetary bodies or less provides space for 4.5 (rounded down to 4) stations at most.
60 planetary bodies provides space for 11.5 stations (rounded down to 11)
A threshold for the upgrade needs to take place:
Thresholds = maximum population size / (maximum number of stations *3)
This is multiplied by 3 for the three levels of development for each station.
Investment State
This would alter the current “Investment” state - being an actual investment into the current system where applicable:
1. The system is not at its maximum capacity for stations / station upgrades
2. The system is not at its maximum population size.
3. The faction in Investment has an elated population.
4. The faction is in a Boom economic state, the faction is also in an Elated happiness state
5. The population must be in the next threshold requiring a new station, or a station upgrade
Upon entering the investment state, the minor faction issues specific missions requiring commodities to be delivered to the main system station. The population also must maintain itself above the current threshold.
Investment missions should be sourced commodities from stations up-to 120Ly away, ranging from small requirements (20) to large requirements (400) and wing requirements (4000). The commodities should be paid for already by the faction from the systems that produce the required materials (I.e extraction / industrial / agriculture etc)
Investment (Failure):
In the event the Investment state is failed over the duration, the economic state of the faction takes a severe hit into Bust due to wasting an exorbitant amount of commodities that were paid for in advance. Not only that, but the faction should also lose a considerable swing of influence (-10%~) due to a new-found lack of faith in the faction from the population.
Investment (Success)
In the event the faction succeeds, the system should randomly upgrade an existing station to the next level, or build a new small station in the system around a planetary body that does not already contain a station. This could be entirely random, it should not simply upgrade a station just because one already exists as partially upgraded though in my preference.
Furthermore, the faction should gain a considerable boost in influence (which could allow for a recovery into expansion thus still allowing minor factions to expand frequently enough).
Investment (Cancellation)
In the event that a player does not want an investment to take place due to the economic impact, during the preparation phase, any of the following can occur resulting in cancellation:
1. A war is triggered
2. The Influence of the faction drops below 50%
3. The faction is no longer the controlling faction of the system
4. The faction enters expansion instead
Any cancellations will not trigger the Recovery timer.
Investment (Timers)
The timers should be as follows:
- Preparation: 3 days
Population needs to maintain in the new threshold, faction cannot enter a war state in the current system.
- Investing: 4-7 days
At least 50% of the days need to be successful for mission criteria.
- Recovering: 10-20 days
After the successful investment, another investment cannot be triggered for 10 days. After a failed investment, another investment cannot be triggered for at least another 10 days, and a maximum of 20 days. The duration will depend on how quickly the economic status can return to Boom and the population threshold is not drained due to no expansion space.
Population Effects
Along with the ability to expand, upgrade and essentially develop your preferred systems, the dynamic population system would also come with its unique challenges...
Balancing the population levels in your system can determine the difference between famines, outbreaks, or civil unrest and a peaceful and happy system. The more unhappy your population, the more likely terrorism occurs. The greater your population, the higher the requirement for security, or the more lawbreakers frequent the system...(where applicable - anarchy!). The bigger the population, the harder it is to control essentially!
However, with a larger population, comes larger benefits; much higher demand in the markets on these, with higher than average market prices as a result. Systems become firmer in their resolve by staying loyal to the factions that improved their way of life. More stations in systems meaning you might not have to travel those 180,000Ls just to reach the station with a large pad when you’re done with it!
Population (Increase)
To qualify for a system with increasing population, the current population should be happy or elated and the controlling faction’s economic status should be at least in boom. There should not be any negative social states. All of these requirements should be active for at least 1 day together for the population to start rising.
Once a threshold is exceeded, the population should operate as normal for 5 days to prevent a scenario in which a population continuously rises and drops around a threshold... i.e if the system is happy, and no negative states are active, and the economy is in boom still, the population should continue to rise (even beyond the maximum capacity) while there isn’t enough space for that population.
After the 5 day period, the overcrowding factor should begin (pushing minor factions to want to finish the investment in the shortest time-frame of 7 days). At this point, outbreaks should become increasingly more likely, but famine increase should not trigger until at least the 7th day of being over-populated.
Once a system is at maximum population, the negative effects of overcrowding should be removed, and the final growth population will be its total population capacity.
Population (Decrease)
In removing population from a system, the system must be in a poor economic state (Bust and lower), or the people must be in Civil Unrest or Lockdown. Emergency stated like Famine or Drought can cause population decreases through death, and leaving... but outbreak can only lower the population through death. With more death, comes more civil unrest thus dropping the population lower to a more sustainable level for that controlling faction. Then with the lower population comes the easier handling of influence in that system to dislodge any unwanted controlling factions.
Population (Exceeded capacity (at any threshold))
In the event that the population exceeds its maximum capacity, the system can no longer be in an elated or happy state. Famine should happen much more frequently due to the over-consumption of foods. Droughts may occur due to water shortages. Outbreaks would have an extremely high chance of becoming active due to overcrowding... all in all, everything should ultimately lead to a state in which the population starts declining.
Stations (Adding)
Adding of stations as previously mentioned should be randomised around a planetary body that does not contain one already, on the end of a successful investment daily tick. Upon adding the station, the controlling faction’s economic status should drop to almost “Bust” for it to be recovered via conventional means. They should receive a +10%~ influence bonus for a successful investment, and any negative overpopulation effects should be removed instantly (excluding famine and outbreak requiring the needed commodities)
Stations (Removal)
The threshold for a station removal is that of the threshold before its construction. For example, if the population required for station C is 12,500, and was 10,000 for Station B, then at the point the population goes below 10,000, Station C will become abandoned. The station should remain abandoned for at least 30 days, before it is dismantled. In the event that a faction goes back into investment in that 30 day period that the station is abandoned, the next investment will revive the abandoned station, making it operational again
Opening the door...
Finally, dynamic populations opens the door for a number of new ways to sabotage systems, and nerf a faction’s influence... as well as much improve the desirability of unwanted systems that player factions currently inhabit, but have no intention of taking control of. This becomes less about minor factions simply expanding into new systems randomly, whether they want to or not, and more about providing a solid collective of stations and systems, operating efficiently as one.
(Apologies for the very lengthy post, and if there are any typos; I wrote all of this on my phone and it kept glitching and deleting random characters!)
Dynamic Populations
Here’s my thinking...
When you spend your time grafting away in the BGS influencing the politics, making your people happy, providing them with bountiful trade and a generally elated lifestyle, those happy people are going to have higher birth rates... more so than that, talk between systems is going to get around that your slice of the galaxy is a haven, and people will want to live there. Transports full of passengers should be looking to move to your neighbourhood but currently... they aren’t?!
Therefore, I believe the following should be considered for implementation to further allow for more dynamic playwith the BGS:
Population Data
- Populations become fluid with a minimum and maximum value set;
Minimum = 5000 * (Number of planetary bodies / 8)
Maximum = 1000000 * ((Number of planetary bodies / 8) + 4)
For example:
System with 1 Sun, 3 Planets, 1 Moon becomes 4 planetary bodies. Minimum population becomes 2,500. Maximum population becomes 4,500,000.
System with 3 Suns, 14 Planets and 46 Moons becomes 60 planetary bodies. Minimum population becomes 37,500. Maximum population becomes 7,500,000.
Station data
- Stations upgrade from smaller stations, to medium, eventually to the large 20-sided docks we’re all familiar with, based on the criteria required:
Maximum number of stations allowed = (Number of Planetary bodies / 8) + 4.
For example, using the same two systems above:
4 planetary bodies or less provides space for 4.5 (rounded down to 4) stations at most.
60 planetary bodies provides space for 11.5 stations (rounded down to 11)
A threshold for the upgrade needs to take place:
Thresholds = maximum population size / (maximum number of stations *3)
This is multiplied by 3 for the three levels of development for each station.
Investment State
This would alter the current “Investment” state - being an actual investment into the current system where applicable:
1. The system is not at its maximum capacity for stations / station upgrades
2. The system is not at its maximum population size.
3. The faction in Investment has an elated population.
4. The faction is in a Boom economic state, the faction is also in an Elated happiness state
5. The population must be in the next threshold requiring a new station, or a station upgrade
Upon entering the investment state, the minor faction issues specific missions requiring commodities to be delivered to the main system station. The population also must maintain itself above the current threshold.
Investment missions should be sourced commodities from stations up-to 120Ly away, ranging from small requirements (20) to large requirements (400) and wing requirements (4000). The commodities should be paid for already by the faction from the systems that produce the required materials (I.e extraction / industrial / agriculture etc)
Investment (Failure):
In the event the Investment state is failed over the duration, the economic state of the faction takes a severe hit into Bust due to wasting an exorbitant amount of commodities that were paid for in advance. Not only that, but the faction should also lose a considerable swing of influence (-10%~) due to a new-found lack of faith in the faction from the population.
Investment (Success)
In the event the faction succeeds, the system should randomly upgrade an existing station to the next level, or build a new small station in the system around a planetary body that does not already contain a station. This could be entirely random, it should not simply upgrade a station just because one already exists as partially upgraded though in my preference.
Furthermore, the faction should gain a considerable boost in influence (which could allow for a recovery into expansion thus still allowing minor factions to expand frequently enough).
Investment (Cancellation)
In the event that a player does not want an investment to take place due to the economic impact, during the preparation phase, any of the following can occur resulting in cancellation:
1. A war is triggered
2. The Influence of the faction drops below 50%
3. The faction is no longer the controlling faction of the system
4. The faction enters expansion instead
Any cancellations will not trigger the Recovery timer.
Investment (Timers)
The timers should be as follows:
- Preparation: 3 days
Population needs to maintain in the new threshold, faction cannot enter a war state in the current system.
- Investing: 4-7 days
At least 50% of the days need to be successful for mission criteria.
- Recovering: 10-20 days
After the successful investment, another investment cannot be triggered for 10 days. After a failed investment, another investment cannot be triggered for at least another 10 days, and a maximum of 20 days. The duration will depend on how quickly the economic status can return to Boom and the population threshold is not drained due to no expansion space.
Population Effects
Along with the ability to expand, upgrade and essentially develop your preferred systems, the dynamic population system would also come with its unique challenges...
Balancing the population levels in your system can determine the difference between famines, outbreaks, or civil unrest and a peaceful and happy system. The more unhappy your population, the more likely terrorism occurs. The greater your population, the higher the requirement for security, or the more lawbreakers frequent the system...(where applicable - anarchy!). The bigger the population, the harder it is to control essentially!
However, with a larger population, comes larger benefits; much higher demand in the markets on these, with higher than average market prices as a result. Systems become firmer in their resolve by staying loyal to the factions that improved their way of life. More stations in systems meaning you might not have to travel those 180,000Ls just to reach the station with a large pad when you’re done with it!
Population (Increase)
To qualify for a system with increasing population, the current population should be happy or elated and the controlling faction’s economic status should be at least in boom. There should not be any negative social states. All of these requirements should be active for at least 1 day together for the population to start rising.
Once a threshold is exceeded, the population should operate as normal for 5 days to prevent a scenario in which a population continuously rises and drops around a threshold... i.e if the system is happy, and no negative states are active, and the economy is in boom still, the population should continue to rise (even beyond the maximum capacity) while there isn’t enough space for that population.
After the 5 day period, the overcrowding factor should begin (pushing minor factions to want to finish the investment in the shortest time-frame of 7 days). At this point, outbreaks should become increasingly more likely, but famine increase should not trigger until at least the 7th day of being over-populated.
Once a system is at maximum population, the negative effects of overcrowding should be removed, and the final growth population will be its total population capacity.
Population (Decrease)
In removing population from a system, the system must be in a poor economic state (Bust and lower), or the people must be in Civil Unrest or Lockdown. Emergency stated like Famine or Drought can cause population decreases through death, and leaving... but outbreak can only lower the population through death. With more death, comes more civil unrest thus dropping the population lower to a more sustainable level for that controlling faction. Then with the lower population comes the easier handling of influence in that system to dislodge any unwanted controlling factions.
Population (Exceeded capacity (at any threshold))
In the event that the population exceeds its maximum capacity, the system can no longer be in an elated or happy state. Famine should happen much more frequently due to the over-consumption of foods. Droughts may occur due to water shortages. Outbreaks would have an extremely high chance of becoming active due to overcrowding... all in all, everything should ultimately lead to a state in which the population starts declining.
Stations (Adding)
Adding of stations as previously mentioned should be randomised around a planetary body that does not contain one already, on the end of a successful investment daily tick. Upon adding the station, the controlling faction’s economic status should drop to almost “Bust” for it to be recovered via conventional means. They should receive a +10%~ influence bonus for a successful investment, and any negative overpopulation effects should be removed instantly (excluding famine and outbreak requiring the needed commodities)
Stations (Removal)
The threshold for a station removal is that of the threshold before its construction. For example, if the population required for station C is 12,500, and was 10,000 for Station B, then at the point the population goes below 10,000, Station C will become abandoned. The station should remain abandoned for at least 30 days, before it is dismantled. In the event that a faction goes back into investment in that 30 day period that the station is abandoned, the next investment will revive the abandoned station, making it operational again
Opening the door...
Finally, dynamic populations opens the door for a number of new ways to sabotage systems, and nerf a faction’s influence... as well as much improve the desirability of unwanted systems that player factions currently inhabit, but have no intention of taking control of. This becomes less about minor factions simply expanding into new systems randomly, whether they want to or not, and more about providing a solid collective of stations and systems, operating efficiently as one.
(Apologies for the very lengthy post, and if there are any typos; I wrote all of this on my phone and it kept glitching and deleting random characters!)
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