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Add an ability for players to to modify a captains/ships engagement parameters for battle, i.e.: range of engagement, position of ship to enemy, target priority, etcetera. This Idea has come up to me many times as I've made ships designated for specific roles in battle, such as long range siege, carriers, and frontal frigates. Also I've experienced behavioral AI's in another game, so I guess I got spoiled there XD. Examples: Range of Engagement: Set range parameters for the ship to stay within a set distance from its current target. Position of Ship to Enemy: Set the Ships battle position, i.e. broadside, frontal, or any. Target Priority: More for when there are multiple targets, for designating which target to focus on first, by size or dps of the target.

So, I am very much enjoying the frightening damage the enemy ships deal to my ships and stations on insane difficulty. However when it comes to pirates, Xsotan, and faction ships shooting at each other, I find them killing each other a little too fast: Best example is whenever there's a genuine distress signal from a faction having merchant ships being pinned down by pirates. If I go to that sector, those merchant ships gets destroyed in a matter of seconds (pretty much <10 seconds). Same goes for the random encounter where a single merchant ship joins a sector, fleeing from 3 pirate ships. Even if you're in firing range of the pirate ships, you hardly get to react before the merchant ship is destroyed. These issues makes it downright impossible to ever get more faction points or rewards from said encounters, Another crazy thing that happens as a consequence of insane, is how quickly NPC faction wars, in sectors, resolve. Give it 5-10 minutes and you got yourself a free aftermath of a battlefield with huge ships containing plenty of material-intensive-blocks to salvage. Ofc that is, as long as you're not on bad terms with the winning faction that is. My simple solution/suggestion would be, to have all ships and stations - Except for the ones controlled by players - have damage reduction from all sources but the players ships and stations. (Edit): Oh yea, I should mention that this is what I experience inside the center on insane difficulty, but I believe the same applies for the outer areas of the galaxy too

Intro: In the wake of the Xsotan's destruction, nations of the galaxy are once again vying for control and influence. You find yourself a newly appointed ruler of a fledgling nation in the outer rim. Use your resources wisely in order to guarantee your future. Expand your grasp with diplomacy, wealth or pure military might. Will your nation stand the test of time in the wake of this galactic turmoil? Scenario: This scenario grants player the opportunity to skip the slow build up to creating a faction in favor of a 4X style RTS. The player would be granted a starting territory with stations, resources, and money to create their own fledgling faction in a galactic wide conflict for power. The player will need to be strategic about their resources as they will be competing with opposing factions along with defending against pirates. They can use their resources to assemble a fleet of ships to fight or trade to expand. Diplomacy is also an option that can be very beneficial when played right. Difficulty: Beginner: Your neighbors love you and you frolic around space in harmony, most pirates are too dumb to assemble their own space ports and they tend to run at the first sign of trouble Normal: The usual diplomacy occurs, most have adequate relations with you, pirates have spines and will raid unprotected cargo convoys. You have a minor pirate infestation in your outer territories. Better deal with them fast before other factions get ideas to do if for you... Veteran: Your relations with your neighbors are mixed with several being unhappy about pirate raids coming from your border. Pirates control territory in your southern quadrant with a couple captured shipyards serving as their bases of operations. Pirates are more emboldened to attack your convoys with deadlier equipment to do so. Neutralize them before your neighbors decide to invade. Expert: You are not very well liked. Your neighbors are unhappy with your rise to power and won't hesitate to invade you at the first show of weakness. Pirates are a lot braver (darn space rum...) and won't hesitate to attack your supply convoys. You have multiple pirate spaceports in your territory that need terminating. Hardcore: Now your going to get it... Looks like your neighbors are amassing fleets at your borders as we speak. Pirates are sophisticated raiders who will target your supply fleets with impunity. Pirates have taken over your territory and must be driven out at all costs. Insane: You really don't have to do this to yourself... You're 'in power' in one of the most war-torn, pirate infested cess-pools in the galaxy. Pirate gangs control your territory... Oh look... it's the local galactic superpower on its way to take control liberate us from the pirates. This is going to get interesting. Features: - Your own faction HQ: it allows you to hold your influence over your territories and gives you the ability to track vessels in a certain radius. Defend it wisely. If lost, it is a good chance your territories will splinter or surrender to the enemy. - A dynamic galaxy with territory constantly being won or lost. To avoid the player steam rolling in the end game, factions would end up consolidating through alliances or conquest. Dealing with bigger territories with more ships and production makes it harder to conquer. - Regional HQs: At a certain point, one HQ cannot command so much territory. Regional HQs serve the purpose of expanding control and providing ship tracking. Be careful though. If an HQ is destroyed or captured, the entire territory is lost. Defend them wisely and prioritize them in attacks. - Warp Tracking Satellites: Offers hyperspace tracking at a smaller price and reduced range. They can be easily destroyed so watch enemy movements closely. Special cards can be put onto vessels to detect hyperspace jumps or bring ships out of hyperspace. - A bigger role for shipyards: Ship yards have often been overlooked in the game because the player can build anywhere at any time. Shipyards would take the roll of automated ship production allowing the player to focus on more pressing matters. Specific ships could be configured and selected to be built by shipyards and time would be based on the size of the shipyard and volume of assembly blocks. This would make shipyards a vital location for both players and npc factions. - Role for population centers: population center could have the role of producing your workforce. Upgrade them with academies to get specialized workers with more experience and greater proficiency. Protect them well. Crueler factions and pirates will attack these and steal your people. Consider that attacking these will be looked down upon by most factions... Enhanced Diplomacy: Factions can be convinced, bribed or will beg for alliances. These are in the form of trade agreements, defense pacts, military alliances, share Jump gates, cede territory, close borders, coerce for resources, letters of marquee, etc. Use these wisely to create strong allies and topple your enemies. Factions with different characteristics will act differently to each proposition. Factions will also have reasons for liking you... or not which will effect your overall relationship. Things like alliances with other factions, Acts of cruelty, breaking pacts, pirate attacks coming from your territory, successful diplomacy, etc will all add or take from your reputation with other factions. High reps allow for better deals and a greater chance of future diplomacy occuring. A poor relationship may lead to an outbreak of war. [EX: Harboring Pirates: "our ships are being attacked by pirates coming from your territory." -X amount of Relation per minute] (REASON: Pirate outposts located in your space) [EX: Trade Pact: "we appreciate your cooperation in our trade agreement. May both nations prosper." +X amount of relation per minute] (REASON: trade pact occuring) [EX: Thinks You're Weak: "your nation is weak and lacks the basic means to defend itself."-X amount of relation per minute] (REASON: major difference in total omicron) Cargo Fleets: You need lots of money to fund an empire. Creating a trade fleet to ship mass quantities of goods for cash is essential. However, pirates, enemy factions, and other raiders would be more than willing to take those goods off your hands (by force...) if your trade fleets are not well protected. Letters of Marque and Raiding: A letter of Marquee allows the owner to destroy all ships belonging to enemies of the issuing faction without diplomatic penalty. Other factions may not be happy to see you raiding so be aware of who's around before you pirate and loot to your heart's content. *Raiding is also a great, less than honest way of earning money. Your AI controlled ships can be commanded raid vessels, but factions will not look kindly on your aggressive measures. RTS-like battle system: There will be points where you may have multiple fleet on fleet battles. You will either have the opportunity to auto resolve (based on omicron or something) or take command of your ships via the tactical map. Battles can occur when opposing vessels are within the same tile. The player will be forced into a battle if enemy ships with intent on fighting Jump into the same sector. Once the battle starts, players will have a certain amount of choices. Fleet Tactics: Fleet tactics can be employed like focusing fire on one vessel, formations, charges, or retreats. Retreats will require a certain amount of time for hyperspace cores to charge up so players/enemies must hold out until the timer counts down. *More ideas out soon. Thanks for taking the time to read this. It would be incredible to see avorion take the next step with the addition of an RTS style 4X scenario. Easily would make it the most epic game of all time. Feel more than free to voice ideas, comments, or criticisms about the idea.

Currently as the player travels closer to the core it is most beneficial to build bigger ships both because it can hold more upgrade slots and because npc ships become bigger too. This causes small npc ships to simply vanish on the journey to core which is quite sad. On the other hand the player never gets to see big ships early on either and therefor does not get any reason to build big ships early on usually. I would like to have this relation changed so that we always see a good mix of both big ships and small ships. No matter how far away we are from the core. However there should always be many small ships among only a few big ships since big ships are expensive in theory so they are harder to come by. This change would add more diversity to the game and encourage the player to build fleets with a mix of both smaller ships and bigger ships. Also with this change would help with the visualization in a change of sizes. Stations should also be adressed in this change. Other than giving a station more hp and shields there is in my opinion no reasonable explanation as to why station become bigger when travelling closer to the core. In order to not make big ships like battleships and dreadnaughts look stupid because they are only armed with chainguns and other short range weaponry in the early stages of the game at least cannons should be enabled as a dropable weapon type for all distances from core. The common usage of capital ships for siege or reinforcement of bases or given areas while small ships would be the regular ship type to find e.g. in patrols or for raids from a pirates point of view. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Maybe small ships will require a change to remain usefull next to big ships but as with all the other Ideas this suggestion is less a "copy and paste" suggestion and more a rough direction for a change I have uploaded a screenshot of personal design that makes a change in size visible from left to right which gets completly lost during gameplay since smaller ships are replaced by bigger ones and npc ships behave the same. Like this it does not really feel like my ships really increase in size