I think it that it would be good for cliffski to create a random scenario generator. The aim would be to allow players to select how many planets in total there would be, and for the game to automatically assign anomalies routes and any other details needed.
It would also be nice to see a versoin where the player can choose the their starting point and maybe a couple of locations for anomalies. This would allow the player to create small defended areas, and if the the anomalies available for player placement were limited to approximately two, then there would still be a largely unpredictable galaxy for each new game.
Additonal Idea (Please do not damn the main idea should you only dislike this one):
In an attempt to expand on the above, i would also like to suggest the possibility of a penalty system (should my idea be implemented). the penalty system would only come into play should the player elect to use more than the standard number of user placed anomalies/facilities. It would be most likely that the penalty would only apply to those anomalies/facilities placed by the player, or in the case of ship restrictions would add additional anomalies weighted to favour the enemy.
I love Sins of a Solar Empire, and one of the main reasons why I love it is that the maps are completely random. You can pick the size of the map as well as a few features about it, but the actual map you get is completely random. From there you need to figure out how to build your empire, what planets to aim for first, what planets are good chokepoints, areas that might be vulnerable to attack, or exotic things like wormholes or nebulae that can be exploited strategically.
Oh, and you have to scout out the map first, so you have no idea what the layout is until those scouts start returning information. Hopefully they return usable information before being shot down, but not always.
I’d like to revive this thread, because I believe it would be a great addition to the game, and it wouldn’t be too difficult to code given how the game’s data is stored.
He could make a psuedo-random galaxy by using the random number generator within set limits (which is built into C++) to select everything about the planet, and use a counter in a loop to control the map position, and also make sure to have the wormholes link to planets that are close by, rather than having them randomly scattered around the galaxy. As in, have the EncounterID determine the MapPosition(both X and Y), though I don’t know entirely how he would do this, but then the EncounterID could determine the wormhole locations.
I’m beginning a C++ class myself, and have just gotten past loops and making new functions, and I can see how this would be completely possible. However, I think the developer’s main focus is on the new Gratuitous Tank Battles game, so if he decides to take this up, I hope he put comments in his source code xP.
When I have some free time, I might be able to make a random galaxy generator independent of the game itself using my limited C++ skills and my knowledge of how the game’s data is stored, which is quite nice might I add.
On further examination, does anyone know what the [hopcounts] section in the encounter text files represent?
