Just noticed the map actually is uploaded here
If there are any complaints on the terrains or suggestions, feel free to let me know. I've also read a request for more planets: I don't know if it'd be a very good idea. I'm currently at the maximum allowed tiles so a 6th planet would use the tiles already used on other planets (although I haven't used blight, so a black-ish planet could be possible), which would all in all make it less unique...
Perhaps the implementation of moons could be cool.
On techtree: I've written down some ideas I had, some of them will undoubtedly be bad, a few of them are based on things said in this thread (e.g. black hole)
Techtree Ideas
- Energy Types (each type increases maximum mana of ships and mana regeneration of ships, ofcourse in different quantities.)
* Fission Energy (unlocks Nuke)
* Fusion Energy (unlocks H-bomb)
* Gravity Energy (unlocks Black Hole technology)
* Heat Energy (most forms of energy have heat as a useless side effect, but this technology allows you to actually use heat usefully. Increased energy output on Lava planets and planets close to the sun)
* Renewable energysources (maybe default on the forest planet?)
* Dark energy manipulation
* Zero Point Energy: Using Cryogenic Freezers, The Quantum Particles in a system will generate energy without the need of catalysis.
- WMDs
* Nuke: smaller strike zone but leaves behind uninhabitable fallout for like 10 minutes. Units in the fallout will take heavy damage
* H-bomb: Larger strike zone (no fallout)
* Black Hole: All ships nearby will be sucked in the hole. Including friendly ships. When used inside a planet atmosphere, there's a very small chance the planet will explode (0,1 %) and every other planet in the system will be filled with fallout. Well, the last part is just a random thought
* Biological warfare: In the area of effect, trained units will have a chance to die instantly. The owner of the affected buildings will have a decreased income depending on the amount of affected buildings in the blastzone for x minutes
* EMP missiles: temporary shut down all mechanical units. Turrets will be unable to shoot, buildings will be unable to train mechanical units (can be done with some sort of "freezing breath" ability). All energy is drained from the affected structures or units
- Galactic sciences
* Anti-matter
* Black hole observation (leads to the development of the black hole wmd)
* Star observation (leads to the development of fission energy)
* Worm hole observation (leads to Warp Gates)
* Dimensional Rifts: Allows the production of dimensional Phase Shifting devices: Those devices - when installed on spaceships - will phase the ship into a different reality when shot upon. This ability requires energy to be used and has a cooldown
- Structures / Units
* Warp Gate: Has an ability to target another warp gate (which is yours or allied). Once a connection is established, units will be able to move from 1 gate to another instantly. Potentially buildable on planets)
* Portable nuke: rather than launching a nuke and risking it to be intercepted, the portable nuke can be transported by a special agent. Ofcourse, if the agent dies, the nuke is lost which can make it a costy afair.
* Lift-off: similar to the SC lift off ability?
- ICT related
* Virusses: When a ship is hit by a virus, all its systems will be down for the duration of the virus. (unable to move or shoot)
* Spyware: While spyware is active on a command center, a low amount of currency is transferred from 1 player to another
* Firewalls: Good firewalls can prevent a virus, spyware or trojan from infecting a ship, unit or building.
* Antivirus programs: When a virus manages to bypass your firewall, its duration will be drastically reduced when the antivirus technology is researched
* Troyans: When a troyan is transfered on a pure mechanical unit (i.e. a robot, cyborg, etc. automatised, uncontroled by humans), there is a chance this unit will become owned by the hacker.
* Mind Uploading: requires Mind Control; A psionic agent can control an enemy mechanical unit (including spacecraft) at the cost of his own life.
* Networking: requirement for various upgrades
- Mechanical improvements
* Manual control: When a ship or unit has a manual control option, virusses will no longer turn off weapon systems. The ship will still be unable to move for a time, but will be able to defend itself or perform basic repairs)
* Stronger hull
* Warpdrives: allows the ship to use its FTL drives to jump a small space area instantly. Basically a blink ability
* Fission drives: gives ships a speed boost
* Weaponry upgrades
* Advanced robotics: allows the production of various robotic related products: robots, ...
* Megascale structures: allows the production of Arcologies (3 food buildings)
* Repair: gives certain capital ships the ability to repair themselves. Also unlocks a mobile repair ship which can repair other mechanical units.
* Attack drones (unlocks robotic carriers)
* Harvester Drones (unlocks drones that harvest asteroids at a rate of 2 minerals instead of 1 mineral per cycle)
* Confusion Drones (unlocks the ability for certain ships to release confusion drones. These drones will "taunt" when released, drawing the attention of firepower away from the ships)
- Bio chemical improvements
* Genetic Engineering: Increases maximum population and increases hit points of all organic (or semi-organic) units
* Integrated robotics: requires advanced robotics. When robotics are integrated into the human body, it allows the production of cyborgs: half humans, half robots.
* Advanced Field Surgery: allows the placement of specialised medic bays on the battlefield. A medic will be able to create an encampment on the battlefield which gives a regeneration boost to friendly units
* Radiation treatment: gives the medic the ability to remove the effects of fallout on infected units
* Molecular Assembly: Increases training speed of organic units
* Psionic implant: Allows an oridinary unit (marine, medic, ...) to be upgraded into a unit with additional psionic abilities.
* Cryogenic Preservation
* Planetary Ecology
- Energy Technologies
* Shields: gives spaceships and other mechanical units shields. When a shield is hit, its energy (mana) will be drained rather than its life
* Ion Canons: Gives spaceships an energy drain ability. Every hit drains a ship from energy (if a shield is running, in addition to taking damage, it's also drained). Can be implemented with the passive human feedback ability
* FTL: requires warpdrives to be researched. At the cost of energy, the ship can jump in space
* Regional shield: All units and buildings within a region around the regional shield (building) will be invulnerable to attacks while the shield is running. Maybe some sort of big bad voodoo?
* Nano humidity extractor: Requires something like dark energy or something: When this technology is developed, special nano humidity extractors will be able to extract energy from space nanites, increasing energy regeneration of all ships and mechanical units.
- Optical Technologies
* Mobile cloaking devices: allows light to be redirected, rendering a cloaked unit invisible
* Cloaking Interface: unlocks a structure which cloaks all nearby units and structures
* Laser weaponry
* Light Spectrum Analysis: allows the production of "detectors", which can detect cloaked units
- Sonic Technologies
* Radar: allows the construction of radars. A radar will detect enemies approaching your units or planets and will ping the location of various units including impact area of nukes.
* Stealth Technology: renders a unit undetectable by radar. While a stealthed cloaked unit would be practically undetectable, light spectrum analysis could still detect those units.
* Sonic Weaponry: units with sonic weaponry will be unlocked. Such units will attack with some sort of "shockwave" attack, damaging all (friendly and hostile) units in the line of attack.
- Space Flight / Rocketry Technologies
* Space flight (3 tiers, or whatever you want)
* Advanced Space Construction
* Missiles: required for various technologies (such as nuclear missile)
* Jetpack: allows marines to fly and cross blocked paths such as hills, lava channels, ...
- Psyonics
* Mind Control: allows psy agents to control an enemy organic unit. (without dying, large cooldown)
* Illusions: the psy agent can create an illusion of a unit.
* Telepathy: allows a psy agent to reveal an area.
* Telekinesis: Allows a psy agent to move an object, i.e. can throw a ship against a rock or something
* Timestop: When multiple psy agents are merged, at the cost of their lives time can be stopped for 10 seconds
- Economy
* Raw Material Preprocessors: augments harvesters with preprocessors, increasing their mineral capacity from 1 to 2.
* Asteroid Mining Platform: some sort of "haunted goldmine" which when build on an asteroid, removes the need to return your minerals to a nearby mineral collector.
* Ecological Economics (requires renewable energy sources): Allows the construction of mineral renewers (those buildings that are already in the current version which renew minerals)
* Virtual Securities: requires networking; Basically it's virtual banking which increases your currency income per building
* Free market: allows the construction of trading ports (maybe not researchable by communism, ...)
* Farm Industrialisation: increases the foodcap
Different Weaponry
Every ship will have 1 weapontype which will do additional damage to certain armor classes but reduced to others. For each weapontype there will ofcourse be a similar armor class with reduced damage from certain weapons but increased from others. This could potentially be related to energy types.
* Penetration Projectiles (our every-day weaponry)
* Rocket Missiles
* Energy Blasting Missiles (explode in shockwaves, damaging a large area around impact - like missiles which explode in a "wisp detonation" upon impact)
* Lasers (Beams)
* Plasma Weaponry (Pulses)
* Sonic Weaponry (shockwaves - ground only)
Then ofcourse the other technologies such as a mineral renewer, trading ports, asteroid mining, ...
I'd also make some sort of advanced trading system, where you can place some of your minerals on the market and other players can buy them. Or vice versa buy minerals from other players with a nice interface.
What could be cool too (admittedly, I stole this idea from civ4) is some sort of NATO which allows players to vote for some treaty every 10 minutes. 1 player would be elected to be the leader of the NATO who can e.g. decide to vote for a non-wmd treaty which prohibits the production of WMD's but not the usage of already made WMD's.