My suggestion is to have dormant metal planets, after a set time or close proximity they awake and come at you (If you are close and that's if they are movable) and then proceed to launch units at you until you or an NPC capture them or destroy the planet. Any thoughts?
OMG Yes!! This way we can get the illusion of a living breathing galaxy even in human vs human games. This idea plus random numbers of neutral/hostile to all pre existing bases that are restricted in size would make the game more on the edge. Otherwise exploration just ends up being find ur enemy in an otherwise desolate land and kill him...
OMG Yes!! This way we can get the illusion of a living breathing galaxy even in human vs human games. This idea plus random numbers of neutral/hostile to all pre existing bases that are restricted in size would make the game more on the edge. Otherwise exploration just ends up being find ur enemy in an otherwise desolate land and kill him...
Neutral AI shouldn't attack you(unless you approach them directly). Leave metal planets as hills to conquer and keep from other players and nothing more. This especially has no place in multiplayer.
My thought? Metal planets should have something sort of like a 'bunker' system in other games, where units can be garrisoned inside them - but not necessarily as a gameplay aspect (although that could be expanded on). Let's just say that some of the metal planets (not all) have maybe, I don't know, 10 - 100 of the weakest bot units 'garrisoned' inside them. Maybe the number of units could scale based on how long the game has been going on, or maybe some planets are just more 'dangerous' than others. After you land on the planet's surface, a countdown of anywhere from 5-10 minutes begins (unknown to you). Then, once the timer reaches zero, all those weak bot units swarm out of the tunnel systems / bunkers / abandoned factories or whatever you want to use to explain it, and converge on any units on the planet's surface. That would give you a sense of urgency when touching down on a new metal planet - not only may your enemies be coming for you, but you may also have tripped the sensors of a dormant mechanical army. You'd better make your first priority on the new planet a defensive one, or else you may never get to reap the benefits of that planet's resources. Just my two cents.
This. But the whole 'living planets seek you out' seems both impossible and stupid, really. Neutral units on a planet seems like a better idea - although I'm leaning towards disliking that as well.
