Anyone else dislike knowing where other AIs are at start?

[Svetkavitsa]

I always envisioned either:

a) seeding happened on multiple planets, each faction sending up 1 or more spaceships, where the faction leaders we know about are the ones on the planet we ended up on (the in-game lore tends to discredit this)

b) there are many more factions sending up spaceships than we are aware of, and we're only following the stories of the 8 factions that landed on our planet.

What appears to be the case though... there's only one planet within a reachable destination and we all ended up there.

 

[s0nny80y]

Gives me a reason to push the explorer toward their capitals after performing a distant (relative to my capital city which would regenerate expedition tools) expedition so that convoys can reach them...but make sure to find routes that go around miasma or else your convoys will never reach.

 

[CaptainPatch]

I'm inclined to believe they would indeed more likely choose to share a destination with other colonies, as it would increase their chances of survival... but since this is a game, that logic doesn't apply here.

While there is indeed an element of racial survival, there's no getting around human nature. The people pulling together the necessary resources to launch a Colony expedition will undoubtedly want that the planet they settle be under their control, adhering to their philosophy and their way of life. Sharing a planet with one or more other factions endangers that kind of dominance. Since an Colony expedition MUST be potentially self-sufficient, there really wouldn't be any need for other Colonies to be present -- and that most likely would be the way the Colony Directors would prefer it to be.

 

[Mustakrakish]

While there is indeed an element of racial survival, there's no getting around human nature. The people pulling together the necessary resources to launch a Colony expedition will undoubtedly want that the planet they settle be under their control, adhering to their philosophy and their way of life. Sharing a planet with one or more other factions endangers that kind of dominance. Since an Colony expedition MUST be potentially self-sufficient, there really wouldn't be any need for other Colonies to be present -- and that most likely would be the way the Colony Directors would prefer it to be.

Yep, human nature is what it is, but still, those who pull the resources to launch a colony, in the highest positions may be thinking that way, sure. And the colony itself too, when they settle and adapt. But before that, I'm still inclined to believe the colonists would feel relief, knowing they're not alone. After all, a whole planet is a big big place and some time would have to pass before they start to feel each other's presence as... inconvenience.

But that's just my IMO.

 

[CaptainPatch]

Yep, human nature is what it is, but still, those who pull the resources to launch a colony, in the highest positions may be thinking that way, sure. And the colony itself too, when they settle and adapt. But before that, I'm still inclined to believe the colonists would feel relief, knowing they're not alone. After all, a whole planet is a big big place and some time would have to pass before they start to feel each other's presence as... inconvenience.

There has to be a large degree of faction fealty involved for the colonists. After all, out of all the teeming billions on that grubby, polluted, overcrowded planet, the faction leaders picked them. And if it was me screening which people got to go, you can bet that I'd be polygraphing each and every one of them to measure faction loyalty.

Being the first to arrive, I figure there would be a strong sense of, "This planet is ours!" As soon as others started to show up, it would be certain that they would start to harvest our resources that rightfully belonged to us and/or our progeny. Only because Reality suggests that if worse comes to worse and God forbid we actually need help to survive, those unwelcome interlopers would be a potential life insurance policy. Everybody dislikes the idea that they would actually need an insurance policy, but likewise they get to feeling uncomfortable being without one.

 

[darkskies]

A common theme in SciFi: "This is our colony we don't need no stinking interference or interlopers"...something very bad happens: "Help! Earth, send help."

 

[InfinityV]

I like it, it's way more fun for multiplayer matches knowing the location of every player's capital cities.

 

[darkskies]

I like it, it's way more fun for multiplayer matches knowing the location of every player's capital cities.

I hadn't thought about it in context of multiplayer since I don't do multi...but I can see your point Still be nice to have an option to do it which ever way desired.

 

[WaffleWaffe]

I find it takes away some of the fun of exploration, unfortunately turning off staggered starts just reveals the AI locations right from turn 1.

I like both the staggered start and the fact that I know where the other are. The staggered start is a nice touch and it gives a little immersion to see the different sponsors drop down over a period of time. Since they get different bonuses depending on whether they drop down early or late it should be balanced.

I also think it's nice to see where they drop down. In BE we are far in the future and detecting a huge craft making atmospheric entry should be easy as goblin pie. I do however understand why someone would NOT want to know so perhaps there should be an option to keep the locations secret.

My only dislike about the staggered starts is the fact that all the generic leaders insist on giving me their generic hello line. Diplomacy in this game amounts to a hollow nothing and I'm very tired of listening to the crappy and few repetitive lines Firaxis gave the leaders. Had they had interesting and different ways of speaking it would have been fine but they all say the same stuff over and over and OVER again.

 

[Mustakrakish]

What I think about this balance is what kind of bonuses do they get, when they arrive just 2-4 turns later? What kind of bonus would be not too much and yet to make up for those lost 2-4 turns?

 

[Karmah]

Well not everything makes, sense. For example we travel light years in space, but have to develop a tech before we can travel in deep water?.

Well it's one of the first available tech and a cheap one , so its more like an adaptation time to get the logistic and the machines adapted to this 'water' which it problaby ain't especiallty when it is red. Chemical composition can have an effect on acidity , density , what kind of molecule it can dissolve. So a tiny bit of preemptive studies and a technological adaptation later and you are good to go. I m ok with that.

More to OP point , I enjoy the moment they arrive in staggered start and seeing how close they land. Otherwise I'd turn it off.

 

[Bill Whitmore]

That might be an interesting Spaceship option.

Stealth: Your starting location is not revealed to the other colonies.