Some of the things mentioned here can be acomplished using plugs, but then the outcome is known to the plug designer. I am proposing that things should happen in the game whether or not a player performs missions. If the player never accepts a mission, the universe never changes. These suggestions would introduce a simulation quality to EV, adding to the unpredictability of game play and allowing for replayability
EV3 Wish #7: Date triggered events
Have missions or certain events triggered when a particular date is reached. This is different from normal mission time sensitive flags in that the player doesnt need to accept a mission to bring about a change. It just happens at dd/mm/yyyy regardless of what else is happening
EV3 Wish #8: Auto mission
The computer should be able to complete certain missions the player doesnt. That way, the universe is evolving without player input. Each mission could have a certain success % associated with it, so if the mission is called up and the random % is greater than the minimum success needed the mission is completed, with or without the players input. This way, the player isnt the only one in the galaxy helping others out. It would appear as though others were doing things as well. Of course, if a story line was already started by the player, the computer wouldnt finish the story automatically unless a certain amount of time had passed and the player wasnt taking missions in the string anymore.
EV3 Wish #9: Economics 101
Rather than have fixed trade routes, itd be nice to have them changing. Ex: I can dump huge amounts of crass worms onto the market in Omm (has anyone made a plug explaining why monks eat lots of crass worms?), yet Omms market is always willing to buy them for high prices. Yes, there are disasters that change prices of things, but its not the same.
EV Wish #10: "Evolving" ships
I suggested this once before, though Im not sure if it was on this board. Computer Controlled ships stay static in their abilities while the player is constantly upgrading. This gives the player too big of an advantage. It is possible to make plugs that upgrade the stock weapons of ships, but doing this takes away the surprise of what a given ship might have.
What I suggest is treat the outfits and weapons as "traits". Each ship has base level weapons it has, but as the game progresses, ships make in each system start having different configurations. Ships could then be evaluated by whether they are able to survive in a particular system, and increases their odds of appearing in that system again.
Im leaving a lot of details out because I dont think anyone here needs a course in ecology or genetic algorythms, but the concept is, I think, sound.
This would make it almost impossible to make totally predictable plugs, as the parameters in the plug would be used only as a starting point. On the other hand, no two games would be the same, increasing replayability.
EV Wish #11: "Evolving" govts
This idea is related to wish #10. Systems which contain a majority of a particular govt affiliation ship would eventually be controlled by that govt. This would allow the govts to expand their influence or contract in size.
There is also the question of "how big" is the biggest stable government. Based on some research and basic calculations Ive done, the largest a stable human empire can be is about 15 days travel from one extreme to the other (I can explain this more if anyone wants). Any larger than this and it becomes unstable and the result is either civil war or invasion from an outside group.
Working this in would limit how large a given govt could get, and allow for interesting development of revolts and civil war by outlying systems.
Also, the allies and enemies of a govt should be able to change over time. Truces made, new allies found, etc.
EV3 Wish #12: "Evolving" technology
Technology spreads and becomes dated. As it becomes dated, the price decreases. The same should be true in EV. Have high tech move from system to system, maybe by simply changing the tech level of the weapons and such. Anyway, existing weapons would be improved in the "high tech" systems. In this way, if you want cutting edge, youll pay though the nose in high tech systems. If you want yesterdays weapons, go to any system and pick something out for a reasonable cost.
Itd be nice to have tech move between allied races as well. Be nice to see human type weapon in use by strands and vice versa. This would also allow for interesting ship configurations should wish #10 be implemented.
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