Suggestion: Option to start at a very basic level

[The Rusty Gamer]

I'd like to see an option to be able to start at a very basic level. No ships or starport to begin with - not even the ability to build them - logistics, scanning and range are at 0!. Only the surface of your starting planet to concentrate on. You have to research space travel and then you can build a starport and you can but you still have to research to build colonisers, constructors, scouts and you have to research range, scanning and logistics before they become useful.

If you combine the above option with a random size universe and a random number of races, you will truly begin with an unknown universe that you can't even begin to explore at first.

[DaviddesJ]

One essential element of a game is that you have real choices. If you start on a planet with no information about the rest of the universe, you're going to end up doing exactly the same things every time---once you figure out the best/ quickest path to launch ships and start colonizing, why would you do anything else?

[The Rusty Gamer]

But each planet has different advantages/disadvantages. So, who knows what type of planet you'd start with?

You would research scouts before researching coloniser ship parts. Perhaps you can only start research for colonising after discovering a colonisable planet (a tech "trigger"). You could split colonising into different types to research - colonise ice planets, colonise red planets etc Or maybe that's too complicated.

What I feel for myself at least (I know others have different tastes in gameplay) is that we are given too much right at the beginning, particularly too much scanning power, range and logistics. At the very least, curtailing these at the beginning would make it more interesting IMO.

I suppose such a thing could be created with a mod?

[Peets]

I agree
a little less to start with would be very interesting.

Now you can directly travel very far to many systems which will end up doing the same at the start anyway. Get as many planets as you can.

[DaviddesJ]

Originally posted by The Rusty Gamer
But each planet has different advantages/disadvantages.

Some do. In the current game, most starting planets vary only slightly. If you could create a wide variety of initial development plans, as opposed to just a single right approach, I'd have no problem with your proposal. I just think it's easier said than done (it would require pretty significant changes to the game system, not just a different starting position).

[Badtz Maru]

The map sucks, but the "Epic" map starts you off with no ships at all. It was kinda interesting realizing I had to get sensors before I could start grabbing anomalies. Made it possible to grab a lot of them as the AI doesn't like to research sensors.

[The Rusty Gamer]

So its possible to create a mod for a "slow start" for random maps then? As well as sensors, range and logistics could also be cut back?