Will there be something like Telepathy again?

[Comrade Tribune]

You know, a sort of Mind Control ability allowing you to take a planet without troops?

In Moo2, my preferred picks were Telepathy + Unification. If you have a Hive AND Mind Control, this really rocks! Instant assimilation! Not even the Borg can do that.

[bluemule2]

God, I hope so! In a world that could evolve a sentient race with such mental prowess(sp) what in the galaxy could withstand it? [SHEER MIGHT] or {SHEER FRIGHT?}

[rzawrekta]

Uh.. I think that they removed it, if I remember correctly..

Along with the blue space women who possessed that trait.

something along the lines of too cheesy or imbalanced play.. i think they took out creative, too.

which kinda sucks cause that was one of my favorite traits to use when i wasnt feeling belligerent.

[Xentax]

That kind of race pick is gone, and good riddance. No offense, but that ability was entirely too powerful, even given the high pick cost.

There is an "Empathic" pick that improves your diplomatic abilities, IIRC, but mind-controlling levels of telepathy will not be found in MOO3. Nor will time travel; as Alan said, if you want to go back in time, reload a saved game.

[Comrade Tribune]

Originally posted by Xentax
That kind of race pick is gone, and good riddance. No offense, but that ability was entirely too powerful, even given the high pick cost.

Arrrgh! The trait could have been weakened a bit (or other traits strenghtened), instead of simply abolishing something that is actually plausible. Why should not somewhere evolve a race with strong hypnotical powers? This is not far-fetched at all.

I have a bad foreboding that only the 'boring' racial differences have made it into Moo3.

[Xentax]

I don't see how a few dozen or hundred telepaths instantly and totally brainwashing thousands or millions of alien minds is "plausible".

On an unrelated note, I don't know if these forums have rules about political statements, but your sig has to be one of the most inflammatory ones I've ever seen.

[PriestOfDiscord]

Telepathy could have been used as a interesting pick for spies and diplomacy options, but I agree that the form it was used in Moo2 was overpowered beyond words. I'm glad they took it out, though it would have been nice if they had they tweaked it around a bit.

Heh, Xentax you haven't seen the off topic forum here have you? You have the full spectrum from loony Euro-Socialists to closet fascists. The political rules are close to non-existant here.

[Comrade Tribune]

Originally posted by Xentax
I don't see how a few dozen or hundred telepaths instantly and totally brainwashing thousands or millions of alien minds is "plausible".

Yes, but what if your entire race is telepathic?

...your sig has to be one of the most inflammatory ones I've ever seen.

Thanks, I always strive for excellence.

[Xentax]

Originally posted by Comrade Tribune
Yes, but what if your entire race is telepathic?

I still fail to see how a telepathic race can send a few personnel to an enemy planet and *take it over* -- how many minds can a given telepath influence or control at once, after all? I also find it improbable that a race with telepathic powers would find them effective against races of vastly different physiologies -- at the least, races like the Cybernetiks and Silicoids should be immune, and success rates should be very low for dissimilar races.

I can see a telepathic pick giving bonuses to spying and diplomacy, but that's about it. Anything that worked on a larger scale would be unbalancing besides being implausible (the latter is irrelevant since gameplay trumps realism when necessary).

And, as I said, there's an Empathic pick which at least covers the diplomacy side.

[gramians]

Good lord - you guys are being a bit too serious about telepaths and if it is "plausible" to mind control a race. Plausible? Who cares!
If you want plausible, then your space battles would have no sound. No explosions, no laser effects, no fun. etc. etc.

Telepathy was a lot of fun in MoO2. They could have kept it and balanced it a bit more using some sci-fi rationale, (read: plausible) such as the need to build several massive mind control antennas, which are expensive to maintain and would result in havoc if thy were sabotaged.

Besides, blue women are Hoooooooot.

[Mellian]

I miss the Elerians too

along with the Darloks...

-Mellian

[PriestOfDiscord]

I miss the Darloks myself, but I understand the reason they cut all those races. I'm excited to hear they want to move towards alien races that actually feel 'alien.' I hope if they do decide to make an expansion pack from the sucess of MOO3, they add even more unique alien races, instead of catboy or blue-colored women.

[rzawrekta]

yeah, and then have Yuri and his army of clones come from coreworld and take over the quadrant.



i dunno guys, yeah it was fun, (mostly cause you could take over a planet - no questions asked - without a fight), but, along with creativity, they kinda were unbalanced.. and yeah the towers makes sense, but i think it would have to be a tech or something.. you can't just build huge-ass towers on your planet and expect to take over the galaxy like that...

from what i've seen on the official boards, there is a lot more to the game than there was in its previous incarnations, and a lot less cheese.. it really seems cool..
even without telepathy..

[wervdon]

I don't see how a few dozen or hundred telepaths instantly and totally brainwashing thousands or millions of alien minds is "plausible".

Personally I think it would of been fine in MOO II had the size class & number of ships needed to accomplish it was based on population size. Like say a cruiser class ship can mind control a size 1 planet, a battleship for size 2, a titan for size 3, a doomstar for size 4, 2 doomstars for size 5 etc. And allowing lesser ship classes to add up to a larger one at like a 5:1 ratio or such (5 cruisers count as a battleship, 5 battleships at a titan, etc.) Then to be totally fair, it still shouldnt result in instant assimilation.....thats unrealistic. Incidently, these #'s is just an example, Im not really sure what would of been balanced in terms of gameplay, I just know 1 cruiser mind controls a size 20 world with instant assimilation was not

As for it making sense, you arent having to mind control 100% of the planets population, just the leaders (political and military). Still not a small task on a planetary scale, but definatley not billions of people.

[Ozymandous]

Originally posted by Comrade Tribune


Arrrgh! The trait could have been weakened a bit (or other traits strenghtened), instead of simply abolishing something that is actually plausible. Why should not somewhere evolve a race with strong hypnotical powers? This is not far-fetched at all.

And then suddenly the hypnosis wears off and you have a huge amount of pissed off entities on your hands. Or maybe the strain of trying to mentally control billions of people would make your race have a chance of their heads exploding and you instantly losing the game, now that would be balabced. :P

I have a bad foreboding that only the 'boring' racial differences have made it into Moo3.

Boring or balanced? lol, let me guess, you always used mass missle boats early on, and had telepathy and creative as your racial picks, every-single-game, right? rofl!