OllyG wrote:On a side note - why don't phototropic species start at a bright star?
That would be akin to Organic species starting with the Fruit special on their homeworld.
When organic or robotic species get growth specials they can be used to increase population on all supply connected worlds (with organic or robotic colonists). The star colour only affects the colonies at that star. It seems strange that the phototropic homeworld is at a star which isn't bright. New colonies at bright stars would have higher population than the homeworld. So population-wise I don't think it would be unbalanced.
The problem is that quite a few technologies require white or blue stars. That's why I suggest that phototropic species start at a white star, not blue. It seems reasonable that they would research things that require a bright star since they like bright stars anyway!
Currently being phototropic is not very useful. They usually have the worst population later in the game since there are no growth specials for them.
I also think that phototropic natives shouldn't be generated at dim or normal stars. Just at bright stars.
"akin" != "identical", so pointing out differences doesn't seem like a counterargument to me.
You say that you don't think your proposal would be unbalanced, but I am a bit concerned that it would likely be both that and something of a straightjacket. A population bonus at a homeworld is a significant benefit. In my observation the current phototropic species do not need such a bonus to be competitive (and appear at risk of being a little overpowered with it), and if all phototropic species came with that then a content designer contemplating another phototropic species would be obliged to counterbalance that benefit. It seems better to me to leave it as an independent thing. If you suspect the current phototropic species need it, then experiment with it and report your findings, by all means.
As for the 'it seems strange' argument, I note that Earth has a great deal of phototropic life, but it's my recollection that Sol is not considered particularly bright, so it doesn't seem strange to me.
If I provided any code, scripts or other content here, it's released under GPL 2.0 and CC-BY-SA 3.0
OllyG wrote:On a side note - why don't phototropic species start at a bright star?
That would be akin to Organic species starting with the Fruit special on their homeworld.
When organic or robotic species get growth specials they can be used to increase population on all supply connected worlds (with organic or robotic colonists). The star colour only affects the colonies at that star. It seems strange that the phototropic homeworld is at a star which isn't bright. New colonies at bright stars would have higher population than the homeworld. So population-wise I don't think it would be unbalanced.
The problem is that quite a few technologies require white or blue stars. That's why I suggest that phototropic species start at a white star, not blue. It seems reasonable that they would research things that require a bright star since they like bright stars anyway!
I broadly agree with you here, smaller planet but brighter star to start would give an advantage in the early stages but would be more limiting to them later as the research/pop bonuses apply per planet size but it would give an early boost and be more interesting, differentiation is good.
Currently being phototropic is not very useful. They usually have the worst population later in the game since there are no growth specials for them.
Disagree with this VERY strongly. When my kid was learning to play (and she reads these forums a bit) I suggested to her Chato were a very easy species to play with, they can basically colonise most planet types with a blus star and non-hostile with white stars, start in a Young or even Mature setting and you can normally find a non-toxic planet to colonise before you've got a single growth tech researched—it's less pronounced in Ancient setups but it still happens.
I also think that phototropic natives shouldn't be generated at dim or normal stars. Just at bright stars.
Definitely not dim stars, but there's no reason why not on normal stars, but I agree it would be better if natives did get the bonus.
Can you script changes in star type into a species setting the way you can for planet types?
Mat Bowles
Any code or patches in anything posted here is released under the CC and GPL licences in use for the FO project.
