Ape Apps

An idea was floated in the chat today that I wanted to post here and see what people thought of it. Is it a good idea/bad idea, suggestions/comments, etc.

Essentially, the idea is for something of a "sister" game to My Colony called My Space Station. The way it works, is an online colony in My Colony can purchase a space station contract that costs a large amount of money/resources/civics. Sort of a big end-game purchase. These contracts are placed on the server.

There is a second game called My Space Station. When a player starts a new game, they look through all of the station contracts, and pick one they want to use to start their new game (if there are no contracts available, United Earth will generate one). They then start a new space station as a member of the parent colony's commonwealth. Sort of like a sub colony, where they still pay taxes to and can trade resources with the parent colony.

The difference is that instead of a planet, you are building a space station. The station starts out as a tiny map with no resources which you must build up. The mechanics of the game can be completely different, but it plays on the same server as My Colony and even has access to the GBT, which is how the station gets the resources needed to expand.

So in each game, either the Colony or the Space Station will profit through their trade relationships with each other. The core gameplay of My Colony stays the same, while My Space Station offers a different style of play for a different audience, but still contributes to the My Colony universe.

Anyway, the idea is in its infancy, just wanting to see what people think of the concept, or what ideas you have to make it better, or if the whole thing just sucks to begin with? It could be a fun stand-alone game on its own, but also one that brings more activity/purpose to the My Colony online game.

Bast, this sounds really awesome. The mechanics sound somewhat tricky, but my game designing experience is limited. Hope this comes through as a full idea. Waiting for Colony Wars. By the way, what is the gameplay for Colony Wars going to be like? A war oriented colony from My Colony or like the RPG games? Good idea.

DillGuy9 said:Bast, this sounds really awesome. The mechanics sound somewhat tricky, but my game designing experience is limited. Hope this comes through as a full idea. Waiting for Colony Wars. By the way, what is the gameplay for Colony Wars going to be like? A war oriented colony from My Colony or like the RPG games? Good idea.

Colony Wars is going to be similar to Command and Conquer. Specifically RA2.

Well, like we discussed in chat yesterday, the idea of building your own ground and placing some of the same structures that are in my colony is an option. The big difference between this structure palate and the mc structure palate would be that terraformation, civil, and atmosphere dependent buildings would be left out since they would not apply on a space station. And some structures unique only to the space station game would also be added.

There would be lot's of ways to make money on the space station. For example, refining would probably be a very common way of making money, as it is a something that you can focus on throughout the entire game as you gain the ability to purchase higher and higher grade materials and refine them. A station would buy a bulk amount of resources, such as ore, refine them into a finished product, such as steel, and then sell that finished product to make a profit.

Below are some examples of functions that a space station could perform. Of course, a station could either focus on one of these or incorperate a measure of all of these functions:

- refinery station - refines one material into another, such as steel from ore, or uranium from aluminum, and sells the finished product on the market.
-solar station - harnesses and sells large amounts of solar power with the help of structures that use a lot of power to produce money. There could also be a second map called a dyson sphere that forces the player to focus on this role.
-refueling station - refuels ships that happen to pass by. Bast did mention that he was thinking of a star trader sort of game. The station could purchase oil and refine it into fuel, and then sell that fuel to ships. Or they could just purchase the fuel, and charge extra for it to make a profit, but personally i think refining it and selling it is better.
-commercial station - builds structures that entertain and sell products to tourists. This would require a wide range of materials to build these structures, from pottery to paintings, from diamonds to toys. But the payoff in the end would be worth all of the struggle to obtain all of these materials.
-Shipyard station - builds and sells ships to players playing the startrader-like game that bast is thinking about implementing. Ships could be built using a shipyard, which is a structure, and a higher tier shipyard would be able to produce more sophisticated and powerful ships. However, it takes lot's of resources to upgrade your shipyards, not to mention how much it costs to mass produce ships.
Research station - makes money by discovering and selling new technologies and patents. A new structure could be added that consumes research and produces large amounts of money. It takes a lot of high grade resources to mass produce research, but it would definately pay off in the end.
Hydroponic station - produces and sells food in massive quantities. This station would need to keep importing water constantly, since it can't be produced onsite. All colonies need food though, and when they can't produce enough, that's where you profit.

The possibilities for making a profit would be endless. Please provide feedback on this if you like the idea of a space station game.

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes!

Honstly It sounds hard to implement .
a space station map ?? it would need to look enclosed minim and well just how big can a start be ?
are we talking death star size lol ?
expansion would reli on adding modiels . As for resources even they would need to relie on a parent colony as NO spacestation could be self selfichent .
besides the fact the perpise of a space station is communication - Research - Port for ships to big to land .
resources will always be cheaper to mine on planet or asteroid .
But maybe a space ship space factory for making larg ships could be something .
anyway

The clo

I really like this idea it could be fun Addon for the game.
My question is tho are you going to use the same map style as my colony or are you going to design say a space station and when you want to build something you add on a module?

Also I'd add a poll onto this that way people can vote on it!

Dont think modules, think platforms. You build platforms, which you can build structures on. At this point, humans shoukd be advanced enough to build space platforms that pose as a type of surface to build cities on. Asteroid map has no atmosphere, just like space, but you dont see any modules. No, you see buildings placed on a flat surface.

I like the modules. That way you can make giant snaking stations might be an interesting different way to handle how the map is laid out. Instead of expanding in a square it'll just add the space for the module each time you add one

Could also add a fun way to get resources. Send out space ship expeditions to find resources. Even further you can research different types of ships or parts of ships to make them safer or more comfortable so residents want to go on the expeditions.

That sounds interesting too, but making a game like that would require many changes to the engine. The simplest way of making this game is the platform idea. I mean, think about it. Bast would have change the way colonists move and work, since the modules wouldnt be buildings because you can see inside of them. That means that the engine for this game would not be the same engine used by mc, which would complicate things.

while i like the idea of sending ships on expeditions, I think that the store trader type game that bast is thinking of making would take care of the part.

Players who have mining ships with mine astroids for basic resource types, and comets for water. Then they sell those resources to the nearest stations.