quote:Original post by TechnoHydra
Perhaps a planet or two should have a native population that is as advanced as say American Indians were when Columbus landed or perhaps the equivalent of 17th century. Then plop a colony from another world(talk about culture shock) and see where that environ goes.

And how advanced was that? Do any of us really know? That statement is a function of an upbringing being told that the Native Americans (that''s the appropriate term, please - there''s nothing Indian about them) were primitive, which any race is in the eyes of conquerors.

Not that I don''t agree with your idea, I just object to your phrasing, as a minority. I''m always told that my ancestors (Africans) were primitives, yet we managed to create such coveted works as the Nok terracotas (and that''s just in my "neighborhood").

Besides, Columbus himself was a primitive brute.

The idea of having a monopoly reminds me of Dune. Where life as they knew it was dependent of a spice found only on 1 remote planet. I''m not sure I should make the game that dependent but having a few rare resources might make it more interesting, although it remains to be seen if this would actually make it more fun to play or just design.

I want there to be enough gameplay whether the players ever own their own ship or not. If they run out of options theyll lose interest.

As far as native inhabitants go. I''m trying to figure out what sort of impact beings from another world with tech far superior to the natives of the planet. In this future society would the newcomers be viewed as gods(Stargate) or would they be able to except the truth of their origins and arrival. This would shake most civilizations to their knees and cause them to rethink everything they believe.
...On second thought I think I''ll put most of my ideas on this aspect on hold for a while. There''s enough to design without having to get into advanced philosophical thoughts on the effect of offworlders landing on other planets.(It''s almost 1 in the morning here so philosophy is not the easiest thing to think about at the moment, lol.)

Thanks for the insights so far. This is really inspiring some new ideas. Oluseyi, those thoughts on the effects of physiological differences would really add new aspects. If I decided to add a different playable race, it would be an entirely new ballgame. Skills, interaction, everything would change.