I still think that the AI civilizations and the Player should be the pioneers in space “dominance”, I totally agree with hhyyrylainen.
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Personally, that was something that always bugged me about spore, but that was likely due to the Groxs destroying all the previous space civilizations prior to the player reaching that stage. While I get the appeal of being a pioneer within the galaxy, I also find the idea of not being the first civilization in the galaxy to reach the stars, but the first of a new group (none of the ancient civilizations would be able to be contacted as they wouldn’t exist as Ai civs. You would only find their ruins, which could be kept to just space based locations or asteroid belts so that planets and moons are left untouched
I think not exploring the galaxy should only be an option for speedrunners who use exploits. By the start of space stage, the player would have explored all of the planet, but when it comes to the galaxy, standing still is okay? Requiring the energy of multiple suns or finding blueprints (a shortcut) necessitate exploration.
That’s not really forcing the player to explore, they can just stay around just a couple of really nearby stars. I’d hardly count that as exploring either. I think a turtle / building tall playstyle should definitely be supported in Thrive instead of forcing players to play wide.
That could still be supported, but if their is an incentive to exploring it makes it far more enjoyable. Take spore for example. Why do players explore? Mostly to find the rare spices, the groxs, new empires or maybe the Earth. Once that is done, there isn’t a very large reason to explore anymore.
Also this whole idea from me starting with a desire to add an incentive for those who wanted to explore the galaxy by letting them discover tidbits about past civilizations. Even if it is brought back down to that bare skeleton it wouldn’t bother me too much as I added the other things as I thought it could benefit the potential gameplay of the space stage