Colonization - Concept

Future Game
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Colonization

Colonization has driven history and is a key factor as to how the geopolitical environment has shaped over the course of thousands of years.

How will colonization work in Thrive?

You will gain access to ‘Colonization’ by researching it in the technology tree, the technology will be available immediately after you exit the awakening stage and into Society. In order to colonize, you must first have a squadron of ‘Settler’ units, which can be produced as if they were soldier units. Once you have the ‘Settlers’, you will send them to uncolonized parts of the map and they will slowly create provinces owned by your polity/empire/state.

How will colonization change over the stages?

In the Society stage, you’ll only be able to colonize the near regions of your home city state (think of how the Greeks colonized the Mediterranean). In the Industrial stage, you’ll be able to send colonists around the world (assuming that there are underdeveloped cultures to subdue, still). In the Space Stage, you’ll be able to colonize your solar system and solar systems near it, although you’ll have much less power over them (unless you have Sci-Fi mode turned on).

How will colonization work in Thrive? (2)

Once you have set up a colony, there are some factors which can get in the way of your imperial goals. First, you have ‘Colonial Loyalty’. CL starts at 50 but can be increased up to 100 or go all the way down to 0, where they will then declare independence from your empire/polity/state. You should ideally aim to have 50-60 CL, as getting to 100 should be very hard. After declaring independence from your empire, the colony will behave as any other state in your world, controlled by nobody unless invaded again.

How will colonization work in Thrive? (3)

If the area you are trying to colonize already has a population of natives, you will have a multitude of ways to get them into your empire.

Conquest

Simply bring an adequate number of military men with your settlers and they will set up a Garisson and either exterminate the natives, enslave them or assimilate them into your empire.

Bargaining

You can woo the natives if they’re far less technologically advanced than you. You can get them to be a protectorate of your empire, which will cost far less blood, although the downside is that you will likely not have as much control over the colony as you would with conquest.

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I recall many settlers to colonies went there by themselves, should this be represented differently?

I’m pretty sure the colonization of americas would imply there being an earlier start to this global colonization?

…Unless you have your own troops in that colony to keep it chained, correct?

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I had the idea of abstract ‘Settler’ units to utilize the future unit system even more.

Depends on how we define the start of the Industrial age, I define it as anything past coal or steam power so the colonization of the Americas would be early Industrial era I suppose.

Correct.

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I’m pretty sure in the game it starts when you make the first steam powered factory

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My understanding is Industrial starts with the equivalent of the Piston Steam Engine (originally used to pump water out of mines), which was invented around 700 years after the Norse Colonies in North America, short lived as those were, or about 100 years after the rest of Europe got there and settled more permanently, if you prefer.

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I presume early industrial would be still very similar to late society stage, like how it is with early space and industrial?

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Well, that would depend on how long each generation covers, and where the space stage starts. For mankind, the fist rocket into space was only 230 years or so after the invention of the Piston Steam Engine. I actually think that needs some thought. Also, we went from the steam engine to the age of electricity in only 160 years or so, and from there to computers in only 75 years or so. And we still have no colonies in space and have not yet sent people farther than the moon (the international space station is closer to Earth than the moon right?). It sounds to me like Industrial needs to be really short generations and then the Space stage needs longer generations with faster research of non-space related stuff. Would that make sense?

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Maybe the indu-space stage scene will be refubrished in the future to make better balance timewise

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Is the need for colonization via hostile takeover absolutely necessary for advancement? Just because it was the case for humans does not mean imperialism would be the necessarily the case for an alien species.

Would colonization be affected by an organism’s biology and culture? Humans tend to be individualistic and do not have a hive mind. If an organism had a hive-mind society or ability to read minds, propensity for colonization could be different.

Would technology level affect colonization? Different forms of communication could affect how strong or weak are the ties to between colonies. Also, if a society is very advanced with technology to be self-sufficient, they might not have as much incentive for colonization/migration/exodus.

Would colonization be influenced by biomes and fluctuations in climate? For many species - and not just humans in modern times - when the climate shifts, species will migrate to a less hostile environment.

Would colonization be related to the economy? Related the to previous point, if a culture is fine economically, organisms might have less need to migrate or colonize. Also, Players if could create new/different economic systems, those economic system might not rely on colonization.

Would colonization be affected by difficulty level? In games like Civilization, “higher difficulty” means opponent AI are more aggressive in terms colonization and propensity for taking over other cities/colonies by force.

Would colonization behavior of other societies/civs be affected by what the Player does? If a Player is peaceful and does not colonize, could it perpetuate a culture of non-colonization between different societies?

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I think unless a species is EXTREMELY peaceful, the more advanced groups WILL take advantage of the less advanced ones in some ways at least until the equivalent of the modern era

I think hiveminds could see the individual hives as individuals, so maybe that’d circle back to being similar to the individualist species?

By society do you mean it overall or also the interests of the individual factions within society?

Most colonies were either made to export a product or import some products and export others, so it is very economical at its heart

Could work as an alternative to the “harder=realisticer” pipeline

This would be based on how those different cultures interpret this inaction by the player, maybe they would see it as a sign of weakness instead?

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Maybe it could depend on how hive minds are implemented, or if there are different “flavors” of it, for the lack of a better term.

Both.

It would be interesting if the Player could perpetuate a non-colonizer philosophy, even if it could only be for being non-violent.

It makes me wonder if it also be related to religious/philosophical views on how to treat other fellow organism? If an organism/society has racist views, slavery and subjugation could be more tied to an economy of a society/culture.

Also, I wonder how Isolationist polices would factor into this?

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I feel like even if a culture had good virtues, those could be subdued if a ripe enough opportunity was put forwards to it

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Thrive: Cognitive Dissonance Editon.

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Or maybe rather those sim people showing who they REALLY are

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