(Sorry if this topic already exists)
Will we ever get more advanced customization options for what our starting planet, planetary system, or solar system is like? I think customization options for these things could have the potential to drastically alter certain parts of the game, and it would be really cool to have more control over certain things. Like, what about being able to modify chemical composition, mass, climate, or number of continents on the starting planet? Things like that would change how the first few stages work, since those things would change the way life would evolve and spread out over the planet. What if you could change the planet’s orbital distance from it’s parent star(s), or change it’s year length? Or maybe change how long it takes for the planet to rotate?
And how about options for the area around the planet, like the number of moons, having a ring system, and various choices for how those things would work. Maybe you could have the option to have your planet exist in a binary system with another planet, like pluto and charon. You could have options for what that other planet is like, like whether or not it supports life, or is just a barren rock. Alternatively, you could have your planet exist as the moon to another, larger planet, like pandora in avatar.
It would also be nice to have options for what the rest of the star system is like. How many planets it has, whether or not it has any asteroid fields or an oort cloud, how many stars it has, the chemical composition of all of these objects, etc. I could see options like these having interesting effects on the space stage, given that the number and type of planets and what resources you have to exploit are very important things to consider when moving out into space.
I also think it might be cool to have choices for where you want your star system to exist within the greater thrive galaxy. I imagine that having your system closer to the center of the galaxy would make it easier to travel to other star systems, given that the stars would be much closer together the further towards the center you get. Logically, the opposite would also be true, and having your star system at the edge of the galaxy might make interstellar travel more difficult, without some kind of FTL. Maybe you could even have your star system outside the galaxy!
These are just some loose ideas I had. Again, sorry if this idea has already made the rounds, I just thought it was too cool not to share.
I didn’t find a thread exactly like this, but planet customization was discussed here:
And at least a little bit about solar system customization was talked here: