Long Distance Communication (concept)

Future Game Space Stage
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Players will have the option to disable sci-fi in the finished product of Thrive. This means players will be limited to their home system, and will only explore the neighbouring systems remotely.

In this mode, we can incorporate “The Fermi Paradox” into Thrive as mentioned in a post 30 days ago. In this post I will be listing out this concept for you all to read, as well as how it could work.

Discovering Civilizations
The player will have the option to survey nearby star systems for techno signatures, these will be radio bursts. How the player could survey nearby star systems is by passively detecting techno signatures from other star systems by building devices on your planet that can pick up radio signals.

A more accurate way the player could detect E.T would be pointing their devices at specific identified star systems in their vicinity. I will explain why the player would rather choose nearer star systems in more detail later.

Detection and Response
Once the player detects a foreign civilization, they can send a signal to the star system and wait for a response. A response is not guaranteed and is essentially a dice roll. A response from the foreign civilization will be cryptic, which the player can decode using research. Depending on how far the star is, it can take anywhere between a couple of minutes (irl time) to around an hour for a response to the player.

Conflict and The Fermi Paradox
Due to the cryptic and alien (no pun intended) nature of the responses of the alien civilizations, it will be up to the player to decide whether or not they are friendly or ready to attack. Of course, behind the screen and in the programming, this will be randomised and certain civilizations will inherently be more aggressive than others. Unlike in the sci-fi elements of the normal game, in this mode, conflict will be a rapid winner-takes-all situation. Either civilization can launch nukes at the other and wipe them out, whoever strikes first automatically wins as the other cannot counter attack a planet-killing weapon.

The player will not be able to use the resources of the enemy civilization as they are too far away from the player society, the only advantage of bombing the enemy is the assurance of continued survival.
The player may also be able to strike first regardless of whether or not the neighbouring star systems have civilizations or even have life, as surveying takes a long time and responding to messages is extremely delayed by decades (in game).

In this cosmic jungle, who wouldn’t strike first?

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There can also be the case where the nuked civ already launched it’s own nukes which will “avenge” their now-dead creators.

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First, how exactly would a player defend against this in any stage of the game, since the AI could decide to end your playthrough at any point in time. Would it only apply once the Player got to Space Stage, or a toggle to allow random game over because of random space weapons?

Second, sending weapons and attacking another civ without even knowing who they are in the first place may violate some sort of Intergalactic Code, if such a code is in place. Even an Intergalactic Code did not exist, you immediately give away your position by just creating satellites and unintentionally sending Radiowaves into space, allowing every space civ in the vicinity to attack you eventually because you either violated a moral law, or they see you as potential prey (a la the Dark Forest Hypothesis).

Third, this might heavily restrict play styles by inherently favoring being aggressive. What if someone is attempting to do a peaceful run, or just does not like doing too much violence in general?

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Dark forest is not the one and sole theory about how a scientifically accurate cosmos’ civs may function together…
Though I wonder if perhaps at some harder difficulties the game does become more like that theory, though obviously leaving a larger leeway as to what paths can you take with your critters.

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Since AI cannot overtake the player, it would only apply once the Player got to Space Stage.

I intended looking for E.T as being a double-edged sword, kind of like how humanity right now is sending radio signals to look for other civilizations (SETI). Without radio signals, the player is hidden and cannot be found by other civilizations but also cannot find other civilizations.

With radio signals, the player can find other civilizations but can also be found by other civilizations.

There could be an 'Civilization Aggressiveness" setting where the player could choose how aggresive other civs would be to the player whether they are in sci-fi mode or ‘realism’ mode (sci fi mode off)

All that being said, is there anything you particularly liked about this concept?

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If another spacefaring civilizating took over the star system without destroying your planet, and made you a vassal/pay tribute, it could be another interesting way to continue without complete annihilation. Kind of like what the Trisolarans wanted to do with humanity in the Three Body Book series.

I like the premise and how you thought about this. I like the idea of a “Civilization Aggressiveness” setting for Spacefaring civilizations you mentioned later in a reply to my post.

I wonder if it would be possible for the Player to find and interact with defunct spaceweapons that never reached their intended target?

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What sort of superweapons do you mean? Some are very small are wouldn’t be find unless you knew where to exactly find them.

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I was thinking perhaps a cluster of defunct nuclear weapons, or maybe even an abandoned space-mine field.

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Not sure either would be considered superweapons capable of turning a hostile homeworld into a lava world temporarily…

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What about pods containing bioweapons?

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Not sure they would work on lifeforms evolved on different planets.

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