Global plot

[piper82]

The game could have used this global plot and some plausible mechanics to go with it.

Here's how i see it:

You can assign ship captain. Having alive captain onboard gives ship bonuses. If captain dies, another captain cannot be assigned until the end of fight.

There is a huge base or planet in the last stand sector. Its the federation's last point of resistance.
Its under constant attacks of the rebel ships and most importantly rebel flagship.

Good resources and crew are scarce and just every once in a while federation is able to launch a decent ship with few good men aboard to try to change the odds of the war.

The ship is launched sectors away in search of various weapons and technologies. Rebels start pursuit just as is it now.

You unlock other ships doing quests for each of the races involved. You need to convince other races to join you. Option to get the ship requires hard work for the races and gaining some good reputation. Unlocking ships cant be achieved easily and in one run as you need to do lots of quests and the rebel pursuit does not allow hanging around too much.

In the very first play, you cant get the best tech or weapons as they are expensive, rare or too hard to obtain. Goal is to return to the base with the acquired schematics and weapons so they can be used in future plays. At this point you can choose to deal with the rebel flagship or to launch at the different distant sector and thus restart the game with the same ship. The ship is stripped of scraps, some weapons and some crew as they are needed in the defense of the base. This way you can keep the permadeath mechanic but with the option to survive (another day).

There is an option to launch emergency capsule to the home base. Capsule has limited capacity to send most valuable weapons or schematics and some scraps. Launching capsule puts you in absolute power surge and thus certain death and is used only in case of unavoidable defeat. Only ship captain can order launching and in case of death, another ship captain cannot be assigned until danger is cleared.

War is not won with one ship (although there is theoretical chance to do so, so story needs more depth in that direction.

Hall of fame also includes ships and captains who contributed the most.

If you defeat flagship there is a small time window you can use counterattack against rebel base if you feel your ship is ready for such accomplishment. If you decide not to counterattack, the rebel flagship attacking federation base is replaced by another one.

Needless to say, the rebel base is super-duper-badass construction and only best, most persistent and luckiest player s can destroy it. You also must unlock all other ships to have any chance to beat the base. (each ship needs to focus fire on some of the hardest hitting base weapons) This would give game an (hardly achievable but) ultimate goal.

Pros:

- Ship captain mechanic adds to strategy as you need to keep your captain alive for bonuses and sending valuable date in case of incoming defeat
- Choosing to deal or not with rebel flagship or base gives coherence to story's repeatable nature. Same stands for federation base ship production once in a while.
- Deaths are less painful as with every death you are contributing to the future generations of ships
- Ultimate goal to the game but achievable almost only after 100% exploring of the game


Just an idea...