I really like the way minor civilizations were implemented in the latest DLC, but with all due respect, I'd like to make a minor suggestion. Namely, I think their presence should be detected once any ship enters a system, their presence alone mind you, all else would stay the same. There are two reasons behind this line of thought. First, even a medieval society could be detected from orbit just by looking out of the ship's viewport at planetary nighttime. But more importantly, it's about game play. Many players will colonize a planet before a full scan is completed, it's a terrible way to discover a minor's presence. This really wouldn't take anything away from the minors, it would cost nothing in other words and remove a probable cause of contention Edit In case this wasn't clear. Entering a system with a minor civ would alert the player to the presence of the minor, but not who they are and what benefits they offer, That would only be accomplished by fulfilling the present requirements.
I think there's a case to be made for trading off quick colonization for accidentally squelching a minor. Makes survey ships a *lot* more useful -- I used to never build them early, now I have to think about it. I do agree that it is somewhat counter-intuitive that a basic scan can't pick them up, but considering the wide variety of potential civilizations that may escape notice of a quick fly-by I can let this one slide.
We had come up with the same idea, more or less, based on the initial player feedback. While some didn't mind the prior requirement, it was leading to too many minor civilizations being inadvertently crushed by colony ships. We've introduced the Detected state in 1.4.2. Now you may go forth and assert your exclusive access to each of them! Fun Fact: The first time you complete surveying a minor civilization you've never surveyed before, this minor civilization's full size portrait gets added to the potential pool of loading screens you'll see in the future.
I too could let it slide as with my settings it's a non-issue. I use resilient settlers exclusively to colonize and don't research tech, that means that by the time I'm ready to colonize I have a survey ship available. (At Emperor start, I don't find ideal worlds in the early game) But I didn't create the post as personal request. Knowing that everyone has their own play-style, it was easy to see that the old detection state would be cause for some players to view the DLC negatively. I was merely pointing out that the issue was minor and changing it would not detract from the game play, at the same time the fix was super easy and obvious. I anticipated that Keith and Adam must have seen this coming and were just waiting to see what player reaction would be...which was pretty obvious . As for a quick fly-by, yes some of the minors could be missed by one, for others it would mean that the entire crew was engaged in drunken space-orgy in order to miss their presence. It's academic anyway @SilasOfBorg, fun game play must take precedence here and any developer should strive to keep the complaints at a minimum when it is practical to do so. Nice touch that. I like little Easter eggs in games.
