How much visibility to you think we should have into enemy fleet movements? I've played ISG a fair bit now and it strikes me as odd that I can see exactly where enemy ships are going whenever they are in my sensor range. To me, it makes sense for their ship to show up and for me to be able to track their general direction of movement, but it doesn't make sense for me to see exactly where they are going. Then again, I'm a bit extreme and want to be challenged. A second question is, if you think it is okay/desired to be able to see the exact destination enemy ships are going if it lies within our sensor range, do you also think we should be able to see their exact destination even if it is outside our sensor range. Currently I can see an enemy ship moving and know exactly which system it is retreating to, even if I've never explored or scanned this system. With only 2 opposing races this information is already helpful (in an artificial "gamey" way), but I imagine with even more races it would be very useful especially in tracking the enemy back to whichever systems actually belong to them. I don't personally like this additional information and find it a bit immersion breaking.
It's a very valid question and well thought analysis Specific to ISG and as a way to at least offer a quick if partial solution, yea, Let existing tech research in scanner and logistics offer increases to actual visibility as well as range. At start you could only see that some ships are out there Their direction (if within range) should be low level tech And well... you get the idea So as your research progresses you not only get to see further but you also get more precise information
I dunno.You would know the direction pretty accurate as the stars are so far apart but what the ship typers are and the design of them would need scanner techs.
I agree with you both regarding scanners and scanner levels and think that would make me more inclined to actually research those techs. Right now I avoid them entirely. Beyond direction, as far as knowing the enemy ship destinations, what do you think about that aspect of my question? I am particularly concerned with knowing an exact destination outside of my scanner range, but inside scanner range I also can't explain why I'd know exactly which of my planets they are going to. I could guess based on direction due to star distance as Ashbery76 said, but at a distance that wouldn't be entirely accurate. Right now I know 100% where enemy ships are going.
A lot would depend on the actual real life technology in use. Think about a how we start with a drive that lets us send a ship to a destination but once under way you cant issue orders. It sounds more like a jump. In that situation it wouldn't be unreasonable to expect the development of accurate technology that allowed you to know the destination based on data. At some point we get to the level where changing destination in flight becomes possible, this is no longer a "jump" type of travel, this is "warp speed". When that happens the information you get from scanners (how many, from where, to where) loses a lot of value simply because whatever you see can change destination and direction at will Anyhow if you take analogy to naval operations through recent history, you see an ever increasing sophistication of detection capabilities for naval forces. I don't feel like it's that far fetched
One thing MOO 2 didn't allow for was deep-space intercepts where fleets could meet and fight in deep space, not just at a star. As Chris points out above MOO 2 movement was only from star to star with jump-like behavior. There are several other free movement games which DO allow deep-space intercepts (notably SOTS and Distant Worlds) and I find they really add to the immersion, fun and strategic options that the game provides. It may or may not be too late in ISG's development cycle to change but if deep space intercepts could be added, I think they would definitely enhance the immersion and strategic depth of the game. Perhaps you could start with point-to-point jump like MOO 2 and then later on research to allow fleets to change course at any point and meet in deep space. It would definitely be a strategically advantageous tech worth researching.
Deep space intercepts could be very interesting. Maybe even make it a tech (core tech, can't leave this one to the RNG gods). Actually, if I remember MOO2 allowed you to change course in mid-flight depending on tech. You can add the option to intercept in that chain. I personally would hold off on holding in deep space without there being an anchor of sorts, perhaps a special deep space outpost around some deep space anomaly and then later on a more free-form deep space outpost. These are options to consider.
Outside scanner range it should not work. Inside scanner range it could work (if no additional tech is present) in the way that you see a) just a vector, OR b) a line that is just as long as the ships is going to travel the next turn
Regarding knowing an enemy fleet's destination: For me it depends on how FTL works in the ISG universe. If it is a method that is fairly inflexible mid-flight, then it would make sense that I could know any fleet's destination by viewing its exit vector from a system in my scanner range. If FTL travel is more flexible, allowing for course corrections mid-flight, then I should only have an initial idea where they are heading that can change any turn after their departure until they leave scanner range and I become totally in the dark. Regarding mid-travel interceptions: I would like to see them in ISG if possible. Intercepting an incoming fleet just short of a new and vulnerable colony in SOTS was a favorite activity of mine. If it needs to be tied to a tech unlocked in the game gravity well generators would be perfect for it. Require at least one ship in an intercepting force to have gravity wells and let the deep space hunting begin!
Thanks a lot for all your feedback guys. I've collected some very nice ideas from this discussion and I'll certainly think about how they could be applied to the current design. FTL is jump-based on ISG. So, it's sensible to know, more or less, where fleets are headed. We may enrich the scanner techs with more effects other than just more sensing range, like knowing more about the ships' design, including their type and other info. We'll see. As for mid-flight interception, it's not currently envisaged and it would be a bit tricky to fit in with our "system anchor" approach, where fleets are always stationed in a system of some sort. What we do have already is mid-flight direction change, if transcommunication is picked via the "Beyond Light" dark matter research decision, for which you'll need dark matter to operate.
