David Sachs's BLOG
Published on May 21, 2006 By Big David In Ideas
There is nothing in the story line that accounts for the supernatural abilities of the starting flagship and other ships with survey modules. The flagship requires fairly advance technologies.

I would suggest totally eliminatig the flagship. Start each race with a scout instead. Also requires that anomolies be visible before they can be surveyed.

Unlike GC1, the technology needed for constructing a ship with a survey module is early in the technology tree, so that surveying of anomolies will still occur early in the game.
Comments
on May 27, 2007
Agreed. I am trying to think of a way to eliminate the flagship altogether.
on May 27, 2007
i will third it

on May 27, 2007
I'd like anomalies to be a different beast entirely. Have them constantly spawn in (at a slow rate, of course), making survey ships useful for the entire game. It'd actually make things like the galactic guidebook more useful.
on May 27, 2007

I'd like anomalies to be a different beast entirely. Have them constantly spawn in (at a slow rate, of course), making survey ships useful for the entire game. It'd actually make things like the galactic guidebook more useful.


That's exactly how I thought anomalies worked when I first got the game. Then I realized that once your survey ship says it's out of targets, you never need a survey sensor again.
on May 28, 2007
A few ideas were thrown around some time ago. Best was big battles leaving debris/anomalies.
And yes, the initial flagship does go against the rules, which is very lame. That should be another "strategic" option; if you want to go for the anomalies' money early, research sensors. Rush-buying doesn't help either, you need money for that, and the best source the game offers initially is anomalies. The game has a too fast start IMO, and these things are there to promote it.
on May 28, 2007
I would like the option of doing this, but I also like the quick start that the flagship offers.
on May 28, 2007
I'm with Glitch! Having at least a choice of starting "level" would be nice. Then you can start with or without a survey ship, and possibly with or without an initial colony ship and miner. I think it would make it more challenging with this type of set-up.
on May 29, 2007
I would suggest totally eliminatig the flagship. Start each race with a scout instead.


Simply mod GC2ships.xml to remove the survey module from the survey ship, and you're set.
on May 29, 2007
In this thread, a couple of us were talking about anomolies.

It would be cool if there were different "levels" of anomolies. The sesnsor techs could be expanded (and made more expensive?) that allow for the ability to detect and survey different levels of anomolies.

So a level 2 sensor lets you SEE level 2 anomolies, and a level 2 surveyor (available after lelve 2 sensors) would let you survey a level 2 anomoly.


This would give a much longer life to the "anomoly hunt" and also present the choice of whether to bother doing the research and creating the ships!
on May 29, 2007
Can you remove the survey/flag ship itself?
on May 29, 2007
It is a medium hull, and you don't have that tech either. It also has advanced support, which you also don't have. In fact, you don't have almost all of the techs.
on May 29, 2007
Two answers!

I first removed the flag ship from the listing, the game crashed.

I then removed only the survey scanner, no surveying available.

So the flag ship is expected by the program. All you can do is elliminate the feature. Now I'm going to retype a different discription for it so it doesn't say it can survey and won't. Still, if there's a way around removing the flag ship I'ld like to know how as well.