FreeOrion

This idea is simple in nature, but can make the game more interesting.

The basic idea is that you cannot expand beyond a certain size before you upgrade your home world's government center (the palace, if you will).

The idea is very simple: you cannot control more then n planets where n is dependent on government type, palace size and income minus military expenditures.

So, what could happen when (for whatever reason) your income is reduced enough to warrant a downgrade in the maximum number of planets you can maintain, while you are at that maximum? Well, planets could lose contact with central government over time and facilities could start to fail. The colonies slowly becomes more and more independent and finally leaves the empire (not all, just those you are not able to maintain).

I'm less inclined to have a hard limit on planets an empire can control than I would be to have a Civ-4-style increasing cost of some sort with additional planets that makes too-rapid expansion unsustainable. Improvements to the capital could certainly influence those soft limits, though.

I agree with Geoff.

I also think that while it is very likely we will need some sort of limiting mechanic, it is probably best to worry about it later in development, when most of the pieces are in place-- since this isn't fun in itself, but designed to balance things out.

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