Did you ever quit a game because it was too easy?

[defaultuser]

My latest is the first time I tried high planet density. The combination of that and some good native species made the game a runaway. By turn 130, I exceeded 1.3K in production and no enemy was remotely a challenge. So, rather than a mop-up from that point and possibly and interminable wait for the Experimentors (which would be a quick operation), I just pulled the plug and started a new one.

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[Bromstarzan]

No, I havn't quit for that reason (but again, I havn't played that many games yet )
Actually, I havn't quit for any reason to be specific, but I might do some day, well into some later games (hope not).
At the moment, I'm on turn 460 with PP at 1.2k in a game with horrible starting conditions. I almost gave up but hung in there just to learn a bit more. As I play on easy level, I thought I could bring it around and now it feels like I spent about 300 turns just to get into striking position
As it turns out, a very interesting game unfolded (from my beginners perspective). It was very hard to summon enough troops to conquer/expand, almost impossible to break out from my "little corner", but it worked out in the end (with some favorable AI vs AI wars), and that is what makes this game awesome - even at beginners level.

In a way, I would like to get rid of the "mop-up" phase (just to win) by having some late game (optional) surprises like sudden visitors/arrivals from other galaxies (also opens up a new sector through black holes etc. But this is pretty diffuse thoughts as I realize it would mess with the setup victory conditions and more...

[MatGB]

I've started to do so more recently, it's always been something I considered but normally would play through until at least one victory condition triggered, nowadays I get a bit bored in the late game when I know I've won.

Also, for the first time in months if not years, I abandoned a game over the weekend as I had clearly lost and wasn't going to be able to recover, I'd been trying stealthed solarweb as a strategy and, well, that part is still too expensive for what it does, especially in the very early game. Clusters, and I was under attack from all three sides includling one AI that both had nowhere else to expand into and was ahead of me in colonies and production (not research, but the other two was enough when I'd bet the farm on overpriced kit).

At some point next cycle we need to rework the Experimentors so they're an actually fun end game challenge without being too overpowering, perhaps having them do different random things with chances based on galaxy seed settings? Currently they are basically a speed bump once you know what to do against them, which is a shame.

[defaultuser]

As I generally play smaller games these days, the Experimenters are often irrelevant. I did have one where I had contact with three AIs relatively soon, and the Outpost system was located near the border between one of them and my worlds. That happened to be a game where they came out early, like turn 203. Surprised and annoyed me a bit, although it was really worse for the AI in that area. I was able to fall back a bit and keep the spawn out, but they ravaged through the AI's territory.

But most games end up with massive forces arrayed around the Outpost waiting on "go time".

A possible variant would be: more Outposts, less impact, but much earlier. Maybe something besides monsters, like independent fleets that will try to take systems.

[Kassiopeija]

At some point next cycle we need to rework the Experimentors so they're an actually fun end game challenge without being too overpowering, perhaps having them do different random things with chances based on galaxy seed settings?

Perhaps have their strength &/ unleashtime set in correlation with the strength of the #1 Major Faction. With strength being a combination of production output with technological level thrown in.

(as see above) a player that needs ~350 turns to cross 1k prod would need different Experimentors than someone doing so in 200 turns. Otherwise you always leave open the danger that they are either too strong or insignificant.

[Slay]

i usually quit after i've wiped 2 sides. sometimes before if it looks like i'm completely dominating, and i've usually mapped everything and spying on everyone, picked out my final shipyard and all that, but rarely get around to playing the endgame. i start with low planets and low natives because if it's too easy for me to find the nice things the game is done for me (the ai can't take advantage of the nice things like a human player) :p also, low starlanes, cause it can create some interesting dilemmas, even for the player

[Piwoslaw]

also, low starlanes, cause it can create some interesting dilemmas, even for the player

I would say that low starlanes make it easier to defend. The advantage we have over AI is that we use starlane bore to suddenly pop up behind the enemy's lines and take 1 or 2 planets before AI can react and get its fleet there.

[spikethehobbit]

I had a game recently where three of my first five colonizers arrived at systems the same turn Ion Storms spawned there, only to get wiped out by monsters I didn't see because of the storms. This left me firmly wedged between 3 AI's, one who cut my (six system) empire in half. The Experimenters started early. Naturally, I was between them and everybody else.

Quitting was way too easy after that. Does that count?

[Piwoslaw]

I had a game recently where three of my first five colonizers arrived at systems the same turn Ion Storms spawned there, only to get wiped out by monsters I didn't see because of the storms.

So I'm not the only one who noticed that Ion Storms turn up exactly where and when my colony ship or troopers arrive at their destination early in the game?

[MatGB]

Vezzra deliberately made them more likely to be on the outside of galaxies slowly spiralling in, which is also where, on most settings, imperial homeworlds are more likely.

On my list: more stealth/scanning parts to make slowly finding things in Ion Storms in the early/mid game viable—I think they're great fun and the rework makes them far far better, but they also annoy in part because there's nothing you can do about it.

Possibly giving all scanner parts an insystem stealth reduction effect that only works if the ship is stationary, but it'll need careful balancing (I love playing around with stealth ships/scouts, want to make that entire area a lot more interesting/fun at some point but given the AI implications as well as the balance headache it's not a high/urgent priority).

I find Ion Storms hiding things less annoying than when your troop ships arrive in system on the exact same turn an invisible space cloud makes that juicy native planet invisible to you, at least you can normally see the storm coming.

[Piwoslaw]

On my list: more stealth/scanning parts to make slowly finding things in Ion Storms in the early/mid game viable—I think they're great fun and the rework makes them far far better, but they also annoy in part because there's nothing you can do about it.

How about using large batches of scouts to improve detection, maybe locally. Something like in Ogame, where 4 scouts will have 1 level better detection than 1 scout, 9 will have 2 levels better, 16 - 3 levels, etc. At the beginning of the game this gives the option of whether you want to sacrifice research or production to see better in the Ion Storm.

Possibly giving all scanner parts an insystem stealth reduction effect that only works if the ship is stationary, but it'll need careful balancing

Not bad. Or maybe ship parts which only increase detection distance (long range) or only improve insystem detection (short range)?

[MatGB]

How about using large batches of scouts to improve detection, maybe locally. Something like in Ogame, where 4 scouts will have 1 level better detection than 1 scout, 9 will have 2 levels better, 16 - 3 levels, etc. At the beginning of the game this gives the option of whether you want to sacrifice research or production to see better in the Ion Storm.

Yeah, making the stealth reduction from scanner parts able to stack is something worth thinking about, but it'd need to be done carefully, else you just build a lot of warships with scanners and stealth isn't viable at all, which would negate the point of putting work in to make it viable.

Possibly giving all scanner parts an insystem stealth reduction effect that only works if the ship is stationary, but it'll need careful balancing

Not bad. Or maybe ship parts which only increase detection distance (long range) or only improve insystem detection (short range)?

We've already, basically, got that paradigm, with Distortion Modulator being the only thing that does the latter, but it's too high up the tech tree to be really useful at the points in the game where you'd want to use it.

Ideally, if we've got stealth/detection values going up to 200ish, then there should be a spread of stuff all the way along that line with various effects giving local bonus/malus to the numbers.

For balance, ease of explanation and mechanical reasons, it's far far more likely that we'll stick with stuff that reduces enemy stealth than that increases local detection, they do effectively the exact same thing but keeping detection strength constant makes a lot of things a lot easier to both balance and explain.

But I'd like it if, for example, Electronic Dampener started at +10 stealth and could be refined in the same way as weapons can up to something like +40, and Absorption Field starting at, say, +30 stealth but able to be refined up to 90ish (refinement techs should be really expensive/time consuming I suspect. But you'd also need various ways to improve local detection, combining scanners might be a viable way to do it.