I always wanted the United Planets to split. To me the UP is slanted against the evil races, so why wouldn't the evil guys go and form their own where they aren't pushed around?

#1 Mega structures

I especially like the idea of mega structures. Starbases are a great thing in this game, being able to add huge numbers of modules is wonderful. However, having grown up in the shadow of Star Wars, if I had a galactic civlization, I would totally start building planet sized space craft and etc.

Doesn't make for balanced game play tho--

so have them drifting through the galaxy, blowing up planets, and you can destroy them.


#2: Space travel makes the galaxy go round. Well, the galaxy got all squidgy and craft range is reduced by 95%, effectively landlocking spacecraft. Any colonies cut off from the others have lost contact, and become their own entities by the time the galaxy emerges from this.

Another variation on this is that "walls" tend to form between civlizations. So the event cuts off a large, dominant culture from conquest, while saving the smaller, weaker civilizations from certain doom.

#3: Moral decay

First it was the waltz. Then it was the bicycle. Now its cranial hyperwave penetrating gloviation. The older generation has finally had enough, and there is an old\young division in every empire in the galaxy.

Birth rates effectively stop for X years, or go negative as the old geezers off the young whippersnappers, upsetting the demographics of the empire.

#4 Black tuesday.

effects the dominant economy if it outstrips the others by too far a margin. Black tuesday hits. The markets have a collapse. Empires trading with this economy are hit badly as well. This event tends to greatly benefit evil, and more-isolationist empires. Those allied with the disaster economy have a hard time.

#5 Back to megastructures

The melenorme show up. They sell you an amazing space fleet, and a "dyson" style planet, 26 size, that orbits your home star, for some little critters on a moon of some planet under your influence.

Its free, basically.

This benefits the downtrodden empire with a fantastic defensive force and an awesome planet.


#6 Science is dangerous.

Anti-intellectualism becomes rampant in the most-advanced empire. The common folk rise up and destroy research infrastructure, smoke weed, and burn books. Some of the newest technology effectively dissapears.

Highly contagious movement.

#7 Its broke, and i can't fix it.

Corruption at the highest levels has given way to corruption at the lowest levels. The company contracteded to do general maitenence on your spacefleet was fakin' it. Flalse reports and etc. Your spacefleet effectively explodes, and the few remaining ships have one hp and need to limp back to port.

Effects the large military forces.

#8 Drug resistant oganism

Well, the quasiparrots of Vultar 6 are mighty beautiful, but the drengin got a little to personal with it and contracted Vultarial Mulbuttonism. Spreads rampantly through trade-connected populations, slower if not connected by trade.

Eliminates huge numbers of population.

More advanced socieities are affected more.

Sorry if some of this was posted already

Bad idea. You shouldn't force a player to play a race they don't want to play. A flame post might be made due to the annoyance.



Also a bad idea. Not only because of the reasons mentioned above, but also because a matter-antimatter explosion has much more in common with a nuclear explosion than with ethics.



Universes don't have earthquakes, largely because they are universes, and not planets named earth. But a reshuffling of planets would make an interesting mega-event, much like one I mentioned. This mega-event would only need a better explanation.

I have an idea, although it's not too original.

Scientists everywhere in the galaxy become terribly absent-minded and can't say what exactly they're working on or how long it will take until they've finished it. You can steer them in the right direction by suggesting one of the colour-coded categories, but that's about it. All research is effectively blind - although you can still see on the tech tree what projects have or haven't been completed, you won't know which one specifically is active.

Isn't that the purpose of a mega-event?

I don't think the randomness would be too much of a problem. If you own enough planets that it's hitting you harder than anyone else you should have the resources to win the game already, it's simply a question of siezing the opportunity.
As for timescale, it would need tweaking and scaling. You want to cause the player to rush, but still allow enough time for a chance of victory. You don't want a small galaxy dying too quickly, or a large galaxy taking too long.


Pain and pleasure really. A pain if you're in that situation, a pleasure if you happen to be the one behind in the tech race. It would certainly lead to some interesting situations.


What might be interesting is having all of the minor races combine to form one major 'race', especially if they decide to use this new found power to payback the other races who've been pushing them around all those years...

I would very much like it if the universe could be slightly more organic and submersive. So my ideas may seem vague but prefixed with that concept hopefully you will be able to see where I am coming from.

1. A corporation starts up that builds a string of starbases that civilizations can use at a fee for trade stops. make more money but diluted at first. The corp offers protecting. But then as they rise in power they submit their own requests to the UN.

2. The UN can change in the same way that governments do. So it starts of simple but soon breaks into left and right / good and evil fractions. new UN's are formed and NATOesque bodies etc etc

3. Civil wars break out within AI or your own civs that potentially split the home worlds in the middle. (this would involve invasion like combats that destroy buildings and reduce populations in the same way.

4. Different energy (and chronologically more efficient) source become avaliable and genereally can only be found in a certain quadrant of the galaxy giving a new economical edge to which ever civs happen to inhabit that quad of the galaxy. Like finding oil but it changes throughout time.

5. Unions form up mid way through an average game and your government has to be responsible for them should they go on strike. I understand that some might be upset about the terrorist idea and understandably. But I think the unions could simply rebel and incorporate this concept. Random explosions would make life more fun at least in the latter stages of gameplay.

6. I love the idea I read about civilizations not surrending OR giving their homeworlds away but just abandoning them starting another colonization rush (colony ships not transports must be produced to colonize).

7. I also love the mercenary fleet idea. They turn up in the galaxy and offer their services (not necassaerlly to the highest bidder) buit perhaps a civ that has the same ideals, religion or simply race as them.

8. Someone mentioned an assasination of a pop icon or something. This is exactly the sort of thing that would really make it feel like a realistic and thriving galaxy with 'individuals' actually living lives inside it. The pop star could be John Lennon(esque) and cause a major turn to pasifism in his untimely demise or could have been an outspoken warmongering news caster (Bill O'Reilly) and cause the opposite effect on the civilization they're from.

9. On the same sort of flow I liekd the idea of marrying off your royal family as assets to help gain alliances with other civs. I wouldn't like to see the resulting off spring however... Torian and a Yor anyone!?!?

So basically I see these 'event's as timed things that keep the galaxy interesting as it nears the latter stages but without just turning things on their head. I don't like the idea of screwing with someones game just for the hell of shaking it up a bit. But if they seem like the organic growth of a civilization they it would be fairly reasonable to expect.

Warmest regards

VanCam

New ideas. Posting first one now. The second one needs some work.

Doomsday Device

Insert corny James Bond story line here...

After the hero stops the doomsday device, he proceeds to confront to the villian. The villian, in his last act of evil, proceeds to transmit different versions of his doomsday device to all of the major races in the game. These versions are ones he never had the resources to build.

The transmited blueprints come in 3 versions:
-A super attack module.
This attack module is a little bit more powerful than the ultimate weapons, but is a lot more expensive too. The powerful races might have little use for this version, due to its price, but the weaker races might consider this a "holy grail" in which they might survive against the stronger races.
-An anti-ship, kamakazi drone.
This version is a unique ship with immense attack, 1 hp, no room for room for improvements, and a base speed of 10. Very expensive, but it should be devastating aggainst all but the strongest of ships.
-Doomsday invasion tactic.
A transportable version of the Doomsday device. It can cause a level of devastation beyond that of any other invasion tactic. Its also provides a bigger bonus too.

I know, this is the most irritating mega event. It doesn't destabilize the game, it just prolongs it and makes it boring.

How about this instead:

I Brake for Nobody

All ships must move at least 5 parsecs a turn (or up to their maximum speed).   

a asteroid floating through space at 1 pc a week and if it is heading to your planet you must destroy it with a ship.

it could come lose from a mining cluster of asteroids

I like the giant monster idea. Make the monster come out "When the stars are right."

----my ideas
A transcended race appears and tells all of the current races that they are stupid and gives them all research technologies except the tech victory.

A transcended race appears and tells all of the current races that they are stupid and gives them all technologies except the tech victory.

A transcended race appears and tells all of the current races that they too smart for their own good and takes away all technologies.

An energy wave that causes stupidity courses through the galaxy decreasing research rates of all races.

A new food is developed called 'soylent green' increasing the maximum population potential of all worlds by several billion. (This might make the game a bit too hard though as your approval would go down the tubes in a heartbeat)

All universal translators are infected with a virus forcing all races to communicate in 1337 speak.

Through advanced science, it is discovered that this is actually just a game called Galactic Civilizations II. Upon hearing the terrible truth that their lives are just a computer simulation, unrest spreads throughout the galaxy/game.

One of your worlds is destroyed to make an hyperspace bypass. It leaves behind asteroids.

I'm glad you like. I came up the Doomsday Device as a means for races with laser III weapons to compete with races with Doom rays. Like I said, they would have little value for the races who already had Doom rays, because the Doomsday weapons would be several times more expensive, for a little more attack power.
________________

Anyhow, two more ideas. I'm still working on that other one.

#7 Mass Donations

The population throughout the galaxy realize the troubles that their governments have to deal with. They in turn decide to donate additional money to their governments to help it compete.

Effect:
Each civilization receives an additional amount of money equal to what they would be getting if taxes were set to, lets say 10%.

#8 Charity work

Like above, but people instead offer their services in the form of free labour to military production, social production, and research.

Effect:
Whenever you focus production to military, social, or to research, your population helps and provides additional points to that area of focus.

This kinda thing should be used for pirates....