I think it would be even cooler to put it in the hands of the U.P. Take away the ability to research the first level of all of the extreme planets form everyone, then have the U.P. dole the techs out like an 1800's style land grab. The dialog pops up, "Okay, people, you now all have the ability to land on radioactive planets. Go!"

Then there's a mad dash to build transports and grab those planets, possibly having to fight off enemy fleets, and then researching the next level tech that will let you really use that type of planet.

For races who start out now with extreme techs at the beginning, though... I would just give them other techs to make up for the loss.

I don't see how spamming colony ships is nessacarly a bad thing. So long as you keep a balanced budget, and don't burn yourself out in the process, there shouldn't be any problems. In fact, I would go so far as to say that one might ruin their chances at winning at this game if they don't do a good job at colonizing planets.

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I think this is a bad idea. Invading a planet might fail, but colonizing a planet always work. Also, to invade a planet, you have to be at war which slows down the rate you aquire planets, largely because your industry is being geared to war instead of colonization. Plus, any race that avoids war is left free to colonize the planets the waring nations are missing.

I don't know about you, but I'll stick to colonization.



That wouldn't work well. Get a level or two in life support tech, and maybe install a life support module or two, and you should be able to travel maybe 2 to 3 sectors away from a planet. Use starbases, and you can extend the range much further.

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That said, right now I can only think of 3 things that would give me pause, or make me stop colonizing planets altogether.

1. Economics
Somehow I run out of money, and thus I'm unable to fund my factories to make more colony ships.

2. Nerfing
Somehow, I'm prevented from colonizing any additional planets. It has nothing to with player skill. I'm just prevented from doing any further colonization in either an unfair way, or in some unusual manner.

3. Tactical Decision
I decided that it would be more prudent of me stop colonizing planets early so that I might prepare for war.

I still think early invasions are prudent. First - simple realism. Second - it does not have to cost a whole lot to invade a planet. An invasion ship could cost less than a colonization ship considering there is no need for colony equipment (liberate the enemy equipment!) It also adds risk to over-reaching your colony range. No better way to get hozed early-game than to find the enemy has colonized everything around you (no matter how far from their HW it is) and you have to research a long tech tree before you get a chance to expand --- meanwhile they are digging in...

If a hostile race were to 'colonize' Mars I doubt it would take long for us to develop a way to travel there and kick ass... and that is a more hostile environment than most of the planets in galciv.

I was pretty much scoffing this thread b/c I don't buy the term colony-spamming. For some of us, the colony rush as-is in DA makes pretty good sense (I do think that the rush in DL is dull, but not silly).

Then Vogar comes along with this neato notion of "social logistics." That sounds like it could be a beautiful complement to the basic restraint built into the economic system, and perhaps one that could add interesting new options for players who are still learning the game economics or never develop a taste for ferocious maximizing.