Growing concern - but optimistic

[Barnacle Bill]

Kamog said:
Then an Ancient Race could claim the entire galaxy during their first turn!

I don't know - did that happen in SEIV? I mean, even though the AI wasn't constrained much by claims, there were Ancient Races and the ability to claim explored systems...

If it is an issue, the fix is easy... You could have to actually have a presence in the system at the moment of claiming - but by "presense" I mean anything including an exploration ship, not just a colony. Sure, Ancient Races would still have an advantage, but they already do - and if necessary that could be balanced by raising the cost of being an Ancient Race.

[arthurtuxedo]

You could claim every system you saw in SE4, but it didn't really mean much since it couldn't be a part of treaties. In SE5 it does mean something, so it makes sense that MM restricted territorial claims to territory you actually have a legitimate claim on.

As far as the exploration goes, people have pointed out that you should be able to see the planets, even if it's just with telescopes. That's true, if the other system is fairly close by, but think of it this way: There are a maximum of 255 star systems in a game of SE5. There are hundreds of billions of star systems in a real galaxy. So for every system that is connected with warp points, there are a billion that are not. Therefore, it stands to reason that even a "neighboring" star system connected via warp point might be so far away that you can't see the planets, only the star.

[Barnacle Bill]

arthurtuxedo said:
In SE5 it does mean something, so it makes sense that MM restricted territorial claims to territory you actually have a legitimate claim on.

But exploration gives you a legitimate claim on it! You know, the old plant the flag and "I claim this land for the King of Bling" routine?

As currently programmed, the net in-game effect is that I still don't dare agree to treaties letting the squatters past my warships until I've got a colony in every system within what I consider my borders (or at least every one with a planet in it). I have to reserve the right to kill any colony ships I catch on my turf, or glass any colonies founded by ones that slip through. That limits the utility of the diplomatic system vs one where my legitimate claims would be honored by my treaty partners.

[capnq]

Barnacle Bill said:

I don't know - did that happen in SEIV? I mean, even though the AI wasn't constrained much by claims, there were Ancient Races and the ability to claim explored systems...

You didn't have to explore a system to claim it in SE IV. (Having to explore a system first might have slowed down AI expansion, for one thing.) In multiplayer games, some people routinely claimed the entire map on their first turn, so as not to give away any information about where their colonies actually were. Other people didn't claim any systems, or rename planets, for the same reason.

And why shouldn't an Ancient race claim the whole map? They were there first, after all.