Exploring Venus: Design Document

[Eishtmo]

So I wrote a big thing on Surviving Mars and mentioned I had some ideas for a spiritual sequel to it. Which is this. It will never actually be made into a game, because I can't do that, but I like writing this stuff for my own entertainment and I figured I'd share it this time. The basic gameplay is mostly like Surviving Mars, so as you read through this think about it through that lens.

I'm not going to present it in any strict order or design and I'll just be posting parts of it across multiple posts rather than one big dump (I really don't want a super long post again). Please feel free to pick it apart.

EXPLORING VENUS
Game Development Document​

THE PITCH.

Mars gets all the press. It’s red, for one, and mysterious. It’s captured humanities imagination for space travel better than even the Moon.

But it’s a hard place. It’s a dry, cold desert. It’s atmosphere is not only thin, but unbreathable. It has great storms of sand, and water, while present, it scarce and frozen. It’s possible to live on Mars, but it would be very hard.

Venus, on the other hand, is Hell. The temperature on the surface is hot enough to melt lead. The pressure is higher than the deepest oceans, and the clouds are made of sulfuric acid. It is not possible to live on Venus.

Nothing says, however, one cannot live above those acid clouds, where the temperature and pressure are more manageable. This is the name of the game here, to build an outpost floating above high above the surface and use it as a jumping off point to colonizing the Hell that is Venus.

Welcome to Venus.

THE CENTRAL CONCEPT

Exploring Venus is a 3X game (no not that). Most space empire games, like Master of Orion or Stellaris, are 4X games: Explore, Expand, Exploit, Exterminate. Venus doesn’t, to our knowledge, have anything that can be fought and killed, so the last one is dropped.

Each of those ideas, Explore, Expand, Exploit, are the core identity of the game. Every building, research topic, sponsor and resource can be expressed as one of those three, or a combination there of. Through these the player is set to work toward first building a small outpost, then a colony, and eventually terraforming the planet to allow that colony to finally descend to the surface.

Explore is the main goal upon arrival. It involves traveling far above the surface, at first, and eventually along the surface. Discoveries of unique materials, interesting formations of clouds and rock, and understanding the complex history of Earth’s hellish twin are what drives this element of the game.

Exploit is the how the game begins to grow. Harvesting those materials, processing them into new products and returning them to Earth for profit. The game is, ultimately, about making money on the venture to Venus. This forms the core of the gameplay loop, and drives the player forward.

Expand is the building process of establishing at first the outpost and later the full on colony. Bringing people to your colony, and using their skills and abilities to bring in even more is the main goal of the game. Everything the player does is hooked into building out, and growing over time into a self sustaining colony on the least hospitable planet in the solar system.

THE ANCHOR

The core of the outpost on Venus will be the Anchor. It’s a supersized cable designed to lock itself into the surface of the planet and hold the outpost more or less in place, and becomes the centerpiece of the entire game.

Story wise, it’s the reason the outpost is being established at all. It was developed as part of an attempt to build a space elevator but the design couldn’t be scaled up enough to work. Since there is at least one, using it on Venus seemed like a great way to really stress test the design, and get some use out of it. It’s frightfully expensive so getting another would cost a lot, but it possible.

Gameplay wise the Anchor acts as a seed to grow the rest of the outpost. It has limited accommodations for a crew, a landing point for resupply ships, a small amount of storage for supplies, and it generates power. Lots of power.

Using a kind of heat pipe, it can move the MASSIVE amounts heat on the surface of Venus up to a generator plant in the floating part of the Anchor (the Anchor Station) and use it to make power. How much power can be generated is limited by technology, and most of the heat has to be bled off or else it would melt the Station. As technology improves more and more of the heat can be converted into power making it very valuable.

However, it is a long cable locked to the ground thus is subject to winds and storms. Also if the Anchor happens to lock into the side of an active volcano, that might cause a bit of a mess. As terraforming Venus begins, the surface temperature should start lowering, meaning the power output of the Anchor will start dropping, eventually falling all the way to zero.

By then, of course, the Anchor can be used to pull the outpost down to the surface and finish the game.

That's enough for now. The Anchor is part of my inspiration for this redesign: Frostpunk. I never did finish that game. Should go back and take another crack at it.

 

[Eishtmo]

So I'm trying to stay clear on the terminology as I've been revising and adding to the document. I expect a few will slip through. I'm glad chart I made comes through from Libraoffice, that's kind of neat. If this feels out of order and disjointed it's because it is. I just want to get the ideas down without worrying about silly things like formats. After this there will be at least six more topics to discuss. Then I'll try my hand at writing a gameplay session out.

SPONSORS

The main driver of the game is the player’s Sponsor. They provide the starting seed money for the game, as well as periodic infusion of cash to keep the project going.

Each Sponsor has a different set of goals and tasks it wants the player to complete. These are based on their identity defined by the 3Xs. Each has a primary and a secondary one and between them define the overall personality of the Sponsor.

Exploit Sponsors are best identified as corporations. They want to use the Venus outpost as a way to make money back on Earth. The exact methods are defined by their personalities.

Expand Sponsors are more like governments or non-profit organizations. They want to build structures on Venus for various purposes, ranging from military bases to full on colonies.

Explore Sponsors typically are more scientifically minded. Usually they’ll want to investigate and preserve the environment on Venus. That doesn’t mean they won’t want to make money, but they’ll do it without destroying the environment.

Some example ideas.

	EXPLORE	EXPAND	EXPLOIT
EXPLORE	Science Outpost	University	Cruise line
EXPAND	Conservation Group	Settlement	Resort
EXPLOIT	Adventure Tours	Military	Mining Company

Sponsors will also offer the player goals with rewards if they are completed, and possibly penalties if they are not. Some events are restricted to specific Sponsors or can only happen if the Sponsor meets the minimum stat levels. Those events can also have different outcomes based on the Sponsor’s personalities.

CREWS

Instead of recruiting individuals to populate the outpost, the player will hire “crews.” These come in different forms and have different needs and benefits. At the most basic level crews will reduce the maintenance costs of the outpost and will reduce downtime during repairs.

Crews come in several different types.

Crew – These are the base idea for the unit. They are self maintaining and only need to have their accommodations met and be paid. A Crew is generic enough to handle almost any job on the outpost, but usually aren’t that great at them.

Staff – Specialized crews that only do one particular task, such as operate the cafeteria, security, science, etc. They cannot self maintain and need other groups to make up what they lack. Despite only being able to do one group of tasks, they’re often very, VERY good at them, and their pay is adjusted appropriately.

Units – These crews do NOT work for the player. They have their own building they must have, but their needs cannot be met there, thus they will use the outpost facilities and supplies. On the upside, the player is paid to have the Unit in place, rather than pay them.

Families – These crews live on your outpost. They demand higher level accommodations, their own building (Colony Hub), and have less efficiency than a similar sized crew. However, they do not get paid, and since they pride themselves on self sufficiency, you need less resupply resources to keep them alive. They also can, and will, have children who cannot work, so even if the family is a size of 20, maybe only 15 can actually work.

Most crews require pay, which is part of the budget. They all require accommodations to be a certain level and size depending on the quality and size of the crew. All crews have moral, and if dips too low they may either leave on the next resupply ship, or revolt which could cause extensive damage to the outpost.

Crews have 5 stats that need to be kept track of.

Pay – How much the crew needs to be paid per Turn. Pay is based on the size of the crew and their efficiency. Being below Pay levels will lower Moral, being above will increase Moral.

Size – How big the crew is. This is the total number of people on the crew. However, not the whole crew will be available for work, so a sub number represents how many can’t work in some way. This would include children.

Efficiency – How good the crew is at the general tasks available. Higher efficiency crews will demand more pay and/or better accommodations. Efficiency can be modified by Moral.

Accommodations – This is the minimum level of accommodations the crew requires to work at full efficiency. It also effects Moral.

Moral – How happy the crew are at the outpost. Higher pay and better accommodations will raise Moral and increase Efficiency. Low pay and poor accommodations will lower Moral and lower Efficiency. VERY poor pay and accommodations may result in a revolt that could damage the outpost and the crew will leave on the next available resupply ship.

 

[Exposition Owl]

I would play this game.

 

[Eishtmo]

With only this little bit? What is it that makes it that interesting? I want to know so I can keep doing it.

Anyway, I've finished most of the systems now. No I won't post them all at once. I also added a couple more than I was expecting. Anyway some sections were written before others so there may still be inconsistency between them. Sorry.

THE RESUPPLY SHIP

Every Turn, which is either yearly, quarterly or monthly or something like that, a resupply ship arrives at the outpost. It comes from Earth and is mostly there to carry supplies to help maintain the outpost. It docks at the Anchor and is unloaded by “methods.”

The Resupply Ship also brings any crew the player has hired, and any purchased buildings in the form of prefabricated structures. When it leaves, it will carry away any crew that isn’t staying (individuals from a crew as managed by the crew company), and any exports that may be available.

It can be called in early, but at a significant fee. If disasters are in progress, the ship will wait in orbit for the disaster to clear, or stay docked to the Anchor if it has already landed. This does NOT interfere with it’s normal schedule and depending on circumstances there may be 2 Resupply Ships at the outpost at one time, but never more than that.

PLAYER PROFILE

With the setup of the game, the player can pick a Profile. These give the player some early 3X points for getting Events and Goals, as well as some minor bonuses to other systems in the game. The options should reflect the Sponsor options, allowing the player to balance out, at least a little bit, the 3X stats of the Sponsor. They also should work with a primary and secondary 3X stats just like the Sponsors.

Some example ideas.

	EXPLORE	EXPAND	EXPLOIT
EXPLORE	Scientist	University President	Ship Captain
EXPAND	Conservationist	Mayor	Hotel Manager
EXPLOIT	Explorer	Ex-Military	CEO

Profiles also can give bonus techs, and possibly free Buildings or Transports.

EVENTS, GOALS AND MILESTONES

Goals are tasks assigned by the Sponsor to be completed by a specific time. The computer has a pool of Goals the Sponsor can select from, but they’ll only take them if they meet the requirements, for them. Requirements may include having a certain tech, having the correct 3X stats or even prior events or goals being completed.

Some Goals are long term, as the Sponsor doesn’t require them to be finished at a specific time, but wants them done eventually. Other Goals are short term, and must be completed by a specific time. Considering the nature of transport of buildings and personal to Venus, usually these Goals are set up to not expire until after the next 2 Resupply Ships at minimum.

Goals can be failed if not completed on time. The Sponsor may penalize the player by in any number of ways, including both temporarily or permanently reducing their Budget. Successful completions may do the opposite, or grant new bonuses or even change the Sponsors 3X stats.

Milestones are more like achievements. They involve discovering special things, building something special or having someone born on your outpost. Rewards for Milestones are the same as that for Goals, but are not restricted by Sponsor or player Profile.

Events are special story related choices that trigger based on a number of factors not yet defined but likely attached to time, techs, Milestones and Goals. Events should have multiple choices and may be enhanced by Sponsor or Player Profile. Events can be one time with a single reward, or a chain that provides either multiple or one large reward at the end of the chain.

RESOURCES

Resources on Venus are harder to come by then on Earth or Mars. As such there are far fewer to keep track off.

Money – Money is the main resource of the game. It’s given by the Sponsor, rewards from Events, Goals and Milestones or when Exports are sold back to Earth. It requires no buildings to store and will never be under threat without warning the player.

Power – This is how all the systems of the Outpost are powered. The Anchor provides a large amount of Power initially, but later on the player may need to build additional power plants. Power can be stockpiled in batteries.

Research – This is generated by the Sponsor back on Earth or via research labs on the Outpost. It’s used unlock very technologies in the tree and is spent whenever generated. It cannot be stockpiled.

Supplies – These represent food, water, oxygen and replacement parts. These are purchased from Earth and come on the Resupply Ship every turn. While they can be made on the Outpost in the mid to late game, it is only in the end game can purchasing from the Earth be completely removed.

There should be restrictions that prevent the player from building, say, 30 MOXIE plants so they never have to buy any Supplies from Earth. Supplies can be stockpiled for future use.

Exports – These are things that are to be sent back to Earth for cash. They may be rare gases and minerals, or something that can only be grown or made on Venus. They have no other purpose. They cannot be stockpiled as they are sold as soon as a Resupply Ship arrives.

Building Materials – These represent just that, building materials. These are used to build new buildings and vehicles at the Outpost rather than being purchased prefabricated from Earth. These generally need to come from the surface from Venus or via some technology development. Like Supplies, they can be stockpiled.

Building Materials can be purchased from Earth, HOWEVER, the goal is to convince the player that this is not the best way and should be avoided until mid to late game. Buildings should generally be purchased as prefabs from Earth whenever possible and should be priced in such a way to make it obviously the better option.

I should be able to finish up rest of the systems tomorrow. Then on to a gameplay walkthrough. Please feel free to ask questions or critique, I insist.

 

[Exposition Owl]

With only this little bit? What is it that makes it that interesting? I want to know so I can keep doing it.

The subject matter and how you’re treating it, honestly. I love a good hard-SF treatment of space exploration, and the atmosphere of Venus is a fascinating but underused setting. (For the record, I have a copy of Surviving Mars on Steam, but I haven’t played it yet.)

A question, since you insist: what minerals do you imagine people mining for on Venus? Are there any resources on (or under) the hellhole that is Venus’s surface that couldn’t be extracted much more cheaply and safely elsewhere in the solar system?

 

[Eishtmo]

Nothing really specific. Just doing a quick look through the Venus wiki mentioned noble gases so that might be one of the early ones since it's in the atmosphere. Anything in the clouds would be fair game (I had the thought of exporting greenhouse gases to Mars, which is actually something you can import in Surviving Mars DLC). After that simply getting to and surviving on the surface would just extract the same kinds of thing you get on Earth near volcanic areas.

Sadly this game probably won't stay hard SF for long as the techs get up there. But then, so is Surviving Mars.

Anyway, here's the next batch of stuff. I still need to sit and write the gameplay stuff, but this should be the end of the systems stuff.

BUDGET

Unlike Mars, Venus doesn’t have the same kinds of resources, especially those needed to build things. As a result the hardware to build the outpost has to come from Earth and the only way to get that is through cold hard cash.

The Sponsor’s primary job is to provide the funding to build and maintain the outpost. They do this by giving the player a chunk of cash every large time period (Year? Quarter? Turn for now I guess). The player then gets to decide what to do with the money.

There are 4 categories to channel money to:

1.) Research – Initially all research is done on Earth at the Sponsor’s facilities. This pays for that research. See the Research section for more details.

2.) Crew Pay – This is the reoccurring pay given to the crews that work on the outpost. Paying below minimum can have disastrous consequences, but also aren’t needed if there are no crews assigned to the outpost on a reoccurring basis.

3.) Resupply – Supplies and replacement parts come in every turn, and this pays not just for the supplies themselves, but the resupply ship itself. Extra supplies will need to be stored at the outpost, but too little could result in degradation of the outpost.

4.) Cash on Hand – Any remaining money is put into a general pool to be used to purchase new buildings, upgrades or hire single Turn crews.

Each category of the budget has a minimum it needs to work without issue. The player can put in more or less money as they feel they need and either get a bonus with diminishing returns, or get a penalty that can be quite devastating.

The idea is that the budget is the real game here, balancing the need for cash for building up the outpost against future research, resupply and paying the crews (or even having them) that operate the outpost.

Budgets can change over time. Events and goals can change how much the Sponsor puts in either for the next Turn or for the remainder of the game.

RESEARCH

Developing new technologies to help survive and explore Venus is a key element of the game. Initially all tech Research is done by the Sponsor and based on budgeted amount.

The tech “tree” is not so much a tree as a web. Each of the 3X core ideas represent a major node on a large web that branches out from there and interacts with each other. It should be more like the Sphere Grid from Final Fantasy X.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/ps2/197344-final-fantasy-x/map/3541?raw=1

Explore, Expand and Exploit are the starting nodes. Off of each one is the first batch of techs the player can research. Each tech can be another node and from there move further and further out. Theoretically the player can go out from one of the 3 starting nodes and eventually connect to the other 2.

Tech research comes in 3 forms:

Focus – The player will spend most of the game doing this, selecting the tech and letting the research team do it’s thing. Once discovered the player can move on. How fast this goes depends on how much of the Budget is dedicated to it. There is a minimum necessary to get a tech out by a preset amount of time. Putting more money into it will make it go faster with diminishing returns. Putting less makes the Research take more time, putting none means it stops cold.

Bleedthrough – Need a new name for this. Basically it’s splash damage against the other techs coming off the Focus tech. The more Budget put into the Focus, the more splash goes out to those techs. Since the techs all web together, one tech can be researched without ever being the Focus. If only the minimum is put into the Budget for the Focuse tech there would be very little or even no Bleedthrough.

Eureka – Not sure exactly how to do this, but it’s a random tech that pops up. I’m thinking it would be like in the original Master of Orion where over a threshold the tech might just suddenly be discovered without doing any extra work. This makes the Bleedthrough much more valuable as it can cause a tech to trip over the threshold and then every “time period” it might trigger a Eureka and gets discovered. This area needs a bit more work.

BUILDINGS AND TRANSPORTS

The bulk of the game is building the Outpost out from the Anchor and exploring Venus in via various methods. Buildings have multiple forms but come in two major kinds.

Rigs – These are the more industrial structures of the Outpost. They are made of pipes and beams and are designed to support mining, manufacturing, docking, power generation, some forms of storage, and other things that don’t need a whole lot of bells and whistles.

Platforms – These are the more residential and commercial structures of the Outpost. They are large, flat platforms that allow for the construction of larger, enclosed structures. They support things like Accommodation blocks, research labs, residential blocks, general storage, specialist structures and the like.

Initially Rigs and Platforms need to be linked to each other and eventually the Anchor to hold the Outpost in place. Later either new Anchors can be bought, or technologies can be used to hold them in place. Also at the beginning they can only be built on one layer, where later perhaps they could be on different levels, maybe. Pipes and walkways between them are built automatically.

Transports are designed to move through the skies of Venus. While planes and helicopters would be possible, given there’s no good place to land, period, floating transports like airships and blimps probably make up the bulk of the early game. They will need a docking point (one is free on the Anchor) and some method of being powered. There should be a variety of different transports with different tasks. Some are specifically designed to move on or near the surface as well, but all are later techs.

Okay, that's the core of the systems at least. There's some other stuff that I'll mention in the gameplay section to kind of tie everything together. We'll see how it goes.

 

[Eishtmo]

Okay, so this is just kind of a rough start up walk through. I'll probably do a general addendum as I've been working through some ideas, and then I'll wrap this thread up.

GAMEPLAY WALKTHROUGH

At the game start the player selects a Profile and Sponsor. Then they go to the loadout screen for their first ship to Venus.

The player is given all the equipment their Profile and Sponsor provide and a block of cash to spend on extras. Extras include basic Transports, Accommodations, Rigs, Platforms and heat sinks for the Anchor, as well as stockpiles of Supplies. No need to save money here as once the Anchor is set, the Sponsor will grant the first Budget to the player.

Next is selecting the game play area on Venus itself. The general landing site is defined by the roughness of the terrain under the clouds, potential resources (Exports and Building), weather conditions and time until sunrise/sunset (we’ll get to that).

Because Venus turns on it’s axis slower than the length of it’s year, that means a day/night cycle on Venus is a years long event. Thus the initial time of day where the Outpost is established determines how long it will be before the Long Night on Venus begins. The change between day and night heralds a myriad of changes to how the game plays and is a general event that effects the overall Moral of the Crew on the Outpost and leads to special rewards upon completion. It can also start more storms and other issues.

Upon arrival at the landing site it’s now up to the player to decide where to send the Anchor.

Initially all the player will see are clouds, maybe some basic storms, but that’s about it. A radar pulse option will reveal the basic terrain shape under the clouds but the player can’t directly see that at this point. They can see mountains, valleys and flat terrain along with some rough idea where some resources MIGHT be either on the surface or in the clouds. Choice of where to drop the Anchor is a careful game of balancing choices.

Anchoring a mountain has the advantage that the cable for the Anchor is shorter, meaning storms have less of an effect on the Outpost. The temperature is lower at the top of mountains so fewer heat sinks are needed to keep the Anchor cool Mountains also are more likely to have resources and when getting to end game, less terraforming needs to be done to the planet before pulling the Outpost down to the surface. The downside is exploring the surface near a mountain may be more limited due terrain issues, the temperature is cooler up on mountains less overall power can be generated by the Anchor. It’s also possible that it isn’t a mountain, but a volcano and that could lead to, well, bad things. Very bad things.

Anchoring a flat area likely will allow for more exploration options on the surface, more power generation and means less need for special techs (legs, long legs) as the Outpost is drawn down to the surface. Of course it also means more heat sinks, potentially less resources and a higher risk of storms and winds pulling on the Anchor and Outpost.

There may be other advantages and disadvantages but these are the ones I’ve thought of at this time.

Once the Anchor locks down, the player gets their first Budget and can access the Research screen. With that going, the player now begins to build out the Outpost.

First they can lay down the first Rigs and Platforms, or begin moving the Transport to interesting parts of the map (an initial batch of points for your transport to go is revealed before dropping the Anchor, future ones must be discovered). At this point the player can hire a Crew to come in, and wait for the first Turn to tick over to deliver Supplies and the Crew.

The Crew will do whatever tasks are available, so no need to assign them to anything specific. Most of the work will likely be maintenance of the Anchor and the first few structures of the Outpost. Initial structures will include scanning machinery of some kind (radars and other imagers) to view the surface, Accommodations and docking ports for Transports. At this point a small portion of the surface is revealed and the player can begin planning the future of the Outpost.

As Research finishes, new buildings or upgrades occur. The player then can order those new buildings and upgrade packages from Earth to be delivered on the next Resupply Ship. Once it arrives, the upgrade packages are installed by the Crew, or by other “methods (no seriously, I don’t know how to do this otherwise, I don’t want to include drones like Surviving Mars did, maybe require a Crew?). The buildings are prefabs that the player can just connect directly to the Anchor.

At this point the player also needs to install heat sinks to the Anchor or have the thing literally melt. These allow the heat to be spread out into the atmosphere of the planet and cool the Anchor.

This is the general loop after that. Do Research, buy new stuff, wait for the Resupply Ship to arrive, then repeat. In the meanwhile move a Transport around and explore, deal with Events and try to achieve whatever Goals the Sponsor gives you.

 

[Eishtmo]

Addendum

Okay, so I forgot some stuff for the buildings. Specifically what IS a Rig and Platform, which is kind of a big thing to forget.

The idea is that they're actually building area. You buy them to build ON them. Rigs take industrial related stuff, Platforms people related. But it's not that simple. There are two kinds of each:

Dedicated ones are basically a building integrated into a Rig or Platform. They come in one shot, cost a bit less than the building and it's support structure and are easy to just plug and go. The problem is that they cannot be separated. So if you don't need that gas miner any more, you have to pull up the entire thing, not just the building part.

Empty Rigs and Platforms are just building area for the player. They can get bigger with better techs, and let the player tetris their buildings together. That said, getting a Rig or Platform unit AND a building are more expensive, but you can tear down the building later if you need to. Prices between need to be balanced so the player can make a decision then and now and keep going.

Also buildings can be taken down and boxed up whenever the player wants, but there has to be enough storage space for them. Well maybe, depends I suppose.

Okay, that's fixed. I mentioned it during the gameplay thing the idea of maybe making it required that there be a Crew on the Outpost. The more I think about it, the more I like the idea. It would explain why the Anchor comes with basic Accommodations. Also in reality we really wouldn't know how any of this would work on Venus because, well, it's Venus. At least Mars we can test in a desert or something, but for Venus, there is no way to test any of it. Someone would have to be there to deal with problems that are bound to crop up. Those problem could even be early events the player has to find a solution for. It also adds another thing the player can pick out for the first trip.

Finally, I've been thinking about the problem of the clock. I've been calling the time between Resupply Ships "turns" for lack of a better term and I'm thinking maybe it should be a turn based game.

Okay, hear me out. Surviving Mars is a real time game, the clock is always ticking, though you can pause if you need. Here's the thing though, you spend most of the time waiting for things. Waiting for the resources to build up to build the next thing, waiting for the research to finish, waiting for the rocket to finish it's journey. That's all fine, and you get to see that day/night cycle and have to manage solar power and such.

Exploring Venus would be WORSE about this. There's very little material gathering, the day/night cycle will be there, but take forever, and building process will likely be done very quickly after a delivery. The only thing you can do is run the Transport around and explore. . . the clouds of Venus. And there's a chance the player may not even HAVE a Transport. A good chance even.

So maybe the game should just be turn based. Or sort of turn based. Like the clock ticks while the player is doing something, then they can hit a "complete turn" button and fast forward to the next shipment. Something like that.

Anyway, that about wraps up this project unless someone wants to chime in of course. I've written a few random ideas for game designs, most never get finished, so this actually went further than normal. Thanks for reading.

 

[Teaspoon]

I always like to ask this question about system setups like this- what's your Really Wacky RNG?
(Game play source for events that will surprise the player. Storms? Volcanoes?)

 

[Eishtmo]

Sorry, I just noticed this. I hadn't really focused on that. Explore a location, get random event. Drop the a gas miner pipe down and suck something weird in. Build a platform and discover something is wrong with it. I don't think there would be just ONE source. Depending on the area things might be more often than others like storms, meteor strikes and volcanic eruptions. Then there's reaction to more regular events, like when the night comes to Venus and it lasts like 3 or 4 months and the workers on the Outpost react to it.

 

[Falselogic]

I would play this game.

As would I! I love city builders and this sort of hard sci-fi that leans into the technicalities of building a human population on Venus to terraform would be very interesting. I especially love having to balance the terraform process with power needs/wants.