space station construction/trade/managment game

[xahodo]

I posted this idea earlier, but then the forums crashed and it was lost in binary oblivion. So, I'll post it again.

The basic idea of the game is to construct a space station, manage it's personnel and trade with other space stations, traders, miners or empires.

First construction:
It consists of two parts:
the outer hull, to which various utility items (such as weapons, sensors, shields, docking clamps, etc.) can be attached. All is done in full 3D.
The inner hull, which is used to construct the various rooms and pipelines (power grid, computer network, sewer system, climate control, crawl spaces, etc.). Again, this is done in full 3D, but instead of a free space navigation, there is a square based navigation, based on the shape of the outer hull.

Management:
The player should be in control of its rules and be able to decide policy and how the justice system works. This includes penalties and the actual trial. On top of that the player should be able to impose tariffs, labor hours and whatnot. On top of that players can decide to hire staff, each of which have their own ideas and lives.

Diplomacy:
As the space station drifts in a universe, the player should be able to maintain diplomatic relations and host diplomatic conferences if he so desires. Each party the player deals with has its own ideas of the player, based on behavior of the player and space station of the player.

Trade:
The player should be able to form contracts with other space stations for trade, but also with traders who attend the space station.

NPC ships follow the same (interior/exterior) rules as space stations, but cannot be controlled (but they can be manipulated into various actions) and be of varying value to the player. So, when the space station is attacked, it can suffer the same specialized damage as the space station.

Basically this is like sim city in space with added complications (like having to deal INTENSIVELY with neighbors which may or may not like you based on the choices you make).

Thoughts?

[Julius]

Sounds like a Deep Space Nine simulation *yawhnn*

If you want to make such a game *yourself* go for it, but as an idea by itself it will probably not gather enough interest to attract developers.

P.S.: I would find it mildly interesting if it wasn't in a startreck like faster than light traveling setting, but rather in a hard-sf sub-lightspeed colony ship somewhere in the deep dark space and the main component of the game was to keep the bio-sphere inside the ship operational. Could be a nice info-tainment game that way.

[qubodup]

My thoughts:

(right after starting to read) "Sounds like Startopia. Perhaps OpenDungeons is a project to get started with?

(mid-reading) It's a nice short description but sounds like there are very many details of high complexity. Starting an open source game project that has high gameplay complexity (expecially when trying to be original, rather than starting by copying proven game concepts) and aiming for 3d is something I don't find realistic to ever reach playable stage. (Sorry about the negativity)

(after reading) "I wonder whether you know Unknown Horizons."

Full 3D* visuals seem to be important for you, may I ask why?

*What is 'full 3d'?