I know I'm a bit late to the party ... :P
We talk a lot about the modding aspect that might disappear, of course it's to consider but I think only a small portion of players would have used them. To me the most important issue is
game performance. Decentralizing servers had the advantage of taking away much stress out of the client and gave the ability to redistribute some of the computations to the server
s, making the client overall more fluid. If we revert to the centralized server, how is performance going to be impacted ?
I also agree with Vince here :
Invincible said:just being able to see everything you made as whole and not through the regional view gives a huge sense of accomplishment and satisfaction
Regions is a workaround to bad performance for huge maps and a workaround shouldn't be a start-off solution for a new game (MC2).
Going decentralized does not necessarily screw trading and cooperation up, from the start I was thinking that server admins who trust each other could mod the game in order to setup unofficial trade routes between servers. Same for the chat (it could even be implemented in the official game, then you input the IP of the server you allow trade with), the two servers then acting as one, and we can setup a large network like that. I'm sure discord servers like NOZ and T1P would be able to do that and create a network of say 5 servers allowing 50 simultaneous players which is a good start considering the MC1 playerbase.
Going centralized does not necessarily mean needing regions otherwise bad performance, as stated by bast
here, huge computations are not necessarily needed:
bastecklein said:You know DKMK100 I do like the idea of going back to the "colonizing" roots and feel, and not so much the city management feel as in MC1. I think MC2 will have a slower pace, in some respects, as far as progression goes. And maybe a more realistic feel to it, like what first settling a new world will really be like.
Get rid of the 100+ armies of rovers, 100+ same-type buildings, dozen of stargates "importing" tens of thousands of people a minute and you're left with a game just as enjoyable while being less resource-consuming (right?)
My conclusion is that (feel free to contest that) unless it's possible to guarantee performance changes to the point where the whole game from start to end can be played on an "infinite" map (and not regions) we stick to decentralized, otherwise let's centralize. To me that's what it comes down to, and building on the same map could be done just like multiplayer was (supposed) to happen either way (centr. or decentr.)
Something I must agree to, regardless of the game turning centralized or decentralized:
bastecklein said:trading resources over the GBT instantly really isn't realistic [...]. actually using Star Ships to build trade networks between colonies.[...] Maybe in MC2, Star Ships are the only real way to export/import/trade resources off of your planet. It makes logical sense. You build Star Ships and you can either then trade with Earth for rip-off prices bases on your starship cargo capacity, or you can set up networks with other players.
I like this idea. I don't know if that is what you are referring to but I remember
this topic (2.5 years ago wow). Back then I wasn't expecting these changes to go live but they can be relevant now (summed up) :
Sobeirannovaocc said:the [space] station should actually be the starting point of a player. [...] after that you send space ships for every colony you start [...] travel times could be introduced [given the distance on the galactic map] [...] some techs to accelerate the travel time like researching better engines for the ships [...] When you buy on the GBT it can take time to get the resource, depending on the location of the other person's station. When you post a trade on the GBT the ressources are sent to your station. All the resources you buy on the GBT have to transit by your station. This will make players rely more on the commonwealth and the mother colony (bc closer) and rare resources that would only be produced by the zolarg for example will take time to come. [It will also add the need for greater anticipation. Maybe the space staion can be the company's HQ].
I also like the embassies where the other player has a dedicated space to build what they want.