I know I haven't been updating much. I probably should have said more, but being busy with life stuff AND trying to design game stuff, didn't leave much time for sharing.
In short, I've been rethinking how to manage some things with planets. I wasn't comfortable or happy with how the planetary design was looking before.
The main thing is this: Originally, planets would have a certain number of 'slots' on them; they would be arbitrary points based on planet size, where an outpost or city or army could be located, or a fleet in orbit overhead. The programming to manage that was going to be really complicated and fairly awkward, and considering the freedom of motion allowed in the rest of the game, it just didn't feel right.
Oddly enough, I foresaw this possible solution, so when I created the coordinate system I made an accomodation for this. At that time, it didn't seem likely that I would use it since I looked at it a little differently than I am now... but with a little adjustment, it will now take over! I'll have to go back and make adjustments anyway, simply to remove the old accomodation from the system, but that should be pretty easy.
I know I said it last time, but hopefully I'll start posting regular updates soon... I love winter, and now that it's getting to winter season here, I think it's helping to re-excite me about everything again =D
I'm not yet 100% on the rules of planet formation, but I'm close. Reeeeally close, now!
Revealed : Outposts and cities can be built anywhere on a planet, and different locations will have different resource richness. Geological probing and scanning should be performed to determine the value of a planet and find the best places to build. Outposts cannot be placed too close together, thus the planet can host a limited number of settlements, based on its size.
