Communication Range

The game uses a communication range system similar to MoO and SiS. Each communication relay, or whatever I call it, creates a communication range within which you can control your ships. Within this range you have full control of your ships and colonies. While outside of this range, colonies will be automated in governance and ships will be automated too. When a ship is going to leave this range, the game will ask the player to confirm. The player may than que up a number of different things for the ship to do while out of range. But once the ship leaves range, communication is lost and a "ghost" will tell you were the ship should be as well as it's path using the typical UI of a ship. All of this information is estimation however and not to be taken as fact.

Any communication relay that is within range of the capitals relay will extend communication range as though their relay were the capital itself. However isolated areas will need some special tech to be counted as within communication range. Most raw data can be transmitted via communication as well. So if a ship has a relay of it's own that is within range of a planet, they may transmit the raw data into the planet's pool. Making it much safer than on the ship. As if a ship is destroyed, all of its stored raw data is lost as well. (Though it would be nice for future investigations to be able to salvage some level of the raw data through black boxes and the like.)

For the most part the game is played similar to MoO and SiS in regards to coms range. Like most of the mechanics I have been adding, they are there for the semi-occasional situation they create interesting decisions and can be mostly ignored. On that note, leaving coms range should be dangerous and not something people do every chance they get. This will balance it's usage and not handicap players that wish to generally avoid using it. Like with most things, this danger should be possible to mitigate with tech. And the weight for that tech should increase with each time a civilization leaves coms range with a ship. So if a player never does so, they never see the tech and can ignore it. If they do use the mechanic however, the techs around it gain weighting and the player can than advance further along that path. I would like to use a similar system for most of these more fringe mechanics.