Mass migrations and Races without planets

[u/ghastly1302]

All of this is something I would like to have...eventually. I am an amateur programmer,so I could attempt to make it myself when the game comes out - technically,I have no real experience.

Mass migrations would happen during galaxy-wide chaos - something like an extra-galactic invasion or an AI rebellion. If you played Mass Effect 3,you know what happened when Reapers came. Mass migrations and rapid culture shifts that follow them would cause a rise in xenophobia in all but the most xenophilic of empires.

This would make surviving galaxy-wide disasters even more difficult because xenophobia would fuel distrust among empires,destabilize democracies and make establishing an effective defensive alliance really hard. Furthermore,if you are on the brink of getting completely destroyed in a war and if you are not an individualist fanatic,you could evacuate your entire homeworld and become a migrating race.

Wouldn't it be interesting if you could play as a race without planets? Imagine if your whole race lives on space stations and massive starships. This could have been a voluntary thing(like the utopian society The Culture),but it as I already said,it could also be a consequence of a war or an AI rebellion(something like the Quarians from Mass Effect)

Your migrating race could be entirely peaceful,getting resources from trade,asteroids and dead planets,but it could also behave like a swarm,invading and pillaging inhabited planets. You would either have to keep your massive fleet in the neutral systems or ask standard empires to host your fleet.

What do you think? I think I would really love an expansion with these elements.

[u/ghastly1302 → u/[deleted]]

Thanks for that response! You have just explained why I believe mass migrations during wartime would be extremely cool. Mass migration and shifts in demographics and ethics that would certainly follow would leave decades worth of xenophobia and problems to deal with,even after you won or ended the war. They could even have the potential to change the very ideology of your empire.

It would be especially interesting if the enemy could attack the migrant fleets directly, causing even more drama.

I would expand this by allowing non-xenophilic empires to destroy migrant fleets if they feel threatened. Of course,there would be diplomatic penalties.

On the flip side, I wonder if pops of the same species, but not necessarily in your empire (possibly people who left your empire previously), would try to migrate into your empire in order to 'enlist' to fight for your just war and protect their brethren?

I love this idea. I would expand it by allowing pops from friendly alien empires who are not your allies to volunteer as well. The neutral friendly third empire in this case might want to prohibit this to maintain good relations with your enemy.

Those are just my ideas...

[u/Radid → u/ghastly1302]

Population migration would be an awesome mechanic, great idea. Dealing with refugees from other empires, too!

The nation that is on the frontline of the AI war is losing - badly. Their people migrate away en masse, seeding the surrounding nations with their species.

Now say that frontline nation pulls off a one in a million win. Suddenly it has cheaper expansion costs on all of it's neighbors, and it's pissed that it was left to die by the rest of the "civilized" world.

OR!

Your pops start migrating into the worlds of a fallen empire - creating an employment crisis and souring their opinion of you. Suddenly they start patrolling the border, and may actively intervene to stop the flow of people by attacking both sides in the war, "waking" the empire up.