Sim City Meets Warhammer 40K

[Emiscary]

So right off the bat, this is a dream I have. It is not a game that's actually in development. Now that we've cleared that up, here's the gist of what I had in mind:

So it's never ceased to annoy me that the entire point of the Warhammer 40K setting is its mind boggling scale, and yet no game set in that universe has been able to effectively represent that scale. Typically in a game of 40K you take the role of one guy on a really fucked up planet, or a heroic/infamous commander getting ready to destroy/reclaim one really fucked up monument or military asset. Which is fine. But none of the above activities make me feel as though I'm living under the thumb of the biggest most labyrinthine and tyrannical government in the history of history.

So my proposition would be to design a 40K game that DOESN'T cast you in the role of a fracking soldier for a change. I wanna play the role of a high ranking official in The Administratum (the megalithic organization of bureaucrats who actually run the Imperium). So essentially, you'd spend the majority of the game looking at displays like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9asMbft0QU

Except instead of the game time warping you into the body of a Space Marine once you've decided what to do about that first planet, you keep right on managing the lives of billions of people like a jaded human resources director. IE:

"RECOMMENDED COURSE OF ACTION?"

"EXTERMINATUS?"

"... AFFIRMATIVE. DEPLOYING VIRUS BOMBS."

Maybe I'm alone, but the game I just described sounds to me like a more entertaining version of what EVE online is supposed to be.

 

[Zykon TheLich_v1legacy]

Yes, I had this idea. You start out as the newly appointed governor of a single planet in a newly colonised system and then have to spread the rule of the Imperium across the whole subsector.

You start off as either a Rogue trader, missionary, ex inqusitor, lord general or administratum type, which gives you different perks etc. Your tithes go to mechanicus, imperium etc to give you tech rescources, logictics, access to Imperial forces for defence and crusades etc, build shrines etc to keep in the ecclesiarchies good books, make sure you root out heresey or you might get purged or loose worlds to chaos, or they could go renegade if you're too harsh and don't maintain enough of an iron grip. You could set up IG recruiting worlds if the PDF or other violent elements are tough enough which raises the chance of getting imperial aid if the shit hits the fan. If you find a suitable world and you're pious enough you might be able to set up an Astartes recruiting world..you could even seek out forbidden knowledge or sell out to chaos for power if you like big risks...I have a lot more I could write, I've thought about this a lot, but not particularly coherently so I'll just leave it at that.

EDIT: Also, it would be nice to go from the scale of say, Battlefront or Battlefield up to the scale of Galactic Givilizations, visiting Dawn of War and Civilization on the way.

 

[Jandau]

I find it mildly disturbing that there are at least two other people that have the same dream game idea as me. And not just that there are people who want a Sci-Fi management sim, but rather that they also want a Warhammer 40k planet management sim...

 

[Jynthor]

Personally I just want an Inquisitor game in the vein of Mass Effect.
Although this could be great too.

 

[Smooth Operator]

So you want a Warhammer 40k text adventure... well it could be a laugh and I'm pretty sure one fan or another already made that, if not get on that you crazy fanfic people (and try to go light on those space marine gang bangs).

I would rather have Dawn of War 3, this time going larger not smaller if you would please.
A greater scale with more story and intrigue that could really show off the WH40k lore muscle, and I rather like playing the fighting part since it tends to be exciting... not sure if the administrative duties are quite up there, hot coffee is probably the most dangerous part of their daily lives.

But then we come back to THQ circling the drain, that text adventure might be the only thing we see of the universe for a long long time.

 

[Zykon TheLich_v1legacy]

So you want a Warhammer 40k text adventure... well it could be a laugh and I'm pretty sure one fan or another already made that, if not get on that you crazy fanfic people (and try to go light on those space marine gang bangs).

I would rather have Dawn of War 3, this time going larger not smaller if you would please.
A greater scale with more story and intrigue that could really show off the WH40k lore muscle, and I rather like playing the fighting part since it tends to be exciting... not sure if the administrative duties are quite up there, hot coffee is probably the most dangerous part of their daily lives.

But then we come back to THQ circling the drain, that text adventure might be the only thing we see of the universe for a long long time.

I think he probably means something along the lines of Galactic CivII, for those of us that prefer to fantasise about being genocidal megalomaniacs rather than genocidal generals.

 

[Pink Gregory]

I'm not sure a 40k-based space management type thing would end up being much different than any other space management type thing (Endless Space, GalCiv etc), except with no diplomacy because THERE IS ONLY WAR.

Certainly some interesting stuff could be done with the Astronomicon/the Warp, but I'm not sure how it'd translate into gameplay in a unique way.

 

[Pfheonix]

OP Vasectomy

So... How long do you think this planet will last? Five minutes?

 

[Zantos]

I'm not sure a 40k-based space management type thing would end up being much different than any other space management type thing (Endless Space, GalCiv etc), except with no diplomacy because THERE IS ONLY WAR.

Certainly some interesting stuff could be done with the Astronomicon/the Warp, but I'm not sure how it'd translate into gameplay in a unique way.

That would be amazing, especially if they tried to integrate the time travel effects into travel. A ship that you've never seen before turns up in orbit somewhere, then sometime later during a warp jump one of those ships disappears. That would be great! And the diplomacy settings. Your relationship with eye of terror is currently war. Would you like to change to Ultrawar?

OT: It could be interesting. Asking chapter masters to borrow a few companies, filing the inquisitions expenses ("What do you mean 700,000 thrones for miscellaneous!?!"), checking a planet's output to make sure the governor isn't sending some of it along for an underground tzeench cult to supply an army. Could be interesting.

 

[Hazzard]

I love this idea, problem being players will likely set up their systems to be self-sufficent ASAP, in 40K there are a lot of world that could not support themselves on their own, this could kill the fun quickly, so you would need something to stop this happening.

 

[Pink Gregory]

Kind of off-topic, but I would LOVE to see either a small-scale TBS (a la XCOM/Jagged Alliance)using the Necromunda rules, inside a hive world, or a Baldur's Gate style RPG using the Inquisitor rules.

It's difficult to play them on tabletop without a fudgeload of decent scenery, a bunch of people and a fully-fleshed out campaign, so a videogame would be great for them.

 

[Evil Top Hat]

That's a pretty fantastic idea! If you're vision of the game is an interface like the space marine opening cutscene, then I guess that's a rudimentary enough design for it to be possible for you to just make that game on your own. Learn some of that fancy pants software stuff and get a kickstarter going if it goes well for you.

 

[Emiscary]

Anyone who claims there would be absolutely no diplomacy hasn't really thought it through. The Imperium is made up of dozens of largely autonomous governing bodies that don't owe direct allegiance to anyone (theoretically) besides The Emperor and The High Lords of Terra.

Your default course of action when dealing with aliens or traitors is naturally war, but it might be a bad idea to tell the Adeptus Mechanicus to fuck off and die when you disagree- considering that they're the ones building your guns and ships. Similarly you don't wanna step on the Ecclesiarchy's toes considering they can whip whole star systems into a religious frenzy and declare a holy war on your ass if you don't take them seriously. There are other examples, but there ya go.

 

[Zantos]

Anyone who claims there would be absolutely no diplomacy hasn't really thought it through. The Imperium is made up of dozens of largely autonomous governing bodies that don't owe direct allegiance to anyone (theoretically) besides The Emperor and The High Lords of Terra.

Your default course of action when dealing with aliens or traitors is naturally war, but it might be a bad idea to tell the Adeptus Mechanicus to fuck off and die when you disagree- considering that they're the ones building your guns and ships. Similarly you don't wanna step on the Ecclesiarchy's toes considering they can whip whole star systems into a religious frenzy and declare a holy war on your ass if you don't take them seriously. There are other examples, but there ya go.

Tutorial tip #4: Don't call the people in control of the Emperor class titans "A big bunch of pussies".

Tutorial tip #17: Anyone could be an Inquisitor and they are unlikely to have a sense of humour.

Tutorial tip #40: Keep calm and wait for the Ultramarines to show up.

Yeah, I'm really up for this now. Could be some seriously good fun.

 

[IBlackKiteI]

I'd play the shit out of it, if it had a much more combat focused approach, if just about everything you did was ultimately about arming, training and sending off Guardsmen to die by the metric fuckton in the act of killing metric fucktons more heretics.
This is 40k, might as well be a game about fightin' 'round the world/sector/galaxy/whatever.

Imagine being Governor of Cadia or something.
Yeaaaaaaah.

 

[SckizoBoy]

snip

Huh... I'd rather go for a Warhammer 40K Total War style-y game, where there are elements from various factions on a game world covering several star systems, an appropriate tech/building/research tree with the usual load out of units then everyone going ape shit.

That'd be much better. Can have RTT battles as well, TBS main-map gameplay and assault bonuses when you drop an invasion force right on top of an enemy stronghold, or something.

Requires more thought... but fucking hell, it'd be an awesome game if CA pulled it off. Think about it... 20000 plus elements onscreen blasting the shit out of each other, tanks, titans and all... -_-

 

[Zantos]

Ooooh, can it have a function where you can plow an asteroid into a nearby planet? I think I've got a breakdown of how much that costs somewhere...

EDIT: As it turns out, the reason I have that is because it's a breakdown of cost to plow an asteroid into a planet vs. cost of bombarding it then moving it on. Turns out a few magna-melta warheads is considerably cheaper than hitting it with an asteroid.

 

[The_Lost_King]

When I first saw the title I thought, "WHAT?". This doesn't really seem like Sims City at all. Once you elaborated, I thought it sounded like an awesome idea.

 

[Sir Shockwave]

I think I'd be more excited about playing this than Dawn of War 40 Billion or another SPHESS MAREEEN. Sadly, I don't think GW will ever let it see the light of day -_-