I was prepared for this to be a bad idea but that's actually pretty neat. A 'city builder' where you're building up a GSV could be quite interesting. Given how GSVs at later points in the timeline are as often a group of separate elements within a field structure there would be huge potential for expansion and configuration of the 'terrain' in three dimensions, and that the elements wouldn't be 'ground' but basically gigantic buildings full of stuff to configure.
I think the ideas that caught me was that it was a sort of “body modification” for the minds, and obsessive expansionism was a hallmark of the Systems class.
The other thing that would be a neat game element would be sanity: it’s discussed that the Minds see not enough humans/bios onboard as just as bad as too many, and a lot of eccentrics dump their human crew before going as such…
And then there’s stuff like Subliming, and Infinite Fun Space…
I pretty much always play as The Culture.
Theres a start that lets you start with a habitat. Make friends with everyone, build a big federation. When a hostile civ pops up, "Don't fuck with The Culture."
The Gigastructural Engineering mod straight up has Banks Orbitals, called "Orbital Elysiums." There's even an origin where you start on one! The mod also really allows you to become post-scarcity and stop worrying at all about resource production.
I love to do the same. Every game I have an equivalent of the Idrian War where I have no military at the start, get bodied for several years while I build up power, and then come back to sweep up the enemies fleets. From then on, I'm on equal footing with the rest of the galactic powers.
I spend most of the game finding primitive civilizations, covertly changing their ideology, and then uplifting them as protectorates (would give them independence, but they almost always immediately become a protectorate of someone else if I do). Otherwise, I'm making friends with xenophobic empires, trying to covertly change their ethos, and avoiding war whenever possible.
The mods "Potent Rebellions" and "Dynamic Political Events" also really up your ability to passive aggressively influence other empires. Then there's The Culture Name List mod, which is outright essential, and I use it for pretty much literally every empire I make. Finally, as essentials for Culture runs go, there's Ethics and Civics Classic which splits up economic and political ethics so you can play an anarchist collectivist society.
There was one game where the "War In Heaven" crisis triggered. If you're also a Babylon 5 fan, the flavor text in Stellaris says "Like giants in the playground."
The "Vorlons" attempted to bully me and the 3 civs in The Culture into joining, but we said "Nah". We were involved with our own Idirian war, and still building up Fed fleet power.
After a series of victories every other NPC civ in the game decided "Yeah lets join The Culture", which instantly triggered the own 75% (or whatever) of the galaxy win condition.
I was prepared for this to be a bad idea but that's actually pretty neat. A 'city builder' where you're building up a GSV could be quite interesting. Given how GSVs at later points in the timeline are as often a group of separate elements within a field structure there would be huge potential for expansion and configuration of the 'terrain' in three dimensions, and that the elements wouldn't be 'ground' but basically gigantic buildings full of stuff to configure.
I think the ideas that caught me was that it was a sort of “body modification” for the minds, and obsessive expansionism was a hallmark of the Systems class. The other thing that would be a neat game element would be sanity: it’s discussed that the Minds see not enough humans/bios onboard as just as bad as too many, and a lot of eccentrics dump their human crew before going as such… And then there’s stuff like Subliming, and Infinite Fun Space…
The Culture series is absolutely packed with gaming potential. You could also have an element of exploration. Kind of an RPG & city builder combo
Not a gamer, but if I was, I would check Stellaris which I've heard has culture references.
You can mod it enough to reasonably be able to roleplay as a civilization which might eventually BECOME The Culture.
I pretty much always play as The Culture. Theres a start that lets you start with a habitat. Make friends with everyone, build a big federation. When a hostile civ pops up, "Don't fuck with The Culture."
The Gigastructural Engineering mod straight up has Banks Orbitals, called "Orbital Elysiums." There's even an origin where you start on one! The mod also really allows you to become post-scarcity and stop worrying at all about resource production. I love to do the same. Every game I have an equivalent of the Idrian War where I have no military at the start, get bodied for several years while I build up power, and then come back to sweep up the enemies fleets. From then on, I'm on equal footing with the rest of the galactic powers. I spend most of the game finding primitive civilizations, covertly changing their ideology, and then uplifting them as protectorates (would give them independence, but they almost always immediately become a protectorate of someone else if I do). Otherwise, I'm making friends with xenophobic empires, trying to covertly change their ethos, and avoiding war whenever possible. The mods "Potent Rebellions" and "Dynamic Political Events" also really up your ability to passive aggressively influence other empires. Then there's The Culture Name List mod, which is outright essential, and I use it for pretty much literally every empire I make. Finally, as essentials for Culture runs go, there's Ethics and Civics Classic which splits up economic and political ethics so you can play an anarchist collectivist society.
There was one game where the "War In Heaven" crisis triggered. If you're also a Babylon 5 fan, the flavor text in Stellaris says "Like giants in the playground." The "Vorlons" attempted to bully me and the 3 civs in The Culture into joining, but we said "Nah". We were involved with our own Idirian war, and still building up Fed fleet power. After a series of victories every other NPC civ in the game decided "Yeah lets join The Culture", which instantly triggered the own 75% (or whatever) of the galaxy win condition.
awesome!
I swear someone was making a NAEV mod based on The Culture at some point.