Cool stuff.
My goal for playing any game isn’t really an end goal. I just want to experiment with all the things, build nice contraptions that use one form or another of automation and circuitry or mechanical devices to control some process etc.
Exploration is only fun if it engages ones imagination. A treasure map with puzzles and clues one have to work out makes it fun and interesting. But exploration for the sake of randomly running into things not so much.
For instance, it’s only fun for the first few hints at some underground ore veins. After that it becomes a tedious process of finding that one ore you need to progress.
Would be nicer if one could you know, talk to people and have them tell you where you might find that one diamond deposit in exchange for something valuable as they aren’t miners but knowledge is power.
And in that line, knowledge, it would be kinda cool to have some way of acquiring knowledge through non-grindy in game means. Say you want to know at what depths redstone can appear in small ores.
It would be nice to not have to randomly stumble on a book somewhere but instead make an inquiry for gaining that knowledge. Some villager might already know, or they can help you find out by prospecting for you.
Also, a sense of urgency is always a good motivator for advancing. Say you have actual competition in the world. Say there’s a family out there that has always hated your bloodline. They are always looking to end your existence by any means necessary so they slowly advance in their techniques of accomplishing their goal.
You know, factorio’s evolution factor thing. Just not so evil. Perhaps they progress fast when they are behind, but once they are ahead they get complacent and doesn’t advance so much which means you can once again gain an upper hand.
Armies would be nice, but for performance and stability reasons it might not be that practical.
But one could do the second best thing, simply make things happen “off screen” because you hadn’t spent enough time setting up defenses somewhere.
You only get to know about things that have gone wrong so to speak. Meanwhile your own “army”, as long as it’s doing its job right, gives you a steady stream of enemy weapons and equipment. As well as some other loot from ambushing the enemies supply lines etc.
Make the “armies” abstract. Spending TOO much resources on your army will be wasteful. Spending too little on it could however be disastrous.
Yes, you say you don’t want an auto resolver and i get that. But having to be there yourself for a battle to resolve means the player is either constantly in battles or battles never happen.
I wouldn’t want that. I want battles to resolve without my involvement. I would however still want battles happening at all times.