Idea: Superweapons

[tzerrell]

Idea by originally P_aul, multiple iterations
Superweapons - either as ancient relic you find as a series of events or special tech that you can only obtain after event chain but develop afterwards. Usage could completely destroy planet (if possible) or change it's type to barren/molten/tomb world, or just clean the surface (kill all pops and building... or maybe JUST pops?) Either way even having access to it should give large negative opinion modifier and actually using it makes everyone your sworn enemy (-1000 opinion). Furthermore to keep things balanced it should be super lategame (crisis level) should stop working after one use or give everyone else their own nuclear arsenal if someone uses it... Actually there's enough ideas to make two or three different superweapons.(by edytowane)

[renegade404]

Biological Terrorvirus Unearthed

This is a proposed anomaly that spawns on a tomb world.
The actual effects of this event would be heavily dependant on what is possible within the code, but could include the ability to remove every pop on one planet, with the possibility of the virus spreading to other planets. could become a long event chain which if handled incorrectly could kill a large amount of pops across the galaxy.

Upon Discovery:
Biological Nightmare
[Scientist name]'s voice trembles over the comm channel as [he/she] recounts [his/her] findings on [planet name]; an entire civilisation brought low by a single supervirus. Scans show overflowing mass graves, crumbling infrastructure, and derelict cities. All this, of course, beneath a blanket of self imposed nuclear winter, created in the panicked death throes of a once great, globe spanning civilisation.

Fungal growths on every corpse reveal the form of this virus, but further study is needed to ascertain its exact nature. It seems these poor aliens never managed to leave their planets atmosphere, so the virus is currently isolated to [planet name]. [Scientist name] cautions that it should stay that way, but admits their curiosity.

This spawns a max level anomaly.

Upon failure
Quarantine breached
While attempting to study the fungal growths present on the decaying alien corpses, [scientist name] and [his/her] team suffer a catastrophic containment breach. After days of radio science a probe is dispatched to find the lost team. [scientist name]'s ship is found floating aimlessly in orbit of [planet name], covered in fungal growth, with no other signs of life. The probe is recalled without passing too close to the ship.

Options:
Subjects of this nature are too dangerous to pursue any further, but perhaps remote study could be beneficial.

(scientist dies, add +5 society, physics, and engineering research to planet)

We cannot abandon this opportunity!

(Scientist dies, grants special project costing a high amount of society research, upon completion unlocks tech for research)

Upon success
Supervirus strain isolated.
[scientist name]'s efforts have confirmed what many had already suspected. The fungal supervirus that swept across [planet name] was, in fact, a biological superweapon created by one of [planet name]s many competing governments. It appears that the polar lab housing the virus was raided, and a prototype strain was released into the atmosphere. [scientist name] predicts that complete societal collapse took only days, and extinction followed shortly thereafter.

The same question now sits heavily in the mind of every scientist and leader of [empire name]; should this virus be weaponized , or should it be eradicated?

Options:
(Only available to militaristic empires) We must take every opportunity afforded to us.

(Opens up research "Biological Superweapon" for very high society cost, high enough to only be attainable by late-game empires)

We must learn to protect ourselves from such a weapon!

(Opens up research "Supervirus Resistance"(completion of research grants the "Fungal supervirus immunity" trait to primary species, and the ability to genetically modify it onto other species.))

All traces of this virus must be eradicated, for the good of the galaxy!

([planet] is glassed, +200 influence, add empire modifier "Moral high ground" (+5% happiness, -5% ethics divergence))

Upon Research of "Supervirus Resistance"
"Scientists of [empire name] develop immunity to fungal supervirus"
Elation across [empire name] as safety from biological terrorweapons is assured. Free immunisation clinics crop up everywhere from the heart of bustling megalopolises to the most remote colonies as [species name] rush to protect themselves from the horrors of biological warfare.. The fate that befell the residents of that desiccated tomb world will never again come to pass!

Options:
A victory for all living things!

(grants the "Fungal supervirus immunity" trait to primary species, and the ability to genetically modify it onto other species. also grants a permanent positive opinion modifier with other non-militaristic empires)

Upon research of "Biological Superweapon"
"Fugal supervirus weaponized
_Our scientists, working closely with our military engineers, have managed to successfully breed a strain of virus capable of extremely rapid propagation, with a near 100% fatality rate. The threat of this virus has wrought fear in the hearts of our enemies, and we now stand supreme with the ability to bring any rival to their knees. The absolute domination of the galaxy by [empire name] is finally within our grasp! _

Options:
The power to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the... fungus.

The in-game effects of this weapon are restricted by what coders are able to do, perhaps an event that lets you choose a rival and spawn the virus in their capital, or a module that allows a ship to deploy the virus. The superweapon could take the form of a one time use weapon that targets a specific species, causing their pops to slowly die off across all of space (Even migrated pops in other empires) until they research immunisation or die. instead of infecting all pops of a specific species the virus could be coded to spread outwards from a singular point, but that would be some heavy lifting for the code. The usage of this weapon would obviously give a massive diplomatic penalty from all other empires.

There could also be random events causing the virus to mutate to attack another random species, unless the player spends an enormous amount of energy credits to stop it. Basically once the superweapon is used it never goes away, and will constantly depopulate the galaxy at a slow rate, with the dying pops being replaced by robots, quick breeders, and immune species.

[tzerrell]

Excellent!

Spawning the virus as a one time thing on a specific planet would be the easiest to code. The module is probably pretty straightforward but a bit more work. The "can consume the galaxy" thing ... it sounds like we might be able to recycle the brainworm stuff for, actually. Maybe without there needing to be a possible cure we could even make that code work ...

But on the other hand many coders spent many hours on that one without success.

(That said, it sounds super cool and would be awesome if we could get it in.)