Revamp the Oko

[DaloLorn]

This idea came around while discussing Toc's custom race. I ultimately chose the pirate race over this... but I still wanna do it sometime! 😁

• Increase population growth.
• Add the "Biomass" Material, primarily produced by Stalks at a rate dependent on the planet's population.
  • Other planets also generate a small trickle of Biomass. Planets can also sacrifice population to gain a lump sum of Biomass (and should be encouraged to do so).
• Building flagships, orbitals and buildings now requires Biomass. (Ore costs are reduced where applicable, though!)
• Flagships are no longer built at full size.
  • Oko spend increasingly large amounts of Biomass to advance their ships through their various stages of life. Additionally, each stage of life lasts a minimum of one budget cycle.
  • Sprout:
    • Cannot move, use abilities, or fire weapons. Cheap to construct and maintain, but will eventually die off if not allowed to grow for three consecutive budget cycles.
  • Seedling:
    • Larger than the Sprout stage. Cannot move, but is able to use abilities and weapons now. More expensive to maintain than the Sprout, and will die off if not allowed to grow for five consecutive budget cycles.
  • Sapling:
    • Larger than the Seedling stage. Can move, but has not yet reached its full potential and can no longer be retrofitted. More expensive to maintain than the Seedling, and can no longer expire over time.
  • Mature:
    • Larger than the Sapling stage. The pinnacle of an Oko ship's life, Mature ships should make up the bulk of an Oko battlefleet, and are (you guessed it) more powerful and expensive than Saplings.
  • Venerable:
    • Moderately larger than the Mature stage. Mature ships which have accumulated three experience levels and been at their current life stage for no less than three budget cycles are allowed to become Venerable in exchange for an above-average Biomass and maintenance investment.
    • Venerable ships can purchase additional levels with increasingly large amounts of Biomass. They cannot, however, grow any larger.
    • Venerable ships can be consumed for a huge amount of Biomass dependent on their size and accumulated experience.

[Arpharnator]

you'll need specific scout and miner hulls in order to implement this, can't have the oko run around for several minutes without scouts.

[DaloLorn]

I'll need specific everythings to implement this... but I see your point. Some kind of rapidly grown, disposable hull would be useful for certain functions.