FOUNDERS: Earth Rising

I think the proposed plan is wonderful. Especially if each Season pass gets its own unique name, like Earth Rising.

I had a thought on a few things that would be wonderful QoL additions...

• Hyperspace Friend or Foe flagging - Upgrade to the one scanner we have
• SOL Space Station storage unit - Storage for Materials and components you don't want to sell <Limited space, upgradeable with RU>
• Human ships able to be upgraded when Schematics are found, or components are reverse engineered... IE Hypersonic Nukes instead of Advanced Nuke, Phasors instead of Point Defense. -- Limited to what humanity/Lexites would have created

Some other ideas I had which may or may not be outside of the scope of an update/dlc

• Human ships start traversing Hyperspace to explored solar systems and allied races
• Human ships collecting resources from surrounding solar systems that are devoid of enemy presence <RU Gains about 2/5 what you'd bring in if you mined them yourself>
• The ability to task Earth to Reverse Engineer components to redistribute to human vessels
• The ability to task Earth to upgrade the base Lander with modules purchased/found/stolen/etc to free up expansion slots and allow improved performance down the line.  -- ties in with the one above

I like this plan.  It's a reasonable cost, and it seems to provide a lot of content for that cost, and as such is an easy sell.

Season pass looks like the way to go. ( I hate microtransactions)

I wouldn't mind seeing some minor base building, like what was in SC3.

I agree that a season pass is the best, because it does not have to worry about so many combinations of DLC (e.g. you have Earth Rising 1-4 and 6 but not 5) and it happens faster than expansions, but I think you are in the opposite position compared to GalCiv III DLC hurting reviews.

New story content for SCO will snowball into a better and better game and your review scores should increase as new players can do a longer and longer main quest.

The biggest complaints right now are:

1. Grinding too much landing on planets. I don't think those people realize they should do those Mu'Kay ice world quests really early in the game to get a bonus 2000RU per star system they mine, which solves the early game money problem for me.  Rainbow worlds can get you a lot of RU if you are impatient, but I personally like to save them for stuff needed in quests.
2. The story being short and then exploring the universe after defeating the Scryve is not as exciting as if there was still more main quest left.  Season passes fix this.

Will the mini-expansions be available for purchase separately from the season pass? Some people might like to just buy one or two to see if they like it or not want to buy something that isn't released.

Please don't sell the mini-expansions separately.  $19.99 is good for a season pass.  The Witcher 3 had expansions that delivered complete stories for reasonable prices.  DLC meant to be bought individually on top of season passes is OK though (e.g. DLC for SCII ships or stories too small for season passes e.g. multiverse adventures).

I can imagine someone buying one of the 6 parts of Earth Rising and not complaining about it's shortness, understanding they only bought 1/6 of a story, but still complaining it wasn't very engaging (like buying 1/6 of a novel and saying the story was not satisfying, and it would be really hard for an author to make each 1/6 of their novel good on its own).  If they had bought 6/6 they might give a good review saying the complete Earth Rising story was about as good as the Scryve story.

I would go with the season pass route and the traditional Stardock expansions purchased separate.  Why did I say traditional Stardock expansion?  The answer is I know there will be a few like that and they have "more meat" than other game's expansions (and would probably be priced as much as this pass).  That season pass is priced just right in my opinion-$20 gets you $30 worth of DLC-savings of a third.  Saying the names of the DLC you'll get is great too.  I would put expansions as either A: a alternate story for Origins where you are the Scryve starting out thousands of years pre Origins (example) or B: similar sized to Origins licensed universe.  Either way, expansions should be stuff that would be outside a season pass' scope.

  Items that extend the Origins storyline and new race shipsets probably would be useful in season passes.  Also, NOBODY likes tons of small DLC priced too high (hello Dovetail Games and their train simulator for reference).  By the way, what I would define as an expansion for the game is: a licensed universe complete with voice acting, multiple shipsets and possible multiple storylines in the universe.

I think season passes that offer considerable content at a reasonably affordable price are a good way to go, I'd worry about it not being enough for the cost, but it seems like it should be. 

Edit:
However, If it can be done in a financially feasible way, I think the format would benefit more from traditional expansions. A season pass could fill this role, I suppose. 

How will more season passes for SCO be balanced against saving story for a possible SCO 2?  I can't really think of anything SCO can't do that I would want except an much larger star map that could fit more alien civilizations.

Liking the current plan, as well as knowing up front what is part of the pass.

Not liking the term "season pass" but I guess it is industry standard now.

Personally, this looks to me more like "episodic expansion".

I'd prefer to avoid the name "season pass" and just stick with "Earth Rising" or maybe "The Earth Rising Era" or "The Earth Rising Saga" (or something like that). Would it ever make sense to buy "Earth Rising: Destiny" without already having "Earth Rising: The Syndicate"? If not, this feels more like an expansion or story delivered episodically/incrementally rather than a bunch of stuff bundled together into a pass.

I like the way you have suggested that Earth Rising be an episodic bundle.

I'm not a fan of the term "Season Pass" because it's been misused often enough that the term is ambiguous and doesn't communicate anything useful with relation to games. Too many games use "Season Pass" for DLC that is unrelated to the main game or plot, or only tenuously related (you get to play another character in its own plot-line). How is that part of a season? It's not. What you are proposing IS a Season, but the term has become so diluted that it only engenders confusion for me when I see it. ("Is this one really a season pass? Or is it just another way to get me to buy a bunch of unrelated DLC ahead of time?") The only thing Season Pass communicates consistently is "One or more DLC, some of which might not be released yet".

"Earth Rising [Episodic] Expansion" communicates that the customer is getting a story arc in episodic releases, without it being assumed they get anything else. Again, I think you are using the term "Season Pass" correctly, but end up lumped in with all those that use it incorrectly by using the term.

Feedback re: GalCiv3, I'm one of those people that found the GalCiv 3 DLC confusing. When I buy the "Gold" edition, I expect it to include all of the available DLC and any new ones that come along, unless a new expansion comes out. (Then I want to buy the Gold version of that xpac if there would be a bunch of associated DLC). I like that Steam gives me a discount when I "Complete the Package", but I'd rather not have to go to the store page to find out that there's more there for me to buy. Maybe I never bought a Gold edition and am completely misremembering, but I do remember that I've "completed the package" multiple times and it's turned me off such that I haven't done it on the latest expansion.

I think this sounds like a good plan.
Bundling everything in a season pass with public release schedule should make people more inclined to take the risk and purchase it immediately over waiting for all parts to be released.
And having all story chapters bundled up in a single purchase should keep the DLC list short and give customers more positive "expansion pack" vibes.

The word season pass however (as others already stated in this thread) carries a lot of negativity, so once the whole full "season" been released you should just call it "Earth Rising Expansion" or something. As it implies it's a complete package of content rather than a bundle of smaller "stuff packs".
Those are just my 2¢.

Yeah I guess episodic expansion is a better term.

The closest thing to it would be like buying a Season pass to a TV show.  Except here, because it's a non-linear game, a lot of this stuff would be available even if you don't finish the Origins story.

There are no current plans for that.

I Like this idea a lot, best of both worlds. combines the frequency of DLC drops AND the more reasonably priced / cohesive organization of expansions.

Seasons make it easier for people who buy the game down the line as well, because it's self-organizing and discretely 'packaged' for them.

The season pass is a good idea (much better than DLC droppings   ) and set at a good price with the draw of regular fresh content. I don't have an issue with the moniker 'Season Pass' although you could always call it an 'Episodic Arc'.

Whether it is called Season Pass or Episodic Expansion, bundling the Earth Rising content into one package and delivering over the year is the right way to go.

Modifying your ship - looking forward to this. At the moment can't quite turn the Vindicator into the Behemoth killer that every kid dreams of.

in my opinion, you should call these "story packs" rather than season pass. season pass implies DLC that's not very connected to one another.

also, wouldn't "enemy within" be a bit of a trademark issue with firaxis' x-com: enemy from within?

"Enemy within" is a very common phrase used in many stories, songs, and history.  I doubt anyone can claim any kind of ownership of such a commonly used historic phrase.  The was, in addition to many other uses throughout literature and music, a cold war phrase used to describe the true nature of the KGB.  It's kind of the exact opposite of screaming out "McCarthyism!".  I don't think you can claim any kind of ownership of general historic terms like "Cold War", "Great War", or "Bay of Pigs", for example.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBZ2qDIbDUQ

Just finished the game and loved it!
The concept of getting new "episodes" every couple of months is very appealing.

In my opinion, as you built a powerful engine and are planning to reuse it, it is easy to go down a dangerous path of greed in which the episodes are just 'errands' with a half baked story background that isn't even voiced (just adding a condition based dialog tree) OR start adding a lot of unneeded functionality to "justify" the cost.
Don't get me wrong, modifying the UI and tweaking a few things following feedback is OK.
I am more bothered by finding out next year that I don't know how to play the game anymore (e.g. GalCiv3).

I think that a 4~5H voiced episode that is part of a bigger story arc (cliff hanger --> to be continued --> next time) coupled with base game (not related to season pass) UI improvements (following customer feedback) is the way to go.

How will each mini-expansion fit into the existing game? Will they be end game extending or base feature/functionality building which would require a campaign restart to experience? BTW, I really like the pricing and structure of the roll out you described Brad and season pass sounds like a good fit.

I like it.  In a way, it's like a full expansion but you get it sooner than later.  So it's like buying the whole set instead of buying individually.