Details: Eons ago, there was a race that is said to have explored almost all of the known universe. Staggeringly advanced, they created machines and marvels the likes of which no race since has been able to match. Their worlds were many and their monuments breathtaking to behold. One day, the Elder Race simply vanished, their great cities and star-spanning empire gone, almost without a trace. What once were inhabited worlds now lay overgrown, as if centuries of nature had grown up in the course of a single solar sweep. Stations and fleets of ships went silent, and were never seen again. Only wandering ghosts, left behind in their departure, were left to show that the Elder Race had ever existed at all. Or so the stories say... This is the story told to explain the Eidolons, nomadic and mysterious traders that roam from star to star. Not everyone believes it, but the Eidolons themselves offer no explanations for where they come from, or what their purpose is. It is difficult to even call them a race, because it is unknown if they are living things at all. Certainly, they are intelligent, for they are shrewd bargainers, possessing exceptional crafts and knowledge, but they appear to be more like computers than individuals, exhibiting very little personality. So, what is an Eidolon? Eidolons are roughly humanoid entities, formed of brightly coloured holograms and forcefields. The way the panels of their body go together give them an appearance of wearing vests, ties, and/or suspenders. Most of the body is more-or-less joined together, but their hands and orb-shaped heads float detached from the main mass. Eidolons "live" on wandering starships which seem to be more loose collections of computer systems and projectors, held together by more of the same fields that comprise their "bodies" than actual vessels. Indeed, Eidolons may only be manifestations of these ghost ships, constructed for the purpose of interacting with other races. Here's a (really bad) concept drawing... Purpose: Vendor When out exploring, there would be a random chance of encountering an Eidolon ship. These would essentially be a rare event, and might appear anywhere at any time...but they wouldn't stay long. Trading with Eidolons would be a way for the player to get items whose procedurally-generated stats would be skewed to be somewhat better than average, as well as some of the more advanced, rare, or "high end" items being available. However, this comes with a significant drawback. As stated above, the Eidolons are master traders, and their prices would be exorbitant, possibly from 5-10 times the actual value of an item. What this essentially makes them, is a Pixel-sink. They would offer things you could get otherwise, but that might not be as good (though they might, or even be better), or things that are difficult for the player to get. However, the catch is that you have to put in a lot of work elsewhere to get that early advantage, which you may later end up surpassing anyway. This would make them a lucky find, useful for getting around momentary stumbling blocks, but not something that the player can rely on as a quick-fix for all their problems, or something that gives an overwhelming advantage to those lucky enough to be able to encounter them. Phrases: On boarding ship "Welcome. Valued. Customer." <Bows> "Greetings. {Mammalian/Vegetative/Avian/Cybernetic/Plasmid/Etc...}. Life-form." Phrases: General "Quality. Is. Assured. | Costs. Are. Non-negotiable." <Body flickers> "Buy. Something. Will. You." <Taps foot> "Awaiting. Your. Patronage." "Apologies. For. The. Limited. Selection." Phrases: Player uses weapon (not every time) "You. Break. It. You. Bought. It." <Body flickers> "Your. Aggression. Has. Been. Noted. | Prices. Adjusted. Accordingly." "That. Looks. Like. It. Could. Use. An. Upgrade." Phrases: Purchase made "Satisfaction. Guaranteed." <Bows> "Thank. You. For. Your. Custom." <Waves> "Have. A. Nice. Day. Madam/Sir."
I was thinking that. Maybe, for effect, not all Eidolon ships would be traders. Some might just sit there and ignore hails and be non-boardable/decorative until they leave. That would give them more of an eerie feeling, and make the rare trade ships feel like more of a special find. Some "weird" sounding music or fog on the ships would be good atmosphere too.
First of all, pardon my reviving my own dead thread. However, I'd like to get some feedback. Specifically, why did I never get any feedback? If I can figure out where I went wrong, maybe I can avoid making such a mistake again. Was it the poor artwork? Is the idea just so inherently flawed that it could never work? Does my idea of a race of gypsy hologram people seem unfitting for Starbound? Or is the problem that the race is good, but not interesting as just an NPC? I had played around at one time with submitting the concept for a playable race. They would have still been the remnants of a once-great cosmic empire, their consciousness' transferred into bodies of force and light. The basis for their equipment would also have been holograms. Light-shield armours, projector frames making furniture out of hardened light, and equipment based on prisms, reflectors, projectors and lenses, basically everything made of mechanical skeletons with the larger parts in coloured light. In contrast to their high-tech gear and ships, though, their settlements would all have been ancient ruins, crumbling and in disrepair, the evidence of a race in its decline. Ultimately, though, I decided against this approach for three reasons. I felt it would be too much like the Prometheans from Halo 4. I couldn't see much to differentiate them from the recently added Novakids. It seemed like there were too many race suggestions already. Was this a bad call?
If you really want constructive criticism of this idea, here goes. The premise is too similar to preexisting races and too unrealistic. Light needs to have a light source to exist, like a hologram projector. A race of holograms would act like artificial beings, which we already have called the Glitch. The Novakids are slightly more plausible because they are made of superheated gas trapped in a "shell" and they use normal items. So I hope that feedback helps. Start with a premise that is plausible and go from there.
Well, the concept I presented originally has them never leaving their ships. They'd be projected, presumably, by the ship. As a race, I would imagine them having a "core" of some sort that projects their body. Also, I'm not sure how having more than one artificial race is taboo when there are many biological ones. I do agree on them being similar to the Novakids, though (but speaking of implausible biology...). Still, thanks for the feedback. It gives me a better idea of how people think. That's something that I'm not always good at.
To be honest, it seems like a good idea to implement these. Random events would certainly make the game more interesting, on top of the fact that this one could let you get out of a down-time when it comes to equipment.
This could be a mod too. Or an future update, either way, with sifi and paranormal concepts running throughout the forums, and a large community, i'm sure we will see mods like this and many other interesting things in SB's future.
I like this idea. It would make the game more interesting. It would be cool if you blocked the projector their shells would fall to the ground temporarily. And, if you took away/blew up the projector, the ship would blow up.
After getting to play the beta a bit, I'd like to revive this idea. I think that having a vendor with high-end goods (like from another sector or some-such) but at a premium mark-up would make a great rare event. Maybe it could even have a challenge factor in that, if you can get to their ship's computer you can just steal some advanced plans. However, they themselves are just hardlight projections, so you have to find the emitter and destroy that to keep them from just endlessly respawning if you make them hostile. Fun.
