TLDR version, It's a space based strategy game. Skip to "The Questions."
So I am working on a game that works like a basic strategy game. It's a space themed game so my references will fit into that context (although I'm still open to other themes at this point). Essentially, players use fleets to control and conquer systems. I have the basics of the combat down but now I'm struggling with victory conditions. My main intention with this post is to bounce ideas and see what sticks.
I would like to incorporate at least 2 basic options and a blend of the two:
(1) Conquer enough to gain victory
(2) Defend well enough to build your way to victory
(3) Do both well enough to win
There are some more aspects of the game that will be relavent to identify successful alternatives. Just "kill your opponents" wont work because combat usually results in one player taking some losses and retreating. The board scales proportionally to the number of players playing. I would like to maintain victory conditions over the range of 2 to 4 players (maybe eventually 6). Currently, players start with 2 systems and there are 3 unowned systems for each player. This may change to just 5 systems owned by each player for simplicity's sake.
One more attribute is systems have two levels. "Colonies" are the lower level that is controlled by each player. "Core Worlds" are upgraded and provide economic and defense bonuses. Players can pay currency to upgrade a colony to a core world.
****The Questions****
Here is my current thought on the subject: I can think of nothing better than a victory point system where owning colonies grants X points and owning core worlds grants Y points where Y is greater than X. Players race to achieve Z points.
A follow up for that: If I use the previous win condition, assuming each player starts with 2 core worlds and in a 2 player game there are 10 total systems, how many points should X, Y, and Z be?
One last idea: I really would like to work in a non-combat economic development alternative as well. Think merchant fleets. I will probably make a whole post about this but basically, should this grant victory points in and of itself or should it provide income used to make additional core worlds?
So I've been working with the stuff I posted about and I'm still struggling with the details. Specifically, what should a player have to do to win while playing defensively?
It is important to note that player controlled systems will not necessarily be close to each other so linking them is out of the question. What option is there other than spending resources to build something that is both expensive and requires more than one to win?
Linked to this, should defense be based around having success using the Merchant Fleet or other non-combat alternative? I have no idea how this will work yet so I've got a lot to do.