Diplomacy?

[Makk]

As an Engineer in the the employ of GDI, we always seek diplomatic solutions before any conflict. However, when encountering an organization like NOD or this species of alien in their current state, I often find myself having to slay large numbers of either or be slaughtered myself.
I'd like to see if it will ever be a mechanic in the base game eventually to research the local species and eventual develop a means to communicate with them, and understand their perspective.

One such advantage could be communicating with the organisms and setting yourself up a deadline to go through new technological channels and develop mechanisms, machines, robots, and avenues of power production which would reduce or even eradicate your emissions, leading to a state of cohabitation and/or trade

Another such effect could be infighting between the different hive groups which, at the player's discretion, could be intervened in, leading to armistices and a 'relation' factor being driven up or down in the region or pertaining to the specific hives among other actions that decisively drive up or deteriorate down that same counter.

Wandering if anyone else would think this to be reasonable enough to possibly work on?

[The_Dark_Nate]

Or perhaps a greater enemy/threat/predator than the current aliens, and you can eventually forge a symbiotic relationship/alliance to fend of the greater beast..

[Makk]

Or perhaps a greater enemy/threat/predator than the current aliens, and you can eventually forge a symbiotic relationship/alliance to fend of the greater beast..

Ohhhh, yea!

I totally didn't even think of that

[mischievousgod]

I was just looking to this post...
I've started playing Factorio some weeks ago, so I don't have the experience most of you guys must have (those big maps.... I'm not even close to them yet...).
But anyway, I'd like to give my 2c....

From my few gameplays I've surely encountered some alien bugs... and besides killing them (as there's no other options at the moment...), I was thinking about means of diplomacy...
Well not exactly diplomacy. Let's think about diplomacy, domestication and control...

They are organic bugs, and they seem to need resources too, as they have they own hives... thinking about domestication, one thing that ocurred to me that like other swarm like creatures, they could be attrached by some... things. This could lead to many uses, domestication one that come right to my mind... Sure you could lure them to somewhere and explode the hell out of them, but as Factorio is about best use of resources, why not domesticate them? Perhaps technology for creating "alien bug ration", alien pheromones for mood control/crowd control.
The domestication path could lead to use them as catter, processing mature bigger alien bugs for subproducts (special factory modules, the purple science flask, bio-neural factory modules).

There could be too technology for direct mind control, creating mind-controlled alien mules for cargo transportation swarms (alternative for trains?)... Perhaps flying mind-controlled bugs for fast and over-lakes cargo transport... Using armored/weaponized big alpha bugs for base defense, creating organic structures, like cyborg (alien organism, brain/"steel") special labs.

And there's also less invasive diplomacy... Keep the alien bugs at bay (happy) providing them regularly with "alien ration" or some substance they would be attracted too.

It's nice to have a menace like the alien bugs to keep things interesting, but openning up possibilities to tinker with them would be really cool.