Players will earn points based on specific goals and conditions:
Civilian players:
Finding Earth +500
Finding Kobol +50
Settling on any other habitable world +350
Not having a planetary settlement -10 each month for the first six months, -15/mo from months 7-12, -25/mo from months 13-18, -40/mo from months 19-24, -60/mo each month after that
Losing your ship -750
Being elected President of the Colonies +100 the first time, +50 each successive term
Military players:
Finding Earth +2000
Finding Kobol +100
Settling on any other habitable world +100
Losing
any ship -1 per 100 tons military / -1 per 1000 tons civilian (military point losses apply only to the pilot/crew of that ship. ALL military players lose points for losing civilian ships)
Declaring martial law -400 for the Admiral, -100 all other military players
Any Colonial settlement under Cylon occupation -50 per month per world
Destroying Cylon ships +1pt per 100 tons wreckage
The gist I'm going for with points is that for the military, it's Earth or Bust. They have to protect the Fleet, but getting off the boat to set up New Caprica is not an ideal outcome for them. For the civilians, it's all about survival and getting the hell off the boat. Honestly, they're even somewhat okay with living under Cylon occupation. So there's going to be that inherent tension between the two groups.
In addition, there will be a certain number (depending on total playerbase) of Cylon infiltrators among the fleet. These will be determined *at random* after all the roles have been assigned. As more players join, I'll add more Cylons to match the percentage. Any additional Cylons will also be determined at random, meaning that you may play half the game as a loyal Colonial and
then discover that you're a frakkin' toaster.
Cylons will have their own point goals, which I haven't hammered out yet but will mostly consist of getting points for Colonial ships being destroyed, for human players being killed, and especially for human colonies to come under Cylon occupation. They will also be able to initiate sabotage efforts once per month, which I'll roll for and use SM to simulate the results. Results could range from damage to a ship component, to the sudden death of an NPC, to fomenting unrest on board one or more civilian ships, framing another character as a Cylon, or backfiring as revealing oneself as a Cylon (at which point, they will no doubt claim they were framed by the
real Cylon on board!)
Players *can* be accused by others of being a Cylon, and put to a trial. Civilians accused will stand trial by the Quorum. Military accused will face court-martial at the Admiral's discretion.
Comments, suggested rule changes, point tweaks, etc. are welcome! If you're interested, put your application in this thread, with your character name (something suitably Colonial), your callsign (if you want to be military), and any other flavor text you want (physical description, backstory, etc.)
Graduated ThrustOne of the more unrealistic features in Aurora is the ability to adjust a ship's velocity from 1 km/s to 10000 km/s in the blink of an eye. Because a ship at 1 km/s is almost invisible on thermal scanners, it's a bit unfair and makes ambushes too easy and low-risk. So...instituting a house rule.
Civilian ships will be able to increase/decrease speed by 10% of maximum per minute (So going from full stop to full throttle will take ten minutes.)
Artemis (and Cylon basestars) will be able to increase/decrease speed by 20% of maximum per minute.
Vipers, Raptors, Raiders and Heavy Raiders will be able to increase/decrease speed by 10% of maximum every five seconds.Ships in orbit of a planetary body (or even asteroid) can be left at their full speed (it's assumed they're orbiting at top speed, and doesn't burn fuel). This will allow them to immediately move away from the body at top speed if desired, but will also generate their full thermal signature. Conversely, ships may try to "hide" in open space or in orbit by dropping to minimal throttle (equal to using the "picket" order in Aurora) and generating minimal thermal signature.
I'm hoping this rule will serve a few purposes:
1. Make large ships easier to hide, but riskier in doing so.
2. Make combat patrols more essential to the game instead of relying on the big DRADIS scanners.
3. Make fighters and FACs far more valuable because of their high acceleration.
4. Inject some drama as the Vipers have to scramble to intercept those incoming Raiders while the Fleet are still "spinning up their drives".
5. Allow for more realistic ambushes by hiding fighters among asteroid fields or such.