After going over the Rules again i changed the Mechanics, hopefully making it more manageable.
What is this?The Mandate is a Game Centered around the Politics of the Terran Republic. Players will play as Representatives of the different Colonies and can influence the Laws of the Republic as they see fit. Provided they get a majority.
It is the year 2100 and Earth has finally managed (after a number of bloody wars obviously) to get their shit together and form a unified Government. While Colonies on Mars and the Moon have been established ages ago, they are still not larger than a few thousand people. At least those guys managed to terraform those Planets to allow Large Scale Colonization. Recent Breakthroughs (mostly through the liberal application of money) in Research has allowed Humanity to finally travel through Space at a Speed that is reasonable. With this the Earth Goverments (and the semi-independent governments of Moon and Mars) have decided to form a Unified Senate to herald this new Age of Expansion: The Mandate.
The Mandate is the Overall Government of the Terran Republic. Each Planet may send a Senator and depending on the Population and Importanc eof the World he has one or more Votes. To simplify things it has been decided that a simple majority is enough to achieve a decision. Each World has to pay a 50% tax to the seat of the Mandate, which is incidentally Terra.
The Mandate is compromised of the Chancellor, the Senators and the Representatives.
The Chancellor will always incorporated by me, he is just there for the Organizational bit.
The Senators are Representatives sent by the Terran Colonies with actual voting power.
A Senator does now represent a Nationality instead of a single Colony. Each Population Point gives him one vote. A Senator can never represent two Nationalities.
The Representatives
Are Players who have applied for the Game but have not yet recieved a Colony/Nationality. Representatives appear once Nationalities are freed up and are granted their Senatorship depending on a Senates vote. Rpresentatives can still speak in the Senate however if they abuse their right they can be banned by Impeachment through the Senate.
Votes in the Senate will be anonymous and done via pm. I will set deadlines for votes to advance the game, players who do not vote will automatically set to abstain. If you want to abstain please PM me anyway so you don't hold up the entire game.
Colonies have several Stats which describe them:
Planet Type
Size determines a Planets Population Limit
Tiny = 1 Population
Small = 3 Population
Normal = 4 Population
Large = 5 Population
Huge = 6 Population
Mineral Wealth determines Boni or Mali on Production:
Ultra-Poor = 1/3 Production
Poor = 1/2 Production
Abundant = Standard Production
Rich = Double Production
Ultra-Rich = Triple Production
A Planet has Four Stats determined by the Planet Type: Food produced per Worker, Production per Worker, Population Growth Modifier and Population Limit Modifier
Barren No Farming, 2 Production, No Population Growth, Standard Population Limit
Desert 0,5 Food, 2 Production, 0,5 Pop Growth, Standard Population Limit
Tundra 1 Food, 1 Production, 1 Pop Growth, Standard Pop Limit
Oceanic 2 Food, 1 Production, 0,5 Pop Growth, Standard Limit
Swamp 2 Food, 2 Production, 1,5 Pop Growth, 1,5x Limit
Arid 1 Food, 2 Production, 2 Pop Growth, 2x Limit
Terran 3 Food, 3 Production, 3 Pop Growth, 3x Limit
Gaia 4 Food, 4 Production, 4 Pop Growth, 4x Limit
Asteroid Belt No Farming, 5 Production, 0,25 Pop Growth, Population Limit is always 2
Additionally Planets may have these Stats:
Toxic - Population Growth -1, Pollution begins at reaching Half the Pop Limit, Production Bonus +2
Radiated - Population Growth -0,5, Pollution begins at reaching Half the Pop Limit, Production Bonus +1
Pollution and Overpopulation
Once a Planet reaches and exceeds its Population Limit, not only do you get an Approval hit from Overpopulation but also Pollution slowly degrades the Planet.
Every Pop over the Limit increases Pollution by 10 per turn. Each point of Pollution diminishes first your Agricultural Returns, then your Production Returns and if it gets high enough the PLanet Type itself begins to suffer under it.
Pollution can also be achieved via the use of WMDs.
Population
Population is now more simplified to simple Units. How much one unit is i leave up to imaginations although i always associated it with one billion people.
Population Growht is determined by a rather simple equation: Growth Factor x (Population+Food Surplus) = Growth
Growth is a number added to a threshold. Once that Threshold has been reached or surpassed a new Population Unit comes into existence.
Similiarly Population can shrink through a lack of food.
One Pop can be assigned to one of the following Jobs:
Farming: Each Worker Produces the designated amount of Food (on a planet with 3 Food each worker produces 3 Food)
Production: same as food
Resource Extraction: Each worker assigned produces one resource
Ecological Work: Each worker assigned reduces pollution by 5 per turn
Colony Income
Is derived from Population, Buildings, Slaves and Resources.
Approval and Nationality
As Humanity takes to the stars all it myriad of squabbles remain with it. The Germans hate the French the French hate the British and the Scots hate everyone. In Mandate this is shown by Nationality. As Several different Nationalities settle on a planet Approval will get a Hit from the usual Human Disagreements and Rivalries. However Nationality also determines which senator a given population will vote for. Thus a Senator might be very well interested in converting a population to a certain Nationality.
Earth is the exception. Earth will always produce Seven Nationalities which depend on our Original Senators. For those it will not get any Approval Penalty. New Nationalities can be created by building a Capitol on a Planet, that planet is basically being granted recognition as independent Nation by the Senate and it will thus recieve its own Senator. Why would the existing Senators do that? Simple: A Planet who has been recognized will have full Approval for 5 Turns -which might just be the time needed to fix its issues.
However Nationality is not necessarily always a problem. It only determines whether a population will vote for you or not. If you are for example a Senator with an Indian Colony with a Romanian minority, they are not more prone to revolt, work against you or declare war on you, they will just not vote for you.
Approval is the other stat. Approval determines whether your population thus as its told and is calm and productive, or is up in army. It can be influenced by a myriad factors and determines productivity and revoltrisk on a planet.
Resources
Resources available on that Planet. Resources have various beneficial effects, from increasing approval over productivity or simply bringing extra tax income they have many effects.
Research works the same as in Mandate II you pay in Credits which increases the chance of researching something each turn. Research is unique to each planet so one may already produce Worldships while others try to build measly destroyers.
Military
Generally there are two Types of Units which can be created:
Space Ships
Ground Troops
How they look what class they are and whether they are Tanks,Infantry or War-Titans i leave open to your intepretation.
Each Unit has a Strength Value, which not only represents its Value in a Battle but also works as it's Health Meter.
Ship and Ground Strength can range from 1 to 10.
If we talk Ships, 1 would represent either a Small Corvette or a Fighter Wing, While 10 represents Battleship or Carrier with Planet-Levelling Capabilities
Generally you pay ships for Strength:
A Strength 1 Ship costs you 1 Credits
A Strength 10 Ship costs you 10 Credits
A Strength 1 Ground Unit costs you 0,1 Credits
A Strength 10 Ground Unit costs you 1 Credits
Military Infrastructure
Through certain Civic and Military Researches Military Infrastructure is unlocked which can drastically change Ground Assaults and Orbital Bombardement.
I will only give a shrot summary of them to give you an idea what they do.
Fortresses protect your Regiments. In case of an Enemy Assault all incoming damage will be carried by the Fortress which will be reduced by one level for each Assault borne by the Fortifications. They also protect your troops from Orbital Bombardement
Planetary Defense Networks will attack enemy Fleets in Orbit. They will damage them for each Action they perform iny our Orbit, be it bombardements or the landing of troops.
Automatic Defenses will attack enemy Landing troops. They will damage each incoming Assault Wave when they try to land.
Space Battles
Space Battles function vastly different from Ground Battles.
Each Ship Battle has Three Phases, after which one Fleet either Stands Down or Flees.
Usually a battle is handled the following way.
The summed up Fleet Strengths of Both Fleets are compared. The Difference in Strength is then added as damage to the weaker fleet. thus ends the Phase.
This would be a bland System, however Players also pm Battle Actions for their fleets before a Battle. battle Actions all have a certain Type and block another Type of Action. Battle Actions can vastly influence any battle and allow weaker fleets to obliterate vastly superior enemies if properly played.
At the beginning there are only three battle Actions available, however with Research and Stronger Ships more Actions become available:
Magnetic Field, is a Defense Type Action, which blocks Offense Type Actions. If it is successfully played the usual Strength vs. Strength goes on, however should your Fleet prove weaker you will recieve no damage.
Weapon Overclock is an Offensive Type Action, which blocks Tactical Actions, If it is successfully played you may add +1d10 to your Total Fleet Strength. If you have a Stregnth 2 Ship in your fleet you may add +2d10 and so on up to a maximum of +10d10 in case of a Strength 10 Ship.
Retreat, is an unblockable Action, it allows you to retreat out of the System or hide your fleet in it however the Enemy gain to SvS comparisons in which only you may recieve Damage.
TO make things clearer an Example battle:
Ardas and Azthors Fleets clash in the Orbit over Terra. Ardas has a Fleet Strength of 23 with 1 Strength 3 Ship and 20 Strength 1 Ships. Azthor only has a Fleet Strength of 10 with 7 Strength 1 Ships and 1 Strength 3 Ship.
For the First Phase Ardas had chosen the Level 3 Ability "Adaptive Strategy". Azthor chooses the Offensive Action "Weapon Overclock". Since Weapon Overclock blocks Tactic Actions, Ardas Fleet may not fire at all, instead his fleet recieves one volley of Azthors Fleet (10 Damage) plus the damage of 1d10. Azthor rolls a 1, thus Ardas Fleet recieves 11 Damage. His level 3 Ship absorbs two damage and 8 of his Level One Ships are Destroyed.
In the Second Phase Ardas Fleet Strength is dramatically lower with 13 containing 12 Level One Ships and one (1/3) Level 3 Ship. Azthor still has his 10 Strength. For the second phase Ardas had chosen Magnetic Field, while Azthor has chosen the same. Both Actions are played out. Since for both enemy Damage is ignored, nobody harms anyone.
In the Third Phase Ardas uses Adaptive Strategy again same as Azthor. this time Ardas does 3 Damage all of which hit the Level 3 Ship of Azthor and destroy it, thanks to the Adaptive Strategy Bonus.
The Battle is over and Azthor could now either flee the Sector, stand down and hope for Ardas to not attack again or attack himself. Now however since his only Strength 3 Ship is gone his fleet can only use the two level one abilities of magnetic Field and Weapon Overclock.
Ground and Boarding Battles.
Azthors fleet is on the run, and Ardas Fleet is now in Orbit. He Decides to plop down his troops immediately to take Terra. Ground Troops attack in Waves. Each Wave is compromised of 5 Units.
Similiar to Space Battles Defenders and Attackers will compare Strength Values, however both sides get an additional +1d10 roll to their attacks.
Generally once you Invade a Planet you first have to deal with any Defenders not squatting in a Fortress in an even Field Battle. Both players openly post(or pm) their Retreat Thresholds.
A Retreat Threshold determines at which point your troops turn around and go running. The Winner has One Extra Firing Turn on the retreating enemies (of course SvS not a full strength attack).
Defenders can only retreat from Open Field Battles if there are still Fortresses defended by your own men.
Once Ardas has beaten Azthors Defenders on the Field, he moves on to the Fortresses. He can freely decide which Fortresses he wants to take. Since Planetary and Automatic Defenses are Build upon Fortresses it may be prudent to attack those first to allow your Ships easier Space Support.
Defenders defending a Fortress are in a far more superior Position. All Damage they would recieve is instead absorbed by the Fortress, which loses a Level in doing so. This may cause defenders to suddenly find themselves without any fortifications to hide behind anymore. If those troops are not currently busy fighting for their dear lives they may choose to retreat.
inbetween Assault Waves a Defender aswell as an Attacker may cycle The Order in which His troops defend or attack. Troops may however not be cycled in or out of fortresses.
So Things start to look bleak and Azthor wants to rescue his Ground Troops before they all get themselves killed. If he still has a fleet in Orbit (which Ardas didn't attack, concentrating on taking Terra instead) he can send it down to evacuate his Troops. Evacuating a Planet is a long task and a Defender may only evacuate Units which count as Retreated. Units in Fortresses will hold out regardless.
For Each Assault Wave won or lost or for each level a fortress is reduced, Azthor may evacuate five of his Units. This makes Fortresses invaluable for last Stands. They buy you the time you need to evacuate your men. So what happens if he has no more Fortresses? A d6 is rolled for each retreated Unit and it is decided whether that Unit still has the will to fight to the end (4+) or whether it surrenders. However as long as a Fortress Stands he may retreat his units and send them back to the front as often as he wishes.
However to evacuate the Troops, Azthors fleet is getting far too close to the enemy fleet and has to sustain heavy Fire during the Evacuation process. For Every 5 Units evacuated the fleet sustains 1D5 Damage, if the invading Player wishes to engage the Evacuating Fleet.
Captured Units are turned into POWs, which can be released/executed to supress Unrest or be sold into Slavery for 100 Credits per Unit, regardless of Strength.
Finally, Boarding Battles. Since in the Game Ships double as Troop transports, starting at a certain size, it is possible to board enemy Ships as a Battle Action. Boarding Actions work similiar to Ground Battles, except that its One Unit against One Unit. If no Ground Units are on-board of a Ship, The Crew defends itself at a -2 Malus. If the Boarder is successfull the Ship is captured.
Once you control the Space or Ground of a planet you have a wide Range of Options to do as you please with your Victims
Controlling the Space of a Planet
Embargo allows you to Block any Luxury Resources, Migrants and Military Units from entering or leaving the Planet.
Raid Initiates a One Phase Combat Turn. Each of your Raiding Units engage one Random Enemy Unit, Strengths are compared and 1d5 added. If the Raider wins the exchange he can Plunder for one Turn, not necessarily destroying the Defending Unit. Look at Plunder for further Information.
Drop Invasion Troops see Ground Battle
Orbital Bombardement if you have High Enough Tech and a big enough Ship you can initiate this. Depending on what Kind of OB-weapons you carry with you can target Military Units, Civilians, Fortresses, Garrisons and even the Planet itself.
Controlling the Ground
Plunder take all the goods: slaves, food, resources, money, plunder the planet basically.
Occupy Militarily Occupy the Planet for whatever reason. Research or Unit Production cannot happen without your permission on that Planet. Colony Income and Senate Vote(s) still go to the Original Owner.
Protectorate Occupy the Planet. All Colony Income goes to the Original Owner. The Vote(s) go to you. Military and Research only happen with your permission.
Vassalize Occupy the Planet. All Colony Income goes to you. The Vote(s) go to the Original Owner. Military and Research only happen with your permission.
Annexation Take Control of the Planet Completely.
Please PM these, there will be Seven Senators to begin with.
Senators (if there are free planets)
Name:
Requested Nationality:
Backstory: (Where is your character from, what is his general Political Agenda, Does he represent any already established political factions, companies, etc?)
Representative
Name:
Represented Entity:
Backstory:
Canadian
Japanese
Russian
German
Australia
Chinese
French
Author
Topic: Mandate III (7/7 Senators, 0/X Representatives) (Read 3424 times)