Vestigi Imperium - A 4x game in a dying empire far, far awayImperial Year 25001. While there were still celebrations across the galaxy for the establishment of the Galactic Chalatian Empire 25000 years ago, it is no longer galactic, led by the house of Chalates, or an empire in any sense. For the past 10000 years, internal turnmoil, bickering of nobles, revolts and disasters means that the empire - as it has always been called - had to cede a lot of power to local leaders. It cannot even actively maintain control of a good number of colonies, and it resulted in many new government competing for power back in the capital. Chaos ensured, and technology went backward as a result.
Now, for some reason, you have gained absolute control of your planet, and perhaps you may build a new order that can at least rival - or even shadow - the empire. However, as always, you are never alone, and this is just the beginning... of the vestiges of the empire.
Unfortunatly, for practical constraints, you cannot conquer the whole empire yet. However, in this sector, there exists a cadet fraction of the empire, in which if you can forge a kingdom in its place, this could encourage people in every sector to take up arms and bring down the old order.
The sector is about 50 x 50 in size; not too large, but includes enough worlds to make things interesting. Again, for practical reasons, only planets that are at least marginally habitable will be represented in the game.
A large chunk of game mechanics are much inspired by Sword of the Stars and Galactic Civilizations. Some are from the CaW/FaW games on the board.
Each planet will have a size, a quality, and an environment value.
For each size of 1, a planet can hold 1B of population. This is the maximum, and the current value will usually be lower. Your subjects are taxed at a fixed rate of 1 credit (cr)/1M, unless if the colony is blockaded you can only get half of the taxes.
Quality ranges from 0 to 100%; it is the amount of resource each manned manufactory can produce. Each manufactory need 1 million population to man, and produce 10 x quality production point (p); excess population or manufactory cannot produce production points (though population can still be taxed).
Environment value ranges from 0 to 100%; this represents the percentage of maximum growth rate, and population that a planet can hold. This value can be improved by terraforming. In addition, for each population living in such a colony, a cost of 5 x (1-environment) x population/1m credits must be paid as upkeep to keep the population alive. The only way to avoid this cost is to abandon/liberate this colony. Half of the excess population will be killed due to poor environment each turn, and loyalty will be decreased by 10% or the actual % of population killed, whichever the less.
Loyalty ranges from 0 to 100%. Loyalty is hurt whenever people die from war, or in a change of government. Disloyal people evades tax and do not produce as many goods, so their exact production will be set at the their loyalty (i.e. a 50% loyal world pays half tax and produce half). Loyalty, by default, increases 10% per turn, and if you pay them to keep them happy, it will increases by a further 10% if you give them their 100% tax value at normal loyalty (Scaled linearly, giving them only half will increase 5%). All rulers are similar after all, and the most rebellious can be bought off by some way or another.
Environment and loyalty can go below 0%. For computation of income, growth and production, they are treated as zero.
Population raises at the rate of 5% x loyalty value x environmental value /turn.
Resources come in two flavours: Credit and production points.
Credits are, well, electronic money that an empire holds as an "imperial treasury". They are not bound on any colony.
Production points are, on the other hand, bound to the planet and must be consumed at the end of a turn. Any excess amount will be converted to credits at a 10:1 rate. They can be spent on:
Production of ships/defense: Ships/defense has a production cost in production points. You can produce only one type of ship per turn; For large ships, you can split the cost over many turns.
Production of manufactories: Each manufactory initially costs 100p to build.
Technology: Detailed in the technology section.
Terraforming: Per 2p x 1000 x planet size you can improve the planet environment by 1%. Maximum investment per turn is capped at equivalent to 10% quality increase, before applying bonuses.
Except for Technology, one can also pay production points using credits, at a 1:1 rate. However, this cost can never be affected by any bonuses given by technologies.
Credits: as stated above, at a 10:1 rate.
Technology gives you bonuses to different costs and production. Some also gives you access to different ship/unit designs.
Research is global, and you can only research one in a turn.
You can usually invest production points into a technology. The total production points put into are summed up and the success rate is given by the equation below:
(production points invested)/(Base Difficulty - modifiers)
Whereas modifiers are given by:
Each 10p invested so far - 1
Each 10p invested by any player linked to you by means of a trade route, provided that you are investing in the same technology at the same time - 0.5
Each player who has RESEARCHED the technology - 5% of base
Each player who has the technology (by research or by trade), linked by a trade route - 5% of base
All modifiers are additive.
If there is only 2 players who do not have the technology, the technology is considered to be too common be kept a secret and everyone can have the benefits of such technology.
You may also pump credits (at a 1:1 rate) to research. However, the maximum amount is the amount of production invested, so you can only double your research investment.
You never know the base difficulty of a technology.
Each ship has a base movement point. No ship may move more than that space in a turn. Diagonal movement is allowed.
Movement is resolved after any combat is done. If ships of more than 1 player end their turn in the same space, they can be told to move, hold, or attack. You can have different orders for each ship; however you can hold and attack at the same time. If one side is attacking, combat proceeds. For ships to successfully move and attack/hold at the same time under an attack, the attacking/holding ships must be at least half in size to let the remaining ships escape; otherwise, every ship will be counted as moving.
In the rare case of more than 2 players sharing a space, there can be different attack/hold orders to each other player. Combat is always resolved between 2 players, and all the potential combats will be resolved in order of potential fleet size (calculated after each combat).
Space combat is relatively simple.
First, the turn order is determined. If one side is attacking while the other holds, the holding side attacks first; if the other side is moving, the attacking side attacks first. If both fleets are attacking, the turn order is decided by the flip of a coin.
Each spacecraft has attack values in 3 categories: Warhead, Kinetic and Energy. There are also countermeasures in these 3 categories.
Each fleet on the attacking side sums up its three attack values, and throws a 1dx for each whereas x is that sum.
Similarly, each KIND OF SHIP on the defending side sums up its countermeasures, and also throws 1dx for these values.
The damage done is the difference of these values. Any zero or negative in the 3 values are discounted.
Damage will be always distributed to the most fragile (defined by total attack / HP remaining) type of ships first. If a ship has its HP reduced to 0, it is sunk. In a group of ships, damage will be applied one by one, so if there are many ships of 7hp, every 7th point of damage will sink a ship.
After that, attacker and defender change sides. If at the beginning of a round, a side has only 30% of pre-combat size, it will try to retreat. The other side then get a free round of fire (countermeasures still reduces damage), and any remaining ship will try to move towards the nearest colony, as its normal movement, using as many movement points as possible.
For combat purposes, defensive structures like defensive satellites are treated as ships.
Small crafts like fighters follow another procedure, before the main turn. The amount of crafts deployable is first calculated; these crafts participate in battle this turn. Anti-small craft fire should be resolved first and casulties be resolved as per normal rules for both sides (they do not have countermeasures), before their "normal" damage, if any left, be applied. Note that normal ship weapons are useless against them, and bombers pack a powerful punch.
If a fleet is in the same space of a colony and there is no other fleets of the same owner of the colony in it, it can be told to blockade. A blockade blocks trade and reduces the income of a colony.
A blockade can be broken by either dislodging the blockading fleet, or by the blockading fleet moving.
If a fleet which can conduct a land attack is able to blockade the colony, it may elect to also attack the colony, while maintaining a blockade. Land attacks come in two flavours: orbital bombardment and marines.
Orbital bombardment is resolved once, before land combat commences. Different weapons produces different results, usually, some population is killed, loyalty is down, and the environment will suffer. Larger colonies are more resilient to environmental changes; their effect is multiplied 1/size.
Loyalty will also reduce by the propotion of population killed, plus the environmental rating harmed ; so if you manage to kill off a large chunk of the population, or spread enough nuclear fallout, It is understandable that the population on the colony will be very unhappy, either towards the current ruler or the aggressor.
The marines will land after the orbital bombardment phase. It is wise, however, to keep up the bombardment for some time before assaulting. The defending planet has a standing army for this purpose; For each 1m of population, there will be 1000 men defending. The number of Marines landing is dictated by the capacity of the landing crafts.
Each unit of (unimproved) marine has hp of 10, attack value of 5, and a defense value of 2. Half of the attack value (after bonuses) of the defender is affected by loyalty, so zero loyalty means they can attack at only half capacity. Combat is carried out similarly to space combat, that is, fought until either side has 30% left. The defender always got to attack first. However, if the attacker wins, it does not get a free round of combat, as the defenders capitulated.
After a battle, no matter which side wins, population will decrease by 10x soliders killed, manufactories will be decreased by the number of soliders killed/10000 (wars in the future still causes some collecteral damage). Loyalty lost due to population is increased 10x accordingly.
If the attacker is successful, he can choose to exterminate the population or to "peacefully" occupy (at the start of next turn). Peacefully occupying will lead to an additional loyalty hit of a flat 50%, population killed will be 10-folded (save loyalty), and manufactories damage doubled to simulate looting and resistance to a new government. Exterminating will kill off 80% of remaining population, and 50% of manufactories. However, this killing will not decrease loyalty, and you will have at least 30% loyalty from the next turn.
Due to patriotism, however, if you regain control of a colony within 10 turns of losing it, controls the colony 10 turns (or as many turns) before, lost it only once afterwards, and never been exterminated, you will gain (50 - 5 x turns of enemy occupation x (number of times the colony changes hands-1)) loyalty on the colony.
Trade have 2 special advantages. they allow research to be somehow shared, as well as generating more credits from excess production.
To establish a trade route, you must first move a trade vessel to a colony of another civilization. The vessel should then spend the turn establishing a trade route, to a source city of your choice. If it is not dislodged or killed, the route is established.
The players at both sides of the trade route can cancel the trade route at any time. The vessel is, of course, not refunded. So it is imperetive to negotiate first.
It is impossible to blockade trade unless you blockade either end of the route.
Each trade route creates (in the next turn):
x% of production generated by side A:
As sold into credits, to Side A;
As production, to Side B;
In which x is subjected to diminishing marginal returns:
1 route at A: 20% (sum = 20%)
2 routes at A: 17% (sum = 34%)
3 routes at A: 15% (sum = 45%)
4 routes at A: 12.5% (sum = 50%)
5 routes at A: 11% (sum = 55%)
6 routes at A: 10% (sum = 60%)
and so on.
In addition, If Side A Sells production locally:
Side A and B will receive 1/2 of credits from selling production
You are limited to 2 trade routes at first.
You can trade almost everything. The only thing that can't be directly traded is production points, but colonies, technologies, ships and credits are all valid trade items.
Both side should send a statement (by PM) indicating both sides to enter into a binding agreement. I will proceed with that at the next turn.
Note that technology traded does not count as researched and does not count against the bonus.
Above that, I'm NOT going to umpire you alliances, Non-aggression pacts or such.
You can spend more credits than you have and go into the red, provided it does not exceed your production points. (that is, you use factories as collateral)
Loans carry a flat 10% interest / turn.
Ships also carry upkeep (in c)per turn:
Frigates (FF): 100
Destroyers (DD): 300
Light Cruisers (CL): 600
Heavy Cruisers (CA): 1000
Battleships (BB): 2000
We know it. Part of the fun of space 4x games is fitting your ship with a myriad of different options!
Unfortunately, due to obvious limitations as a forum game, you cannot design new ships on the fly. However, you can new designs to the design office, and they will do the dirty work. New designs will always be classified first, and thus will only be known by its name, without any design details open to the world. Only when they are engaged in a fight, your ships will only reveal their true abilities, so it should give you a tactical edge in combat!
One design per turn can be submitted openly or by PM. It should have:
1. A Name. Obviously.
2. Its Hull Class. Note that we are bound to the DD class for the moment. You need to research the technology for the desired hull class!
You may also have:
3. Weapons. Again, you need the technology to do it. DD dukes are the only exception!
4. Any kind of technologies and parts you wanted to be put on it. Carrier capabilities, Faster engines, Defense, Exotic components... you know the trick.
You should ideally have:
5. A description to your ship. The design office need to know your requirements to begin!
Note that you do not need to tell me the exact stats of the ships. The design office will do the job. This may come out to be a different design from what you have expected, but trust me, it is the limitations of your technologies, not your imagination!
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In addition to these ships, from time to time there will be standard designs released to the public, once someone has researched the needed technology. So if you think it as an added distraction, you may simply ignore it.
Sample turn:
/* apply your bonuses and handicaps
Movement
------------------
/* if you want to play openly. You should give this to me via PM at all costs!)
6,9
Fleet 1
DD Duke 1 (15/15)
DD Duke 2 (15/15)
Hold
DD Duke 3 (5/15)
Move 8,9
/* Similarly, in a tree structure, xml, or anything that I can understand will do. Please don't nest fleets. Crafts on carrier are carried under the carrier.
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Production
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/* colony number (Size, Quality, Environment, Loyalty, Manufactories, Population):
Production(p) = manned manufactories x 10 x quality% x loyalty%
Taxation(c) = mpopulation x loyalty%
Remember taxation is halved under blockade
*/
1 (6,41,49,100,260,342):
260 x 41% x 10 x 100% = 1066p
342 x 100% = 342c
/* always round down to the integer
------------------
Consumption
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/* colony number:
Ships: p+c = number of ships or part thereof the Ship designation
Manufactories: p+c = #of manufactories (1 per 100p/c)
Terraforming: p+c = % improvement (1% per 10000p/c x planet size)
Technology: p+c (c<=p)
Loyalty: c = % loyalty (1% per mpopulation /10 c)
Environment upkeep: c = 5 x (1-environment) x population/1m
*/
1:
Ships: 100p = 100/3000 DD Duke
Manufactories 500p = 5 manufactories
Terraforming = 0p
Technology = 566p x 110% = 622 /*622.6, assuming he got +1 in research
Loyalty = 0c
Environment Upkeep: c = 5 x (1-41%) x 342 = 1009 /* 1008.9, round up
Total = 1066p + 1009 c
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Research
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/* general RPing
The first planet always pay nothing to keep their people alive: after all, only large empires do that. They are researching a method to reduce this cost.
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Trade
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Trade income this turn: /* calculated last turn
0 /* Route : value, each route each direction once, take values from other players
Trade income next turn: /* calculate only from your side
0
/* worked example
/* A: 600c from production
/* Trade route to B C D
/* Total Population = 15000m
/* B: 600c x 1.875 x 6000/15000 = 450c /* amount sold x R x population ratio for each colony
/* this amount will be gained by each side next turn
etc...
Treasury
------------------
Carried forward: -500c
Colonial Income: 342c
Consumption: -1009c
Trade cf last turn: 0c
Fleet Upkeep: 900c /* you must not hide this value
Interest: -50c (negative cf / 10)
Balance next turn: -2117c /* this is a particularly bad example!
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Growth
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1 (6,41,49,100,260,342):
Growth = 5% x 49% x 342 = 8 /* 8.379
Manufactory = 5
Terraforming = 0
Loyalty = 0
(6,41,49,100,265,350)
I expect the game to support at most 8 players. Each player will be given a world of size 10, 100% enviornment, 100% loyalty, 5b population, and 5000 manufactories. You can also assign points (or penalties) to at most 8 categories. Each point counts as 10% increase, and no category can have more than +-2 bonus points. The sum of bonus points shall never be more than +4.
Population growth
Production
Taxation
Terreforming
Spaceship Attack
Spaceship HP
Spaceship Defense
Small crafts attack
Defensive structures
Land Attack (excluding bombardment)
Land Defense
Industrial Expansion (i.e. Manufactory production)
Loyalty recovery
Large structures (e.g. Death stars)
Trade and Selling production
Investment (i.e. increase credit conversion to production rate)
Research
The map will be given shortlynow, and probably will see everyone equidistance from each other with the cadet empire in the centre.
Please apply, describe your kingdom (and race for flavour if applicable, as this is a 4x game after all) and stand by as I refine the rules.
Adwarf
ggamer
Knave
Iituem
Orb
Criptfeind
Nirur Torir
Ahra
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Waiting in line:
Ghazkull
Links:
Fluff threadShip types, Tech, and so onTurn 1Turn 2
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Topic: Vestigi Imperium - Turn 2 - Technological Explosion (Read 18375 times)