| Game Rules; How to play the game. | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Jul 14 2015, 04:37 PM (188 Views) | |
| Circoland | Jul 14 2015, 04:37 PM Post #1 |
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Administrator
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To set the mood: https://youtu.be/NDJn0SQehb4 WELCOME to Warlords of the Void, a space-based forum nation simulation. Take control of your people and lead them to explore and civilize the galaxy! The game is played by players submitting orders to the GM (me), detailing what they'd like to have happen with their nation every turn, and I post the collective results at the end of the turn. A turn lasts 1 (one) In Real Life (IRL) week. Orders are due anytime that week with the deadline being Friday (PST). Remember: the Admin and any appointed moderators have final say, no matter the dispute. Each nation has a private forum where orders, secret NPC communication, unit positions, player and GM communication, and other accounting is posted. Turn updates are posed as soon as possible they will feature public responses to all player's orders. All private responses will be posted in each nation's forum, along with some suggested responses (if any). Additionally random events will be thrown in, which can be bad, good, and completely unrelated to anyone. If an event has happened to you then it'll be included in your private update. Please note: I know these rules are long, but significant detail of how the game works is given so that we are on the same page. This system was chosen over a more simplistic one to add flavor, choices, and activities for the player. And don't worry, actual play will be simpler. SETTING Spoiler: click to toggle We start the game with these pretexts (note: these may change over the course of the game): eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, and eXterminate (the 4Xs): You start as a single planet, weak and backwards. You must explore and expand to gain more resources and understanding, colonizing other planets and building up your economy, allies, and military to exploit the opportunities available. Exterminate those in your way to achieve your goals. Personal Country: You play a country's government. It can change ideologies, types (e.g. Free to Closed) have different parties or factions come into power, but at the end of the day, you're in charge. Countries are comprised of planets (think of planets as cities within your country). Personal Goals: Other than surviving, there is no set win condition in Warlords of the Void. You may be happy to be a support nation and pledge allegiance to a larger power. You may want to be a single planet civilization, trading with and sharing information with passer-bys. On the other hand, you may wish to make your country a force to be respected and reckoned with, either militarily, technologically, politically, economically, or all four. Create a pirate nation and raid and pillage other nations for sport, loot, and glory! Yar har fiddle de...uh sorry, got a bit hyped. Human-Centric: No sentient aliens have been discovered, all communities are comprised of humans. All players play as humans. Warp Drive: Interstellar travel is through the use of the FTL (Faster-than-light) Warp Drive, which creates a "warp bubble" around the object and bends space around it, allowing it to travel faster than light. Sub-light travel is accomplished through fusion drives, which propel ships at near light speed. Limited Communication: There is no faster-than-light information transfer – meaning no ansible, subspace radio or hyper-wave. Communication is limited to the speed of travel (ships delivering messages from one location to the other). Decisions are made on the local level, rather than by a remote authority. News has a delay, an outpost planet can be attacked and conquered before the central government is aware and has time to respond. Reactive Economy & Dynamic Politics: Players determine how they want their economy to grow, while at the same time attempting to balance out political adversaries and other political shenanigans. Time Scale: Every turn lasts 1 real life week, ending at 11 PM (2300) Friday. In game this represents 5 (Earth) years. DIPLOMACY, CULTURE & RELATIONS Spoiler: click to toggle When two nations meet, and establish trade and diplomatic relations (if they do..), culture and ideas are shared and spread between them. Both nation's populations will have attitudes towards each other. Influence is the measure of this sentiment. Positive influence towards a nation means your people view them positively, while negative is the opposite. Trade, diplomats, events, actions towards each other, etc. determine this number. The practical result of Influence is your people's resistance to take (publically) hostile action against a nation and people they have a strong liking of. If a nation has influenced your people enough, your own military could refuse to attack them, resulting in desertions and mutiny. The only way to bypass such resistance is a solid reason for war, being attacked by the liked nation, or by attacking before diplomatic relations can be established (such as on first contact). Spheres of Influence is the ultimate form of influence. Spheres represent networks of military, economic, intelligence and cultural support and exchange, essentially regional dominance of a country. Nations and their dependents can be sphere-leaders, sphered, or unsphered and different spheres are not necessarily rival to one another. A nation with 100% influence in another can force it to become part of its sphere. Likewise a country can join a sphere if the leader accepts. Each sphered country gains +3 income and sphere leaders gain +1 income from each nation in their sphere, additionally spheres gain their own forum. Spheres grant players a way in which to both cooperate and struggle for power, regardless of formal alliances. EXPLORATION Spoiler: click to toggle Exploration is key to developing your nation's understanding of the universe and its place in it. As each star system has only one planet of interest, significant detail about each planet can be covered. As such, there's virtually limitless possibilities of what you'll encounter on other planets, such as pre-warp civilization, which brings up the dilemma of how to deal with them. Or there may be ancient ruins from a long dead civilization, or weird planetary behaviors, or an army of robot Ronald Reagans endlessly running for president, the only way to find out is to investigate and explore! Although you may have named systems around you, it'll take a Scout Ship or Science Vessel (or a ship with similar abilities) to scan and determine the value and features of the target planet. Surveying a system takes 1 turn. Then you'll get a detailed report about the local planet of interest, including potential for colonisation, associated costs, and any hazards to watch out for. Some things may take longer to investigate, so it will be up to you to stay for another turn to get more info, bring in a science vessel (if you don't have one present), or to move your exploration ships on to another system. Whatever the planet's Improvement Cost is determines the cost it takes to colonize a planet. Newly colonized planets do not have any Developed Zones. WARNING: A ship not outfitted for scanning a planet WILL NOT KNOW what's on the planet. You can have it try, but a lack of sophisticated sensors means they'll have to do a more methodical sweep, and only pick up on obvious data ("Oh that looks like a city! There must be people on this world! Lets go land and make first contact!"), missing key pieces of information (that city is actually overran by giant man-eating spiders). Colonial Budget: You can set aside some money, and set conditions, to help speed up colonization. This will enable found planets to be colonized the same turn they're investigated. PROJECTS, TECH LEVEL, RESEARCH, & TECHNOLOGY Spoiler: click to toggle Projects are special, large expenditures. They can roughly be compared to Wonders from Civilization, but could easily be far more mundane. A project could include such things as building great monuments, infrastructure improvements, policy changes, inquisitions, etc. In your orders you can post your thoughts and ideas for a project and I'll return details including the total cost and effects. Projects can affect all aspects of your nation, including spawning units, popularity and influence changes, planetary improvements, etc. Be creative! Your nation's tech level is a representation of how advanced you are compared to other nations. Borrowing from Traveller's Traveller's tech levels you can approximate your nation's development from this handy chart: Tech Level - Development Approximate 0 - Stone Age (fire) 1 - Bronze Age (3500 BC) 2 - Iron Age (1200 BC) 3 - Medieval Age (600 AD) 4 - Age of Sail (1450 AD) 5 - Industrial Revolution (1730 AD) 6 - Mechanized Age (1880 AD) 7 - Circa 1910 AD 8 - Nuclear Age (1940 AD) 9 - Circa 1970 AD 10 - Digital Age (1990 AD) 11 - Very Early Stellar (2050 AD) 12 - Early Stellar (2120 AD) 13 - Very Early Spacefaring 14 - Early Spacefaring 15 - Average Spacefaring 16 - High Spacefaring 17 - Potential Maximum? Tech levels do not progress on a turn by turn basis, rather after significant technologies and units have been researched your nation may progress. Tech levels impact combat to an extent, reduce the chance of a bad event occurring, and increases your chances of success in pretty much all endeavors. WotV does not feature a tech tree, instead I leave scientific progress up to the player. Tech advancement works the same way as projects. But they'll be expensive, starting at 5c and increasing as the game progresses. Additionally techs should have a big impact on the game, so we don't have a sea of small techs cluttering our workspace. Additionally tech projects are not guaranteed-investments always have risks-and these projects are no different. Projects may run into trouble, pushing out their completion date or driving up costs. It may be better to just end a project. Designing a new unit will also be considered a project, with inherent risks. You will not need new techs, rather use the basic units as a platform in which to build (though certainly new techs can be incorporated). These projects assume prototype units have been built and tested (you'll get 1 at the end of the project). Complete techs and unit designs can be traded with other powers, either in full or partially. Either way the receiving nation will need to invest money for their own society or military to incorporate it. For this reason it may be better for the receiving country to instead buy units or upgrades directly from you - avoiding incorporation costs. Completed techs and unit designs can of course be traded with other players, or you can at least make it easier for them - it may still take some EP and some time for other players to digest the new technology for themselves. For this reason, it may be easier simply to buy and sell completed units. POPULARITY-STABILITY, FACTIONS, & REBELS Spoiler: click to toggle Your Popularity stat is a measure of how much your people like or hate you. This number is changed through events, your actions, and the current status of the country (is it at war? How well are we doing?), etc. Doing well in your management of the country will raise this number, but so will flat out bribing people. For non-tribal and non-nomadic, popularity is greatly influenced by factions, make sure they're ok, and they'll make sure the people are in check (doesn't guarantee peace and tranquility however). Serious negative events will start occurring if your popularity falls below 50%. Outright revolts, riots, and independence movements will start the further down you go. Factions are large groups within your government that have significant power. They represent various interests, and are the first groups (followed by the masses) you should be concerned about. In Nomadic and Tribal governments, factions, Clans and Tribes respectively, will go out and settle, hold territory, have stats, and units. They look to you as guardian, leader, and rival. Instead of their opinions being based on popularity, these groups' opinions are based on your influence with them. Rebels represent armed groups operating in a country openly against the state. They have an alignment and a number of units. Rebels either pledge themselves to a country, desire independence or some sort of political change. Rebels are often times spawned by unhappy factions, and are economically supported either from captured territory or outside funding. Rebel units are guerilla fighters. Rebels can be given orders if they're in a sphere, but there is a possibility of them ignoring orders, or acting out on their own. Countries can deploy units to other countries that face rebellions in order to reduce the chance of these rebel groups growing in strength. Enough troops (foreign or domestic) can prevent strong rebellions from taking power. Rebels persist even when they have no units, but they can be eliminated by being attacked when they have 0 units. If they receive no foreign support that turn (which would increase their unit levels beyond 0), then they are wiped out. Rebels with units will grow more bold in their operations, eventually striking out to capture territory. If rebels hold enough or important parts of a country for long enough they can set up their own government, creating a new nation. MILITARY Spoiler: click to toggle Combat in space is experimental - other than the limited hints given in the unit list - since your nation is new to space, combat in space will also be new. You will have to experiment with your units to see how effective they are against each other. Units can only take on one order per turn. And given the time frame of each turn, fleets will be able to travel all around the galaxy in that time. However, I'll also take relative initiative into account, for example, an opponent will be ready and waiting if you have to move a fleet vast distances. Unit positioning at the beginning of the turn is important. Blockading, raiding, bombing, etc. are all valuable tactics during war as they disrupt the enemy's economy and open them up to being conquered more easily. Standard strategies, such as seeking decisive battles, scorched earth, or attrition wars are viable. Luck, technologies, unit types, roleplay, player orders, and my discretion will determine the outcome of battles. Conquest of a planet requires the invading force capture all planet improvements. In other words the more improvements the planet has, the harder/longer it takes for an invading for to capture it. GOVERNMENTS Spoiler: click to toggle Political governments are categorized as: Republic - "Ahh elections. I feel like there should be a test for these, but at the same time i feel like that wouldn't be fair?" Rule is elected by the populace, and acts on behalf of the people. Additionally colonies send representatives to the homeworld to share their planet's interests. • Must answer to citizens; populist opinions can add pressure on players. • Colonies are unlikely to break away even with low popularity, however civil unrest can cripple the economy. • If the will of the people is not heeded there can be dire consequences including revolts and rebellions. • A vote must be taken for any hostile actions, including declaring war, blockading, preemptive strikes, etc. This does not apply if attacked. Oligarchy - "Always reminds me of olive oil, but I doubt it tastes any better." Rule is determined by a select group of politically, socially, or monetarily influential individuals. The government therefore is beholden to these individuals. A good example is a theocracy. • Keeping above 50% popularity ensures no civil unrest. • Colonies will not break away, but they can try to oust you if below 50% popularity and you continue to do actions against the oligarchies wishes. • A vote must be taken for any hostile actions, including declaring war, blockading, preemptive strikes, etc. This does not apply if attacked. • Unlocking the Olive Oil tech grants +2 income. Feudal - "The one with the biggest army wins!" Political control is established based on agreements (oaths of fealty) from one leader to another. As such colonies are vassal planets. • Planets have their own desire for glory and power, meaning planets can colonize or force other planets to swear fealty to them. • Colonies can and will rise up against you if your popularity is low and the opportunity arises (e.g. you're distracted by war) • Player has no one to answer to. Popularity can be low but if the military is strong enough control can be kept. • Knights can only move in "L" patterns. Corporate - "It's like the game monopoly; as long as you're not broke you're still in!" Corporate governments act similar to Oligarchy governments, but are instead driven by trade and wealth, with each colony being a corporate venture. • Answers to shareholders. If not "public" then the player is the only shareholder. • Can go "public": GM will decide how many shares are available for the player to sell to others (NPCs included), and the player sets the price. This raises money, but means they cannot attack shareholding nations and shareholders gain access to the country's private forum. • Corporations can also build specialized holdings and units can conduct special missions. • Corporations start with 1 trade post on their homeworld. • Units are 2x as expensive to build and maintain. • Best government if you want to make lots of money. • Corporations are people too. Tribal - "You think dealing with multiple kids is annoying? Wait till you have to deal with their families." The government is made up of multiple communities, which pledge each other for defense and cooperation. Think of Tribal governments like a planet with multiple countries, each vying for dominance in space (so like present day Earth, but with FTL tech). • Allied (planet-less) NPCs at start. They'll colonize and build units on their own. • Can only start with one (1) improvement on the homeworld. This represents shared access to construction from different tribes. • Can call up allied tribes in cases of war, which can refuse if influence is low. • Half income (rounded down). • Tribes can break away or contest dominance, if player loses a dominance challenge they take on control of winning tribe (unless it is player controlled). • Other players can play as an allied tribe. • Tribes are easily influenced by other powers. • Good expansion, but slow personal power growth. Nomadic - "I've been everywhere man, crossed the expanse of space, man...I've been everywhere." Nomadic governments represent groups of people (or "clans") that have banded together for protection and strength. They have no planetary homes and rely on FTL technology to feed and connect their people. A people fleeing an invasion, a loss of a homeworld, or just the freedom of space can spur a people to become nomadic. • Similar to tribes, nomadic governments are separate but allied entities. • A settled nation can shift to Nomadic if catastrophic events occur. Likewise nomads can settle and adopt a "landed" government. • Although planets can be in a nomad's control, they do not gain income from them, instead they must raid these and other planets. Taken goods can either be traded used to build new units (specialized rules apply, see the military units section for details). • No unit upkeep. • Clans are easily influenced by other powers. • Best for those that want to expand aggressively. Colonial/Vassal/Administrative - Colonial/Vassal/Administrative is an additional government term given to governments that pledge loyalty to another power. They must balance the will of the controlling nation and their own power players. Pirate - Another additional government term, these governments have no respect for law, instead they devote all national efforts on raiding. ECONOMICS Spoiler: click to toggle The economy of WotV is based on supply and demand: demand from Developed Zones of worlds, and the supply of raw materials from Resource Gathering Operations. The consumption of goods generates income for your nation, while excess goods are available for trade (and provide no income otherwise). Additionally developed regions produce goods, which are demanded and can be traded to other developed regions. This system is designed to be simple, yet dynamic, and give players a reason to interact and cooperate with each other, as well as give players control of how their economy, and their nation overall, develops. The universal unit of currency is the credit, denoted as "c" and are computed on a 0.5 scale (whole numbers can only be broken down by 0.5s). It cannot go negative. If your income falls negative, first any expenditure to projects and other nations will cease, then units will be disbanded, in order of least vital (up to GM determination). Credits can be used to colonize new systems, undertake projects, purchase new units and planetary improvements, bribe and influence people, and pretty much anything else you can dream up. Check the spoiler below for more the "under the hood" look at the economic aspects. Understanding these aspects is not vital to playing the game, but if you want to get every ounce out of your economic engine then understanding these principles is important. This whole part is completely automated by Google Sheets. Spoiler: click to toggle The resources of the Void are harvested from planets, and fulfill the demands of the developed zones: Basic Goods Food: Food represents farmland and processing planets. Obviously it is the good required by your people in order to survive, and as such, has an intrinsic demand. Minerals: This represents all material mining and harvesting activities on the planet. As minerals building blocks for goods and equipment, they are used by both industry and people. Minerals are the most common good found in the Void. Luxuries: These can range from novel goods, spices, leisure activities, etc. basically things that make people happy or entertained, and distract from the harsh reality of the Void. As people are willing to pay more for them, Luxuries generate more income upon consumption than Food or Minerals. Curiosities: Curiosities are anything strange, and alien: from scientific anomalies, historical artifacts, ruins, alien life, what strange smelling ingredient was in that pasta, etc. They can be found throughout the Void both on worlds and in space. Because of their rarity, researchers, museums, and private collectors will pay top dollar to acquire them, it therefore generates more income upon consumption than any other basic good. Remember kids, if you find something strange, chances are it belongs in a museum! Trade Goods Consumer Goods: Refined goods to be consumed by the populace, consumer goods are produced in Cities at a rate of 1 per 2 food. They are desired by Industrial and Laboratory districts. Industrial Goods: The nuts and bolts of modern industry, Industrial Goods are equipment that have various applications. Industrial Goods are produced in Industrials at a rate of 1 per 2 minerals. They are desired by Cities and Laboratory districts. High-Tech Goods: Hot off the development line! High-Tech Goods are items that are cutting edge, and therefore desired by all. Wondering where the iPod Micro-Nano 64 comes from? Chances are it's from a Laboratory district! High-Tech Goods are produced in Laboratories at a rate of 1 per 2 curiosities. They are desired by Cities and Industrials. PLANETS & ZONES Each system will have one planet of interest, this reduces admin overhead, complexity, and allows us to make more detailed worlds. Planets are rated on their life sustaining properties by an arbitrary percentage called Quality. The higher the Quality % the more life sustaining the world is, and the cheaper it is to develop on the planet. Another characteristic planets have is Size. Size determines how many improvements the planet can hold. Each planet has an Improvement Cost, derived from the planet's Quality. This number gets added to colonization and improvement cost. Improvements Resource Gathering Operations (RGOs) show the level of Food, Minerals, Luxuries, and Curiosities produced on the planet. These numbers are added directly into your economy (unless blockaded) for consumption and trade. Upon analyzing a planet, the basic RGOs will be presented. You can improve RGOs if there was at least one level of it to begin with, except Curiosities, which cannot be upgraded. There are three (3) planetary improvements that are considered Developed Zones. Every 5 Developed Zones produces 1 income per turn from taxes. Cities - A massive center of population, hosting millions, potentially billions of people, spawning culture and consumerism. • Each Cities demands 1 Food, every 3 Cities demands 1 Luxury, and every 6 Cities demand 1 Mineral and 1 Curiosity. • Produces the Consumer Goods trade good. 1 Consumer Good for every 2 Food consumed, max 1 per Cities (so with 1 Cities and 4 food, you'll only produce 1 Consumer Good). • Can produce up to 1 ground units (troops, diplomats, etc.) a turn per Cities. • The zone is highly prone to civil unrest. • Each Cities Demands 1 Industrial Good and 1 High-Tech Good. Industrial - A zone dedicated to industry, minerals are highly sought after as more products are produced. This zone is also the birth place of naval forces. • Each Industrial demands 1 Mineral, every 5 Industrials demand 1 Food, 1 Luxury, and 1 Curiosity. • Produces the Industrial Goods trade good. 1 Industrial Good for every 2 Minerals consumed, max 1 per Industrial. • Build 1 starship a turn per Industrial. • Industrial accidents and spills may occur in this zone. • Demands 1 Consumer Good and 1 High-Tech Good. Laboratory - Science and technology reign supreme as all energies of this zone are dedicated to scientific discovery. • Each Laboratory demands 1 Curiosity, every 5 Laboratories demand 1 Food, 1 Mineral, and 1 Luxury. • Produces the High-Tech Goods trade good. 1 High-Tech Good for every 2 Curiosities consumed, max 1 per Laboratory. • Every 5 Laboratories give -1 to price discount for new tech projects. Laboratories also have small chance of making discoveries. • There are risks of scientific accidents, experiments gone wrong, and containment leaks. • Demands 1 Consumer Good and 1 Industrial Good. Special Zones are specialized zones on a planet that serve a singular function. Trade Center - A center of trade and commerce, trade centers provide a center-point for local good export and import. • Can only be built by Corporations. • Provides 1 Income to the corporation and the owner of the planet. If the corporation owns the planet then it only gets 1 income. • Only 1 corporation's Trade Center can exist on a planet (multiple would compete and cannibalize each others customers and profits, resulting in 1 over time). • The non-corporate owner of the planet can raise a Trade Center, and will receive loot from it. • Does not count against planet improvement limit. • Once established a trade center cannot be grown (level increased) by the corporation, instead they grow if trade on or near the planet is significant. Fortress - A massive defensive complex, fortresses are built to withstand orbital bombardment and provides defense against ground troops. • No income, production, or consumption. • Orbital bombardment is almost completely ineffective against this zone. • Gives combat bonuses to friendly troops and ships nearby. Colonization and Improvement Costs • Colonization: 2c + Improv. Cost • RGOs: 2c + Improv. Cost • Developed and Special Zones: 10c + Improv. Cost TURN ORDERS Spoiler: click to toggle Each real life week, players will be responsible for sending in details on what actions they want their nation to undertake for that turn. All units have only one action per turn (colonize planet A, attack planet B, move to planet XJW, etc.). Be creative! Try out an order, or ask me before hand if an order is acceptable or how it would work, other than the Economics aspect, this is a very fluid, player driven game! Orders need to be posted once every turn (every real life week) in your private national forum. They should be in this format: Spending - I prefer this near the top. Feel free to add detail about the exact things you are spending your money on. At a bare minimum, tell me the field it goes into. Other stuff - Here’s where you add whatever else you want to say: invasion plans, notes on your culture, and so on. You can split it into Domestic and Military, or whatever you want. If you have any questions on these rules please don't hesitate to ask me! |
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| Circoland | Aug 20 2015, 08:13 PM Post #2 |
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Administrator
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To set the mood: https://youtu.be/NDJn0SQehb4 WELCOME to Warlords of the Void, a space-based forum nation simulation. Take control of your people and lead them to explore and civilize the galaxy! The game is played by players submitting orders to the GM (me), detailing what they'd like to have happen with their nation every turn, and I post the collective results at the end of the turn. A turn lasts 1 (one) In Real Life (IRL) week. Orders are due anytime that week with the deadline being Friday (PST). Please refer to the Actions list (found [HERE] or on the statistics Google Sheet). Remember: the Admin and any appointed moderators have final say, no matter the dispute. Each nation has a private forum where orders, secret NPC communication, unit positions, player and GM communication, and other accounting is posted. Turn updates are posed as soon as possible and they will feature public responses to all player's orders. All private responses will be posted in each nation's forum, along with some suggested responses (if any). Additionally random events will be thrown in, which can be bad, good, and completely unrelated to anyone. If an event has happened to you then it'll be included in your private update. Please note: I know these rules are long, but significant detail of how the game works is given so that we are on the same page. This system was chosen over a more simplistic one to add flavor, choices, and activities for the player. And don't worry, actual play will be simpler. SETTING Spoiler: click to toggle We start the game with these pretexts (note: these may change over the course of the game): eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, and eXterminate (the 4Xs): You start as a single planet, weak and backwards. You must explore and expand to gain more resources and understanding, colonizing other planets and building up your economy, allies, and military to exploit the opportunities available. Exterminate those in your way to achieve your goals. Personal Country: You play a country's government. It can change ideologies, types (e.g. Free to Closed) have different parties or factions come into power, but at the end of the day, you're in charge. Countries are comprised of planets (think of planets as cities within your country). Personal Goals: Other than surviving, there is no set win condition in Warlords of the Void. You may be happy to be a support nation and pledge allegiance to a larger power. You may want to be a single planet civilization, trading with and sharing information with passer-bys. On the other hand, you may wish to make your country a force to be respected and reckoned with, either militarily, technologically, politically, economically, or all four. Create a pirate nation and raid and pillage other nations for sport, loot, and glory! Yar har fiddle de...uh sorry, got a bit hyped. Human-Centric: No sentient aliens have been discovered, all communities are comprised of humans. All players play as humans. Warp Drive: Interstellar travel is through the use of the FTL (Faster-than-light) Warp Drive, which creates a "warp bubble" around the object and bends space around it, allowing it to travel faster than light. Sub-light travel is accomplished through fusion drives, which propel ships at near light speed. Limited Communication: There is no faster-than-light information transfer – meaning no ansible, subspace radio or hyper-wave. Communication is limited to the speed of travel (ships delivering messages from one location to the other). Decisions are made on the local level, rather than by a remote authority. News has a delay, an outpost planet can be attacked and conquered before the central government is aware and has time to respond. Reactive Economy & Dynamic Politics: Players determine how they want their economy to grow, while at the same time attempting to balance out political adversaries and other political shenanigans. Time Scale: Every turn lasts 1 real life week, ending at 11 PM (2300) Friday. In game this represents 5 (Earth) years. DIPLOMACY, CULTURE & RELATIONS Spoiler: click to toggle When two nations meet, and establish trade and diplomatic relations (if they do..), culture and ideas are shared and spread between them. Both nation's populations will have attitudes towards each other. Influence is the measure of this sentiment. Positive influence towards a nation means your people view them positively, while negative is the opposite. Trade, diplomats, events, actions towards each other, etc. determine this number. The practical result of Influence is your people's resistance to take (publicly) hostile action against a nation and people they have a strong liking of. If a nation has influenced your people enough, your own military could refuse to attack them, resulting in desertions and mutiny. The only way to bypass such resistance is a solid reason for war, being attacked by the liked nation, or by attacking before diplomatic relations can be established (such as on first contact). Spheres of Influence is the ultimate form of influence. Spheres represent networks of military, economic, intelligence and cultural support and exchange, essentially regional dominance of a country. Nations and their dependents can be sphere-leaders, sphered, or unsphered and different spheres are not necessarily rival to one another. A nation with 100% influence in another can force it to become part of its sphere, assuming a Diplomat unit is in the target territory. Likewise a country can join a sphere if the leader accepts (and the Diplomat unit is in the leader's territory). Each sphered country gains +3 income and sphere leaders gain +1 income from each nation in their sphere, additionally spheres gain their own forum. Spheres grant players a way in which to both cooperate and struggle for power, regardless of formal alliances. EXPLORATION Spoiler: click to toggle Exploration is key to developing your nation's understanding of the universe and its place in it. As each star system has only one planet of interest. There's virtually limitless possibilities of what you'll encounter on other planets, such as pre-warp civilizations, which brings up the dilemma of how to deal with them. Or there may be ancient ruins from a long dead civilization, or weird planetary behaviors, or an army of robot Ronald Reagans endlessly running for president, the only way to find out is to investigate and explore! Exploration is conducted by the "Exploration" action, which will require you to assign units to the expedition. Along the way an Exploration expedition can plant your flag on any uninhabited planets they come across. WARNING: A ship not outfitted for scanning a planet WILL NOT KNOW what's on the planet. You can have it try, but a lack of sophisticated sensors means they'll have to do a more methodical sweep, and only pick up on obvious data ("Oh that looks like a city! There must be people on this world! Lets go land and make first contact!"), missing key pieces of information (that city is actually overran by giant man-eating spiders). PROJECTS, TECH LEVEL, RESEARCH, & TECHNOLOGY Spoiler: click to toggle Projects are special, large expenditures. They can roughly be compared to Wonders from Civilization, but could easily be far more mundane. A project could include such things as building great monuments, infrastructure improvements, policy changes, inquisitions, etc. In your orders you can post your thoughts and ideas for a project and I'll return details including the total cost and effects. Projects can affect all aspects of your nation, including spawning units, popularity and influence changes, planetary improvements, etc. Be creative! Nations have a Research Level which determines how easily they can research new concepts and ideas. This stat directly reduces the cost to research something on the Tech Tree. The Tech Tree is a list of ideas your nation can look into. Techs have a Difficulty level and typically a description (unless its a higher level of something). Complete techs and unit designs can be traded with other powers, either in full or partially. Either way the receiving nation will need to invest money for their own society or military to incorporate it. For this reason it may be better for the receiving country to instead buy units or upgrades directly from you - avoiding incorporation costs. FACTIONS, & REBELS Spoiler: click to toggle Factions are large groups within your government that have significant power. They represent various interests, and are the first groups (followed by the masses) you should be concerned about. In Nomadic and Tribal governments, factions, Clans and Tribes respectively, will go out and settle, hold territory, have stats, and units. They look to you as guardian, leader, and rival. These groups' opinions are based on your influence with them. Only very large factions will be discussed or actions/views shared (Clans and Tribes are obviously represented from the start). Rebels represent armed groups operating in a country openly against the state. They have an alignment and a number of units. Rebels either pledge themselves to a country, desire independence or some sort of political change. Rebels are often times spawned by unhappy factions, and are economically supported either from captured territory or outside funding. Rebel units are guerilla fighters (fight with levy units). Rebels can be given orders if they're in a sphere, but there is a possibility of them ignoring orders, or acting out on their own. Countries can deploy units to other countries that face rebellions in order to reduce the chance of these rebel groups growing in strength. Enough troops (foreign or domestic) can prevent strong rebellions from taking power. Rebels persist even when they have no units, but they can be eliminated by being attacked when they have 0 units. If they receive no foreign support that turn (which would increase their unit levels beyond 0), then they are wiped out. Rebels with units will grow more bold in their operations, eventually striking out to capture territory. If rebels hold enough or important parts of a country for long enough they can set up their own government, creating a new nation. MILITARY Spoiler: click to toggle Units are general, there are no ground or space units. Consider each unit to be comprised of both a space and ground aspect. You can consider Levies to be the National Guard or Militia of a planet. Each Colony has 5 Levies, and Coreworlds have 15. Trade Centers do not have Levies. Levies must be called up and can only be done so when your nation is at war. High taxes or unpopular rule will mean less planets heed your call. Additionally Levies do not like to be mobilized and unless bribed will eventually start deserting, assuming your nation isn't at peril (e.g. on the offensive). Only your homeworld is exempt from these rules (can be called up at anytime), but like other Levies, will not appreciate being called up for very long. You can deploy units either to your own country, neighboring countries, or abroad. Undeployed units are considering standing ready for defense. To use units to attack rebels, invading troops, or whatever domestic purpose, they must be deployed to that mission. Players can launch raids against other countries, weakening them militarily and economically. However, for more "democratic" nations the use of troops for such an occasion will be unacceptable, and raiding nations will be viewed less fondly by NPCs (unless that NPC's government type supports raids). You cannot call up Levies (except your homeworld's) for raids. You must declare war officially through a turn order. When you are at war, you must specify each turn your desire to launch an offensive against the opposing country with whatever number of units. You can also specify each turn which country to defend against with whatever number of units. Combat in space is experimental - other than the limited hints given in the unit list - since your nation is new to space, combat in space will also be new. You will have to experiment with your units to see how effective they are against each other. GOVERNMENTS Spoiler: click to toggle Political governments are categorized as: Republic - "Ahh elections. I feel like there should be a test for these, but at the same time i feel like that wouldn't be fair?" Rule is elected by the populace, and acts on behalf of the people. Additionally colonies send representatives to the homeworld to share their planet's interests. • Must answer to citizens; populist opinions can add pressure on players. • Colonies are unlikely to break away even with low popularity, however civil unrest can cripple the economy. • If the will of the people is not heeded there can be dire consequences including revolts and rebellions. Oligarchy - "Always reminds me of olive oil, but I doubt it tastes any better." Rule is determined by a select group of politically, socially, or monetarily influential individuals. The government therefore is beholden to these individuals. A good example is a theocracy. • Colonies will not break away, but they can try to oust you if very unpopular and you continue to do actions against the oligarchs' wishes. • Unlocking the Olive Oil tech grants +2 income. Feudal - "The one with the biggest army wins!" Political control is established based on agreements (oaths of fealty) from one leader to another. As such colonies are vassal planets. • Planets have their own desire for glory and power, meaning rule is weak, grow large and/or unstable enough and groups of planets can colonize or force other planets to swear fealty to them. In essence they break away and form an allied country, which can be played by other players. • Colonies can and will rise up against you if your popularity is low and the opportunity arises (e.g. you're distracted by war). • Player has no one to answer to. Popularity can be low but if the military is strong enough control can be kept. • Knights can only move in "L" patterns. Corporate - "It's like the game monopoly; as long as you're not broke you're still in!" Corporate governments act similar to Oligarchy governments, but are instead driven by trade and wealth, with each colony being a corporate venture. • Answers to the rule of profits. If a Corporation fails to keep a growing income or asset list, immense displeasure will be expressed by domestic shareholders. • Corporations start with a Trade Center as their homeworld. • Gain 2x income from Trade. • Corporations are people too. Tribal - "You think dealing with multiple kids is annoying? Wait till you have to deal with their families." The government is made up of multiple communities, which pledge each other for defense and cooperation. Think of Tribal governments like a planet with multiple countries, each vying for dominance in space (so like present day Earth, but with FTL tech). • Allied (planet-less) NPCs at start. They'll colonize and build units on their own. • Can call up allied tribes in cases of war, which can refuse if influence is low. • Tribes can break away or contest dominance, if player loses a dominance challenge they take on control of winning tribe (unless it is player controlled). • Other players can play as an allied tribe. • Tribes are easily influenced by other powers. • Good expansion, but slow personal power growth. Nomadic - "I've been everywhere man, crossed the expanse of space, man...I've been everywhere." Nomadic governments represent groups of people (or "clans") that have banded together for protection and strength. They have no planetary homes and rely on FTL technology to feed and connect their people. A people fleeing an invasion, a loss of a homeworld, or just the freedom of space can spur a people to become nomadic. • Similar to tribes, nomadic governments are separate but allied entities. • A settled nation can shift to Nomadic if catastrophic events occur. Likewise nomads can settle and adopt a "landed" government. • Nomads cannot hold any planet type other than Colonies. If a Trade Center or Coreworld is taken by a nomad, it'll revert to a Colony. • Clans are easily influenced by other powers. • No homeworld. • Best for those that want to expand aggressively. ECONOMICS Spoiler: click to toggle WotV's economy is based on the status of your economy, taxation, and planets. The universal unit of currency is the credit, denoted as "c" and are computed on a 0.1 scale (whole numbers can only be broken down into tenths). It cannot go negative. If your income falls negative, first any expenditure to projects and other nations will cease, then units will be disbanded, in order of least vital (up to GM determination). Credits are used to purchase and maintain units, provide a medium of exchange for agreements, and fund actions. The Economy stat-line represents whether your economy is expanding or contracting. The number represents either the expansion or contraction of the domestic economy and is a bonus to Income. Long periods of growth will see planets develop into Coreworlds and Trade Centers, while long periods of contractions will see the opposite. Following this is a brief about its status and the issues effecting it. Taxation is the monetary levy you put on your people and businesses. No one likes this, and the higher it is the less likely your economy will grow, your people will be unhappier, and planetary governors are less likely to offer up levies. You can only increase or decrease this by 10% every turn. Trade Agreements are agreements between your government and another that reduces trade barriers and coordinates shipping lanes. It adds 1c directly to your Income, regardless if you have a Trade Center or not.. Your Income line shows your total income from assets owned and any fixed expenses. This includes the Economy bonus, Taxation, Industry, Trade, Traders, Upkeep, etc. It is assumed that if you let the Income number fall negative you're seeking outside revenue from somewhere. Note on Trade: Trade is highly affected by your Tax rate. You can essentially kill off Trade if it is too high. The main assets Coreworlds form the basis for most civilizations, and your tax rate directly influences how much income you derive from them. Essentially, for every 10% tax rate you have you increase income from Coreworlds by 1. Coreworlds have a demand for goods from Colonies, typically demanding 4 Colonies for every 1 Coreworld. The consumption of goods from Colonies fuels Industry, and adds to your income, denoted in your Income line. Colonies represent planets where mining or agriculture are the primary industries. They typically have low population and low development. They provide 0.5c in taxes, unaffected by your Tax rate. Trade Centers are planets focused on commerce. They enable organic trade (trade unaffiliated with countries). Trade Centers provide 1c in taxes, unaffected by your Tax rate. TURN ORDERS Spoiler: click to toggle Each real life week, players will be responsible for sending in a list of actions they want their nation to undertake for that turn. All units have only one action per turn (colonize planet A, attack planet B, move to planet XJW, etc.). Orders need to be posted once every turn (every real life week) in your private national forum. They should be in this format: Spending - I prefer this near the top. Feel free to add detail about the exact things you are spending your money on. At a bare minimum, tell me the field it goes into. Actions - List your actions here, along with their expense. Other - Any other notes about your nation you want to send me. If you have any questions on these rules please don't hesitate to ask me! Edited by Circoland, Aug 21 2015, 11:09 AM.
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11:25 AM Jul 11