CmdrWilkens wrote:So Steve maybe something akin to this:
You have "A" many planets, 1/2 are "Outposts, 1/3rd are "Colonies", 1/6 are "Core"
(You get [A-# "Core" planets] systems)
You get "B" many hundred capital ships, 1/2 must be Escort-classes, 1/3rd Cruiser-classes, 1/6 Battleships/Ships of the Line
You get "C" many hundred thousand troops, 1/2 are "Reserve", 1/3rd "Standard", 1/6th "Elite"
You get "D" many warp points for instant system to system travel
So we set numbers for all of those above, if you want to increase A you have to take from B, C, or D. You can also but partial bits...say you want 100 more Cruisers you could get that by either surrendering 1 "Colony", 100,000 "Standard" troops, or you could surrender 50,000 "Elite" troops...or 50 Battleships...etc,etc.
Tech is fluff, weapons are fluff, ship and unit types aside from the general classes above are fluff, and so on and so forth. I would recommend generally that is we are going for a B5-Trek level that Planetary Shields are out but theater shields should be in.
What I was thinking about was this, Wilkens.
You get a home sector by default and so many "territory points", if you will, which you can use to buy each kind of sector. Core Sectors have the highest population and starting GDP but almost nil potential for growth; Midrange Sectors get decent population and GDP and room for growth; Frontier Sectors get the least Pop and GDP but the highest growth capacity. Territory points can also be spent to add hyperspace nodes (you can claim greater trade income to justify military expenditures and you can claim quicker military response times) or warp points/wormholes for instantaneous travel to another sector held by someone else - can also be used to claim greater trade income (we're not going for rule mechanics here, but if someone claims you're expanding your military too greatly you're more easily able to defend your capability to do so by pointing to your heightened trade levels).
Once the size of your star empire's determined, you have your economic strength expressed in an abstract GDP figure, and that tells you how big your starting military can be in terms of combat value points.
And that's that. The more Core sectors you start with, the higher your income and starting military but the lower your growth (in fact, if your entire empire is Core Sectors I think it'd be presumed that all emigration is to places outside your empire, unless you settle a Colony Sector) and the smaller your star empire is in terms of overall space. Colonies get rapid growth but, for a time, give lower GDP income and aren't as populated. Midrange is partway between the two - some growth capacity, some starting GDP and population.
As for military forces, I was going with those who say to keep things relatively loose, though for guidelines and some feasibility issues I do think we should clarify minimum costs for hull sizes. A 50 point Star Dreadnought is not as good as a 70 point one... but should we even consider allowing a 20 point one when its very size implies one should've spent at least 30 or 40 or 50?
(Note that Hull Sizes would be referred to in Abstract, something like Shuttle, Fighter, Gunboat, Ultralight, Light, Medium, Heavy, Superheavy, Ultraheavy).
But it is something that is almost entirely unnecessary to bicker about until people are more committed to going through with their ideas. It could even turn people away prematurely.
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- PeZook
