An SDNW Proposal

[Dark Hellion]

While that is a nice general reference Skimmer I don't think that tonnage is the most relevant metric to use. In a sci-fi setting where use of various fields and exotic materials is commonplace there is a lot more potential for density or cost per ton to skew wildly. It is plausible to assume that two functionally similar ships within the same navy can differ in mass by an order of magnitude because of design philosophy. Cruiser A may heavily utilize shielding for its defense, robust hardened systems for EW and damage control, and high powered energy weapons for offense. Cruiser B utilizes thick coats of exotic superdense armour with an artificial bonding field for defense, large numbers of redundant systems for damage control, and a ballistic weapons suite. These are two cruisers of the same value in game and have identical capabilities in generic open field battle but Cruiser B can easily mass five or more times A while being of approximately the same volume. We can easily use fluff to justify this, perhaps Cruiser B represents a much greater up front cost to construct "in universe" but utilizes primarily well-established older technologies that are reliably engineered and very common while Cruiser A is initially cheaper because of its substantially lower amount of material necessary to construct, but much of its technology is slightly newer or less common and some of its components have little technical gremlins that drives its upkeep costs up significantly. Over their service life they even out.

I think we should stop worrying about ship designations as individual hulls of some nebulous size but consider them as indivisible "units" of some qualitative grade. A heavy hull may represent a single battleship or 10,000 hyperspace equipped space fighters. If they get into a battle and do 50% damage to each other we just say that the battleships point-defenses tore up 5000 fighters while the fighter swarm put gaping wounds in the superstructure of the battleship but the tough bastard is still fighting. They started the same value, ended the same value, and performed equally well, the fact that there is a 5 order of magnitude difference in ship number is meaningless unless a player attempts to circumvent the rules.

That being said I have a few questions for Steve:

1)I wish to play as an AI race. Thus all geological concerns for habitation are trivial except for resource availability. As even a single star system contains a truly huge amount of exploitable material there is little incentive for them to expand in a similar manner to biological species. Since they aren't a Aggressive Homogenizing Swarm I reason that their territorial holdings would be compact and heavily built up. The problem I have is that while I can represent this by buying a single Core sector and pumping it full of extra GDP it seems like it is borderline mechanical abuse and invites other mechanical issues during game play. What do you think the best solution is to replicate the fact that my faction does not care about territorial volume or truly possess a civilian population and yet not abuse the system?

2) Is it safe to assume that universal translators of high general competence are bog standard tech? They seem necessary for general plot convenience but you may wish communication to be inherently difficult.

3) Is having a biologically inhospitable environment considered under system defense? It seems like it easily should but again I want to avoid possible mechanical abuses. For species with wildly non-human biology their habitation itself may be a deadly enemy and I am just curious as whether this will have any mechanical representation or be handled by RPing and fiat.

That's it for now, I'll probably have more later on down the road of the creative process.

[Steve]

1)I wish to play as an AI race. Thus all geological concerns for habitation are trivial except for resource availability. As even a single star system contains a truly huge amount of exploitable material there is little incentive for them to expand in a similar manner to biological species. Since they aren't a Aggressive Homogenizing Swarm I reason that their territorial holdings would be compact and heavily built up. The problem I have is that while I can represent this by buying a single Core sector and pumping it full of extra GDP it seems like it is borderline mechanical abuse and invites other mechanical issues during game play. What do you think the best solution is to replicate the fact that my faction does not care about territorial volume or truly possess a civilian population and yet not abuse the system?

If anything your request makes me consider requiring every extra GDP point to a sector beyond the first require a matching population point.

IOW, you could spend 1 point to upgrade a sector's GDP, but if you want to spend 2 you have to also spend a point on population, creatting a pattern like so:

1-0
2-1
3-2
4-3
And on.

2) Is it safe to assume that universal translators of high general competence are bog standard tech? They seem necessary for general plot convenience but you may wish communication to be inherently difficult.

Unless people request otherwise in specific cases I presume UT tech is common and capable.

3) Is having a biologically inhospitable environment considered under system defense? It seems like it easily should but again I want to avoid possible mechanical abuses. For species with wildly non-human biology their habitation itself may be a deadly enemy and I am just curious as whether this will have any mechanical representation or be handled by RPing and fiat.

That's it for now, I'll probably have more later on down the road of the creative process.

RPing and fiat mostly, and if people RP it badly the mods will have words with them.

[Sea Skimmer]

While that is a nice general reference Skimmer I don't think that tonnage is the most relevant metric to use. In a sci-fi setting where use of various fields and exotic materials is commonplace there is a lot more potential for density or cost per ton to skew wildly.

Yeah, that’s why you adjust cost per ton based on the GDP however you want, I’d suggest a submarine for high cost, and use displacement tonnage as a way of approximating dimensions for a realistic fleet. That actual weights don’t matter. You seem to think I have some grander rule idea behind this, but it’s just a reference aid.

3) Is having a biologically inhospitable environment considered under system defense? It seems like it easily should but again I want to avoid possible mechanical abuses. For species with wildly non-human biology their habitation itself may be a deadly enemy and I am just curious as whether this will have any mechanical representation or be handled by RPing and fiat.

It’d say it should depend on what inhospitable means. If you claim to occupy a lava planet with tungsten robots, that is a pretty major defense. But if a world is merely lacking in breathable air for humans that doesn’t really matter. The average future solider is just already going to need to have bottled air to survive. Otherwise all the absurd chemical weapons people could easily deploy (like say a 100 ton anti gravity missile filled with VX) would just be totally lethal over wide areas. So operations on airless worlds would be harsh, but nothing much worse then what fighting on a normal planet could bring anyway.

[Steve]

And now my writeup.

Formal Name: United Star Kingdom of New Anglia
Common Name:: Kingdom of New Anglia, Anglian Star Empire
Short Name: New Anglia, Anglia

Government Type: Constitutional Monarchy
Head of State: HM King Edward XVI, By the Grace of God Emperor of the Anglian Systems, King of New Anglia, of New Scotland, and so on; Emperor of the Dorei and of the Trill. Title usually rendered as "His Majesty King Edward XVI, King of the United Star Kingdom of New Anglia, Emperor of Doreia and of Trill."
Head of Government: The Rt. Honourable Capt. Stephen Garrett RN (Ret.), Prime Minister of HM Government, MP Vancouver of New Columbia
Legislature: Bicameral Parliament, lower chamber is the House of Commons, democratically elected by the population based on borough, district, or township by first-past-the-post system; upper chamber is the House of Lords, consisting of the peerages of the Kingdoms and special Imperial Senators elected by national governments on Trill and Doreia as well as the Lords Spiritual appointed by the Anglican Church
Judicial Branch: The Anglian Supreme Court, hearing decisions either by its own decision or by request from the Lords of Appeal in Ordinary - the "Law Lords" drawn from the House of Lords. The Monarch can also hear appeals on matters through the Privy Council of the Judiciary, though in common practice this is only invoked to seek pardon or commuting of a death sentence.
Major Political Parties: Liberal "Whig" Party, Conservative "Tory" Party
Minor Political Party: Progressive Democratic Party, Labour Party, Socialist Union Party, Party for Socialist Labour, Marxist Party, Trill Union Front, Dorei Defence League, Anglian Republican Party
Capital: London, Albion Continent, New Anglia

Primary Religions: Anglican Christianity, Catholic Christianity, Protestant Christianity, Dorei faiths
Languages: English (official language of government), Spanish (second language of New Columbia Sector), High Doreian, Trill Common


Territory: The Star Kingdom of New Anglia consists of 9 sectors of Standard size. The central sector is the one containing New Anglia and New Scotland, the Capital Sector of the Kingdom and Empire. Three heavily-developed sectors border it, including the New Columbia Sector, which is heavily populated by Spanish-speaking descendants of immigrants from California and Western Mexico from Earth, such that under the New Columbia Civil Service Act of 2815 the civil service of New Columbia must know Spanish naturally to ensure full communicability.

Beyond these sectors are the Midrange Territories of the Empire. Two are inhabited by Humans, a mix of Anglian immigrants and immigrants from other places. The third is of a particular interest; home to its own Hyperspace Junction and wealthier and more populated than the other two Midrange Sectors, the Trill-Dorei Sector contains the homeworlds of those races, inducted into the Kingdom as Imperial holdings following the First Dilgrud War (2750-2764) and their liberation from the rule of the brutal Dilgrud. The Trill are a secular culture that emphasizes art and science more than particular religion, bearing remarkable Human-like features save some anatomical differences and the "spot-line" that exists on every Trill's body, each Trill having a unique pattern. In contrast the Dorei retain religious faiths much like Humans do, their dominant faith being a monotheist one with a feminine-identified Supreme Diety figure, though they have provided many rational scientists in their history. The Dorei have what some consider to be "elven" features in that their ears are slightly longer and thinner in shape, though more unique is their particular coloration; from a pale white base complexion the Dorei nations go in one of three general directions: teal, blue, or purple. The colorations vary from the deep purple hues of the southern Sindai to the blue-skinned Tryni.

There are two sectors in the Empire considered to be colonial regions. They are what remains of the Dilgrud Empire. In retaliation to attempts to unleash massive orbital bombardment to wipe out life in a neighboring state, the Anglian Kingdom launched the Third Dilgrud War (2813-2816) that culminated with a Dilgrud scorched earth campaign that rendered the species on the verge of extinction and its worlds so damaged as to undo centuries of terraforming. Only Dilgrudar itself, and its sector, has recovered and retained a Dilgrud population, while the nearby sectors' worlds were repopulated with Humans, Trill, and Dorei to commence planetary repair; the Dilgrud population was forcefully deported to Dilgrudar and the rump Dilgrudar state that was left unannexed, a helpless and broken nation that exists on the sufference of the Anglians who, it was pointed out in 2820, "had no desire to rule such a savage and beastly species". The two sectors of space detached from the Dilgrud are still relatively sparsely populated as the Anglian Kingdom is having to repair local biospheres, in some case being forced to re-terraform worlds ravaged by radioactivity from atomic detonations.

Sector Breakdown
New Anglia Sector
Worlds: New Anglia, New Scotland, Alba, Cornwall, New England

Population of 60 Billion
GDP: $14,000 Interstellar Standard Value

Hyperspace Junction Present
Warp Gate Present

New Columbia Sector
Worlds: New Columbia, Nuevo Baja, Nuevo Sonora, Andalusia, Tamaulipas

Population of 50 Billion
GDP: $10,000 Interstellar Standard Value

New Wales Sector
Worlds: New Wales, Sydney, New Kent, New Ireland, Neu Hannover

Population of 50 Billion
GDP: $10,000 Interstellar Standard Value

Caledonia Sector
Worlds: Caledonia, Fraserworld, New Victoria, Churchill, Salisbury

Population of 50 Billion
GDP: $10,000 Interstellar Standard Value

Trill-Doreia Sector
Worlds: Trill, Doreia, Ji'Doreia, Jinla, Astranai

Population of 45 Billion
GDP: $11,000 Interstellar Standard Value
Hyperspace Junction Present

Ionia Sector
Worlds: Ionia, Thrace, Latium, Hansom's Planet, New Bangladesh

Population of 30 Billion
GDP: $6,000 Interstellar Standard Value

New Auckland Sector
Worlds: New Auckland, Adelaide, Acadia, New Ontario, Hebridia

Population of 30 Billion
GDP: $6,000 Interstellar Standard Value

Crowninshield Sector
Worlds: Crowninshield, Meiersworld, Cliffton, Daxai, Janila

Population of 10 Billion
GDP: $2,000 Interstellar Standard Value

Megiddo Sector
Worlds: Megiddo, Anthal, Samothrace, New Trafalgar, Rodney's Planet

Population of 10 Billion
GDP: $2,000 Interstellar Standard Value

Population: 335 Billion People (260 Billion Humans, 35 Billion Dorei, 39.9 Billion Trill, 100 Million Members of Other Species)

GDP: Rated at $71,000 Interstellar Standard Value

Economy: The Anglian Kingdom retains a free market with some government regulation, the extent of which is usually determined by which party holds majority in Parliament. There are some powerful corporations, but numerous worlds such as those of New Columbia, the Trill, and the Dorei also see some co-operative corporations that are owned by the workforce of the company with workers voting for their officers and major company policies.

Foreign Relations:
The United Nations of Earth and Nova Terra: Cordial
Solarian Sovereignty: Cordial
Imperium of Man: Cool
Bragulan Empire: Hostile
Karlack Swarm: Distant
Holy Empire of Haruhi Suzumiya: Cordial
Not sure about anyone else, would have to talk with them.


(Note: Yeah, I know, that population and GDP sounds high. I gave myself 30 NCPs because I'm the mod, I'm typically a nice guy IC anyway, and I already expect you lot will cause me many headaches to justify having a measly four-nine more points than anyone else. )

[Dark Hellion]

I didn't mean to suggest that you were imposing some rule upon us Skimmer, its just that those kind of 10-seconds of math quick references have a disturbing tendency to grow into gospel if you don't nip them early.

[Shinn Langley Soryu]

So, Steve's playing a Britain expy? Great. That's going to complicate the Haruhiists' background fluff a bit, considering that their single core sector is this:

Albion Sector
Worlds: Britannia Superior, Britannia Inferior, Caledonia, Hibernia Superior, Hibernia Inferior

Population: 50 billion
GDP: $12000 Interstellar Standard Value
Hyperspace Junction present

The story goes that the Albion Sector used to be home to a so-called "Holy Empire of Neo-Britannia," a highly expansionist and xenophobic human regime that was conquered by the Haruhiists after it attempted to wage a war of aggression against them. Perhaps the Neo-Britannians had started out as rebels or exiles from New Anglia...

[Teleros]

If anything your request makes me consider requiring every extra GDP point to a sector beyond the first require a matching population point.

IOW, you could spend 1 point to upgrade a sector's GDP, but if you want to spend 2 you have to also spend a point on population, creatting a pattern like so:

1-0
2-1
3-2
4-3
And on.

Not really, consider:

4 NCPs = £10,000 GDP (Core Sector)
4 NCPs = £4,000 GDP (GDP increases to a sector)

Don't see why that's particularly unbalanced if you choose less over more . Although I suppose if you wanted to model an AI race like the one suggested the best way to do it would be to see if it's possible to buy Core Sectors & merge them with the Home Sector or something similar. Same sized economy as everyone else's, but a much smaller nation.

*Snip writeup*

Extra points is fine IMHO*.


*This opinion is in no way reinforced by the fact that the USKNA sounds like the perfect ally & trading partner for the Altacar Empire, given that both of us appear to have modelled our nations Britain in history .

[Siege]

Looking at it for a bit, aren't Hyperspace Junctions a bit pricey? 3 NCPs for a $2,000 boost and some additional mobility doesn't quite seem worth the price...

[Teleros]

Not sure... we haven't yet got FTL speeds worked out AFAIK.

[Siege]

Ha. If you really think we're going to have anything like a consistent FTL speed, methinks you're in for a surprise. Certainly I'm not going to calculate how much time my ships will take to get from A to B. Speed of plot, ahoy!

And in other news, a flag for the United Solarian Sovereignty:

[DarthShady]

A basic write up for me, will expand upon it later. But in the meantime, I present to you...

The Karlacks
(Or the Karlack Swarm as Steve puts it )

Government

The Karlack race has no standard form of government, at least not one that is understandable to humans and other alien species, instead they share a collective consciousness which manifests itself in the form of the OVERMIND. This manifestation of the Hive Mind is Omniscient, Omnipotent, and Omnipresent. The OVERMIND controls the Karlacks through secondary agents called Aspects, which in turn control everything from fleets of living starships to populations of entire star systems. The Aspects are the only creatures in the Hive Mind, aside from the OVERMIND itself, that possess full sapience - but they, like all other Karlacks are genetically incapable of disobeying the OVERMIND.

Economy

The Karlack race controls vast resources and numerous star systems, and everything in them from planets, moons, asteroids, to wandering ships and even the stars themselves - is exploited and used by the Karlack Hive Mind, to feed the billions of Karlack lifeforms in existence and create new ones. It is an economic apparatus that never stops and consumes everything that can be used by the Swarm.

Species

The Karlack are an insectoid like species that has many forms, all of which are genetically engineered bio-mechanical creatures, and all of which were created and adapted by the Hive Mind to execute specific tasks. Ranging from industrial work, construction, space travel to the many forms of warriors and living space ships that comprise the Karlack Swarm. Even the buildings and habitats of the Karlacks are living creatures created and grown to fulfill their specific purpose. As such the race is extremely adaptable and capable of inhabiting places that no other race would even consider.

Military

The Karlack Military, if it can be called such - as every creature of the swarm is capable of being used as an instrument of death and destruction by the eternal will of the OVERMIND, is like an unstoppable force of nature designed solely for the purpose of exterminating the enemies of the Karlack. Its space based creatures, comprised from living ships ranging in size from very small and numerous to Huge and in possession of their own gravitational pull, are divided into Broods tasked with defending Karlack space or invading someone else's space and ruining their shit. Its ground based forces are comprised of numerous creatures of varying sizes and shapes all designed around the most efficient way to kill things. Whether they are the smallest and most numerous warriors of the swarm, or the larger and more powerful and heavily armored creatures, one thing is for sure -- enemies of the Karlack find themselves faced with an unending tide of death, which knows no mercy and takes no prisoners.

Foreign Policy

The Karlack are an isolationist power which due to their nature are not well liked by other species in the Galaxy, which tend to avoid them or are openly hostile towards them, with the exception of the Bragulan Star Empire with which the Karlack maintain an alliance of convenience. The Karlack name is also given to them by the Bragulans as their own term is unpronounceable by any other known alien language. The Swarm is currently fighting in an ongoing war with one alien power known as the Imperium of Man, which has gone so far as to declare a crusade against the Karlack and the two have been in violent conflict for decades.The conflict has varied from full scale warfare to minor border skirmishes. Minor battles are also fought between the Karlack and the United Solarian Sovereignty, although that conflict has so far been limited to minor planetary infestations and the occasional fleet ambush in Wild Space.

One thing should be noted though, even though the Karlack are isolationist and highly defensive of their territory, they are not openly hostile to everybody and are in fact more than willing to trade with other alien species, provided they aren't joining crusades against them and are not openly xenophobic. You should however consider that the OVERMIND has a very different way of seeing the universe, than the other species that inhabit it.

Ha. If you really think we're going to have anything like a consistent FTL speed, methinks you're in for a surprise. Certainly I'm not going to calculate how much time my ships will take to get from A to B. Speed of plot, ahoy!

And in other news, a flag for the United Solarian Sovereignty:

*snip flag*

Speed of plot indeed. Oh and that's an awesome flag.

[Siege]

The Swarm is here! Heh, I said it before but I rather fancy the bug swarm of doom concept, and I simply love that you've thrown in that little "ruining their shit" line in there. I can just imagine that write-up being narrated by some solemn basso voice going on and on about the 'all-devouring chitin tides' and such... And then suddenly he's talking about insects ruining people's shit .

[Kuroji]

Quick question. I assume megastructures will be outside the scope/assumed technology (not to mention the timeframe for building such) available in the game? Dyson spheres, and so forth.

[Teleros]

I'd assume so, unless it's one you discover rather than build.

[Master_Baerne]

I think I'll use this as the Ascendancy flag. It's not original, but it goes with my mental image of the society.

[Shroom Man 777]

Karlacks! Man, that's great! It was all about OVERWHELMING HORDES, ASPECTS, BROODS, and then turns into ruining people's shit!

Great stuff. We'll be wonderful allies! And, yeah, I'm sure you'll give Fin a handful to deal with.

(Though, yeah, I hope us CATO guys play nice while dicking about and nuking/dropping a moon/infesting/crusading/purging/freedomizing/shit-ruining/blowing up each other's planets! Mass destruction... for fun's sake! )

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

Hell, I just wrote this as a draft history for the Imperium of Man. Siege provided the last few lines

Founded by Byzantine colonists, led by the Byzantine Prince Isildur Komnenos, the Imperium wasn't as xenophobic as it was then. It welcomed xenos warmly, trading supplies, technology as appropriate. However, the infantile empire was betrayed by a race of xenos who called themselves the Tau, and a massive war arose. The war consumed the entire empire, under its 3rd ruler, Byzantine Emperor Sergius Komnenos. The war laster for decades, leading to the death of Emperor Sergius himself when he led the armies on the field himself when the Tau assaulted Antioch with full force. Antioch was taken, and then to the horror of the Byzantine population, the grand church of Hagia Maria was obliterated in a grand inferno. The Tau did this to cow the population and to tell them that there was no hope.

Sergius had a son, Heraclius XX Komnenos, who had shown great power from a young age. At that time, a strain of psyker powers was appearing throughout the human population; some kind of genetic mutation that was appearing and was studied closely by many scientists. Heraclius XX Komnenos took the throne with great vigour and declared that Antioch would be retaken, and that he would raise a new church in place of the old Hagia Maria and that the Tau would be exterminated for the grand heresy perpetrated against the Byzantine peoples.

The Tau sent embassies demanding the absolute surrender of the Byzantine Empire. Heraclius slew the Tau ambassador and sent the corpse back to the Tau with a note: "Byzantium will not discuss terms while the enemy sits on Byzantine Soil." With that, Heraclius led a blistering assault on Tau forces at Antioch with such force and brutality that even some of his generals were shocked. All the Tau were slain to the last man, no quarter was given. Their corpses piled up, and then sent on a drone freighter to the nearest Tau world, infected with a biotoxin that targeted the Tau. The Tau were weakened by the biotoxin and spent years fighting the plague. While that happened, Heraclius reformed the armies, and completed the Imperial Astartes project and the first Imperial Astartes were fielded. Reorganizing much of the Imperium's resources, the Guild of Technologists, an organisation long formed when the Byzantines landed on Terra, was reformed into the Adeptus Mechanicus, charged with providing education and technologies to the Imperium and furthering the science of the Imperium. The Guild had also long provided the Imperium with Titans and Skittari units, but all that now was now placed under a joint military high command under which the Titans would take orders from the Emperor himself. 5 years of reform and reorganisation formed one of the most effective and terrifying military the galaxy had ever seen. In that time, a new magnificent Hagia Maria was raised and the Emperor consecrated it himself.

The Tau had by then recovered from the biotoxin and were waging a war of vengence, only to meet fierce resistance, and the Imperial Navy led by the Emperor himself repulsed the Tau. The Imperial Navy then escorted a massive army to the Tau worlds. The Imperial Military was divided into the Astartes Legions, each led by the Emperor's sons. The Emperor's sons, powerful psykers by rights, led the assaults on the Tau worlds. Leading their Astartes, or Space Marines, together with the Imperial Guard and Navy and the Titans, launched brutal assaults on Tau worlds. They obliterated Tau cities, and destroyed Tau field armies in lightning assaults. Worlds were subjected to exterminatus, killing billions of Tau. The final assault on the Tau homeworld was one of the most bloodiest ever fought in the history of mankind. A billion Imperial Guardsmen, and tens of thousands of Titans and various Guard Armour, along thousands of Astartes attacked the world with two objectives: To wipe clean the Tau from the face of the galaxy, and to seize whatever databases and records they could lay their hands on. Astartes launched commando strikes to prevent the Tau from eradicating their archives and detonating their power cores, and the Guardsmen besieged Tau cities and fought brutal urban combat. Millions died that day, but the Imperium was victorious. Every Tau was put to the sword. After a decade in which the Tau homeworld was literally picked clean, the homeworld was subject to brutal orbital bombardment; to make the Tau an example for what would happen to any xenos that dared to attack humanity in such a fashion again. After the bombardments had cleansed all life from T'au, after the very atmosphere was blown into space, after bombers had salted the very soil of the world's four continents until nothing would ever grow there again, the Emperor raised a mighty church in the largest crater of the planet the Imperium now called Tranquility, for it was very silent indeed.

[DarthShady]

Thanks guys. I'm sure we will have a lot of fun with this game.

And Fin, I love your history - now that you have cleansed the Tau, prepare yourself to face the Swarm. Do note however that WE are a whole lot more potent enemy.

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

Thanks guys. I'm sure we will have a lot of fun with this game.

And Fin, I love your history - now that you have cleansed the Tau, prepare yourself to face the Swarm. Do note however that WE are a whole lot more potent enemy.

Indeed . *high five!*

[Shroom Man 777]

I never saw two people more cheerful at playing ruthless genocidal warmongers bent on both their mutual destruction.

[Steve]

I suppose that I should now explain why some people are talking about Byzantines.....

Wrote this up yesterday due to MSN conversation with Shady. Responses have been generally enthusiastic.

Contact

Human Civilization on Earth was changed forever that fateful day in 2018; for that was the day that the first radio signals were picked up indicating that another civilization dwelled in Earth's backyard, spatially speaking. Not just another civilization, another human civilization, referring to itself existing in the year 2140, on a planet it termed "Nova Terra".

The discovery of other Humans on another system electrified the advanced nations of Earth. Overnight the prospect of space flight, declining due to economic woes, conflict, and focus on the looming energy crisis and global warming, was uplifted as never before. The leading nations of Earth worked together to begin its own spaceflight advances, looking to the dream of making contact with their fellow Humans.

That dream was fulfilled surprisingly early, for in 2048 Earth time, a contact appeared on the orbital satellites of Luna and Earth itself. Mistaken at first for a comet, its controlled course toward Earth and luminance soon made clear it was something completely different, and soon radio contact would be made with automated systems aboard a vessel identifying itself, in English, as the Straylight.

And so contact with "Nova Terra" was commenced.

As it turned out, the people of Nova Terra were advanced in other ways too. The materials they brought along to start their industrial basis jumpstarted the terraforming of Mars. Global Warming was ameliorated, nuclear power made safer through enhanced reprocessing, and lives extended and saved from the medical knowledge of the Straylight people.

The histories and geographies of the world were compared and dwelled upon for some time. Certain regions and polities had peculiar similarities: the Earth continent of North America and the Nova Terran America, for instance, as well as Earth islands and geographical regions being replicated, if altered in size, composition, and orientation, upon the face of Nova Terra. Nova Terra had its own branches of Christianity and Islam, its own Jerusalem and Mecca, and clear cousins of major Earth ethnic groups (Japanistani and Japanese; PeZookians and Poles, Byzantine Greeks and Earth Greeks).

These mysteries flummoxed the people of Earth and the Straylight's crew. Spurned on by the hope for further contact, the brightest minds of the Straylight crew and the Earth's scientific community worked and labored for twenty years before they made their ultimate discovery: the Heim Drive.

Named for Burkhard Heim, a German 20th century theoretical physicist, the Heim Drive used exotic gravito-magnetic principles to propel a ship past the speed of light, a theoretical limit being 53 times the speed of light. After several test runs the Earth outfitted a new space vessel, the Pathfinder, and sent it out to retrace the century-long voyage of the Straylight.

They arrived to find Nova Terra on the verge of its own Heim Drive; with the aid of Earth and the Straylighters, Nova Terran scientists finished their work, and the two branches of Mankind had a means by which to search out the universe for more branches of Humanity and, perhaps, an explanation to the mystery of their common existance.

[DarthShady]

I never saw two people more cheerful at playing ruthless genocidal warmongers bent on both their mutual destruction.

We'll be even more cheerful once the actual genociding starts.

*high fives Fin*

And as you can assume, I love the above stuff Steve just posted. I think it will be an awesome bit of background.

[Steve]

Looking at it for a bit, aren't Hyperspace Junctions a bit pricey? 3 NCPs for a $2,000 boost and some additional mobility doesn't quite seem worth the price...

2 NCPs.

[Steve]

If anything your request makes me consider requiring every extra GDP point to a sector beyond the first require a matching population point.

IOW, you could spend 1 point to upgrade a sector's GDP, but if you want to spend 2 you have to also spend a point on population, creatting a pattern like so:

1-0
2-1
3-2
4-3
And on.

Not really, consider:

4 NCPs = £10,000 GDP (Core Sector)
4 NCPs = £4,000 GDP (GDP increases to a sector)

Don't see why that's particularly unbalanced if you choose less over more . Although I suppose if you wanted to model an AI race like the one suggested the best way to do it would be to see if it's possible to buy Core Sectors & merge them with the Home Sector or something similar. Same sized economy as everyone else's, but a much smaller nation.

That got recurved.

*Snip writeup*

Extra points is fine IMHO*.


*This opinion is in no way reinforced by the fact that the USKNA sounds like the perfect ally & trading partner for the Altacar Empire, given that both of us appear to have modelled our nations Britain in history .

[Steve]

Every two-three pages I will repost the rules as they are, to make sure everyone is up on them.

Nation Generation

All nations get 20 points + 1d6 for their Nation Creation Points (NCPs) and a Home Sector for their homeworld/capital.

One uses NCPs in the following fashions: Adding more sectors, improving a sector's population, improving a Sector's GDP, or acquiring Hyperspace Junctions or Warp Gates. 1 NCP can improve a sector's population by 15 Billion or the GDP by $3,000. There are four kinds of sectors.

Home Sectors are the heart of an interstellar state. They contain the capital and key industries to the maintenance of an interstellar state's existence. One natural Earth-like Planet and four planets of Near-Earth or Terraformed type, not counting numerous mining colonies, science outposts, and space habitats. This sector is the site of many of a star empire's most prestigious universities, foundations, and businesses, as well as the seat of government and thus the heart of a nation's civil service. One cannot apply extra population or GDP to one's Home Sector. Every Home Sector automatically comes with a Warp Gate and a Hyperspace Junction, both presumed to be in the system of the nation's Capital World unless otherwise noted.

Stats:
Sector Population: 60 Billion
Sector GDP: $14,000
NCP Cost: Free, Limit 1 Per Nation

Core Sectors are long-settled and inhabited areas of space. One natural Earth-like Planet and four planets of Near-Earth or Terraformed type, not counting numerous mining colonies, science outposts, and space habitats.

Stats:
Sector Population: 50 Billion
Sector GDP: $10,000
NCP Cost: 5 Points, Limit 3 Per Nation

Midrange Sectors have been settled for long periods of time but have not reached the population level of a Core Sector due to varying factors, including planets still in the midst of late phase Terraforming and being the homeworld sectors of minority, less-advanced races in a larger empire.

Stats:
Sector Base Population: 30 Billion
Sector Base GDP: $6,000
NCP Cost: 3 Points

Colony Sectors are sparsely populated, a network of unterraformed or early Terraformed planets and mining colonies centered around an Earth-like or Near-Earth planet in the sector. Despite the lack of extra fully Terraformed planets the capacity for population and economic growth in a Colony is higher than any other sector type. Land is cheap, resources are still abundant, and for daring and brave folk there are plenty of ways to make one's fortune in these Sectors. There are no mechanical limits to improving a Colony Sector.

Stats:
Sector Base Population: 10 Billion
Sector Base GDP: $2,000
NCP Cost: 1 Point


NCPs can also be spent upon adding a Warp Gate or a Hyperspace Junction to a sector.

A Warp Gate in a Sector permits it to receive high value trade and permit instantaneous point-to-point transit for key figures or officials, permitting the GDP of the relevant sector to rise by $1,000. A Warp Gate costs 1 NCP.

All Warp Gates will be assigned to one another, in terms of which goes where, upon completion of Nation Creation process.

A Hyperspace Junction is a system where major hyperspace lanes meet and cross one another. Such a system enjoys heightened incomes from the interstellar trade traffic that results, it also serves as a logical fleet base for one's space forces to ensure rapid deployment and enjoys increased defenses to deal with an incursion. The more Junctions a nation has, the more rapidly its ships can deploy around its space. A Junction increases GDP by $2,000 for the sector it is in. Each Junction costs 2 NCP.

Military

The military forces of an interstellar state are divided into two categories: planetary and space. Space forces are the "star navies", with ships for projecting power, protecting trade, and defending one's solar systems and space in general. Planetary forces are generally troops for the occupation and defense of planets, moons, planetoids, and asteroids - some nations may also have special forces devoted solely to the holding or taking of space habitats and other space facilities (As such require specialized tactics and equipment not used on planets) and these could be considered under either header.

One's starting military is determined by total GDP at game start. During the game a player can build whatever they want, though mods reserve the right to inflict negative events on someone clearly overspending.

A player's ratio of space force expenditure to planetary force expenditure is there business. While space fleets are a vital element to an empire's survivability, if its armies are too small it lacks the ability to take, intact, planets and such from other states; it also impacts the state's ability to deal with armed uprisings or successful invasion. And while some might be tempted to take the approach of "order a planet to surrender and nuke it into oblivion if it refuses", the combination of theater defensive shields to protect major cities for a time and planet-based defenses can inflict loss on a fleet attempting such an operation - additionally the rarity of Earth-like planets and the sheer time scale required for Terraforming means that anyone who intentionally wrecks a world that can sustain life is going to severely impact the interstellar food supply system and will generally piss everyone off. "If I can't have it, no one can" falls under the "Don't be a dick" general rule being considered (it is, after all, essential to the "free-form" system working) and will result in pain for the offender.

For Spacecraft, the unit categories will be designated by "Hull size". The names for the sizes are generally for approximation, not required for actual use. THe costs for starships are in a range to reinforce the fact that players decide the actual point value of a unit; the point value picked just says what size hull is the result of that specific value.

Space Forces:

Spacecraft:
Shuttle
Basic Cost: 20 per $1
A small spacecraft hull with atmospheric and sublight space flight capability. Examples would include space-to-planet shuttles. Used primarily for short-range, intra-system transport. Hull type can potentially be armed and shielded for use as raiding, landing, or boarding craft by pirates.

Hyperlight Shuttle
Basic Value: 15 per $1
A Shuttle with a gravito-magnetic drive that permits slight FTL speed capability, up to 53c. It lacks the fuel reserves for interstellar voyage but can be used for intra-system transport in much shorter times than the strictly sub-light Shuttle. Hull type can potentially be armed and shielded for use as raiding, landing, or boarding craft by pirates.

Fighter
Basic Value: 10 for $1
A small spacecraft hull with Shuttle flight capabilities and some armament and defenses. The smallest combat vessel available. Can mount projectile weapons (torpedoes/missile armament) that can damage even the largest starship hull classes but not capable of fighting full-sized spacecraft effectively.

Gunboat
Basic Value: 2 for $1
A small spacecraft hull with all flight capabilities, including very-short-ranged interstellar hyperspace trips, though it is not capable of traveling between sectors. Greater combat power than a fighter though it lacks the base manueverability of a fighter hull.

Starships:
Yacht
Value: $3-9
A small starship hull with Shuttle flight capabilities and a small hyperdrive. Capable of short-range hyperspace travel on standard fuel reserves. Private luxury spacecraft or official traveling ships are examples. Can carry ECM and light deflector screens for self-defense but will typically be unarmed. Think of it as a space version of Air Force One.

Ultra Light
Value: $10-29
A very small starship hull that can land on planetary surfaces. A vessel this size will ultimately be very specialized, likely in the role of a border scout, an interceptor vessel, or a light fleet screen.

Light
Value: $30-54
A small starship hull that can land on planetary surfaces. Vessels of this size will be the main fleet screens among other various potential roles that the hull size permits.

Medium
Value: $55-99
A medium starship hull that can land on planetary surfaces. A Medium hulled ship has the capacity to perform cruiser-orientated roles in a star navy.

Heavy
Value: $100-199
A heavy starship hull, incapable of planetary landing. A large starship hull; while it can be fairly well specialized most will likely use it to form the striking power of their battle fleets around.

Superheavy
Value: $200-349
A large starship hull, incapable of planetary landing. At this size you're getting to vessels that will be the heavy hitters of your fleet, if not outright fleet flagships, whether it is supporting massive forces of Fighters and Gunboats or employing massive weapons banks for direct combat, or some combination thereof.

Ultra-Heavy
Value: $350+
A massive starship hull, incapable of planetary landing. Ultra-Heavy hull sizes create behemoth warships that are highly expensive and are thus comparitively rare; they represent the largest possible hull size that modern starship construction can manage.



Carrier Rules:

Any Starship Hull can be configured to carry Fighters and Gunboats. Superheavies can be configured to carry Ultralights and Ultraheavies can carry Ultralights and Lights.

A Hull size's carrying capacity is equivalent to half its cost. For example, a Medium Hull ship of $80 cost can carry $40 worth of craft (that's 200 basic Fighter hulls or 40 basic Gunboats as a max exclusive capacity).

Carriers sacrifice the use of dedicated anti-starship firepower to be capable of carrying spacecraft. As a result, a carrier cannot fight a starship effectively, though it can sustain some damage from one due to its protection and defenses. The "damage cap" of a carrier is about 10% its dollar value: a $100 carrier cannot damage anything better than a $10 craft by itself, it needs its fighters to do so.

Fighters and Gunboats are automatically considered to have a x2 to attack value; a base cost fighter unit of 20 fighters, $4 overall, can inflict damage and defeat a ship at $8 cost. This allows a carrier to be economically viable and practical, but due to their lower defensive value fighters and gunboats are easily destroyed and thus the effectiveness of a force of spacecraft is blunted as it takes losses in a space battle.


System Defenses:

Every planet is presumed to have a planetary militia of some form, be it reservist formations or literal town militias in the Colonies, also things like paramilitary gendarme forces. These forces are nominally not available for war, but rather mobilize and deploy when a planet is faced with invasion.

Much the same way, a planet or solar system's defense forces also control planet-based craft and weapons, including anti-starship artillery, minefields, theater shields, space stations, and orbital defensive weapon platforms. The quality and quantity of these forces varies by kind of Sector: Home Sectors have the best defenses and Colony Sectors have the least.

Even a Home Sector major system's defenses are not impregnable of course; a large enough enemy fleet with sufficient troops can and will seize such systems.