Spartakrod
Judeo-Spartacist Bolshevik-Kabbalist
- Location
- Sanctum Arcanorum
- Pronouns
- Fae/Faer/Faers/Faerself
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDdEUhEM5G8
Take five, this time with some decently set up rules that we planned out and tested for a number of months. If you've played Astrolumos or Starlight or the earlier games, this is the newest, greatest iteration and the first where I'm only going to be a Co-GM rather than overall supreme gamemaster.
By some means, you've found your way to one particular universe of the Cosmic Light Metaverse, to the galactic system of Xelexex which has the primary galaxies of Vyranodasik, Eklemarid, and Ykres-Rekys, formerly the core of the long-dead Indrastin Community and its Gramathin founders who perished long before the present civilisations of this universe rose or before their worlds were even life bearing. The situation is a time of trouble and crisis in the very heart of Pentarch Space, the former territories of the Gramathin once dominated by the "Pentarchy" of the Ancients who maintained a system of order across every galaxy in this region of the universe until they fought the Celestial War to mutual collapse and plunged it into a dark age; leaving them open for colonization efforts by the rising might of Quartet Space; the part of the universe that contains Earth, too far away from these galaxies to ever be visible by conventional light.
In the aftermath of the Great Interversal War, post-war treaties have lead to a much lighter hand towards the colonial and client polities in Penatch Space, allowing for a power vacuum as these entities make do without the incredible technology and resources of their parent entities in Quartet Space. A chance for new powers to rise or arrive, not all of which are even from this reality. Regardless of their intentions, philosophies, or desires, they all seek their time in cosmic light. And that's where you come in, from beyond or perhaps simply one of many rising entities in the incredibly distant future of the Cosmocene, more than a geological epoch removed from the Anthropocene we in the real world call home now.
As drums of a new war begin to be sounded, one perhaps more terrible and awful than any before, the time has never been better for a new age as the current era draws to a close. Whether you forge it with blood and iron or with hope and justice, whether you seek to bring about revolution and liberation or repression and conquest, whether you hope to build alliances or forge empires, the future of the deep far future is yours to partake in making.
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The Rules
1: Be at least somewhat civil to your other players.
2: No time travel, period.
3: Generally speaking you can move a fleet up to six large squares in any direction a turn, this is balanced across all factions barring in game research. Note that trying to move across that entire distance and then fighting a war at the other end may go poorly.
4: Time is split into strategic turns which represent the passage of one year where you set your greater objectives, and tactical turns where combat, role playing, diplomacy, immediate trades and the like are done. However, not every strategic turn will necessarily have corresponding tactical turns for every player.
5: If you aren't using established units and factions, please try to explain them thoroughly for the sake of the GMs' sanity. Mixing and matching universes will be looked on with extreme scrutiny.
6: Two players can have the same faction. For example, two players can pick different versions of the Galactic Empire.
7: You're assumed to have sufficient freight capacity to move your troops and civilians and trade goods around without special investment.
8: Factions that rely on infection to spread like the Flood or the Beast must be aware that it is always possible to develop a vaccine and a cure and that some might just be immune to their infection, though it will generally be possible to research a counter to such immunities and cures. And of course, if you're playing as something like the Flood, be aware that there might be something that can infect you.
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Discord
We keep a lot of material on the Discord so it is strongly recommended you join it, especially as accepted sheets are archived on it.
On the Solar Spartakaid Discord, scroll down to the Cosmolux Channel section to find the relevant channels for posting and communicating in more real-time methods than SV is able to facilitate, and check the #finished-sheets channel for accepted and completed sheets.
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Constructing your Sheet
The tiers show examples of what you should be suggesting for them and the numbers you can expect to wield. Even if your faction doesn't actually consist of that many people or ships, something happened during your transit to this galaxy to make it so. Individual players can make as little or as big a deal of this as they'd like, depending on the narrative they want to tell.
Origin Point System:
Here is where you go to customize your factions drop in situation- whether it was a small fleet, intended for scouting, colonization, or maybe even full military maneuvers(depending on the scale of your universe of origin), that was ISOTed over with little to no support, or you actively found a portal to this new universe within your own territory back in your home universe, or if your entire sector, or even entire galaxy, got brought over largely intact with your faction simply being carried along for the ride.
No matter your supposed origin, you only start with 40 Origin Points to work with, and there are very, very few ways to gain more- most of which come in the form of your faction being effectively crippled in one way or another relative to what is considered 'normal' in this new universe.
No matter your origin, you start with three things: 20 population, one Base Magnitude Warfleet, and a small trickle of 10 RP(Resource Points) per turn for the first two turns, so you at least have something to start building up with no matter what.
Either way, once you've picked up your absolute basics, there are four sections on which you can spend your origin points: Generic Origin Modifiers, which you can purchase no matter what your actual origin is, Faction Tier Modifiers, which are like Generic Origin Modifiers, in that they can be purchased no matter what your origin is, but unlike Generic Origin Modifiers these upgrades both follow their own chain of prerequisites and tend to be more expensive.
All of the categories of Origin Modifiers after those two are incompatible, as they represent the actual method that is used to get your faction to Vyranodasik, be it as an ISOT, through a portal, in a refugee fleet traveling across dimensions to escape some catastrophe, or as simply being native to this new galaxy(or one of its satellites)
Here is where you go to customize your factions drop in situation- whether it was a small fleet, intended for scouting, colonization, or maybe even full military maneuvers(depending on the scale of your universe of origin), that was ISOTed over with little to no support, or you actively found a portal to this new universe within your own territory back in your home universe, or if your entire sector, or even entire galaxy, got brought over largely intact with your faction simply being carried along for the ride.
No matter your supposed origin, you only start with 40 Origin Points to work with, and there are very, very few ways to gain more- most of which come in the form of your faction being effectively crippled in one way or another relative to what is considered 'normal' in this new universe.
No matter your origin, you start with three things: 20 population, one Base Magnitude Warfleet, and a small trickle of 10 RP(Resource Points) per turn for the first two turns, so you at least have something to start building up with no matter what.
Either way, once you've picked up your absolute basics, there are four sections on which you can spend your origin points: Generic Origin Modifiers, which you can purchase no matter what your actual origin is, Faction Tier Modifiers, which are like Generic Origin Modifiers, in that they can be purchased no matter what your origin is, but unlike Generic Origin Modifiers these upgrades both follow their own chain of prerequisites and tend to be more expensive.
All of the categories of Origin Modifiers after those two are incompatible, as they represent the actual method that is used to get your faction to Vyranodasik, be it as an ISOT, through a portal, in a refugee fleet traveling across dimensions to escape some catastrophe, or as simply being native to this new galaxy(or one of its satellites)
Basic Origin: costs zero Points. Gives no benefits. Either a war/colony fleet of yours got ISOTed over, or the portal you went through closed behind you, either way you are now in a new universe with no backup but what you brought with you.
More Population: one Origin Point per 5 additional starting population, may be bought up to six times
More Starting Fleethordes: one Origin Point for one additional fleet at Base Magnitude, up to the normal maximum of ten. upkeep is paid as normal for these fleets, same as your first, as is seen in the 'War Fleets' section. Larger warfleets may be purchased for origin points as well
one at Base Magnitude +1 costing two Origin Points
one at Base Magnitude +2 costing four Origin Points
one at Base Magnitude +3 costing ten Origin Points
with their upkeep increasing proportionally. Note: even if you're mixing Warfleets of different magnitude, the same rule of having a maximum of ten War Fleets at any given time is still applied.
More starting production: one Origin Points for 5 RP(Resource Points) added to your coffers per turn for the first two turns, to be spent on whatever you want once the game begins. Like the other Generic Origin Modifiers, this may technically be taken an unlimited number of times
Initial Heavy Assets: one Origin Point for 10 RP worth of battleworlds in your starting forces. No limit on how many times you can repeat this.
Backyard Archnemesis: Gives five origin points: You have a polity in your home reality that absolutely hates your guts and will stop at nothing to ruin everything you have ever made or built. The second you decided to engage in this endeavor and they were aware of it they were already scheming to undermine you and bring you to ruination. A committed, dedicated enemy polity from your home reality will spawn into the map at the same time as you do, and will seek to counteract your efforts as best as it can, and will inevitably have to be dealt with in a final clash. Wiping out their initial colonization force may not be enough, as they can simply send another one if they have the forces to spare. If they are able to respawn if destroyed or spawn in more than once, this gives 7 origin points instead, 10 if both apply.
Note: this can only be done for an actually threatening enemy faction in your home reality that hates your faction in particular, and you must build said sheet yourself.
2nd note: this is incompatible with 'pursuing crisis'
Late Start: You were a bit late to the latest wave of travelers entering Vyranodasik, but not all is bad. The extra time has bought you a bit more preparation.
- Gain 10 origin points.
- Start a turn later.
- Cap for number of times More Population can be bought increases by two
- Can be repeated, starting a turn later for each repeat.
- If you're joining the game late, this is your catchup mechanic.
More Population: one Origin Point per 5 additional starting population, may be bought up to six times
More Starting Fleethordes: one Origin Point for one additional fleet at Base Magnitude, up to the normal maximum of ten. upkeep is paid as normal for these fleets, same as your first, as is seen in the 'War Fleets' section. Larger warfleets may be purchased for origin points as well
one at Base Magnitude +1 costing two Origin Points
one at Base Magnitude +2 costing four Origin Points
one at Base Magnitude +3 costing ten Origin Points
with their upkeep increasing proportionally. Note: even if you're mixing Warfleets of different magnitude, the same rule of having a maximum of ten War Fleets at any given time is still applied.
More starting production: one Origin Points for 5 RP(Resource Points) added to your coffers per turn for the first two turns, to be spent on whatever you want once the game begins. Like the other Generic Origin Modifiers, this may technically be taken an unlimited number of times
Initial Heavy Assets: one Origin Point for 10 RP worth of battleworlds in your starting forces. No limit on how many times you can repeat this.
Backyard Archnemesis: Gives five origin points: You have a polity in your home reality that absolutely hates your guts and will stop at nothing to ruin everything you have ever made or built. The second you decided to engage in this endeavor and they were aware of it they were already scheming to undermine you and bring you to ruination. A committed, dedicated enemy polity from your home reality will spawn into the map at the same time as you do, and will seek to counteract your efforts as best as it can, and will inevitably have to be dealt with in a final clash. Wiping out their initial colonization force may not be enough, as they can simply send another one if they have the forces to spare. If they are able to respawn if destroyed or spawn in more than once, this gives 7 origin points instead, 10 if both apply.
Note: this can only be done for an actually threatening enemy faction in your home reality that hates your faction in particular, and you must build said sheet yourself.
2nd note: this is incompatible with 'pursuing crisis'
Late Start: You were a bit late to the latest wave of travelers entering Vyranodasik, but not all is bad. The extra time has bought you a bit more preparation.
- Gain 10 origin points.
- Start a turn later.
- Cap for number of times More Population can be bought increases by two
- Can be repeated, starting a turn later for each repeat.
- If you're joining the game late, this is your catchup mechanic.
Unless otherwise listed, each of these modifiers costs six Origin Points.
Faction Tier(Primus) (Free, you start with this unless you buy the drawback)
In the most famous science fiction/fantasy verses, Primus lacks the technology of the long-fallen precursor factions, but remains firmly in the "We're punching each other over who gets to be in charge of the whole galaxy" territory. The smallest and weakest of the powers shown on the map are still Tier Primus, as was one the Failed States before it became a Failed State. Some other Tier Primus factions may not be on the map from a lack of connections or diplomatic recognition in the war-torn warlord states of Vyranodasik, but are by no means weaker in power.
Sample Factions with this upgrade: The Empire(Star Wars), the Reapers(Mass Effect), the Orks(Warlord stage and beyond(pre-Apex)), Imperium of Man(Imperial Guard/Navy)
Faction Tier(Extremis): requires Faction Tier Upgrade One; (costs six origin points)
Not quite reaching the might of Tier Maximus, Tier Extremis tends to be those highly advanced nations that are still around to be relevant ass-kicking powers. Vyranodasik sees Tier Extremis as the standard for being considered a peer for the big map powers that don't quite reach into Superpower level.
Sample factions with this upgrade: the Imperium of Man(Mechanicus and Space Marines mainly)(Warhammer 40k), the Protoss(Starcraft), most Supreme Commander factions
Faction Tier(Maximus): (costs twelve origin points) requires Faction Tier Upgrade Two;
Tier Maximus is often limited to either the remnants of those Precursor Races that leave behind tons of ancient ruins and to factions that are seeking to claim that same level of power. In Vyranodasik, Tier Maximus factions can expect to almost match the Superpowers of Vyranodasik in quality, though obviously not quantity.
Sample factions with this upgrade: the Eldar(base Warhammer 40k), Ancient Humanity(Halo), the Men of Iron(Warhammer 40k: War of the Krork, and most other interpretations for that matter)
Operational and Strategic Movement Speed upgrade: while you can't strike farther away from your own controlled territory than normal, what this does do is allow for your forces to more swiftly reposition in battle, allowing for you to generally achieve higher levels of force concentration in any region of your assorted engagements due to being better able to take advantage of divisions in how your foe deployed their forces, allowing for your forces to better divide and conquer your foe's forces. This also allows for your forces to more quickly move to exploit any found/created vulnerabilities in how your target has deployed their forces.
- double bonuses gained from positional and maneuver advantages over your opponent(aka 'you get rewarded more for making a good plan that plays to your own factions strengths and your target faction's non-battlefield related weaknesses', assuming that your enemies plan doesn't simply counter your own, or they don't have so many more effective fleethordes than you that this comes to naught anyways)
Increased Tactical Durability: your forces are overall more resilient to taking long-term casualties than what would be considered normal- whether it is due to your forces being mass produced on site(but not necessarily to the point where they get a Defining Trait for that), being teleported out to be brought back to full functionality again upon 'death', or due to the armor that your forces use being simply that much better than almost anything else possible even with normal physics being bent somewhat.
your forces effectively take 25% less losses than what would otherwise be considered normal; be said casualties be from the 'baseline' losses that are to be expected from two fleets/armies throwing themselves at each other, or from your enemies own held advantages (other than purely Positional and Maneuver advantages that don't turn into other advantages for some reason)
Overwhelming Weapons Technology: nearly every single part of your roster is defined by units that are built around weaponry that in a lesser faction would almost be considered Super Weapons in their own right, with much more exotic effects than anything considered conventional 'should' have. This means that against your forces conventional defenses and resistances mean much less, increasing your opponent's losses proportionally.
Your forces effectively deal 25% more damage to the enemy(they take 25% more casualties), both baseline and from your own held advantages(other than from purely positional and maneuver advantages that don't end up turning into other advantages) than what would otherwise be considered normal. Note: this and Increased Tactical Durability effectively cancel each other out when they are present in the involved factions.
Unheard of Reliability: your forces have Excellent, if not outright Heroic, reliability, able to take advantage of opportunities and exploit even smaller openings than all but the most advanced civilizations could dream of, to the point where it almost seems as if lady luck favors you, as either seeming coincidences work out to things work out in your favor, or your forces work in such perfect coordination that you would swear that they already knew what you would be doing. Either way, they have an easier time getting and exploiting edges/advantages in the battle phase cycle than would otherwise be considered normal. Note: this is already counted into the bonuses given by 'Give Them an Edge'
Give Them an Edge…: requires Unheard of Reliability; your forces are better able to take advantage of every single possible exploitable advantage, as either extreme levels of synergy or outright magic turns every single advantage, no matter how slight, into a seemingly overwhelming one very quickly. After initial calculations all Edges(+) in your favor are turned into Advantages(++), and all Advantages in your favor turn into outright Supremacy(+++) in that given area against factions that don't also have this trait.
The Adama Maneuver: (costs four origin points) despite how primitive(or advanced) your faction may seem from the surface, your FTL system is beyond compare, capable of jumping into and out of situations that other factions wouldn't dream of, at speeds that no one not used to using a similarly advanced system would be used to.
Massive boosts to the Disengage phase of combat, as your forces don't need to withdraw to a safe area(far enough away from any local gravity wells and/or having a clear enough line of acceleration to make it to 'light speed' and enter 'hyperspace') to quickly and smoothly exit the battlefield. In addition, your forces gain a massive bonus to the Skirmish phase of the battle, as jumping in close for a sudden strike before jumping away, jumping past shields, and jumping into and out of atmosphere is all perfectly possible.
"If I destroy you, what business is that of yours?": (costs 20 Origin Points, and is not meant to be purchasable by anything near to a standard player-led faction) Capstone; requires having all of the above Faction Tier Modifiers plus the Shining Jewel of Technology Definitive Trait. Merges 'Tactical Durability' and 'Overwhelming Weapons Technology' into an additional Faction Tier Upgrade, bringing your units baseline to *****(five pips) above the starting baseline in return for those two faction tier modifiers losing their original effects. Also upgrades 'Give Them an Edge…' to instead have all advantages that you receive of Edge quality or higher to immediately turn into Supremacy, and keep a reduced effect, equal to the effects of the original faction tier upgrade, against factions that have said tier upgrade but not this capstone. In return for all of this, you cannot gain any research based specialization points, as you are already effectively as high in the technology tree as one can get within the timeframe that will be covered in the coming story.
Faction Tier Downgrade: (can be bought twice, first purchase gives 10 Origin Points, second gives an additional 20), is not compatible with taking any of the other Faction Tier Modifiers. your faction is vastly less technologically advanced than what would be considered normal in this new universe,(first purchase removes your free tier-up, second purchase causes your Units to start a full tier down)
1st purchase = secundus (e.g. BattleTech, Terrans(Starcraft), Mass Effect, Homeworld(outside the Beast of Cataclysm))
Those in this tier are behind the true map-worthy powers of Vyranodasik, but are potent nonetheless who affect swathes of space in their home galaxies. While they may not show up on the map from lack of full diplomatic recognition or affiliation with the driving political ideologies, there are Tier Secundii powers in Vyranodasik that hold whole sectors in their sway, and are chomping at the bit to make their mark on the galaxy.
2nd purchase = tertius (e.g. pre-War UNSC, Battlestar Galactica(2004 version), the Expanse))
Here we're getting into the small fry, comparable to many minor powers in Vyranodasik. Player factions of this tier are limited compared to the technology of the greater powers, and will have a ways to go to catch up. But one thing they do have is the potential to start with tremendous numbers, enough to make a very serious effort at directly colonizing vast swathes of Vyranodasik, a mission the higher tier, but less numerous powers may very well struggle to achieve.
Another Successful Warp Jump: (grants three origin points) despite how advanced(or primitive) your faction may seem from the surface, your FTL system is inconceivably bad, being either extraordinarily slow, highly dangerous, or both, with ships needing to travel well out into what would otherwise be considered the interstellar void to enter FTL and travel between the stars.
Large mallus to disengage and an actual penalty(if relatively minor) to how fast your forces move on the strategic scale, as your forces need to constantly slowboat their way out of system as they leave and arrive at their assorted destinations.
Faction Tier(Primus) (Free, you start with this unless you buy the drawback)
In the most famous science fiction/fantasy verses, Primus lacks the technology of the long-fallen precursor factions, but remains firmly in the "We're punching each other over who gets to be in charge of the whole galaxy" territory. The smallest and weakest of the powers shown on the map are still Tier Primus, as was one the Failed States before it became a Failed State. Some other Tier Primus factions may not be on the map from a lack of connections or diplomatic recognition in the war-torn warlord states of Vyranodasik, but are by no means weaker in power.
Sample Factions with this upgrade: The Empire(Star Wars), the Reapers(Mass Effect), the Orks(Warlord stage and beyond(pre-Apex)), Imperium of Man(Imperial Guard/Navy)
Faction Tier(Extremis): requires Faction Tier Upgrade One; (costs six origin points)
Not quite reaching the might of Tier Maximus, Tier Extremis tends to be those highly advanced nations that are still around to be relevant ass-kicking powers. Vyranodasik sees Tier Extremis as the standard for being considered a peer for the big map powers that don't quite reach into Superpower level.
Sample factions with this upgrade: the Imperium of Man(Mechanicus and Space Marines mainly)(Warhammer 40k), the Protoss(Starcraft), most Supreme Commander factions
Faction Tier(Maximus): (costs twelve origin points) requires Faction Tier Upgrade Two;
Tier Maximus is often limited to either the remnants of those Precursor Races that leave behind tons of ancient ruins and to factions that are seeking to claim that same level of power. In Vyranodasik, Tier Maximus factions can expect to almost match the Superpowers of Vyranodasik in quality, though obviously not quantity.
Sample factions with this upgrade: the Eldar(base Warhammer 40k), Ancient Humanity(Halo), the Men of Iron(Warhammer 40k: War of the Krork, and most other interpretations for that matter)
Operational and Strategic Movement Speed upgrade: while you can't strike farther away from your own controlled territory than normal, what this does do is allow for your forces to more swiftly reposition in battle, allowing for you to generally achieve higher levels of force concentration in any region of your assorted engagements due to being better able to take advantage of divisions in how your foe deployed their forces, allowing for your forces to better divide and conquer your foe's forces. This also allows for your forces to more quickly move to exploit any found/created vulnerabilities in how your target has deployed their forces.
- double bonuses gained from positional and maneuver advantages over your opponent(aka 'you get rewarded more for making a good plan that plays to your own factions strengths and your target faction's non-battlefield related weaknesses', assuming that your enemies plan doesn't simply counter your own, or they don't have so many more effective fleethordes than you that this comes to naught anyways)
Increased Tactical Durability: your forces are overall more resilient to taking long-term casualties than what would be considered normal- whether it is due to your forces being mass produced on site(but not necessarily to the point where they get a Defining Trait for that), being teleported out to be brought back to full functionality again upon 'death', or due to the armor that your forces use being simply that much better than almost anything else possible even with normal physics being bent somewhat.
your forces effectively take 25% less losses than what would otherwise be considered normal; be said casualties be from the 'baseline' losses that are to be expected from two fleets/armies throwing themselves at each other, or from your enemies own held advantages (other than purely Positional and Maneuver advantages that don't turn into other advantages for some reason)
Overwhelming Weapons Technology: nearly every single part of your roster is defined by units that are built around weaponry that in a lesser faction would almost be considered Super Weapons in their own right, with much more exotic effects than anything considered conventional 'should' have. This means that against your forces conventional defenses and resistances mean much less, increasing your opponent's losses proportionally.
Your forces effectively deal 25% more damage to the enemy(they take 25% more casualties), both baseline and from your own held advantages(other than from purely positional and maneuver advantages that don't end up turning into other advantages) than what would otherwise be considered normal. Note: this and Increased Tactical Durability effectively cancel each other out when they are present in the involved factions.
Unheard of Reliability: your forces have Excellent, if not outright Heroic, reliability, able to take advantage of opportunities and exploit even smaller openings than all but the most advanced civilizations could dream of, to the point where it almost seems as if lady luck favors you, as either seeming coincidences work out to things work out in your favor, or your forces work in such perfect coordination that you would swear that they already knew what you would be doing. Either way, they have an easier time getting and exploiting edges/advantages in the battle phase cycle than would otherwise be considered normal. Note: this is already counted into the bonuses given by 'Give Them an Edge'
Give Them an Edge…: requires Unheard of Reliability; your forces are better able to take advantage of every single possible exploitable advantage, as either extreme levels of synergy or outright magic turns every single advantage, no matter how slight, into a seemingly overwhelming one very quickly. After initial calculations all Edges(+) in your favor are turned into Advantages(++), and all Advantages in your favor turn into outright Supremacy(+++) in that given area against factions that don't also have this trait.
The Adama Maneuver: (costs four origin points) despite how primitive(or advanced) your faction may seem from the surface, your FTL system is beyond compare, capable of jumping into and out of situations that other factions wouldn't dream of, at speeds that no one not used to using a similarly advanced system would be used to.
Massive boosts to the Disengage phase of combat, as your forces don't need to withdraw to a safe area(far enough away from any local gravity wells and/or having a clear enough line of acceleration to make it to 'light speed' and enter 'hyperspace') to quickly and smoothly exit the battlefield. In addition, your forces gain a massive bonus to the Skirmish phase of the battle, as jumping in close for a sudden strike before jumping away, jumping past shields, and jumping into and out of atmosphere is all perfectly possible.
"If I destroy you, what business is that of yours?": (costs 20 Origin Points, and is not meant to be purchasable by anything near to a standard player-led faction) Capstone; requires having all of the above Faction Tier Modifiers plus the Shining Jewel of Technology Definitive Trait. Merges 'Tactical Durability' and 'Overwhelming Weapons Technology' into an additional Faction Tier Upgrade, bringing your units baseline to *****(five pips) above the starting baseline in return for those two faction tier modifiers losing their original effects. Also upgrades 'Give Them an Edge…' to instead have all advantages that you receive of Edge quality or higher to immediately turn into Supremacy, and keep a reduced effect, equal to the effects of the original faction tier upgrade, against factions that have said tier upgrade but not this capstone. In return for all of this, you cannot gain any research based specialization points, as you are already effectively as high in the technology tree as one can get within the timeframe that will be covered in the coming story.
Faction Tier Downgrade: (can be bought twice, first purchase gives 10 Origin Points, second gives an additional 20), is not compatible with taking any of the other Faction Tier Modifiers. your faction is vastly less technologically advanced than what would be considered normal in this new universe,(first purchase removes your free tier-up, second purchase causes your Units to start a full tier down)
1st purchase = secundus (e.g. BattleTech, Terrans(Starcraft), Mass Effect, Homeworld(outside the Beast of Cataclysm))
Those in this tier are behind the true map-worthy powers of Vyranodasik, but are potent nonetheless who affect swathes of space in their home galaxies. While they may not show up on the map from lack of full diplomatic recognition or affiliation with the driving political ideologies, there are Tier Secundii powers in Vyranodasik that hold whole sectors in their sway, and are chomping at the bit to make their mark on the galaxy.
2nd purchase = tertius (e.g. pre-War UNSC, Battlestar Galactica(2004 version), the Expanse))
Here we're getting into the small fry, comparable to many minor powers in Vyranodasik. Player factions of this tier are limited compared to the technology of the greater powers, and will have a ways to go to catch up. But one thing they do have is the potential to start with tremendous numbers, enough to make a very serious effort at directly colonizing vast swathes of Vyranodasik, a mission the higher tier, but less numerous powers may very well struggle to achieve.
Another Successful Warp Jump: (grants three origin points) despite how advanced(or primitive) your faction may seem from the surface, your FTL system is inconceivably bad, being either extraordinarily slow, highly dangerous, or both, with ships needing to travel well out into what would otherwise be considered the interstellar void to enter FTL and travel between the stars.
Large mallus to disengage and an actual penalty(if relatively minor) to how fast your forces move on the strategic scale, as your forces need to constantly slowboat their way out of system as they leave and arrive at their assorted destinations.
ISOT Origin: costs four Origin Points. Prerequisite for this section's Origin Modifiers.
You start off with complete control of your initial subsector, with whatever was there beforehand being completely overwritten by territory brought with you from your home dimension.
Expanded initial Territory: costs four Origin Points, may be purchased up to four times. Increase the number of sub-sectors within your starting sector that you effectively control right from the start by one, up until you control five of them, effectively giving you majority control of your starting sector from the very beginning.
Initial Territory development: costs one Origin Point. May be purchased an unlimited number of times. The territory that you brought over wasn't empty, instead, it is filled with stuff that your faction has built over the entirety of the time that it has occupied said territory before it was transported here. Gives you a budget of 5 RP with which to buy upgrades for your initial territory before the game starts.(see the Territory section and the Megaproject section for options on what you could 'purchase' before the start of the game)
You start off with complete control of your initial subsector, with whatever was there beforehand being completely overwritten by territory brought with you from your home dimension.
Expanded initial Territory: costs four Origin Points, may be purchased up to four times. Increase the number of sub-sectors within your starting sector that you effectively control right from the start by one, up until you control five of them, effectively giving you majority control of your starting sector from the very beginning.
Initial Territory development: costs one Origin Point. May be purchased an unlimited number of times. The territory that you brought over wasn't empty, instead, it is filled with stuff that your faction has built over the entirety of the time that it has occupied said territory before it was transported here. Gives you a budget of 5 RP with which to buy upgrades for your initial territory before the game starts.(see the Territory section and the Megaproject section for options on what you could 'purchase' before the start of the game)
Portal Home: costs four Origin Points. Prerequisite for this section's Origin Modifiers.
The method that you got here? The portal that you used? It's still open, hovering behind your fleet at the site where you arrived. Through it, you can requisition more resources, have reinforcements sent to you, request more colonists(who might just come along anyways), and otherwise gain all of the advantages of having a relatively safe, if not entirely controlled by you, area from which you can receive more support. As a freebee for this, each turn, for the rest of the game, you can requisition(read: gain) either five 'free' RP worth of production or four Population Points worth of immigrants/colonists.
We're Gonna Need More Ships: costs one Origin Point, and may be taken an unlimited number of times. Each point represented here represents two Base Magnitude Fleethorde equivalents that you can draw from your home galaxy before your pool of requisition-able ships from there effectively dries up for one reason or another. However, unlike its effectively more expensive generic counterpart, you can effectively only bring in one Base Magnitude Fleethorde equivalent per turn, as your home galaxy either can only afford to give you so many ships/troops at once before risking things at home, or, in some cases, they might need to actually build said ships for you first. Also, unlike its generic counterpart, you don't need to pay upkeep on said fleethordes until they are actually on your side of the portal.
AN one: yes, if you wait you can draw in more reinforcements you can bring in more of them at once.
AN two: you can in theory replenish the pool that your faction is pulling from after the start of the game, but how you do so is up to the judgment of your GM.
AN three: you can return the fleets to your home faction (provided they weren't completely destroyed, and you've carried out their repairs) for instant replenishment of the pool you drew them from.
A Steady Stream of Colonists: costs one Origin Point, and may be taken an unlimited number of times. Each point invested here represents four Population points worth of Immigrants/Colonists coming through the portal to join you per turn; precisely what you do with these people is up to you/your faction, and you/your faction can always temporarily halt the flow if you feel that this side of the portal isn't safe enough, but renewing said flow is as easy as letting those on the other side of the portal know that things are (relatively) safe again.
Portal based Baggage Train: costs one Origin Point, and may be taken an unlimited number of times. Each purchase of this gives you a steady income of three RP(Resource Points) per turn for the rest of the game, as a steady supply of raw resources, industrial goods. and semi-finished products come through the portal from your home territory and are fed into whatever projects you have going on at the time.
Home-Front Management: Offers up to ten origin points. Your polity is explicitly linked to a larger society back in your home reality that has specific goals and requirements for you in order to continue receiving its support. Their mandates might not always fit with what you want to do, and they may condition their support on you fulfilling some obligations. Furthermore, they will typically expect some tithe of your resources sent back to them every now and then or at least some other material return on investment to justify their continued interest into your endeavor. While breaking with them is not impossible, it will obviate your prior flow of support from them. Doing so prematurely may instead lead to them attacking you directly to replace you in a fight you may not win.
Cloak and Dagger Shenanigans: Offers up to ten origin points. Your portal is publicly known or at least known to other polities in your home reality, meaning that your presence in this new universe will inevitably and invariably trigger a scramble for the new universe from rival polities and factions in your own polity. This can lead to greatly complicated diplomacy as your presence in this universe will directly lead to more problems down the line for the natives as well as an imperialist scramble. You are also very likely to end up in a war with at least one hostile polity from your native reality, possibly more depending on your native factions' standing in its home universe. Given that these will also be extensions of larger polities, defeating their colonizing fleet hordes is not guaranteed to stop them from coming back again or interfering with your supplies from the other side.
Bring the War Home: Offers up to ten origin points. The political situation in your home reality is unstable and there will likely be a major conflict in it at some point, either this or the sort of portal you use is easily traced back to your home reality allowing for native polities or other travellers to find their way to your own reality. Whereas Cloak and Dagger primarily affects things on your side, Bring the War Home affects things on the other side of the portal and can seriously impact your ability to continue to get resources from that portal or prompt them to make major requests for something to shift the balance of the war. If your home polity is outright defeated in its home front conflict, you lose all benefits of the portal origin after one final flood of refugees until you can liberate your parent polity and may outright lose the game depending on your relationship to them. This also means that variably sized fleet hordes from your own native reality might also want to follow you to your new reality and often form portals within what you might think is secured territory, greatly complicating your defensive planning.
The method that you got here? The portal that you used? It's still open, hovering behind your fleet at the site where you arrived. Through it, you can requisition more resources, have reinforcements sent to you, request more colonists(who might just come along anyways), and otherwise gain all of the advantages of having a relatively safe, if not entirely controlled by you, area from which you can receive more support. As a freebee for this, each turn, for the rest of the game, you can requisition(read: gain) either five 'free' RP worth of production or four Population Points worth of immigrants/colonists.
We're Gonna Need More Ships: costs one Origin Point, and may be taken an unlimited number of times. Each point represented here represents two Base Magnitude Fleethorde equivalents that you can draw from your home galaxy before your pool of requisition-able ships from there effectively dries up for one reason or another. However, unlike its effectively more expensive generic counterpart, you can effectively only bring in one Base Magnitude Fleethorde equivalent per turn, as your home galaxy either can only afford to give you so many ships/troops at once before risking things at home, or, in some cases, they might need to actually build said ships for you first. Also, unlike its generic counterpart, you don't need to pay upkeep on said fleethordes until they are actually on your side of the portal.
AN one: yes, if you wait you can draw in more reinforcements you can bring in more of them at once.
AN two: you can in theory replenish the pool that your faction is pulling from after the start of the game, but how you do so is up to the judgment of your GM.
AN three: you can return the fleets to your home faction (provided they weren't completely destroyed, and you've carried out their repairs) for instant replenishment of the pool you drew them from.
A Steady Stream of Colonists: costs one Origin Point, and may be taken an unlimited number of times. Each point invested here represents four Population points worth of Immigrants/Colonists coming through the portal to join you per turn; precisely what you do with these people is up to you/your faction, and you/your faction can always temporarily halt the flow if you feel that this side of the portal isn't safe enough, but renewing said flow is as easy as letting those on the other side of the portal know that things are (relatively) safe again.
Portal based Baggage Train: costs one Origin Point, and may be taken an unlimited number of times. Each purchase of this gives you a steady income of three RP(Resource Points) per turn for the rest of the game, as a steady supply of raw resources, industrial goods. and semi-finished products come through the portal from your home territory and are fed into whatever projects you have going on at the time.
Home-Front Management: Offers up to ten origin points. Your polity is explicitly linked to a larger society back in your home reality that has specific goals and requirements for you in order to continue receiving its support. Their mandates might not always fit with what you want to do, and they may condition their support on you fulfilling some obligations. Furthermore, they will typically expect some tithe of your resources sent back to them every now and then or at least some other material return on investment to justify their continued interest into your endeavor. While breaking with them is not impossible, it will obviate your prior flow of support from them. Doing so prematurely may instead lead to them attacking you directly to replace you in a fight you may not win.
Cloak and Dagger Shenanigans: Offers up to ten origin points. Your portal is publicly known or at least known to other polities in your home reality, meaning that your presence in this new universe will inevitably and invariably trigger a scramble for the new universe from rival polities and factions in your own polity. This can lead to greatly complicated diplomacy as your presence in this universe will directly lead to more problems down the line for the natives as well as an imperialist scramble. You are also very likely to end up in a war with at least one hostile polity from your native reality, possibly more depending on your native factions' standing in its home universe. Given that these will also be extensions of larger polities, defeating their colonizing fleet hordes is not guaranteed to stop them from coming back again or interfering with your supplies from the other side.
Bring the War Home: Offers up to ten origin points. The political situation in your home reality is unstable and there will likely be a major conflict in it at some point, either this or the sort of portal you use is easily traced back to your home reality allowing for native polities or other travellers to find their way to your own reality. Whereas Cloak and Dagger primarily affects things on your side, Bring the War Home affects things on the other side of the portal and can seriously impact your ability to continue to get resources from that portal or prompt them to make major requests for something to shift the balance of the war. If your home polity is outright defeated in its home front conflict, you lose all benefits of the portal origin after one final flood of refugees until you can liberate your parent polity and may outright lose the game depending on your relationship to them. This also means that variably sized fleet hordes from your own native reality might also want to follow you to your new reality and often form portals within what you might think is secured territory, greatly complicating your defensive planning.
Scattered Exodus Fleet: costs four Origin Points. Prerequisite for this section's Origin Modifiers.
Scattered Exodus Fleet: costs four Origin Points. Prerequisite for this section's Origin Modifiers.
Reduces the cost of fleethordes and Heavy Assets purchased with Origin Points by a third(or buy two get one free). In addition, you start with ten extra Population Points worth of people, but in exchange, all Fleethordes, Population, and Heavy Assets purchased through Origin Points (outside of your free starting Warfleet, of course) arrive at a random point within either your starting Sector/square, or somewhere in the neighboring ones at random.This occurs every turn for the first five turns.
There is a 50% chance of arriving within your starting sector/square, otherwise they will arrive within a neighboring one at random
25% of your additional population arrives with your initial fleet (the rest being spread amongst the others)
All of the stragglers will make their way to you, provided you have established yourself. Their safety is not guaranteed.
Pursuing Crisis: grants ten Origin Points. whatever you fled from? It's still after you, and it's followed you to this new dimension. At some point, likely in the 10-20 turn range, said Crysis Faction is going to show up near you, and while it may not initially end up being your problem to deal with depending on where you're starting, it's going to likely become your problem as it starts expanding; and as for the rest of the galaxy? They might start blaming you for its arrival.
Scattered Exodus Fleet: costs four Origin Points. Prerequisite for this section's Origin Modifiers.
Reduces the cost of fleethordes and Heavy Assets purchased with Origin Points by a third(or buy two get one free). In addition, you start with ten extra Population Points worth of people, but in exchange, all Fleethordes, Population, and Heavy Assets purchased through Origin Points (outside of your free starting Warfleet, of course) arrive at a random point within either your starting Sector/square, or somewhere in the neighboring ones at random.This occurs every turn for the first five turns.
There is a 50% chance of arriving within your starting sector/square, otherwise they will arrive within a neighboring one at random
25% of your additional population arrives with your initial fleet (the rest being spread amongst the others)
All of the stragglers will make their way to you, provided you have established yourself. Their safety is not guaranteed.
Pursuing Crisis: grants ten Origin Points. whatever you fled from? It's still after you, and it's followed you to this new dimension. At some point, likely in the 10-20 turn range, said Crysis Faction is going to show up near you, and while it may not initially end up being your problem to deal with depending on where you're starting, it's going to likely become your problem as it starts expanding; and as for the rest of the galaxy? They might start blaming you for its arrival.
Vyranodasik Native: Costs four Origin Points.Prerequisite for this section's Origin Modifiers.
Operates very similar to the ISOT origin; only instead of being a dropped in section of another universe merging with/overriding whatever was there beforehand, you were there beforehand, and are still there now- which is to say, you are playing a native faction. Gain an additional 20 free RP worth of infrastructure with which to help build up your starting territory. In addition, you automatically know who/what is in your starting sector/square and in the neighboring ones, as you've been here for more than long enough to hear things on the galactic news and go looking for yourself.
Expanded initial Territory: costs four Origin Points, may be purchased up to four times. Increase the number of sub-sectors within your starting sector that you effectively control right from the start by one; sadly, unlike an ISOTed region, you can't end up in de-facto control of your entire starting sector, as you've needed to exist alongside other neighboring factions here, some of which might either be outright stronger than you or in theory have powerful backers, for an extended period of time.
Initial Territory development: costs one Origin Point, may be purchased an unlimited number of times. The territory that you have is even more developed, filled with stuff that your faction has built over the entirety of the time that it has existed as an interstellar nation within this universe. Gives you a budget of 5 RP with which to buy upgrades for your initial territory before the game starts.(see the Territory section and the Megaproject section for options on what you could 'purchase' before the start of the game)
Good Public Relations: costs one origin point, may be purchased an unlimited number of times, but requires that your faction is actually able to conduct diplomacy. Each purchase increases your relationships with your neighboring factions(assuming that they too are able to conduct diplomacy) by a moderate amount. Note: if purchased enough times this could allow for early diplomatic annexation of/unification with said factions.
Operates very similar to the ISOT origin; only instead of being a dropped in section of another universe merging with/overriding whatever was there beforehand, you were there beforehand, and are still there now- which is to say, you are playing a native faction. Gain an additional 20 free RP worth of infrastructure with which to help build up your starting territory. In addition, you automatically know who/what is in your starting sector/square and in the neighboring ones, as you've been here for more than long enough to hear things on the galactic news and go looking for yourself.
Expanded initial Territory: costs four Origin Points, may be purchased up to four times. Increase the number of sub-sectors within your starting sector that you effectively control right from the start by one; sadly, unlike an ISOTed region, you can't end up in de-facto control of your entire starting sector, as you've needed to exist alongside other neighboring factions here, some of which might either be outright stronger than you or in theory have powerful backers, for an extended period of time.
Initial Territory development: costs one Origin Point, may be purchased an unlimited number of times. The territory that you have is even more developed, filled with stuff that your faction has built over the entirety of the time that it has existed as an interstellar nation within this universe. Gives you a budget of 5 RP with which to buy upgrades for your initial territory before the game starts.(see the Territory section and the Megaproject section for options on what you could 'purchase' before the start of the game)
Good Public Relations: costs one origin point, may be purchased an unlimited number of times, but requires that your faction is actually able to conduct diplomacy. Each purchase increases your relationships with your neighboring factions(assuming that they too are able to conduct diplomacy) by a moderate amount. Note: if purchased enough times this could allow for early diplomatic annexation of/unification with said factions.
Not every faction is the same. Although things like economic systems and military doctrines can be handled on a case by case narrative basis, significant or important differences from the "norm" are better represented with specific mechanics. Below is a list of traits and drawbacks that factions have access to in order to describe unique things about them. Note that traits are descriptive, not prescriptive: you have a trait because your faction is like that, you do not have a faction like that because you picked the trait. Unless, of course, you make a new faction specifically for this game.
You can only pick each trait once unless otherwise specified, and while you do get one free Definitive Trait(which is the only one of those that you get) and three free regular traits, all other traits must be bought with drawbacks.
Monstrous Faction: our faction is made up of Monsters, and they aren't afraid to show off that fact; their goals are to effectively become the only lifeform/intelligent entity left in the universe, and the means that they will achieve this is through numbers without end, recovery beyond compare, and a sinister intelligence that will not break for anything short of complete destruction.
- increases Resource Points gained per employed Population Point is increased from one to two, and reduces the cost of increasing population by one. Sadly, much like all Monsters, this power comes at a price, and that price is that diplomacy is capped at zero(long terms deals are impossible), and factions will absolutely see the worst when you go off to exterminate/conquer/assimilate new population(assuming that there is some way for the news to spread about you being Monsters, it will spread). In addition to the above points, it unlocks the following traits, of which up to two may be purchased by you for standard trait points.
Note: from here on are things that cover the vastly more 'standard' people factions that actually care about diplomacy and getting along with others
Auto-War: The bulk of your factions military consists of mass-produced automatic war machines (either mechanical or biological, so the Tyranids, Muv-Luv BETA, or Zerg would count just as much as Supreme Commander) that can be thrown into battle, take massive casualties, and be just as easily replaced. Only the destruction of specific units or field structures related to the replacement of other units will actually inflict casualties on a scale that you care about.
Effects: Suffering actual casualties is vastly, vastly harder, as all of your combat units are disposable units that can be replaced in combat-relevant speeds. Losses are only taken if you take hits to the units in charge of leading/coordinating/producing all your disposable killbots. Furthermore, the high turnover rate means you can do a degree of in-battle customization of forces for your War Fleets, rather than needing to have done that in the Strategic Turns beforehand.
Extraversal Invaders: your faction's biology/physiology only ever pretends to work via the normal laws of physics; whether this is due to being entities born of the first (vastly less than a)millisecond of their home universe's existence who managed to cling to some form of existence even as the fundamental forces split and diverged, or are outright native/semi-native to a plane with vastly different rules than our own(be it the Warp, the Twisting Nether, the Shadowlands, the Blind Eternities, the Great Wheel of the Outer Planes, the Ethereal/Astral plane, or any other such realm); either way, your forces don't operate by the same general rules as everyone else's; gain the High Magic major positive trait for free, and unlocks five sub traits, of which you gain two for 'free'.(the rest of which can be bought one by one for a major trait slot each)
Shining Jewel of Technology: (requires tier Maximus(aka requires the third Tier Upgrade Origin Modifier and at least one other Faction Tier Modifier) your faction is a technological utopia, riding ot the prime of its life, or perhaps is still merely the seed of something even greater; and now there is a whole new universe out there for you to explore and discover; perhaps with the goal of teaching and learning, or perhaps with conquest in mind.
Gigastructural Engineers: your faction, whatever their technical technology level, were masters of engineering on such a grand scale that it boggles the mind, as through either sheer technological wizardry, outright magic, or simply eons of experience, your faction can and have reshaped galaxies(or at least large sections of one) in the past, and has the potential to do so again.
Golden Armada: you start with a full suite of ten fleethordes at base magnitude+1(before any origin point purchases) instead of just one fleet at base magnitude(once again before any origin point purchases), and don't have to pay upkeep on these fleets, although you do need to pay for any additional upkeep accumulated later on by increasing said fleets in size(permanently reduce fleet based upkeep by 40 RP per turn)
Stronger Start: requires the ISOT or the Vyranodasik Native Origin. Gives 20 more Origin Points that can only be spent in either the origin section in question or in the Generic Origin section
Generic start: perhaps none of the above options fit your faction? Perhaps you want something a bit more out of left field, either way, take three Traits and gain five Origin Points for free.
(more Definitive traits to be created as ideas roll in)
- increases Resource Points gained per employed Population Point is increased from one to two, and reduces the cost of increasing population by one. Sadly, much like all Monsters, this power comes at a price, and that price is that diplomacy is capped at zero(long terms deals are impossible), and factions will absolutely see the worst when you go off to exterminate/conquer/assimilate new population(assuming that there is some way for the news to spread about you being Monsters, it will spread). In addition to the above points, it unlocks the following traits, of which up to two may be purchased by you for standard trait points.
- Homogenizing Swarm: This particular flavor of Monster is built around being a literal self-replicating horde, not needing to fight to increase in number, nor needing to do anything but sit back and build up to potentially eventually overrun the galaxy; sadly, unlike the other two flavors of Monsters, you're just as vulnerable to depleting your own forces as almost anyone else.
- gain one free 'upgrade' to the size of your smallest fleethorde for free per turn(or one of your smallest fleethordes, if you have more than one) if your forces suffered no significant casualties(casualties that add up to one or more fleethordes in total losses after the 'free' repairs covered by upkeep are factored in) in the turn in question. (the 'empty' slots that you have before you reach your full capacity of ten fleethordes count as being magnitude zero). In addition, the upkeep of your fleethordes is reduced to zero, as they sustain themselves off of their own replication capabilities.
- Unkillable Swarm: This particular flavor of Monster is built around mitigating losses as they happen, as some combination of battlefield level unit generation, extreme regeneration, and extreme versatility keeps your forces intact through engagements that would shred a lesser force.
- Reduce all effective casualties that your forces suffer in a given round by half, and then choose a given phase of the battle, be it in the void or on the ground, and reduce casualties taken there by half again.
- 'Infinite' Swarm: Unlike the other three Monster variants, this one doesn't rely on in-battlefield loss-mitigation, or some source of consistent 'free' fleet buildup between battles, but the ability to rapidly replace losses post-battle, allowing for them to sustain a higher level of warfare than most conventional factions could dream of for a very, very, very long time.
- Upkeep covers repairs up to 80% instead of only up to 20%, with additional repairs being purchesible as normal.
- Assimilating Swarm: Unlike the other variants of Monster, this type doesn't necessarily increase its own numbers directly, so much as it takes everything that it consumes from its foes and adds them to itself
- requires the Assimilator Trait, and the Devourer trait. The Devourer trait is upgraded to instead give you anywhere from 50% to 75%(depending on what faction you're up against) of the enemy casualties that you cause in additional forces, made up of those you have assimilated from your foe.(said forces loose all trait/defining trait given abilities/capabilities and all non-tier based technology upgrades in return for gaining the trait/defining trait abilities that your own selections give you).
- War isthe Economy!: The engine of war has never been more literal, as the maddening rhythm of violence beats the world into a form more pleasing, conflict only fueling your growth. It is the cycle of monsters, ever-warring to find the strongest capable of rendering all life like itself.
- "Gain" the Total War Economy drawback and the Only War drawback, but don't gain any trait picks from those drawbacks
- Total War Economy is "upgraded"; RP earned from peaceful sources such as infrastructure is always halved even in wartime.
- When engaged in a war*, total up the RP cost of all involved forces, and gain half this value as income.
*It must be an actual fight. One starfighter doing a suicide run into the Ecumene's capital gigastructure doesn't count, nor does fleeing the field before battle is joined.
Note: from here on are things that cover the vastly more 'standard' people factions that actually care about diplomacy and getting along with others
Auto-War: The bulk of your factions military consists of mass-produced automatic war machines (either mechanical or biological, so the Tyranids, Muv-Luv BETA, or Zerg would count just as much as Supreme Commander) that can be thrown into battle, take massive casualties, and be just as easily replaced. Only the destruction of specific units or field structures related to the replacement of other units will actually inflict casualties on a scale that you care about.
Effects: Suffering actual casualties is vastly, vastly harder, as all of your combat units are disposable units that can be replaced in combat-relevant speeds. Losses are only taken if you take hits to the units in charge of leading/coordinating/producing all your disposable killbots. Furthermore, the high turnover rate means you can do a degree of in-battle customization of forces for your War Fleets, rather than needing to have done that in the Strategic Turns beforehand.
Extraversal Invaders: your faction's biology/physiology only ever pretends to work via the normal laws of physics; whether this is due to being entities born of the first (vastly less than a)millisecond of their home universe's existence who managed to cling to some form of existence even as the fundamental forces split and diverged, or are outright native/semi-native to a plane with vastly different rules than our own(be it the Warp, the Twisting Nether, the Shadowlands, the Blind Eternities, the Great Wheel of the Outer Planes, the Ethereal/Astral plane, or any other such realm); either way, your forces don't operate by the same general rules as everyone else's; gain the High Magic major positive trait for free, and unlocks five sub traits, of which you gain two for 'free'.(the rest of which can be bought one by one for a major trait slot each)
- A Shadow Cast: your forces are based in another dimension, so upon reeling that the battle is drastically turning against them your forces planeshift back to their home dimension instead of needing to withdraw back to somewhat friendlier space through what might have become enemy territory.
- Effectively halves the number of forces lost in a given engagement to factions without high level magic of their own and/or high end anti-magic technology
- Physics defying offense(Universal Destroyer!): born out of different physics, many of your units' attacks bypass conventional durability born out of normal physical laws.
- If enemy units aren't shielded or otherwise protected from extotic attack effects, then you might as well say goodbye to said enemy units.
- Physics defying physiology: your forces do not rely on the conventional laws of physics to exist, and are therefore vastly harder to hurt via attacks that rely purely on them to deal damage
- There is some caveat to effectively killing your forces(assuming that there no advanced magic and/or high end anti-magic technology being used on your opponent's side), making causing actual damage much more difficult than normal- not to the point where it can't be overcome by the application of more numbers or vastly superior forces, only that it's more difficult.
- Atemporal nature: your faction, and its forces, exist somewhat outside of time, allowing for the 'quick' production of 'new' forces for seemingly 'nothing'(that in reality might take an eternity to reform, an age to produce, and a truly staggering amount of resources to create)
- +60%/Six steps to auto repair per turn; in addition, all of your fleethordes that are made up of your own forces cost no upkeep to maintain, but new fleethordes cost four times as much to produce. Also doubles the cost of buying more fleets at the start with Origin Points
- Physics Overriding Territory: Territory tainted by your presence becomes easier to mold and warp. The greater your presence, the easier it is to impose your will.
- Fortification costs in your territory are halved(rounded down) up to that of the territory's level of development; in addition, other factions (mainly those without sufficient esoteric/magic strength or familiarity) cannot resettle said territory themselves without first finding a way to cleanse it of your influence.
Shining Jewel of Technology: (requires tier Maximus(aka requires the third Tier Upgrade Origin Modifier and at least one other Faction Tier Modifier) your faction is a technological utopia, riding ot the prime of its life, or perhaps is still merely the seed of something even greater; and now there is a whole new universe out there for you to explore and discover; perhaps with the goal of teaching and learning, or perhaps with conquest in mind.
- If you want to play in the actual highest faction tier, it's going to cost you your Definitive Trait slot. No playing the forerunners(Greg Bear edition), the Dragon, the Eldar Dominion,or some other godlike race that is beyond the Necrons(or at least, the Necrons without their one-off superweapons) without paying something.
- Effectively acts as a fourth technology tier upgrade
Gigastructural Engineers: your faction, whatever their technical technology level, were masters of engineering on such a grand scale that it boggles the mind, as through either sheer technological wizardry, outright magic, or simply eons of experience, your faction can and have reshaped galaxies(or at least large sections of one) in the past, and has the potential to do so again.
- Grants the Fortification Experts and Builder traits, upgrades the Builder trait to provide a 20% discount to Kiloprojects, 30% discount to Megaprojects, and 40% discount to Gigaprojects, instead of just a 20% discount to all three categories; in addition, the minimum completion time for mega and giga projects is two turns shorter instead of just one.
Golden Armada: you start with a full suite of ten fleethordes at base magnitude+1(before any origin point purchases) instead of just one fleet at base magnitude(once again before any origin point purchases), and don't have to pay upkeep on these fleets, although you do need to pay for any additional upkeep accumulated later on by increasing said fleets in size(permanently reduce fleet based upkeep by 40 RP per turn)
Stronger Start: requires the ISOT or the Vyranodasik Native Origin. Gives 20 more Origin Points that can only be spent in either the origin section in question or in the Generic Origin section
Generic start: perhaps none of the above options fit your faction? Perhaps you want something a bit more out of left field, either way, take three Traits and gain five Origin Points for free.
(more Definitive traits to be created as ideas roll in)
-Hive Mind: Your 'nation' is joined together by a Hive Mind-equivalent that permeates through your species. Social issues, troop morale, and enemy infiltration are far less of a concern, while any action you undertake that would require a great deal of coordination is given a boost. Population growth is also given a flat 5% increase, though at the cost of Hive Minds being unable to integrate alien populations into their network without either the Assimilator Trait, or a lot of expensive research.
communication becomes instant with no possibilities of error, suffer a small malus to diplomacy; the cost of increasing your population goes down by one, but you cannot gain any population through Immigration.
-Mechanical Armies: Rather than flesh and blood, your fleets and armies are fully synthetic. Lacking the weakness of flesh, all of your combat forces have slightly improved statlines, particularly spaceships, which need not concern themselves with the needs of a fragile organic crew, and potentially much higher strategic durability due to the relative ease of replacing losses.
While this does give a small boost to the effectiveness of your forces faction wide, the main effect of this is that, similar to martial society, you no longer need to actually worry about War Exhaustion, but, unlike Marital Society, this also reduces the cost of any repairs to your fleethordes(beyond what basic upkeep covers) by 50%, effectively doubling the effectiveness of said repairs. Note: you are generally expected to take Unbreakable if you are taking this trait, as unfeeling robots generally don't flee in terror.
-Explosive Breeders: Your species reproduces and/or matures at a frightening pace, leading to increased population growth. Your Population naturally rises at a rate of 5% each turn; The cost to develop new Pops is reduced by two.
-Fortification Experts: As a faction, you have gotten very good at setting up fortifications. Any planet you take, you have a tendency to dig in, dashing enemy attacks on walls of defense works. You gain a bonus to the performance of your Defense Forces, and said Defense Forces have a discount of 1 RP in terms of their upkeep.
-High Magic: Whether it's arcane magic, psionics, or whatever you call it, a form of esoterics is effectively universal to your species. Even the untrained can probably do a cantrip or two, while those who develop their abilities are capable of far more impressive feats. This is obviously a boon to your infantry performance, as well as progressing further down the esoteric 'tech tree.' The Warhammer 40k Eldar are an excellent example of this trait.
Widespread use of esoteric effects are expected within your forces. Reverse-engineering and integration of foreign esoterics is done with greater ease.
-Assimilator: Species that have this trait have some way to easily assimilate others into their population. Examples here include the Borg, Zerg, and of course, the Driven Assimilators of Stellaris. When invading others, factions with this trait will be able to directly annex even nation-state territory without the need for all the Occupation rules.
Attracting Immigration is more difficult, but said potential immigrant population can of course be nearly immediately assimilated into your population; population cap is removed due to emmigration from your society not being a notable thing if it happens at all.
-Age of Legends: Back in your home universe, narrative and metaphysics exist as tangible forces, creating stories around individuals that let them punch well above their weight class. Mechanically, this gives a bonus to the emergence, growth, and ability of your Legends. Warhammer 40k is a good example of this because of the Warp, as would Star Wars thanks to the Force (though for Star Wars I'd probably only have this if you chose a Jedi/Sith heavy faction.)
-Covert Experts: Your intelligence agency is one of the best around. Espionage, spy ships, infiltration, you name it. You receive a bonus to all Intelligence Actions, while enemy intelligence actions have a harder time succeeding against you.
- see the Diplomacy section for the bonus this gives to your roll-offs for such actions
- Unbreakable: your forces never break and run away from the enemy. No matter how hard things get, your forces will only ever either fight or withdraw in an orderly fashion.
Your forces effectively don't retreat until you want them to and/or logic demands that they do so.
-Logistical Independence: whether it be through massive supply ships, on site construction, or outright stripping planets of their natural resources as you come upon them, you have very little need for outside supply lines whether your forces are deployed in your home territory or are halfway across the galaxy on campaign.
You have no issues gathering supplies on site, making your logistical train practically nihil.
Devourer: (requires Assimilator and not Supreme Commander) the weak are meat for the strong to eat; your forces can assimilate others readily at battlefield relevant scale and speed, bolstering their own numbers as their enemies fall before them; of course, if all is destroyed before it can be eaten or perform the eating then the ability to actively devour enemy biomass and hijack their vehicles via said biomass then this possibility is rendered moot.
For every 4% of an enemy force taken out by your forces, your forces suffer 1% less casualties in the same fight. This ability doesn't work against foes with the Mechanical Lifeforms major trait(or the 'Supreme Commander Type Faction' definitive trait). This fraction is reduced to 1% per 5% should the target faction also have the Assimilator major trait and/or a general Infantry Specialization(and not the Mechanical Lifeforms or the Supreme Commander traits).
Builder: your faction has a history of building massive constructs, ranging from fortress worlds that could potentially make even the Krork green(er) with envy(if they felt such a thing), to massive megaprojects that could potentially affect things on a Galactic Scale; and while the constructs themselves may or may not have come with you, that expertise still remains.
Reduce the cost of all Megaprojects by 20%, increase the cap on the number of megaprojects per large square from two to three(increasing the overall cap from 10 to 15), and in addition the minimum build time all mega and all giga projects is one turn shorter(minimum of one turn).
We'll Be Back: be it through being consistently teleported out moments before destruction, or actively coming back to life again and again, actually permanently putting down your forces can be a difficult task to accomplish.
Each of your Warfleets now has a Restoration Gauge. This Restoration Gauge triggers when a Warfleet reaches [Damage Step declared at turn start] during combat and spends invested RP to repair said Warfleet as far as it can. RP is invested into Restoration Gauges at a rate that is half your repair effectiveness.
Example:
Magnitude 4 Warfleet
Upkeep (covers repairing two damage steps, or 20%) is 20 RP
RP cost to repair one damage step is 10 RP, filling this Warfleet's Restoration Gauge to cover one damage step would cost 20 RP. Mechanical Armies would reduce this to 10 RP.
Notes:
The Restoration Gauge can trigger multiple times per battle.
The Restoration Gauge can be filled past ten damage steps.
Unused RP invested into the Restoration Gauge carries over into following turns.
Increasing the Magnitude of a Warfleet correspondingly increases the RP required for the Restoration Gauge to repair damage steps.
Non-Monster(Monster factions being defined as factions that have taken the relevant Definitive Trait, taken five instances of Prejudice, or the Only War Drawback) Only Traits
Positive:
-Xenophilic: Who could hate aliens? Not your people, that's for sure. Your society rejoices in its multiculturalism and acceptance of all. The diplomatic boon this gives hardly needs saying, but just as important is the ability to rapidly integrate alien populations just as you would your own, meaning an easier time translating between occupation levels, and a better chance of diplomatic annexation.
-Devoted Population: Your people have a very strong belief in your faction. It can be the nation itself, the ideology it follows, the leader, etc. But whatever it is, it's something they are very devoted to and willing to fight for. Enemies trying to occupy your territory will have a much harder time dealing with a hostile population that can often spill into armed resistance, and spies may run into trouble if they're trying to build cells or fifth columns among your people.
-Martial Society: Your society has a longstanding military tradition, and fighting (and perhaps even dying) in battle is either an expected service to the state, or a glorious end to be aspired to. Your troops benefit from higher morale, the people are less susceptible to war exhaustion, and defense forces have slight boosts in the form of enthusiastic militia, warrior cliques, and other ways in which your population expresses its martial bent.
War Exhaustion, which is usually a thing for all non-monster factions, becomes a non-issue. In addition, reduce the costs of buying/upgrading fleethordes and buying defense forces by 10%(this doesn't affect their upkeep).
-Master Diplomats: Your nation has a history of being diplomatic maestros, binding others together in pacts and defusing conflicts before they turn to outright wars.
+2 to Diplomacy in addition to the other, softer effects: +1 diplomatic point generated per round from Defensive Alliances, Military Alliances, and Vassalage, Vassalage is 25% cheaper, +1 'mitigation'(impact is reduced by one) for minor-warcrimes(it's much easier for you to cover up minor diplomatic things that would otherwise be issues)
Major Generic Traits (Repeatable)
Positive:
-Regiment of Renown: If you grab this trait, your faction will start off with a second Legendary Unit, taken from your faction's pre-existing lore. It can be a starfighter ace like Wedge Antilles, the USS Enterprise and its crew, the 501st Legion or Delta Squad, or a whole naval battlegroup that has a great reputation (like the Battlefleet Gothic or the Open Circle Fleet.)
Consolation Prize: for all of the weaknesses that your faction has, you gain a consolation prize, which is two more Origin Points to spend there.
-Additional Specializations: for all of those factions with more areas to specialize in, or even stronger units in your areas of specialty than normal. your faction has yet more powerful key designs available right from the start. Gain one more 'pip' for upgrading unit categories. This pip acts the same as ones given by your initial specializations, but can in fact stack with said specializations(but not with itself).
communication becomes instant with no possibilities of error, suffer a small malus to diplomacy; the cost of increasing your population goes down by one, but you cannot gain any population through Immigration.
-Mechanical Armies: Rather than flesh and blood, your fleets and armies are fully synthetic. Lacking the weakness of flesh, all of your combat forces have slightly improved statlines, particularly spaceships, which need not concern themselves with the needs of a fragile organic crew, and potentially much higher strategic durability due to the relative ease of replacing losses.
While this does give a small boost to the effectiveness of your forces faction wide, the main effect of this is that, similar to martial society, you no longer need to actually worry about War Exhaustion, but, unlike Marital Society, this also reduces the cost of any repairs to your fleethordes(beyond what basic upkeep covers) by 50%, effectively doubling the effectiveness of said repairs. Note: you are generally expected to take Unbreakable if you are taking this trait, as unfeeling robots generally don't flee in terror.
-Explosive Breeders: Your species reproduces and/or matures at a frightening pace, leading to increased population growth. Your Population naturally rises at a rate of 5% each turn; The cost to develop new Pops is reduced by two.
-Fortification Experts: As a faction, you have gotten very good at setting up fortifications. Any planet you take, you have a tendency to dig in, dashing enemy attacks on walls of defense works. You gain a bonus to the performance of your Defense Forces, and said Defense Forces have a discount of 1 RP in terms of their upkeep.
-High Magic: Whether it's arcane magic, psionics, or whatever you call it, a form of esoterics is effectively universal to your species. Even the untrained can probably do a cantrip or two, while those who develop their abilities are capable of far more impressive feats. This is obviously a boon to your infantry performance, as well as progressing further down the esoteric 'tech tree.' The Warhammer 40k Eldar are an excellent example of this trait.
Widespread use of esoteric effects are expected within your forces. Reverse-engineering and integration of foreign esoterics is done with greater ease.
-Assimilator: Species that have this trait have some way to easily assimilate others into their population. Examples here include the Borg, Zerg, and of course, the Driven Assimilators of Stellaris. When invading others, factions with this trait will be able to directly annex even nation-state territory without the need for all the Occupation rules.
Attracting Immigration is more difficult, but said potential immigrant population can of course be nearly immediately assimilated into your population; population cap is removed due to emmigration from your society not being a notable thing if it happens at all.
-Age of Legends: Back in your home universe, narrative and metaphysics exist as tangible forces, creating stories around individuals that let them punch well above their weight class. Mechanically, this gives a bonus to the emergence, growth, and ability of your Legends. Warhammer 40k is a good example of this because of the Warp, as would Star Wars thanks to the Force (though for Star Wars I'd probably only have this if you chose a Jedi/Sith heavy faction.)
-Covert Experts: Your intelligence agency is one of the best around. Espionage, spy ships, infiltration, you name it. You receive a bonus to all Intelligence Actions, while enemy intelligence actions have a harder time succeeding against you.
- see the Diplomacy section for the bonus this gives to your roll-offs for such actions
- Unbreakable: your forces never break and run away from the enemy. No matter how hard things get, your forces will only ever either fight or withdraw in an orderly fashion.
Your forces effectively don't retreat until you want them to and/or logic demands that they do so.
-Logistical Independence: whether it be through massive supply ships, on site construction, or outright stripping planets of their natural resources as you come upon them, you have very little need for outside supply lines whether your forces are deployed in your home territory or are halfway across the galaxy on campaign.
You have no issues gathering supplies on site, making your logistical train practically nihil.
Devourer: (requires Assimilator and not Supreme Commander) the weak are meat for the strong to eat; your forces can assimilate others readily at battlefield relevant scale and speed, bolstering their own numbers as their enemies fall before them; of course, if all is destroyed before it can be eaten or perform the eating then the ability to actively devour enemy biomass and hijack their vehicles via said biomass then this possibility is rendered moot.
For every 4% of an enemy force taken out by your forces, your forces suffer 1% less casualties in the same fight. This ability doesn't work against foes with the Mechanical Lifeforms major trait(or the 'Supreme Commander Type Faction' definitive trait). This fraction is reduced to 1% per 5% should the target faction also have the Assimilator major trait and/or a general Infantry Specialization(and not the Mechanical Lifeforms or the Supreme Commander traits).
Builder: your faction has a history of building massive constructs, ranging from fortress worlds that could potentially make even the Krork green(er) with envy(if they felt such a thing), to massive megaprojects that could potentially affect things on a Galactic Scale; and while the constructs themselves may or may not have come with you, that expertise still remains.
Reduce the cost of all Megaprojects by 20%, increase the cap on the number of megaprojects per large square from two to three(increasing the overall cap from 10 to 15), and in addition the minimum build time all mega and all giga projects is one turn shorter(minimum of one turn).
We'll Be Back: be it through being consistently teleported out moments before destruction, or actively coming back to life again and again, actually permanently putting down your forces can be a difficult task to accomplish.
Each of your Warfleets now has a Restoration Gauge. This Restoration Gauge triggers when a Warfleet reaches [Damage Step declared at turn start] during combat and spends invested RP to repair said Warfleet as far as it can. RP is invested into Restoration Gauges at a rate that is half your repair effectiveness.
Example:
Magnitude 4 Warfleet
Upkeep (covers repairing two damage steps, or 20%) is 20 RP
RP cost to repair one damage step is 10 RP, filling this Warfleet's Restoration Gauge to cover one damage step would cost 20 RP. Mechanical Armies would reduce this to 10 RP.
Notes:
The Restoration Gauge can trigger multiple times per battle.
The Restoration Gauge can be filled past ten damage steps.
Unused RP invested into the Restoration Gauge carries over into following turns.
Increasing the Magnitude of a Warfleet correspondingly increases the RP required for the Restoration Gauge to repair damage steps.
Non-Monster(Monster factions being defined as factions that have taken the relevant Definitive Trait, taken five instances of Prejudice, or the Only War Drawback) Only Traits
Positive:
-Xenophilic: Who could hate aliens? Not your people, that's for sure. Your society rejoices in its multiculturalism and acceptance of all. The diplomatic boon this gives hardly needs saying, but just as important is the ability to rapidly integrate alien populations just as you would your own, meaning an easier time translating between occupation levels, and a better chance of diplomatic annexation.
-Devoted Population: Your people have a very strong belief in your faction. It can be the nation itself, the ideology it follows, the leader, etc. But whatever it is, it's something they are very devoted to and willing to fight for. Enemies trying to occupy your territory will have a much harder time dealing with a hostile population that can often spill into armed resistance, and spies may run into trouble if they're trying to build cells or fifth columns among your people.
-Martial Society: Your society has a longstanding military tradition, and fighting (and perhaps even dying) in battle is either an expected service to the state, or a glorious end to be aspired to. Your troops benefit from higher morale, the people are less susceptible to war exhaustion, and defense forces have slight boosts in the form of enthusiastic militia, warrior cliques, and other ways in which your population expresses its martial bent.
War Exhaustion, which is usually a thing for all non-monster factions, becomes a non-issue. In addition, reduce the costs of buying/upgrading fleethordes and buying defense forces by 10%(this doesn't affect their upkeep).
-Master Diplomats: Your nation has a history of being diplomatic maestros, binding others together in pacts and defusing conflicts before they turn to outright wars.
+2 to Diplomacy in addition to the other, softer effects: +1 diplomatic point generated per round from Defensive Alliances, Military Alliances, and Vassalage, Vassalage is 25% cheaper, +1 'mitigation'(impact is reduced by one) for minor-warcrimes(it's much easier for you to cover up minor diplomatic things that would otherwise be issues)
Major Generic Traits (Repeatable)
Positive:
-Regiment of Renown: If you grab this trait, your faction will start off with a second Legendary Unit, taken from your faction's pre-existing lore. It can be a starfighter ace like Wedge Antilles, the USS Enterprise and its crew, the 501st Legion or Delta Squad, or a whole naval battlegroup that has a great reputation (like the Battlefleet Gothic or the Open Circle Fleet.)
Consolation Prize: for all of the weaknesses that your faction has, you gain a consolation prize, which is two more Origin Points to spend there.
-Additional Specializations: for all of those factions with more areas to specialize in, or even stronger units in your areas of specialty than normal. your faction has yet more powerful key designs available right from the start. Gain one more 'pip' for upgrading unit categories. This pip acts the same as ones given by your initial specializations, but can in fact stack with said specializations(but not with itself).
-Slow Breeders: Your species is known for many things, but fecundity is not among them. and accelerating population growth costs two more.
-Repulsive: There is a part of your people's culture or biology that the majority of the galaxy finds disgusting and vile, ranging from cannibalism to sophont sacrifice to being a bunch of biological parasites. This creates an overall diplomatic penalty alongside other narrative consequences.
-Redshirt Army: while your infantry may in fact effectively have a red shirt, that isn't necessarily the case, as this covers things ranging from subpar infantry formations from things towed artillery, heavy weapons, and other equipment that goes into modern infantry divisions being conspicuously absent, to your your Artillery simply being underwhelming in comparison to literally everything else you have, to you outright not believing in having actual guns on your tanks. As you can imagine, this has very bad consequences for your ground forces' performance in battle, especially when this tends to imply unfortunate things about your army's doctrine. Mind you, this need not be applied to ground forces alone, as whatever area is 'Redshirted' is going to suffer quite a bit from your doctrinal or technological(or both) weakness in that given area.
This is effectively a negative specialization, applying to one of your sections like any other specialization would, but in reverse. Note: this cannot apply to any areas where you have a specialization.
-Flawed Military: There's something about your overall military that is a problem. Maybe you're the Orks with ramshackle equipment that has a tendency to backfire catastrophically. Maybe the rivalry between military services cripples cooperation. Maybe your training system creates less than exemplary officers who follow the book to the letter and never adapt to changing circumstances. Whatever the case, you've got problems, and they'll affect every aspect of your military actions and combat effectiveness related to them.
- unit advantages cannot cascade through any method other than sheer brute force
--Incompetent Military: It's not that your army is bad. It's that your entire military is bad. Incompetent numpties who shouldn't be trusted with a market stall lead fleets. Nepotism, bribery, and corruption are rampant, with the majority of officers chosen for their political connections, loyalty to the party line, or wealth instead of actual skill. What's worse is that the flaws are so ingrained into your nation's structure, that it would be a nightmare to even begin to fix this mess, and you'll take a flat penalty to all military-based actions and combat. (Requires Flawed Military)
In addition to making it nigh impossible for unit advantages to cascade, factions with this drawback suffer a moderate penalty to morale and cannot take the Unbreakable major perk.
-Alien Communication Methods: Your species does not communicate in the 'normal' method, perhaps relying on pheromones, psionics, or bioluminescence & body language. As the majority of the galaxy does not share this communication method, diplomacy and trade are more challenging. Note that this represents difficulty communicating, rather than your neighbors specifically disliking you.
-Manifest Destiny: Your species feels a tremendous need to expand, whether it is from a belief that the stars belong to you by some right, or fear of some disaster wiping out most of the species if it is not spread out far and wide. You are obligated to take pretty much any chance at safe expansion over internal development, and said expansionism can make neighbors worried. (Note: Safe (well, as safe as things get in Vyranodasik) expansion. No one's going to force you to barrel headlong into pissing off a Superpower when you're a minor with a handful of TPs. Though conflict with peer powers is definitely still on the table.)
-Chronic Interventionists: your species can't help but get involved in everyone else's problems. Be it from an honor code that insists that you must 'protect the weak' at whatever cost to yourself, feel that others can't protect themselves, or otherwise feel that you have some obligation to the wider galaxy, you must try and solve everyone else's problems for them. You are obliged to take every single semi-reasonable chance to go fight other people's battles for them, but if two factions 'need help' against each other, it's up to you on who you support, and if intervening in that moment with enough forces to make a difference would mean effective mass-suicide for your own civilians back at home, use your own judgement on wether they would actually fall on that sword or not for the other faction.
-Prejudice: Dislike, disgust, or even hatred of a certain species group is deeply enshrined in your culture. Ranging from AIs to insectoids to humans, you have a significant penalty to any actions that involve interacting with them in a non-violent manner, and a tremendous penalty to diplomatic relations with nations that have them as a significant demographic. (What group you are prejudiced against must be specified. Note: When combined with Xenophobic, this Drawback will result in you hating said group to a genocidal degree, practically demanding you wage wars of extermination against them whenever you encounter them.)
Extremely major diplomacy penalty with factions that are targeted by this.
Note: may be taken up to five times for different targets, each one further increasing the penalty with all others(including the new one) and causing the definitions for said targets to spread out, to the point where upon the fifth pick it becomes 'Absolute and Utter Compete Hatred for Everyone that isn't You/Yours.'
-No Magic: For one reason or another, the esoterics of psionics and/or magic just don't work with your people. Instead, expect reaching rationalizations and illogical conclusions as your top minds attempt to fit these strange occurrences and feats into their world view- rather than broadening it. Curse those space trolls, planting Ork Spores everywhere the Orks go.
Progress going through that tree of advancement will be difficult at best, impossible at worst. A lack of understanding will also mean you face a few more problems than average when fighting enemies that make plentiful use of psionics.
-Total War Economy: Your entire economy is built around military action, and requires constant warfare to sustain itself. If you are not at war, your overall RP income decreases by half from the economic slump.
--Only War: Your species or society as a whole is incapable of functioning without someone to fight. Even a single turn spent without fighting someone will result in a laundry list of penalties, from unrest, research delays, to outright civil war. (Requires Total War Economy.)(cannot be taken by factions who already have their diplomacy set to zero or below)
Set Diplomacy to a maximum of zero(long term diplomacy is impossible)
-Escort Tonnage: Your starting navy only has ships of Destroyer-size or smaller, due to technological limitations or simply never seeing the need to build more massive warships than what you already have. This 'Drawback' is something of a freebee, being a compensation for factions like Mass Effect or Alpha Quadrant Star Trek, who will need to do a lot of research just to make sure they have ships bigger than what some factions consider a mere escort.(freebee for having no Cruisers and nothing higher on your list, or quite literally only having units in one category of void ships that isn't Strikecraft)
Pathological Cowards: either some deep societal scar has been made to your faction, or you're like the mementic french; either way, your faction, or at least your bog standard troops, sees withdrawing, surrendering, and otherwise trying to go unnoticed to always be the best course of action unless what is waiting for them if they do so is worse. (cannot be taken with Unbreakable or Fanatical Population)
-major penalty to morale, your forces are much more likely to withdraw from a fight at the first sign of there being actual danger.
Logistical Interdependence: whether it be due to having weapons that burn through ammunition vastly quicker than it can be replenished on site, relying on exotic fuels that require large, delicate, dedicated production facilities to create, constant need for repairs and maintenance, or a complete unwillingness on the part of the military to do any in-house resource scavenging or repair work, your forces are vastly more reliant on long logistics chains than your average faction.(cannot be taken with Logistical Independence)
You're either going to need long, complicated, interceptable logistical trains or risk your ships and troops running out of ammunition mid battle.
Technological Stagnation: your people, for one reason or another, are slower to adapt and change, and/or unwilling to press the boundaries of what is possible technologically; whatever the reason, your people at a base level either do not invest as much into the sciences as normal or are vastly more slow and careful about making said advancements.
Your faction, unlike most other factions, doesn't get a free research slot, likely drastically increasing the time/resources required to make serious technological progress
Fragile Worlds: your people, for one reason or another, have failed to develop the near-ubiquitous technology that is Planetary Shield Generators, and/or haven't developed any sort of equivalent over the course of time; in addition, for one reason or another, your technology base is simply incompatible with the locally developed versions that are found on almost every single inhabited world.
Your faction doesn't start with Planetary Shields for their worlds, and can't simply either purchase or reverse engineer the local version of it; not that this completely stops you from eventually defending your worlds to the same degree through various means, only that you're either going to have a long, hard road ahead of you for developing your own version of said technology or are going to need to pay through the nose for your own, arguably lesser, version(see the Killostructures section for more details)
Keystone Army: your faction relies on the presence of a few units, ranging from a large(but still relatively small) grouping of units that your entire faction, or at least large chunks of your mobile forces, would literally fall apart subcom-defeat style if they were lost; to a small cohort of extremely powerful individuals that are the only thing stopping your faction from completely falling apart at the drop of a hat into a bunch of vastly weaker groups that might never work together again to a single, if extremely powerful, individual upon which your entire faction quite literally relies upon to both exist and continue to function period; to keep functioning as a faction on whatever level the keystone units act on.
Examples: Supreme Commander(and Planetary Annihilation, and a few other similar games), pure C'Tan factions(mainly the Dragon(Mag'ladroth), but almost all of the others fall into this category in some way), the Beast(Warhammer 40k: War of the Krork), the Zerg(outside of their Primal variants), Men of Iron(Warhammer 40k in general and War of the Krork in specific), and others.
Rules of Engagement: be it due to a law/honor set that prohibits harming civilians, damaging garden worlds, sacrificing civilians/worlds if necessary, or some other set of things that limits your militaries ability to fully act when civilians could be in the line of fire, your ability to fully engage the enemy to the best of your ability is curtailed when on/near civilian inhabited worlds, reducing the amount of damage that you deal and increasing the number of military casualties that you take when fighting in such an area.
Limited Colonizers: for one reason or another your faction is either unwilling or unable to heavily colonize pre-existing habitable worlds with pre-existing ecosystems, making your faction resort to either artificial habitats or actively terraforming new worlds as you go instead of using those perfectly habitable, oxygen rich planets in the planets goldilocks zone(from a humanocentric perspective) complete with pre-existing natural life and beauty.
What is this, a structure for ants?: (incompatible with Builders/Gigastructural Engineers) Your faction isn't just inexperienced with making grand constructs, but for one reason or another, ranging from being completely incompetent arcutecturally to having constuction methods that are genuinely bad at scaling up that far, are actively bad at it even when it is a fairly standard thing in their home universe.
Non-Monster(Monster factions being defined as factions that have taken the relevant Definitive Trait, taken five instances of Prejudice, or the Only War Drawback) only Major Drawbacks:
-Xenophobic: To your people, all aliens are creatures to be feared and hated. Naturally, this causes a bit of a diplomatic malus for all factions that aren't of your species (which will likely be almost all of them), but also means that your nation will never accept occupied alien territory being allowed under even Local Administration, let alone integrating them into the empire. The Alien can never be trusted to rule itself, or be allowed to taint the nation.
moderate-to-major diplomacy with factions that aren't of the same species as you(which is likely most of them)
-Deep State: Not all your nation actually answers to the central civilian government. From powerful vassals that actually make up the bulk of your army to unaccountable black ops intelligence groups that answer to their own superiors rather than the legislature to NGO superpowers like Megacorps, these parts of your nation can have GM-mandated actions independent of your own. While some may say they have the best interests of your nation at heart, they represent a factor that's prone to doing things that are independent of your wishes, and often morally bankrupt.
-Angry Populace: Exploited colonists, enslaved labor, restless underclasses, or just a plain unpopular government. Whatever the case, a significant portion of your population would enjoy giving at least your leadership the guillotine treatment. Keep a watch for uprisings.
Culturally Dependent Doctrine: for one reason or another, the doctrines and training methods that your forces use don't mesh with incorporating outsiders. This makes actively using population that isn't of your own people in your own forces nearly impossible(maximum number/size of your warfleets is tied to the number of your population that are made up of the same species and/or group as your starting population, rather than to your total population), and using mercenaries in an effective manner a whole new issue of its own(effectiveness of hired mercenaries is reduced by anywhere from a third to half)
-Restrictive Code of Diplomacy: In some way or another, your diplomatic actions are constricted. Perhaps you must keep true to the meaning of each and every oath that you give/treaty that you sign, even if it might lead to your own doom, or perhaps you must never declare war without good Casus Belli. Or maybe you have to get permission from your government back in your home universe for any major diplomatic actions, which introduces a lot of time lag and relies on a possibly out-of-touch superior. Or maybe it's something else entirely.
Whatever the case, your diplomatic actions are shaped and constrained by this restriction, and it is either impossible to break from them, or doing so would have some very catastrophic consequences for your societal integrity. Note that said restriction needs to be something that isn't already covered by your other Drawbacks (for example, if you have a Prejudice against AIs, you can't have a Restriction of "no diplomacy with AIs.")
Ideological Mission: Whether your polity is one based around a faith or a particular method of societal organization, you are expected to commit to the tenets of that ideology or faith in all things by your populace. Particularly common in heavily democratic societies, this means that you are held to a high standard and that certain internal organizational actions may be unavailable or penalized due to clashing with your societal ethics. For example, those of a certain religious evangelical zeal are expected to spread their faith even if this causes problems with neighbors, same thing with those who are particularly committed to any other specific ideology. Paired with Our Way or the Highway, this means that your populace is going to need prolonged time to properly integrate absorbed TPs and their POPs.
Our way or the Highway: Certain facets of society (such as the rich) are not able to be cleanly integrated into your society owing to political doctrine and ideology. Integrating societies with these unaccepted stratas always causes some degree of unrest that requires immediate attention and will slow down integration to accommodate these people into a society. With the penalty to integration being increased the more divergent that society is to the values of the conquering society.
Negative Drawbacks(repeatable):
-Legendless: All factions will normally start with a single Level 1 Legend. By taking this drawback, you become the exception to that rule, and will likely go through your first few battles without a Legend to support you. This cannot be taken alongside the Regiment of Renown perk for what should be obvious reasons…
-Fewer Definitive Designs: all factions usually start with two(or three) Focuses to help define where their forces specialize in faction wide- your forces are even more generic(and therefore arguably weaker) than normal, so to represent that you start with one less Focus to distribute amongst your forces.
Stronger Faction, weaker start: your faction, for whatever reason, ended up with even less than one would expect, perhaps the uncaring gods were compensating for something? -5 Origin points
Divided obligations.(requires at least one starting legend and one starting fleethorde per pick) One of your legends and one of your fleethordes is not entirely beholden to you and is often not even formally obliged to obey you, and is present here out of courtesy. Alternatively, they may have clashing personalities with the leadership or each other. Whatever the cause, their loyalties are not entirely yours to command even if they may never directly betray you; it does mean that to continue having their support you do need to keep them happy and they may refuse to partake in operations that clash with their wants and needs. If taken twice for the same fleethorde or legend, they may outright betray you if sufficiently displeased.
-Repulsive: There is a part of your people's culture or biology that the majority of the galaxy finds disgusting and vile, ranging from cannibalism to sophont sacrifice to being a bunch of biological parasites. This creates an overall diplomatic penalty alongside other narrative consequences.
-Redshirt Army: while your infantry may in fact effectively have a red shirt, that isn't necessarily the case, as this covers things ranging from subpar infantry formations from things towed artillery, heavy weapons, and other equipment that goes into modern infantry divisions being conspicuously absent, to your your Artillery simply being underwhelming in comparison to literally everything else you have, to you outright not believing in having actual guns on your tanks. As you can imagine, this has very bad consequences for your ground forces' performance in battle, especially when this tends to imply unfortunate things about your army's doctrine. Mind you, this need not be applied to ground forces alone, as whatever area is 'Redshirted' is going to suffer quite a bit from your doctrinal or technological(or both) weakness in that given area.
This is effectively a negative specialization, applying to one of your sections like any other specialization would, but in reverse. Note: this cannot apply to any areas where you have a specialization.
-Flawed Military: There's something about your overall military that is a problem. Maybe you're the Orks with ramshackle equipment that has a tendency to backfire catastrophically. Maybe the rivalry between military services cripples cooperation. Maybe your training system creates less than exemplary officers who follow the book to the letter and never adapt to changing circumstances. Whatever the case, you've got problems, and they'll affect every aspect of your military actions and combat effectiveness related to them.
- unit advantages cannot cascade through any method other than sheer brute force
--Incompetent Military: It's not that your army is bad. It's that your entire military is bad. Incompetent numpties who shouldn't be trusted with a market stall lead fleets. Nepotism, bribery, and corruption are rampant, with the majority of officers chosen for their political connections, loyalty to the party line, or wealth instead of actual skill. What's worse is that the flaws are so ingrained into your nation's structure, that it would be a nightmare to even begin to fix this mess, and you'll take a flat penalty to all military-based actions and combat. (Requires Flawed Military)
In addition to making it nigh impossible for unit advantages to cascade, factions with this drawback suffer a moderate penalty to morale and cannot take the Unbreakable major perk.
-Alien Communication Methods: Your species does not communicate in the 'normal' method, perhaps relying on pheromones, psionics, or bioluminescence & body language. As the majority of the galaxy does not share this communication method, diplomacy and trade are more challenging. Note that this represents difficulty communicating, rather than your neighbors specifically disliking you.
-Manifest Destiny: Your species feels a tremendous need to expand, whether it is from a belief that the stars belong to you by some right, or fear of some disaster wiping out most of the species if it is not spread out far and wide. You are obligated to take pretty much any chance at safe expansion over internal development, and said expansionism can make neighbors worried. (Note: Safe (well, as safe as things get in Vyranodasik) expansion. No one's going to force you to barrel headlong into pissing off a Superpower when you're a minor with a handful of TPs. Though conflict with peer powers is definitely still on the table.)
-Chronic Interventionists: your species can't help but get involved in everyone else's problems. Be it from an honor code that insists that you must 'protect the weak' at whatever cost to yourself, feel that others can't protect themselves, or otherwise feel that you have some obligation to the wider galaxy, you must try and solve everyone else's problems for them. You are obliged to take every single semi-reasonable chance to go fight other people's battles for them, but if two factions 'need help' against each other, it's up to you on who you support, and if intervening in that moment with enough forces to make a difference would mean effective mass-suicide for your own civilians back at home, use your own judgement on wether they would actually fall on that sword or not for the other faction.
-Prejudice: Dislike, disgust, or even hatred of a certain species group is deeply enshrined in your culture. Ranging from AIs to insectoids to humans, you have a significant penalty to any actions that involve interacting with them in a non-violent manner, and a tremendous penalty to diplomatic relations with nations that have them as a significant demographic. (What group you are prejudiced against must be specified. Note: When combined with Xenophobic, this Drawback will result in you hating said group to a genocidal degree, practically demanding you wage wars of extermination against them whenever you encounter them.)
Extremely major diplomacy penalty with factions that are targeted by this.
Note: may be taken up to five times for different targets, each one further increasing the penalty with all others(including the new one) and causing the definitions for said targets to spread out, to the point where upon the fifth pick it becomes 'Absolute and Utter Compete Hatred for Everyone that isn't You/Yours.'
-No Magic: For one reason or another, the esoterics of psionics and/or magic just don't work with your people. Instead, expect reaching rationalizations and illogical conclusions as your top minds attempt to fit these strange occurrences and feats into their world view- rather than broadening it. Curse those space trolls, planting Ork Spores everywhere the Orks go.
Progress going through that tree of advancement will be difficult at best, impossible at worst. A lack of understanding will also mean you face a few more problems than average when fighting enemies that make plentiful use of psionics.
-Total War Economy: Your entire economy is built around military action, and requires constant warfare to sustain itself. If you are not at war, your overall RP income decreases by half from the economic slump.
--Only War: Your species or society as a whole is incapable of functioning without someone to fight. Even a single turn spent without fighting someone will result in a laundry list of penalties, from unrest, research delays, to outright civil war. (Requires Total War Economy.)(cannot be taken by factions who already have their diplomacy set to zero or below)
Set Diplomacy to a maximum of zero(long term diplomacy is impossible)
-Escort Tonnage: Your starting navy only has ships of Destroyer-size or smaller, due to technological limitations or simply never seeing the need to build more massive warships than what you already have. This 'Drawback' is something of a freebee, being a compensation for factions like Mass Effect or Alpha Quadrant Star Trek, who will need to do a lot of research just to make sure they have ships bigger than what some factions consider a mere escort.(freebee for having no Cruisers and nothing higher on your list, or quite literally only having units in one category of void ships that isn't Strikecraft)
Pathological Cowards: either some deep societal scar has been made to your faction, or you're like the mementic french; either way, your faction, or at least your bog standard troops, sees withdrawing, surrendering, and otherwise trying to go unnoticed to always be the best course of action unless what is waiting for them if they do so is worse. (cannot be taken with Unbreakable or Fanatical Population)
-major penalty to morale, your forces are much more likely to withdraw from a fight at the first sign of there being actual danger.
Logistical Interdependence: whether it be due to having weapons that burn through ammunition vastly quicker than it can be replenished on site, relying on exotic fuels that require large, delicate, dedicated production facilities to create, constant need for repairs and maintenance, or a complete unwillingness on the part of the military to do any in-house resource scavenging or repair work, your forces are vastly more reliant on long logistics chains than your average faction.(cannot be taken with Logistical Independence)
You're either going to need long, complicated, interceptable logistical trains or risk your ships and troops running out of ammunition mid battle.
Technological Stagnation: your people, for one reason or another, are slower to adapt and change, and/or unwilling to press the boundaries of what is possible technologically; whatever the reason, your people at a base level either do not invest as much into the sciences as normal or are vastly more slow and careful about making said advancements.
Your faction, unlike most other factions, doesn't get a free research slot, likely drastically increasing the time/resources required to make serious technological progress
Fragile Worlds: your people, for one reason or another, have failed to develop the near-ubiquitous technology that is Planetary Shield Generators, and/or haven't developed any sort of equivalent over the course of time; in addition, for one reason or another, your technology base is simply incompatible with the locally developed versions that are found on almost every single inhabited world.
Your faction doesn't start with Planetary Shields for their worlds, and can't simply either purchase or reverse engineer the local version of it; not that this completely stops you from eventually defending your worlds to the same degree through various means, only that you're either going to have a long, hard road ahead of you for developing your own version of said technology or are going to need to pay through the nose for your own, arguably lesser, version(see the Killostructures section for more details)
Keystone Army: your faction relies on the presence of a few units, ranging from a large(but still relatively small) grouping of units that your entire faction, or at least large chunks of your mobile forces, would literally fall apart subcom-defeat style if they were lost; to a small cohort of extremely powerful individuals that are the only thing stopping your faction from completely falling apart at the drop of a hat into a bunch of vastly weaker groups that might never work together again to a single, if extremely powerful, individual upon which your entire faction quite literally relies upon to both exist and continue to function period; to keep functioning as a faction on whatever level the keystone units act on.
Examples: Supreme Commander(and Planetary Annihilation, and a few other similar games), pure C'Tan factions(mainly the Dragon(Mag'ladroth), but almost all of the others fall into this category in some way), the Beast(Warhammer 40k: War of the Krork), the Zerg(outside of their Primal variants), Men of Iron(Warhammer 40k in general and War of the Krork in specific), and others.
Rules of Engagement: be it due to a law/honor set that prohibits harming civilians, damaging garden worlds, sacrificing civilians/worlds if necessary, or some other set of things that limits your militaries ability to fully act when civilians could be in the line of fire, your ability to fully engage the enemy to the best of your ability is curtailed when on/near civilian inhabited worlds, reducing the amount of damage that you deal and increasing the number of military casualties that you take when fighting in such an area.
Limited Colonizers: for one reason or another your faction is either unwilling or unable to heavily colonize pre-existing habitable worlds with pre-existing ecosystems, making your faction resort to either artificial habitats or actively terraforming new worlds as you go instead of using those perfectly habitable, oxygen rich planets in the planets goldilocks zone(from a humanocentric perspective) complete with pre-existing natural life and beauty.
- Increase all territory development costs by 20%(rounded up)
What is this, a structure for ants?: (incompatible with Builders/Gigastructural Engineers) Your faction isn't just inexperienced with making grand constructs, but for one reason or another, ranging from being completely incompetent arcutecturally to having constuction methods that are genuinely bad at scaling up that far, are actively bad at it even when it is a fairly standard thing in their home universe.
- Increase the cost of all kilo/mega/giga projects by 10%, and increase the minimum completion time for all three categories by two turns(kiloprojects now take at least three turns to complete, megaprojects at least five, and gigaprojects at least seven).
Non-Monster(Monster factions being defined as factions that have taken the relevant Definitive Trait, taken five instances of Prejudice, or the Only War Drawback) only Major Drawbacks:
-Xenophobic: To your people, all aliens are creatures to be feared and hated. Naturally, this causes a bit of a diplomatic malus for all factions that aren't of your species (which will likely be almost all of them), but also means that your nation will never accept occupied alien territory being allowed under even Local Administration, let alone integrating them into the empire. The Alien can never be trusted to rule itself, or be allowed to taint the nation.
moderate-to-major diplomacy with factions that aren't of the same species as you(which is likely most of them)
-Deep State: Not all your nation actually answers to the central civilian government. From powerful vassals that actually make up the bulk of your army to unaccountable black ops intelligence groups that answer to their own superiors rather than the legislature to NGO superpowers like Megacorps, these parts of your nation can have GM-mandated actions independent of your own. While some may say they have the best interests of your nation at heart, they represent a factor that's prone to doing things that are independent of your wishes, and often morally bankrupt.
-Angry Populace: Exploited colonists, enslaved labor, restless underclasses, or just a plain unpopular government. Whatever the case, a significant portion of your population would enjoy giving at least your leadership the guillotine treatment. Keep a watch for uprisings.
Culturally Dependent Doctrine: for one reason or another, the doctrines and training methods that your forces use don't mesh with incorporating outsiders. This makes actively using population that isn't of your own people in your own forces nearly impossible(maximum number/size of your warfleets is tied to the number of your population that are made up of the same species and/or group as your starting population, rather than to your total population), and using mercenaries in an effective manner a whole new issue of its own(effectiveness of hired mercenaries is reduced by anywhere from a third to half)
-Restrictive Code of Diplomacy: In some way or another, your diplomatic actions are constricted. Perhaps you must keep true to the meaning of each and every oath that you give/treaty that you sign, even if it might lead to your own doom, or perhaps you must never declare war without good Casus Belli. Or maybe you have to get permission from your government back in your home universe for any major diplomatic actions, which introduces a lot of time lag and relies on a possibly out-of-touch superior. Or maybe it's something else entirely.
Whatever the case, your diplomatic actions are shaped and constrained by this restriction, and it is either impossible to break from them, or doing so would have some very catastrophic consequences for your societal integrity. Note that said restriction needs to be something that isn't already covered by your other Drawbacks (for example, if you have a Prejudice against AIs, you can't have a Restriction of "no diplomacy with AIs.")
Ideological Mission: Whether your polity is one based around a faith or a particular method of societal organization, you are expected to commit to the tenets of that ideology or faith in all things by your populace. Particularly common in heavily democratic societies, this means that you are held to a high standard and that certain internal organizational actions may be unavailable or penalized due to clashing with your societal ethics. For example, those of a certain religious evangelical zeal are expected to spread their faith even if this causes problems with neighbors, same thing with those who are particularly committed to any other specific ideology. Paired with Our Way or the Highway, this means that your populace is going to need prolonged time to properly integrate absorbed TPs and their POPs.
Our way or the Highway: Certain facets of society (such as the rich) are not able to be cleanly integrated into your society owing to political doctrine and ideology. Integrating societies with these unaccepted stratas always causes some degree of unrest that requires immediate attention and will slow down integration to accommodate these people into a society. With the penalty to integration being increased the more divergent that society is to the values of the conquering society.
Negative Drawbacks(repeatable):
-Legendless: All factions will normally start with a single Level 1 Legend. By taking this drawback, you become the exception to that rule, and will likely go through your first few battles without a Legend to support you. This cannot be taken alongside the Regiment of Renown perk for what should be obvious reasons…
-Fewer Definitive Designs: all factions usually start with two(or three) Focuses to help define where their forces specialize in faction wide- your forces are even more generic(and therefore arguably weaker) than normal, so to represent that you start with one less Focus to distribute amongst your forces.
Stronger Faction, weaker start: your faction, for whatever reason, ended up with even less than one would expect, perhaps the uncaring gods were compensating for something? -5 Origin points
Divided obligations.(requires at least one starting legend and one starting fleethorde per pick) One of your legends and one of your fleethordes is not entirely beholden to you and is often not even formally obliged to obey you, and is present here out of courtesy. Alternatively, they may have clashing personalities with the leadership or each other. Whatever the cause, their loyalties are not entirely yours to command even if they may never directly betray you; it does mean that to continue having their support you do need to keep them happy and they may refuse to partake in operations that clash with their wants and needs. If taken twice for the same fleethorde or legend, they may outright betray you if sufficiently displeased.
Building your Order of Battle
Unlike before we're no longer counting exact numbers of units to lower the amount of math required and also so that we don't really have to think too hard about hull counts or troop numbers beyond "not typical sci-fi army tiny militaries". Rather you instead list the most iconic units you have in a category, how they are used, and then summarize how they all fit together, and indicate where you are particularly strong within these categories via focuses.
Space
Macro-Capitals
-Supercapitals: Larger than 30 kilometers and capping out at around 100, Supercapitals get their name for how they break the ceiling on many unofficial rules of Capital Ships. Weapons that normal Battleships have to leave prow-mounted, in some cases embedded into the ship's spine, can instead be placed on broadsides or even turrets, opening up options that smaller Capital Ships simply don't have access to. Examples of this class include the Imperator Somnium, Abyss-class Battleships, the largest of Ork Space Hulks, and the Planet Killer.
-Dreadnoughts: Generally ranging from 15 to 25 kilometers, Dreadnoughts are the next step up from Battleships. Dreadnoughts are not particularly different from Battleships, though their larger size means correspondingly smaller numbers. Some are basically Battleships scaled up, others take advantage of the extra space to mount new weapon systems (from as simple as more basic weapons to things like trading most of their broadsides to mount a second spinal gun.) Examples of this class are WotK Quest Ork Dednots & Soopa-Maulas, Necron Cairn-class Tombships, Gloriana-class Battleships, and Galactic Empire Executor and Eclipse-class Star Dreadnoughts.
Capitals
-Battleships: 8-15 Kilometers. Battleships are the smallest and therefore most numerous of the Capital Ship classes, though as Capital ships they are far above even the heaviest Cruisers in power and are also too few to take part in regular patrol actions. Battleships form the mailed fist of a War Fleet, with the combination of heavier armor and larger and more power-hungry weapons than smaller vessels can support, allowing them to be thrown into the thick of things in a way lesser ships can't. Examples of this class include 40k Battleships along with the Star Wars Assertor-class Super Star Destroyers.
-Battlecruisers: Battlecruisers occupy a gray area between Capital Ships and Cruisers, sometimes not even being considered "proper" Capital Ships. If Battleships are the smallest ships that can mount the combination of Capital Ship-grade armoring and Capital Ship-grade big guns, then Battlecruisers are a kind of Cruiser that can mount something approaching one of those things while retaining Cruiser attributes in the other (and getting Cruiser speeds.) No Battlecruiser can truly reach the combat heights Battleships can provide, but they can be expected to dominate Cruiser fights. Generally Battlecruisers range from 6 to 8 kilometers, though there can also be smaller examples of Cruiser ships mounting the proper weapons to be considered BCs, like the CIS Subjugator-class Heavy Cruiser, or larger variants like the 40k Grand Cruisers, which are almost Battleship-sized but lack the proper armoring of one. More properly sized examples of the class include 40k Battlecruisers and the Star Wars Bellator-class.
Line Ships
-Cruisers: 40k Cruisers, the Subjugator-class Heavy Cruiser, Lucrehulk, Resurgent-class Star Destroyer, and CAS-class Assault Carrier. Around 3-6 kilometers, leaning more towards the longer end. Cruisers are much smaller than Capital Ships, but that also allows them to be made in much larger numbers. Line Ships in general do most of the "grunt work" expected of a War Fleet, and Cruisers are the core of that.
-Destroyers: 40k Escorts, the Venator and Imperial class Star Destroyers, Mass Effect Reapers, Dreadnoughts, and Carriers. Generally around 1-2.5 kilometers, though some may be longer. Significantly less powerful than Cruisers and sometimes viewed as the "quantity" to the former's "quality", Destroyers can also be made in much larger numbers, while still being able to mount powerful enough guns to threaten much larger Cruisers. Depending on the design, Destroyers can also take up an escort role for factions with a preference for larger ships.
Screenships
-Frigates: Smaller ships between 300 meters and a kilometer at the longest dimension. The smaller size of Frigates generally precludes them from being generalist combatants, and instead most Frigates are focused on a single role, ranging from anti-strike craft picket to stealth ships to expendable frontline attack ships (though Frigates in general have a hard time mounting weapons that can threaten anything larger than a Destroyer.) In smaller navies however, they often perform a role equivalent to that of Line Ships. Examples of this class include Mass Effect Cruisers, UNSC Frigates, the Victory-class Star Destroyer, and the Eldar Shadowhunter-class Escort.
-Corvettes: 100-300 meter ships, Corvettes tend to behave either as anti-strike craft picket ships with flak guns and point defense weapons, or as oversized strike craft themselves, armed with loads of ordinance for attack runs (the "torpedo-vette" is an especially common design.) Examples of this class include the CR90 and DP20 Corellian vessels of Star Wars, the Ork Megabommer (as an example of one that literally serves as an oversized strike craft), and, of course, the Stellaris corvette.
Aerospace
-Strike Craft: Be they X-Wings, TIE Fighters, Mobile Suits, whatever, Strike Craft are basically the aircraft of space warfare, launched either from carriers or planetoid-based airfields. Far smaller than even the tiniest corvette, with the largest approaching 80 meters, Strike Craft make up for a lack of raw power with precision and maneuverability, and some can even operate in atmospheric conditions. This space is not just for talking about what kinds of strike craft you have, but your overall doctrine with them, such as whether they're used as a primary striking arm or if they play a more supporting role.
-Aircraft: Many factions simply use their starfighters/strike craft for atmospheric warfare, but there are also quite a few exceptions, particularly for things like the nation's equivalent to helicopter gunships. This spot, despite technically being in the space part of the OOB, is for air-breathers only (unless you're talking about how most or all of your aircraft roster is your strike craft.)
Ground
War Engines
-Behemoths: The big, big, WotK style Epics. Larger than any Titan, multi hundred meters at minimum, often closer to a kilometer and sometimes larger. The exact size doesn't particularly matter as long as it's FuckHueg, enough so that a single unit deploying can radically change the entire battlefield. These include the Emperor-class Titan, Mega-Gargant, Ordinatus Machines, and Total Annihilation Krogoth.
-Titans: This would encompass the whole gamut of non-Emperor scale 40k Titans. Warhounds, Reavers, Warlords, Gargants, all of them. While previously we'd separated Titans into different size categories, this now feels unnecessary, as Titans will in general act in unison with each other as a combined force. So long story short, this is a place where you get to describe your whole Titan Legion. Most Titans are somewhere in the 50-300 meter range, though as with all classes this is subject to a degree of nuance. Other examples of this class include the AT-M6, Protodeka, and Jaegers.
Vehicles
-Superheavies: Baneblades, MTTs, Mammoth Tanks, AT-ATs, etc. Units in this category are generally tough enough that conventional anti-vehicle options aren't that effective, requiring specialists, overwhelming numbers, or the troops on the ground getting creative. Generally starting at ~15 meters and ending at around 40 meters in the largest dimension.
-Main Battle Units: Main Battle Tanks, most BattleMechs, the works. Your whole armored fist that provides combat vehicles and vehicle-equivalents. They provide an optimal combination of mobility, durability, and firepower, allowing them to make up most of your mechanized battle line.
-Lights: High-mobility units like speeder or hoverbikes, cavalry units, AT-STs & AT-RTs, 40k Sentinels, armored cars, etc. This is your recon, rapid-response, and fast-attack arm. Not very good in a stand-up fight, but very useful for fast and fluid forms of warfare.
Infantry
-Supersoldiers: Space Marines, Sisters of Battle, Dark Troopers, super-cyborgs, etc. These are your various supersoldiers who have some sort of augment that lets them do and be more (with that "more" being anything ranging from genetic augments to turbo-battlesuits) than the baseline soldier or elite could ever hope for. If you have esoteric-users without the High Magic trait, they belong here.
-Elites: Clone Commandos, Nobz, Spec Ops, higher interpretations of Stormtroopers, and other elite soldiers who are between the line infantry and Supersoldiers. Not augmented to the extreme extent of Supersoldiers, but well above your average footsoldier in terms of capability.
-Line Troops: Ork Boyz, Battle Droids, UNSC Marines, Imperial Guardsmen, you know these guys. They are your Poor Bloody Infantry that are present in every battle. They can range from unexceptional but solid professionals to cannon fodder conscripts, but they make up the majority of your infantry forces.
Individuals of Importance
-Lords and Commanders: Every faction has some sort of leadership figure, force-multiplier, or otherwise something that bolsters your Command & Control capabilities. This is where you point to what they are if they're something… special. Jedi Masters with Battle Meditation, turbo-AIs who can micromanage whole armies, and so on. Note that this is more for how good and what form your C&C capabilities take, and if there's anything extra to them, not necessarily how good they are at asskicking.
-Heroes: Heroes are not specific leadership figures the way Lords are, but they are concentrations of both skill and narrative power that makes them force-multipliers well beyond what their numbers and equipment may imply. Examples include Veteran Space Marines, Imperial Assassins, Jedi, and Sith.
Support
-Artillery: Indirect fire options, whether self-propelled, towed, or static. The exact methods used by artillery can range from tubes to rockets, guided missiles to teleportation, or outright magic rituals.
-Infantry Support: APCs and IFVs go here, but as do other units that are basically meant to give your infantry a leg up. This would be stuff like Imperial Guard Commissars and Priests who get attached to squads, Lizardmen Revivification Crystals and Engines that hand out buffs, or the Star Wars AT-PT or Starcraft Goliath, which act as mobile heavy weapons platforms attached to infantry units.
Macro-Capitals
-Supercapitals: Larger than 30 kilometers and capping out at around 100, Supercapitals get their name for how they break the ceiling on many unofficial rules of Capital Ships. Weapons that normal Battleships have to leave prow-mounted, in some cases embedded into the ship's spine, can instead be placed on broadsides or even turrets, opening up options that smaller Capital Ships simply don't have access to. Examples of this class include the Imperator Somnium, Abyss-class Battleships, the largest of Ork Space Hulks, and the Planet Killer.
-Dreadnoughts: Generally ranging from 15 to 25 kilometers, Dreadnoughts are the next step up from Battleships. Dreadnoughts are not particularly different from Battleships, though their larger size means correspondingly smaller numbers. Some are basically Battleships scaled up, others take advantage of the extra space to mount new weapon systems (from as simple as more basic weapons to things like trading most of their broadsides to mount a second spinal gun.) Examples of this class are WotK Quest Ork Dednots & Soopa-Maulas, Necron Cairn-class Tombships, Gloriana-class Battleships, and Galactic Empire Executor and Eclipse-class Star Dreadnoughts.
Capitals
-Battleships: 8-15 Kilometers. Battleships are the smallest and therefore most numerous of the Capital Ship classes, though as Capital ships they are far above even the heaviest Cruisers in power and are also too few to take part in regular patrol actions. Battleships form the mailed fist of a War Fleet, with the combination of heavier armor and larger and more power-hungry weapons than smaller vessels can support, allowing them to be thrown into the thick of things in a way lesser ships can't. Examples of this class include 40k Battleships along with the Star Wars Assertor-class Super Star Destroyers.
-Battlecruisers: Battlecruisers occupy a gray area between Capital Ships and Cruisers, sometimes not even being considered "proper" Capital Ships. If Battleships are the smallest ships that can mount the combination of Capital Ship-grade armoring and Capital Ship-grade big guns, then Battlecruisers are a kind of Cruiser that can mount something approaching one of those things while retaining Cruiser attributes in the other (and getting Cruiser speeds.) No Battlecruiser can truly reach the combat heights Battleships can provide, but they can be expected to dominate Cruiser fights. Generally Battlecruisers range from 6 to 8 kilometers, though there can also be smaller examples of Cruiser ships mounting the proper weapons to be considered BCs, like the CIS Subjugator-class Heavy Cruiser, or larger variants like the 40k Grand Cruisers, which are almost Battleship-sized but lack the proper armoring of one. More properly sized examples of the class include 40k Battlecruisers and the Star Wars Bellator-class.
Line Ships
-Cruisers: 40k Cruisers, the Subjugator-class Heavy Cruiser, Lucrehulk, Resurgent-class Star Destroyer, and CAS-class Assault Carrier. Around 3-6 kilometers, leaning more towards the longer end. Cruisers are much smaller than Capital Ships, but that also allows them to be made in much larger numbers. Line Ships in general do most of the "grunt work" expected of a War Fleet, and Cruisers are the core of that.
-Destroyers: 40k Escorts, the Venator and Imperial class Star Destroyers, Mass Effect Reapers, Dreadnoughts, and Carriers. Generally around 1-2.5 kilometers, though some may be longer. Significantly less powerful than Cruisers and sometimes viewed as the "quantity" to the former's "quality", Destroyers can also be made in much larger numbers, while still being able to mount powerful enough guns to threaten much larger Cruisers. Depending on the design, Destroyers can also take up an escort role for factions with a preference for larger ships.
Screenships
-Frigates: Smaller ships between 300 meters and a kilometer at the longest dimension. The smaller size of Frigates generally precludes them from being generalist combatants, and instead most Frigates are focused on a single role, ranging from anti-strike craft picket to stealth ships to expendable frontline attack ships (though Frigates in general have a hard time mounting weapons that can threaten anything larger than a Destroyer.) In smaller navies however, they often perform a role equivalent to that of Line Ships. Examples of this class include Mass Effect Cruisers, UNSC Frigates, the Victory-class Star Destroyer, and the Eldar Shadowhunter-class Escort.
-Corvettes: 100-300 meter ships, Corvettes tend to behave either as anti-strike craft picket ships with flak guns and point defense weapons, or as oversized strike craft themselves, armed with loads of ordinance for attack runs (the "torpedo-vette" is an especially common design.) Examples of this class include the CR90 and DP20 Corellian vessels of Star Wars, the Ork Megabommer (as an example of one that literally serves as an oversized strike craft), and, of course, the Stellaris corvette.
Aerospace
-Strike Craft: Be they X-Wings, TIE Fighters, Mobile Suits, whatever, Strike Craft are basically the aircraft of space warfare, launched either from carriers or planetoid-based airfields. Far smaller than even the tiniest corvette, with the largest approaching 80 meters, Strike Craft make up for a lack of raw power with precision and maneuverability, and some can even operate in atmospheric conditions. This space is not just for talking about what kinds of strike craft you have, but your overall doctrine with them, such as whether they're used as a primary striking arm or if they play a more supporting role.
-Aircraft: Many factions simply use their starfighters/strike craft for atmospheric warfare, but there are also quite a few exceptions, particularly for things like the nation's equivalent to helicopter gunships. This spot, despite technically being in the space part of the OOB, is for air-breathers only (unless you're talking about how most or all of your aircraft roster is your strike craft.)
Ground
War Engines
-Behemoths: The big, big, WotK style Epics. Larger than any Titan, multi hundred meters at minimum, often closer to a kilometer and sometimes larger. The exact size doesn't particularly matter as long as it's FuckHueg, enough so that a single unit deploying can radically change the entire battlefield. These include the Emperor-class Titan, Mega-Gargant, Ordinatus Machines, and Total Annihilation Krogoth.
-Titans: This would encompass the whole gamut of non-Emperor scale 40k Titans. Warhounds, Reavers, Warlords, Gargants, all of them. While previously we'd separated Titans into different size categories, this now feels unnecessary, as Titans will in general act in unison with each other as a combined force. So long story short, this is a place where you get to describe your whole Titan Legion. Most Titans are somewhere in the 50-300 meter range, though as with all classes this is subject to a degree of nuance. Other examples of this class include the AT-M6, Protodeka, and Jaegers.
Vehicles
-Superheavies: Baneblades, MTTs, Mammoth Tanks, AT-ATs, etc. Units in this category are generally tough enough that conventional anti-vehicle options aren't that effective, requiring specialists, overwhelming numbers, or the troops on the ground getting creative. Generally starting at ~15 meters and ending at around 40 meters in the largest dimension.
-Main Battle Units: Main Battle Tanks, most BattleMechs, the works. Your whole armored fist that provides combat vehicles and vehicle-equivalents. They provide an optimal combination of mobility, durability, and firepower, allowing them to make up most of your mechanized battle line.
-Lights: High-mobility units like speeder or hoverbikes, cavalry units, AT-STs & AT-RTs, 40k Sentinels, armored cars, etc. This is your recon, rapid-response, and fast-attack arm. Not very good in a stand-up fight, but very useful for fast and fluid forms of warfare.
Infantry
-Supersoldiers: Space Marines, Sisters of Battle, Dark Troopers, super-cyborgs, etc. These are your various supersoldiers who have some sort of augment that lets them do and be more (with that "more" being anything ranging from genetic augments to turbo-battlesuits) than the baseline soldier or elite could ever hope for. If you have esoteric-users without the High Magic trait, they belong here.
-Elites: Clone Commandos, Nobz, Spec Ops, higher interpretations of Stormtroopers, and other elite soldiers who are between the line infantry and Supersoldiers. Not augmented to the extreme extent of Supersoldiers, but well above your average footsoldier in terms of capability.
-Line Troops: Ork Boyz, Battle Droids, UNSC Marines, Imperial Guardsmen, you know these guys. They are your Poor Bloody Infantry that are present in every battle. They can range from unexceptional but solid professionals to cannon fodder conscripts, but they make up the majority of your infantry forces.
Individuals of Importance
-Lords and Commanders: Every faction has some sort of leadership figure, force-multiplier, or otherwise something that bolsters your Command & Control capabilities. This is where you point to what they are if they're something… special. Jedi Masters with Battle Meditation, turbo-AIs who can micromanage whole armies, and so on. Note that this is more for how good and what form your C&C capabilities take, and if there's anything extra to them, not necessarily how good they are at asskicking.
-Heroes: Heroes are not specific leadership figures the way Lords are, but they are concentrations of both skill and narrative power that makes them force-multipliers well beyond what their numbers and equipment may imply. Examples include Veteran Space Marines, Imperial Assassins, Jedi, and Sith.
Support
-Artillery: Indirect fire options, whether self-propelled, towed, or static. The exact methods used by artillery can range from tubes to rockets, guided missiles to teleportation, or outright magic rituals.
-Infantry Support: APCs and IFVs go here, but as do other units that are basically meant to give your infantry a leg up. This would be stuff like Imperial Guard Commissars and Priests who get attached to squads, Lizardmen Revivification Crystals and Engines that hand out buffs, or the Star Wars AT-PT or Starcraft Goliath, which act as mobile heavy weapons platforms attached to infantry units.
Spoiler: Force Organization ChartSheet Template:
Faction Name: Self-explanatory.
Leader: Also self-explanatory.
Universe of Origin: If an original faction, just list OC. If a notable deviation from canon, list the universe alongside AU.
Tier: Where do you fall among the six tiers? This determines your starting population and forces.
Why are you here?: Generally background fluff as to why you have taken up this cause, what changes to your timeline had to be done to get you your army, and what you seek to do once you have entered Vyranodasik. Makes setting up the initial scenario much easier. Note that it's valid to say "we have no idea how exactly we got here" so long as you're willing to not let that get in the way of expansionism.
Traits & Drawbacks: List what makes you special here.
It can help to list your type of government and general faction ethics on your sheet, so the GMs know how to treat them in the universe, although doing so isn't necessary if you're playing an already established faction.
List your OOB and make room for your population figures, controlled territory, and so on. The OOB should also contain your starting Legend (unless you choose the Legendless Drawback.)
Finally, list your starting location: one of the large squares, listed via coordinate, and then where you start in it, which can be a cardinal direction, ordinal direction, or the center.
An example sheet to help you get the picture:
Spoiler: Example Sheet: Imperium of Man
Imperium of Man
Origin: In the aftermath of the Great Rift, an extradimensional portal of some sort has emerged in Imperial territory, which leads to a vast and bountiful galaxy, filled with resources that could be put to work under Imperial rule. Already the call has gone out for a great colonization mission to secure Vyranodasik in the name of the God-Emperor.
Leader:Definitive Trait: Golden Armada
Traits:
-Age of Legends
-Devoted Population
-Martial Society
-Additional Specializations (Supersoldiers)
-Additional Specializations (Line Ships)
-Regiment of Renown
-Regiment of Renown
Drawbacks:
-Xenophobic
-Prejudice (Synthetics/AIs)
-Technological Stagnation
-Angry Populace
Origin Points
-Another Successful Warp Jump (+3 Points)
-Portal Home (4 Points)
-6x More Population (6 Points)
-8x More Starting Production(8 points)
-8x Steady Stream of Colonists(8 points)
-7x Portal Based Baggage Train(7 points)
-increase five fleets to magnitude(base+1) to (base+2)(10 points)
Focuses
-Line Ships-Superheavies
-Main Battle Units
-Supersoldiers
-Artillery
Space
Macro-Capitals
Supercapitals: The only Imperial ship in history that was Supercapital in scale was the Imperator Somnium, the flagship of the Emperor himself. An immense vessel that took advantage of its size to utilize Nova Cannons on its dorsal mounts (alongside many other examples of advanced technology), the Imperator Somnium has long since been lost.Dreadnoughts: Historically, the Gloriana-class Battleships of the Great Crusade would have fit in this category, but the modern Imperium does not manufacture these ships anymore. If the Imperium wants to make its own Dreadnought fleets, it will likely have to start from scratch.
Capital Ships
Battleships: Battleships are the great flagships of the Imperial Navy, generally only assembled at all, let alone in numbers, when the Imperium finds itself facing serious opposition. The two most common Imperial Battleships are the Retribution-class and Emperor-class. The Retribution-class is an "all big gun" brawler, with a dorsal lance array and its broadsides entirely composed of short-ranged but powerful and fast-firing weapon batteries, with the typical Imperial armored prow. The Emperor is the other main Battleship of the Imperium, and serves as a carrier/battleship hybrid, with the prow armor traded out for frontal turrets and sensor probes, while broadsides have some of the guns replaced with hangar bays for strike craft. Overall less durable and with less close-ranged firepower than the Retribution, but the strike craft grant it more versatility.Aside from these ships, the Imperial Navy has a number of Victory and Apocalypse class Battleships, armed with long-ranged lance broadsides and Nova Cannons, but they are relatively rare compared to the Emperor and Retribution. Also rare but still present are Battle Barges, fast and heavily armored Battleships used by the Space Marines. They are excellent boarding units and their Bombardment Cannons are quite effective at cracking enemy hulls, but they are overall not cost-effective in open naval warfare.
Battlecruisers: Imperial Navy battlecruisers are best described as upgunned Cruisers, using additional power generation and size to mount more or larger guns while retaining Cruiser-grade armor. Of these, the most common are the Overlord and Armageddon-class Battlecruisers, both of which emphasize boosting the firepower and range of the ship's lances, compared to those of a Battlecruiser.
There are also a number of larger, Grand Cruisers among the Imperial Navy's ranks, though such ships have grown increasingly rare. In their time, they were largely focused on providing heavy short-ranged gunnery and/or strike craft support, depending on the class.
Line Ships
Cruisers: Cruisers form the backbone of the Imperial Navy in large-scale warfare, being more numerous than the relatively rare Battleships, but having more staying power than Destroyers. The primary Imperial Cruiser is the Lunar-class Cruiser, generally serving as a close-mid ranged brawler with both weapon batteries and lances on its broadsides. Most other Imperial Cruiser designs are variants of the Lunar, and overall there is a similar preference for brawling designs with heavy prow armor augmented by torpedo tubes and potent broadsides as the primary armament. There are also a number of Space Marine Strike Cruisers in this area, swift light cruisers with Bombardment cannons and while not particularly impressive on open void combat, are fast, maneuverable, and excellent for supporting Space Marine boarding and planetary assault missions.Destroyers: In the Imperial Navy, Destroyer-sized vessels take the role normally assigned to Screenships, or are otherwise used as patrol vessels across the vast territory of the Imperium. The two primary configurations are the Cobra-class Destroyer (a torpedo boat), and the Sword-class Frigate (a basic escort vessel meant for picket and patrol duties.) Neither is particularly spectacular, but they are plentiful. Rarer but still present is the Firestorm-class Frigate, a class that manages to stuff a lance weapon into the ship's frame. Aside from the torpedoes, Imperial Destroyers use somewhat short-ranged weapons.
Screenships
Frigates: The Imperium has no examples of this ship type, aside from a handful of lightly armed scout sloops wholly unsuited to actual combat.
Corvettes: The Imperium has no examples of this ship type.
Aerospace
Strike Craft: The Imperium has a fairly lackluster strike craft game. While individual strike craft are of reasonable quality and relatively durable (albeit also unusually large), the Imperium as a whole is lacking in solid, purpose-built carrier vessels, with most examples of Imperial carriers being repurposed ships of other classes. This results in Imperial Strike Craft being few and often outnumbered by their enemies, and to some degree lacking the full spectrum of support other carrier-borne strike craft may enjoy.Aircraft: The Imperium's air force is unspectacular, but versatile and serviceable, with Thunderbolt multirole fighters, Lightning interceptors, Marauder tactical bombers, and Avenger strike fighters, along with Valkyrie gunships and more heavily armed Vulture variants. Ultimately it is a force more inclined towards tactical support of ground troops than long-ranged strategic devastation. In this, it is reasonably effective, though somewhat hobbled by the conflicting command structures, with aircraft being controlled by the Imperial Navy, rather than the ground-based Imperial Guard.
Summary
On the offense, the Imperial Navy prefers to fight in formations almost akin to a phalanx, with ranks of ships presenting their heavily armored prows to the enemy, launching torpedoes to disrupt their formations. Once close enough, they smash apart the enemy with broadsides of Lance and Macrocannon fire.The Imperium has a solid bombardment game, with large numbers of torpedoes and Nova Cannons, though it lacks a reliable method of engaging and destroying enemy capital ships in this stage. On the other hand, the prow armor of its own ships means it tends to take reduced damage against enemy Bombardment. It fares poorly in Skirmish from a relative lack of focus on strike craft and screenships, with even many of its light cruisers suffering from poor speed and maneuverability that makes them ill-suited to this phase. The Imperium does best in the Clash, with virtually all of its ships built around heavy, close-in broadsides. A relative lack of any particular speed means it tends to be at best decent in the Disengage phase, and more often fairly poor.
Ground
War Engines
Behemoths: The main Imperial Behemoth is the Emperor-class Battle Titan. Towering over the other Imperial Titans, the Emperor is significantly slower than its smaller counterparts, but also has several times its mass in smaller Titans in ranged firepower. Their lack of speed or melee capability makes them very vulnerable up close, and as such reliant on other units for escort, but they are quite durable and have devastating ranged firepower. Also deploy on occasion is the Mechanicus Ordinatus platform, which lacks much of the Emperor's durability, but is even more powerful.Titans: By the 41st Millenium, Imperial Titans consisted primarily of two categories: the Warhound and the Warlord, with the Warlord being more common despite its larger size. Warlords serve as versatile and powerful Battle Titans, armed with a variety of powerful and long-ranged weaponry, while Warhound Scout Titans provide reconnaissance and flanking support. Imperial Titans are precious assets, and generally kept in reserve until they are needed for a truly decisive battle or breakthrough.
Vehicles
Though memetically famous for burying its foes in corpses, the Imperial Guard much prefers to bury its foes under sheer weight of metal, seeing it as an excellent equalizer compared to the frailties of human bodies. Any proper Imperial army will have vast waves of tanks and other combat vehicles among its numbers.Superheavies (Focus): The iconic Imperial Guard superheavy is the Baneblade, a massive superheavy tank. Baneblades are not particularly fast, but they are heavily armored and armed, capable of resisting barrages of fire that would slag a Leman Russ, while unleashing all manner of fury with its other weapons. Alternate variants of the Baneblade often revolve around replacing its main gun with a casemated alternative, with the most popular being massive laser or plasma weapons that can pose a threat to even Titans.
Main Battle Units (Focus): The two core Main Battle Units of the Imperial Guard are the Leman Russ tank and Basilisk self-propelled artillery. Both are characterized by their simple, rugged construction and ease of use, allowing them to be assembled in massive numbers. The Basilisk is a straightforward self-propelled tube artillery gun, assembled in great batteries for overwhelming barrages, while the Leman Russ is a fairly slow, but durable tank with a variety of variations and a versatile array of weapons even in the "stock" model. Both are deployed en masse, with whole formations of armored vehicles dedicated to smashing apart resistance.
Lights: The primary light units of the Imperial Guard, besides the mounted Rough Rider cavalry, is the Sentinel, a small but fast bipedal walker, generally armed with some variant of heavy weapon such as a multilaser or lascannon. These walkers are fragile, but also numerous.
Besides the Sentinel and cavalry units, the Imperial Lights are mostly composed of Chimera variants, with the most notable being the Hellhound Flame Tank and Hydra Flak Tank. As their names suggest, the Hellhound is a flamethrowing unit while the Hydra is a self-propelled AA gun.
Infantry
Supersoldiers: The most iconic soldiers of the Imperium are the Space Marines, transhuman warriors augmented with the finest warp-based biology the Emperor could design. Though few in number, they have an uncanny knack for appear at just the right place and time to destabilize an enemy battle plan, and particularly excel at high-tempo decapitation operations, jumping off of dropship landings or drop pods, destroying a critical target, and then pulling away before a response can be mustered.More numerous but perhaps less famed are the Sisters of Battle, an all-female militant organization of the Imperial church. These warrior-nuns are fanatical, clad in power armor and armed with Bolters, and can even manifest the blessings of the God-Emperor as tangible boosts to their abilities. This makes them not just more potent warriors than any mortal man, but also a great inspiration to see on the battlefield.
Besides these separate militant units, the Imperial Guard's forces in this category are primarily composed of Battle Psykers. Humanity's psychic abilities are unstable and mistrusted, but when they do function they can be quite effective.
Elites: The bulk of Imperial elite infantry is provided by Stormtroopers, a mix of independently operating Tempestus Scions special forces and Grenadiers, elite units directly attached to their regiments. Whatever the case, such forces have superior training, equipment, and even a level of genetic enhancement, though they remain just as poor in actual melee combat as regular Guardsmen.
For melee, the Imperial Guard relies on Ogryns, an abhuman species of prodigious size and strength, far above that of a human and more comparable to larger Ork specimens. Though rather dim and not numerous enough to make an Imperial army truly effective in melee, they at least provide some level of defense against an enemy's melee attacks, should the gunlines fail to prevent them from reaching close quarters.
Line Infantry: The standard soldier of the Imperium is the Guardsman. Armed with a lasgun and flak armor, the average Guardsman is an unimpressive soldier (though genetic augments in humanity's now-distant past mean they are physically superior to most modern day soldiers), whose greatest advantage is the Imperium's tendency to deploy them en-masse. Such numerical superiority can allow the Guard to hold the line for a surprisingly long time, gumming up enemy advances in bodies, but they should not be expected to win the battle for a commander unless given significant backup.
Individuals of Importance
Lords: The Imperium's commanders are a mixed bag, but the most common of their sort are the Generals of the Guard and the Admirals of the Navy. Though they are but mortal men using often clunky communication systems, Darwinian selection and fate's fickle hand tends to result in those commanders who have lived to see multiple battlefields do indeed; know what they are doing and how to use the Imperial War Machine's strengths very well. Those who have earned their decorations for a century of service easily stand out from the masses of foppish aristocrats or schola graduates who tend to meet a violent demise and have a knack for how to set up a battlefield properly, and while mortal men, have generally survived enough attempts on their life to know how to handle themselves in close quarters combat and how to pick good bodyguards.More unusual commanders include the Domini of the Adeptus Mechanicus, the Chapter Masters of the Space Marines, and the Cannonesses of the Sororitas, Inquisitors, or on very rare occasions; a Shield-Captain from the Custodes or their equivalent from the Sisters of Silence and Grey Knights. These generally superhuman commanders are invariably highly experienced and while formally restricted in how much command authority they may exert over forces outside of their branch; are generally respected enough by the Navy and Guard for their advice to be heeded by all but the most prideful. Though the Custodes are exempt from this, the presence of the guard of the throne is rare enough that any such presence would constitute a legend.
Imperial Command tends to rely much on the Emperor's Tarot offered by its ubiquitous Astropaths who are not only skilled at long range communications but also divination. The seemingly simple card game gives the Imperial military a form of prescience about the enemy's intentions, actions, and likely outcome of events. And while the diviners and fortune tellers of the Imperium are nowhere near as sophisticated as those of the Eldar, it helps the often uncanny ability of Imperial commanders to make exactly the right decision at the right time. As imperial long distance communication relies on Astropaths typically kept safe in the best defended parts of the ship rather than external arrays, it is also next to impossible to disable Imperial long-distance communications through typical Wild Weasel tactics. Though the dreamlike nature of Astropathic communications is a double-edged sword, requiring interpretation and a good sense for innuendo rather than being able to convey precise detail.
Heroes: The Imperium has a great many heroes, whether it be Space Marine captains or champions, the most battle-hardened veterans of the Scions or Sororitas, crack Inquisitorial retinues or Grey Knight Purifier squads and Paladins. The Custodes, Grey Knights, and Sisters of Silence are rare enough that their presence in any significant capacity constitutes a heroic deployment and to be certain they are some of the most peerless warriors in their native reality and even in this new Galactic system there is a quite short list of beings who can expect to face the talons of the Emperor and survive. But they are very few, and the Imperial war machine very large; so most will have to make do with those whose stories rise above the great masses of faceless soldiers.
Other
Artillery (Focus): The Imperium has a great fondness for artillery of all sizes. Self-propelled artillery is available in great amounts and variety from the Basilisk SPG to the Manticore rocket batteries to Deathstrike Missile Launchers, with other rarer vehicles including mobile siege mortars and armored artillery tanks, or highly mobile Griffon mortar tanks for light artillery.More static emplacements are equally plentiful. From multi-barreled Thudd Guns to heavy mortars to stationary Earthshaker Cannons (the same cannon used by the Basilisk) to other devices, the Imperial Guard loves little more than burying its foes under sheer weight of ordinance.
Infantry Support: On the defensive, the Imperium can rely on a variety of automated Heavy Weapons Platforms, automated turrets armed with heavy bolters, missile launchers, mortars, and more to bolster their fortifications. For transportation, the Imperial Guard enjoys the use of the Chimera, a reasonably effective APC most commonly armed with a multilaser, and contains firing slits for embarked infantry to shoot out of. The Imperial Guard also has various operators attached at the squad level, primarily consisting of Commissars and Priests serving as morale officers to ensure that the Guard, consisting of mere mortal men as it is, does not break and run.
Summary: The Imperium of Man is not a subtle beast in ground combat, preferring to bury its opponents under sheer weight of flesh and metal. Massive artillery barrages supported by mechanized and infantry pushes are the name of the day, with Priests and Commissars using inspiration and fear to ensure that the common Guardsmen does not flee, with the Sisters of Battle often providing similar encouragement, as well as a higher quality infantry trooper to shore up the frontline. More advanced Titans are kept in reserve while the bulk of the Guard gets to bloody work, and deployed only in crucial moments where only the best can be unleashed.
Differing from this general doctrine are the Space Marines. Instead, they act as high-tempo special forces, their tirelessness and advanced, heavily armored gunships letting them strike vulnerable targets and exfiltrate before the enemy, often greatly distracted by the Imperial Guard's large-front operations, can properly respond.
Overall, it can be said that the Imperial Guard does a solid albeit not truly awe-inspiring job in all phases of Ground Warfare, being somewhat better inclined to the Shock and to a lesser extent Penetration stages (blessed as they are by plentiful artillery and armored vehicles respectively) and somewhat lacking in Exploitation (where the rather centralized Imperial Guard command structure isn't quite as suited to achieving results in, and Space Marines lack the numbers to fully make up for this.)
Lord High Admiral Spire: The effective commander of all Imperial naval operations in Vyranodasik and in many aspects the de-facto leader of all the Imperium's territories in this new universe, Spire is a veteran naval commander with a history of service encompassing the Gothic War and the aftermath of the 13th Black Crusade. No other Imperial Navy leadership figure has his combination of undeniable skill and unshakeable loyalty, making him the perfect candidate for this role.
-Traits:
–Brilliant Naval Commander: Spire is, arguably, the finest naval commander in the Imperium, or at least the finest within Segmentum Obscurus. Fighting foes ranging from Tyranid Hive Fleets to Abaddon the Despoiler himself, Spire is a brilliant tactician who has faced impossible odds repeatedly, and emerged victorious almost every time.
–Tolerant (By Imperial Standards): While not a trained diplomat by any means, Spire has worked alongside the Eldar on multiple occasions, marking him as a more tolerant Imperial who can swallow the Imperium's general distaste for all things alien and actually work alongside non-Imperial forces if needed.
Ordo Xenos Vyranodasik Conclave: Given that the Imperium was going to be marching into a galaxy near-entirely dominated by aliens, it was inevitable that a significant Ordo Xenos contingent would be attached to the colonization effort. This Conclave of Inquisitors, supported by Deathwatch units, has been assigned to keep the colonies safe from alien influence.
-Traits:
–Alien Analysts: The Ordo Xenos has safeguarded the Imperium from malign alien influence for millennia, carefully studying and recording all the ways in which they may endanger humanity. This in turn gives them a broad skillset when it comes to facing non-human opponents, ranging from acting as counterintelligence experts to root out Xenos infiltration, to serving as strategic and tactical advisors who can point out the weaknesses of an alien enemy.
–Deathwatch Kill-Teams: The Chamber Militant of the Ordo Xenos is the Deathwatch, a Chapter composed of some of the finest Space Marines in the Imperium. Deathwatch is deployed in small squads that hit vital targets, either as part of covert operation to destroy something important, or as another contingent within a larger Imperial force.
Death Korps Of Krieg 505th Siege Army: wherever the Imperial Guard deploy in force, at least one force from the Death Korps of Krieg will almost certainly be there to fight on the front lines, and this new Crusade is no different, with multiple Regiments being deployed across its ranks. Of those being deployed, there is none as famous/infamous as the 505th Siege Army, deploying in typical Krieg fashion with large contingents of infantry, artillery, and armored assault vehicles.
-Traits:
–Siege Experts: The Death Korps of Krieg is particularly specialized in the art of besieging and assaulting fortified positions, and the 505th is no different. Whether by artillery bombardments, sapping, or simply hurling themselves through the trenchlines and over the bodies of the slain, the 505th Siege Army excels when it is called upon to take a fortified strongpoint.
–Unbreakable: If there is one thing the Death Korps is known for, it is its utter fanaticism and willingness to die for the Emperor. This in turn makes the 505th the perfect unit to deploy in conditions that other Regiments would consider suicide, ranging from frantic rearguard actions to forlorn hope assault missions. True, such things risk the 505th's destruction, but they are tasks that few other Imperial Guard units could be trusted to do and not shatter in the process. Besides, they're Krieg Guardsmen; It's their job to die.
-Traits:
–Brilliant Naval Commander: Spire is, arguably, the finest naval commander in the Imperium, or at least the finest within Segmentum Obscurus. Fighting foes ranging from Tyranid Hive Fleets to Abaddon the Despoiler himself, Spire is a brilliant tactician who has faced impossible odds repeatedly, and emerged victorious almost every time.
–Tolerant (By Imperial Standards): While not a trained diplomat by any means, Spire has worked alongside the Eldar on multiple occasions, marking him as a more tolerant Imperial who can swallow the Imperium's general distaste for all things alien and actually work alongside non-Imperial forces if needed.
Ordo Xenos Vyranodasik Conclave: Given that the Imperium was going to be marching into a galaxy near-entirely dominated by aliens, it was inevitable that a significant Ordo Xenos contingent would be attached to the colonization effort. This Conclave of Inquisitors, supported by Deathwatch units, has been assigned to keep the colonies safe from alien influence.
-Traits:
–Alien Analysts: The Ordo Xenos has safeguarded the Imperium from malign alien influence for millennia, carefully studying and recording all the ways in which they may endanger humanity. This in turn gives them a broad skillset when it comes to facing non-human opponents, ranging from acting as counterintelligence experts to root out Xenos infiltration, to serving as strategic and tactical advisors who can point out the weaknesses of an alien enemy.
–Deathwatch Kill-Teams: The Chamber Militant of the Ordo Xenos is the Deathwatch, a Chapter composed of some of the finest Space Marines in the Imperium. Deathwatch is deployed in small squads that hit vital targets, either as part of covert operation to destroy something important, or as another contingent within a larger Imperial force.
Death Korps Of Krieg 505th Siege Army: wherever the Imperial Guard deploy in force, at least one force from the Death Korps of Krieg will almost certainly be there to fight on the front lines, and this new Crusade is no different, with multiple Regiments being deployed across its ranks. Of those being deployed, there is none as famous/infamous as the 505th Siege Army, deploying in typical Krieg fashion with large contingents of infantry, artillery, and armored assault vehicles.
-Traits:
–Siege Experts: The Death Korps of Krieg is particularly specialized in the art of besieging and assaulting fortified positions, and the 505th is no different. Whether by artillery bombardments, sapping, or simply hurling themselves through the trenchlines and over the bodies of the slain, the 505th Siege Army excels when it is called upon to take a fortified strongpoint.
–Unbreakable: If there is one thing the Death Korps is known for, it is its utter fanaticism and willingness to die for the Emperor. This in turn makes the 505th the perfect unit to deploy in conditions that other Regiments would consider suicide, ranging from frantic rearguard actions to forlorn hope assault missions. True, such things risk the 505th's destruction, but they are tasks that few other Imperial Guard units could be trusted to do and not shatter in the process. Besides, they're Krieg Guardsmen; It's their job to die.
Map and Locations
Map Key (Each of these galaxies is millions of parsecs in diameter, so there's tons of room to play around in)
Map Key (Each of these galaxies is millions of parsecs in diameter, so there's tons of room to play around in)
Red (Sybarintern)
Polities whose governing bodies have representation in the Syrabaric International, the pre-eminent revolutionary bloc across the known cosmos. Promoting radical forms of communal democracy and shared burdens where the abundance of technology is used to ensure that all residents within have the totality of their needs met and can devote as much of their time as can be spared after the fulfillment of necessary tasks to their own actualisation and the leisure of themselves and their communities. The Sybarintern has exploded across Vyranodasik, headed by the twin major powers of the UASR and Tremzar, and is currently in a cold war with the Alliance while simultaneously mobilizing for what it sees as an inevitable war with the Singularity Pact, with Tremzar's large human population especially worried about aggression from the Ecumene.
- Union of Alunyani Syrabaric Republics (Vyranodasik)
- Syndicated Councils of Tremzar (Vyranodasik)
- Ranadithan Republics (Vyranodasik)
- Pulgrathi Syrabaric Union (Vyranodasik)
- Commonality of Mendrak (Vyranodasik)
Blue (Alliance)
Polities who have at least some degree of alignment towards the Alliance of Free Democratic Polities. The primary bastion of liberalism in the stars, these entities are generally regarded as the formulators of the present international order, for better and for worse. Some are progressive, some are conservative, some are parliamentary, others have monarchical or even feudal aspects, but all are quite committed to the present status quo, and all have ties to the Entente-Cordiale that serves as the second major political bloc in both Xelexex and the larger universe. These polities are generally anti-revisionist in their approach to cosmopolitics, seeking to maintain balances of power and prevent others from expanding more than they generally desire to expand themselves at the expense of peer powers. The Alamdrunon Imperial Confederacy is the unquestioned head of the Alliance's presence in Vyranodasik, with the Galicyar Commonwealth serving as a more distant second. Internally, the Alliance is heavily divided between whether it should see the Sybarintern or the Pact & Sphere as the larger threat to the current order.
- Alamdrunon Imperial Confederacy (Vyranodasik)
- United Stars of Alunyani (Vyranodasik)
- Sentinality of Polrus (Vyranodasik)
- Galicyar Commonwealth (Vyranodasik)
- Marshaldom of Janth (Vyranodasik)
- Unadaican Kingdoms (Vyranodasik)
- Aluvernth Royalty (Vyranodasik)
Dark Purple (Pact)
Polities whose governing bodies have tied their states in some way to the Singularity Pact. A collection of revanchist ultranationalists, fascist autocracies, conservative military oligarchies, and national populist dictatorships, the Singularity Pact would fall apart if it weren't for their shared opposition to the order of things as they are and the existence of the Sybarintern. A powerful uniting philosophy of the Singularity pact is an ideology that has taken on many forms and had many bearers across the years, but has taken on a particularly virulent strain in the territories of the Greater Meritocratic Deu'Kroz'Ar Ecumene of All Civilized and Worthy Peoples; Anthropophobia. The hatred of humanity, the cousins to the Elfin Merendi despite the two evolving in entirely different observable horizons, that species of widespread Espers and Psykers who can tap into the power of their own Psionics and the Flux and have such a talent for various forms of esoterics; and according to the Ecumene, the source of most of the world's ills. In this part of the universe, the Lesser Ecumene splintered off of Ecumenical colonies following defeat in the Great War is the standard-bearer of this alliance, roughly unified by shared hatreds and somewhat compatible ambitions.
- Lesser Meritocratic Ecumene (Vyranodasik)
- Blood Courts of Rhond (Vyranodasik)
- Rhondar Colonies (Eklemarid)
- Wundraso Hierarchy (Vyranodasik)
- Melkraan Axis (Vyranodasik)
- Traumurgic Nation (Vyranodasik)
- Integrated Urklast (Vyranodasik)
Orange (Sphere)
Polities that subscribe to the influence of the Ultimate Regeum of Ugrinakon and its Orderly Sphere of Harmonious and Eternal Prosperity. Very often psychically dominated by the crushing telepathic presence of the enormous void-worms known as the Hograthux or the "regents", these polities view that harmony must come through subordination of the many to the worthy and mighty one. These behemothic wormlike creatures see chaos in the stars, and their immense psionic power as the cure to that chaos. The commitment to unity defines these polities, as the psychic suggestion of the Regents brings ever growing compliance to the vast Star-Wurms, submitting themselves to the authority of creatures who can range from hundreds of meters upon hatching to enormous, multi-astronomical unit long Eldwurms who serve as their leadership. The Solar Regeum of Ulsamora, founded by Hograthux colonists, is the primary vanguard of the Sphere. Overall, the Sphere and the Pact currently hold to an uneasy agreement (alliance likely being far too strong a word), centered around how both see the Sybarintern and Alliance/Entente as far greater threats that need to be removed before they deal with each other.
- Solar Regeum of Ulsamora (Vyranodasik)
- Kazmorak Regency (Vyranodasik)
- Zeguvi Hives (Vyranodasik)
Gray (Failed States)
While there is generally a singular overall culture unifying these areas, they have no actual unifying authority and have fallen into a lengthy period of civil war and strife. Unlike most coloured areas on the map, it is theoretically possible to start in them, though this is still an ill-advised course of action, as the space is filled with all manner of feuding warlords and factions, few if any of which are likely to be particularly welcoming hosts.
- Xenuvan Collapsed Realms (Vyranodasik)
- Lumdruminan Shambolic Failed States (Vyranodasik)
- Birth Stars (Vyranodasik)
- Lawless Expanse of Desmondu (Eklemarid)
- Neo-Combine of Till-Jeluxi (Eklemarid)
- Chaos Warbands (Eklemarid)
- Refugee Space (Ykres and Rekys)
Green (Kroatanga)
The folly of the Ekreth and the result of trying to make a weapon of war out of a tool of the inscrutable reality shaping Alikorin meant to seed life in even the most lifeless realities. They sought to create a fungal militant ecosystem that would be able to form soldiers who would be able to adapt, escalate, and match any foe, to grow stronger off of conflict and to be able to confront any enemy, channeling the metaphysical energies of war towards conquest and destruction, unable to ever tire of the wars they enjoy so much and given purpose by their great oversoul to crave more and more war. Organic berserker probes in essence, and the Ekreth succeeded beyond their wildest dreams, and once the Kroatanga ran out of targets in Kroat space to fight, they turned on their makers, adapting out their target restrictions and kill-switches and reducing their makers to ruin. They have spread since then across the universe and beyond, always looking for new foes and new wars, gathering in brutal War-Hells lead by Warfiends, conquering anything unable to resist their dread Scrums. They are here too, some recent arrivals, others ancient menaces.
- World Crushers (Ykres and Rekys)
- Killgore's Deathgibbers (Eklemarid)
- Maggot Slayers (Eklemarid)
- Skullcrackers (Vyranodasik)
- Wurrzats (Vyranodasik)
- Runt-Slappers (Vyranodasik)
Transparent Black/Dark Purple (Reality Storms)
Enormous regions of space swallowed by collapses in Centrumspace that allow for other realms or even other sorts of reality to bleed through and assert their influence far more directly than is normal. These are deeply dangerous parts of the Galactic System, and while anyone can start in them, one must expect to be in continual battle and to face tremendous environmental Hazards from the distorted reality within them. And here of course, be monsters.
- Hopeless Abyss (Vyranodasik, Darkverse Storm)
- Ichtaran Maelstrom (Vyranodasik, Hyperspace Defect)
- Storm of Sorrows (Vyranodasik, Higher Dimensional Collapse Zone)
- Kalimdranor Soul-Eater Storm (Vyranodasik, Flux Rift)
- Maw of Horrors (Eklemarid, Warhammer 40k Warp Rift)
- Lovecraft's Nightmare (Ykres and Rekys, Stranger Realm)
Transparent Dark Gray (Ancient Pentarchs)
Once the rulers of this part of the universe who governed the space that the Gramathin had shaped to their design in the hopes of encouraging and spreading as much intelligent life as possible, the Pentarchs were broken by the Celestial war sparked by the Yralgar over a crime that sundered the ancient peacekeeping order and begat a conflict that brought them into the abyss of a dark age, falling far in technology, losing the networks connecting their territories in different galaxies together, and seeing tremendous losses in population and resources in an apocalyptic war that shattered the Pentarchy and left the space they protected fallow for other parts of the universe to settle in. Each of the Pentarchs embodies one of the five virtues of the old Community that these Ancients have interpreted from Indrastin philosophy; Protection, Togetherness, Knowledge, Illumination, and Evolution. Each of them perhaps, twisted from the ideal of those who have been dead for ten billion years in some way. Though they are still tremendously advanced and their remaining assets are not insignificant. And their decline may not be eternal.
- Guardians of Mulur (Vyranodasik, Protection)
- Watchers of Elendia (Vyranodasik, Illumination)
- Yralgar (Eklemarid, Evolution)
- Ascendancy of Altra (Ykres and Rekys, Togetherness)
- Keepers of Mandos (Ykres and Rekys, Knowledge)
Cyan (Miscellaneous)
Cyan polities in Vyranodasik are aligned towards the Ancients, while in Eklemarid they are major and unaligned polities, while in Ykres and Rekys they represent Lesser Eidolons. Beings who like the Kroatanga, cannot diverge from their originally created purpose, most often destruction and warfare. There is no long-term negotiation or reasoning with such things beyond surrender or alliances of convenience against other foes to be dissolved once there is nothing else to fulfill their violent purpose against. Those Cyan polities not within Ykres and Rekys on the other hand, tend to be far more diplomatic neighbors that can be negotiated with.
- Free Mechs of Tendos (Vyranodasik, Mandos aligned)
- Narleevan Federation (Vyranodasik, Altra aligned)
- Conclave of Zeggun (Vyranodasik, Elendia Aligned)
- Temple of the Hungering Savior (Eklemarid, Unaligned)
- Pyrotaurus Freebooters (Eklemarid, Unaligned, Pirates, in Civil War)
- Chronotherion Armies (Ykres and Rekys, Eidolonic, Omnihostile)
- Infernal Nonarchs (Ykres and Rekys, Eidolonic, Malevolent)
- Silver Tide (Ykres and Rekys, Eidolonic, Utterly Batshit)
Lavender/Hot Pink (Hive Minds)
These are hive minds that currently do not have any particular political alignment, some of them Sophontic; able to decide their own purpose, some Eidolonic where they are bound by the function they were made for. These societies are well known for the large amounts of resources they are able to mobilize due to their far greater ability to coordinate than non-hive minds, but also for their difficulties interacting with more individualistic societies.
- ZR-XK9 Collective (Vyranodasik, Eidolonic, Omnihostile)
- Savataran Consciousness (Vyranodasik, Sophontic)
- Loptrathi Blooms (Eklemarid, Sophontic)
Salmon (Nomads)
Nomads, These regions are the roaming grounds of major nomadic entities that do keep most of their populations aboard some form of mobile edifice. There is little that unites them otherwise.
- Pularan Rift (Vyranodasik)
- Zexthuthani Krazalate (Vyranodasik)
Yellow (Hypercorporations)
Extremely powerful corporate entities that engulf entire regions of space, hypercorporations are nations unto themselves, and quite powerful ones at that. With minimal to no remaining regulations on their behavior, they run rampant across the cosmos in the name of the bottom line, an eclectic collection of services that can seem almost tempting to employ until the bill comes due. However, among other problems, their enforcement arms tend to be a mix of lowest-bidder equipment and overengineered over-budget boondoggles, so they can be less threatening than they first appear.
- Octarine Incorporated Exclusive Economic Zone (Vyranodasik)
Burgundy (Exteritite)
Areas lost to the assimilation hungry material known as Exteritite, an extraversal substance that mutates, self-replicates, corrupts, irradiates, assimilates and can even alter its properties to try and seduce societies into making the terrible mistake of using it. It can offer anything you can dream of, feedstock for matter printers, energy in enormous quantities, a mutagen to produce super soldiers, armor plating, weapon-energy, munition warheads and more. But the price is a steep one; a deep, all consuming addiction as the Exteritite seeks to alter the way they think and their aspirations until they do things that aid the spread of the material, waging wars, hoarding and craving it, growing more twisted and warped from whatever they were originally until all that's left is a pitiable parody. And where there is exteritite are the creatures who are born of it and spread it, no mere mutants or subverted ecosystems; but the Xarinoids who are born of the often gold coloured radioactive poison, unified by a great pack-mind that seeks to continually spread their poison and deal with those who would contain the drug they push.
- Exteritite Quarantine Zone (Vyranodasik, Xarinoid dominated)
- Beloved of Gold (Ykres and Rekys, Corrupted Civilisation, Eidolonic)
Standard Purple (Ravager Swarm)
The Sutaitazu Ravager Swarm is perhaps not as apocalyptically feared as the Trexidaran Paradox Lattice, but the Crystalline Devourers are terrifying beasts all the same. Adapting at incredible paces, shifting their mass and matter to differing forms to deal with different foes or changing circumstances, transforming the mass energy their particles consume into more of their crystal mass, transforming worlds into quivering Shard Hives and systems into Assimilation Jewels connected by strange filaments and the Psydiamond; the inscrutable collective consciousness of these Eidolons that serves as the repository for the collected thought of this extragalactic menace. Though the bulk of them to arrive in this galactic system have drawn themselves to Ykres and Rekys, other Shardstorms have made their way to Eklemarid, Vyranodasik, and smaller satellite galaxies.
- Sutaitazu Alpha Swarm (Ykres and Rekys, Eidolonic, Omnihostile)
- Suitaitazu Beta Swarm (Ykres and Rekys, Eidolonic, Omnihostile)
Rainbow Gradient (Pleromites)
The Enigmatic Iridescent Knights are beings not of any reality, unreality, or surreality but of something higher, beings of the Pleroma and the Colors Primordial woven into being by Ravagn, the Paladin-Wright of Many Colors. Pleromic beings are beings of basal concept and the threads of stories and the colors of narrative that bind them together. They are beyond real, and even the Quasi-Pleromites that Ravagn simply wills into being to wage conflict towards inscrutable and currently unknown purpose are beings who must be confronted more on terms of control over the narrative and conflicting weaves of stories, rather than mere material firepower and simple numbers. Should any other forces from the strange pleroma intercede to the point of claiming enough territory to appear on the map, they will also use this key.
- The First Scintillating Realm (Ykres and Rekys, Pleromic)
- The Second Scintillating Realm (Ykers and Rekys, Pleromic)
The home galaxy of the Gramathin, a civilisation extinguished ten billion years ago. The core of Pentarch Space, and the great prize. here, the nations that have established themselves all seek to play the great games of politics. Though the Great Interversal war has ended a long time ago, the legacy it has left behind still haunts the stars, and its core region is an endless, chaotic maelstrom of nearly nonstop violence as warlords, eidolons, warmongers, and pirates flock to its incredible resources in the hopes of finding riches and prosperity or simply to feed off of the fight or pick through the detritus of billions of years worth of warring powers coming here to die until even the twisted remains of such endless warfare and invasion is in and of itself, a prize worth dying for. But in the arms of the galaxy that host its great civilisations, there are those who hope to rise to greatness in this interbellum. Most recognise that another war is coming, few would be so foolish as to deny such a plainly obvious fact. But many hold hopes that in this time of unprecedented paralysis among the great powers who all nervously watch for triggers for what could be a second great war, there is an opportunity to rise to power.
Vyranodasik is a galaxy that is near-completely defined by the struggle between the 4 major political power blocs, with the Sybarintern, Alliance, Pact, and Sphere all having their core nations and concerns within it. Secondary concerns include the scions of the fallen Ancients, though they have so far been more passive than the so-called "Big 4", the Core Regions that continue to be a raging maelstrom of warlords and monsters who die as quickly as new ones emerge, and the Exteritite Containment Zone, an effort to keep the dangerous metamaterial from spreading further (and effort that becomes increasingly threadbare as the contributing nations become more and more focused on political disputes.)
Any new arrival to the galaxy should expect to also become involved in the Great Game between power blocs themselves, unless they find a convenient enough position to carve out a niche for themselves; And even then, it is questionable whether that will be enough to truly isolate them.
In a distant age, the Eklemarid Galaxy was the core of the Yralgar's space, that ancient and lifeweaving hive mind scrutinizing the development of life across countless galaxies. Now it is a fallow field in the wake of the devastation of the Celestial War. One that is particularly in tune with the machine of the Pankosmos through strange means, thus allowing it to be easily reached by all manner of beings from beyond the indigenous Metaverse of the Cosmic Light. The Maw of Horror that ripped open in the rimward-spinward section of the galaxy is a particularly gruesome reminder of this, while the few truly native societies to this galaxy go through a rich but often hauntedly empty galaxy periodically purged by the Yralgar as they dispatch their Biomechanical fleets and annihilate societies and species they deem to no longer serve their doctrine of continual evolution and have in essence, become stagnant and boring. This keeps the galaxy fallow, and presents a terrifying damocles' sword over the heads of every single civilisation that dwells within. They are particularly interested in allowing foreign civilisations from other sectors of space or other universe set up and develop, finding them more interesting than the natives they so routinely purge, particularly near Eklemarid's core which is no less violent than Vyranodasik's.
The Yralgar's latest purge was a relatively recent one dating back several centuries ago, leaving much of the galaxy open to new arrivals once again, both extrauniversal and "merely" extragalactic, with human colonists forming the now-divided nation of Desmondu being among the first. The eastern section of Eklemarid is now heavily defined by this first wave of colonists, with the main three being Desmondu, their rivals in the Neo-Combine of Til-Jeluxi, and the most recent of the three: A colonial expedition from Rhondar, which many fear may be a predecessor to a major colonization rush from all the major powers of Vyranodasik, bringing all their disagreements with them.
Overall, Eklemarid is in a "colonial rush" stage, filled with colonists from both the native universe and other universes, most of which are not large or noteworthy enough to earn a spot on the map yet, and many of whom are likely to fight each other for the best real estate. To move into Eklemarid is to take part in this great colonial rush, with the potential to forge an empire away from the political squabbles or Vyranodasik or the hell that is the Warring Galaxies.
At least until the Yralgar decide it's time for another purge anyway.
Ykres and Rekys are galaxies caught in a deadly gravitational dance that will one day end in them merging into a singular galaxy, but that is not the conflict that earns them the name the warring galaxies. That is instead the work of unknown forces drawing no end of Eidolons and the occasional mad Warmongering Sophont to these galaxies and their incredible riches and treasure troves of artifacts to partake in a demolition derby without compare. What beings who live here who retain the ability to decide their own purpose do not dream of better things save for another day of brute survival in the face of stars ripped to pieces by beings that were made for the sole purpose of warfare and could never even dream of any other function. The mass energy of these worlds are churned over and over again, assembled, spat forth as armies at distant foes, destroyed, recycled, reassembled repeat ad infinitum. New contenders to this whirlwind of destruction come in all the time, most of them Eidolonic things that feed off the endless violence and only grow stronger from it until they are overwhelmed by an even bigger monster.
Those powers that actually make it onto the map are merely the oldest and long-lasting among Monsters, but are by no means the only ones. The Warring Galaxies, as Ykres and Rekys are often known as, are constantly welcoming fresh influxes of new combatants to their borders, generally through extraversal rifts that either invite colonization missions or simply drag galaxies from other universes, native populations included. Most however, do not last long, as the Warring Galaxies are aptly named and few are truly up to the task of surviving in this hell.
Some sophonts cling to stable, conventional existence and make efforts to try and live in peace. Most do not survive for long as one rampaging self-replicating horde or another smashes through their territory and lays their works to ruin before meeting its own end. But a few have managed to endure against all odds. Others instead seek the protection of two of the Pentarch Enclaves who guard the riches and resources of the core from the monsters all around. Most seeking shelter under the benevolent watch of Altra which treasures life itself and has committed to defending the preciousness of sophoncy from all who would seek to lay waste to it. While the Keepers of Mandos make use of the Adamant Legion; their finest machines of war who are distinct yet symbiotic from the old aliens; to do battle with the endless hordes of the bizarre and bloodthirsty that seek to rip these galaxies apart.
Few enter the Warring Galaxies willingly, and most of those that do are Monsters themselves who live for nothing except the fighting and killing of everything else in the cosmos. Any who seek to attempt to lay claim to the Ykres/Rekys Binary, perhaps even dethroning one of the mightier "rulers", had best keep that in mind.
Arbitrator: Lady Otakitkatsu (on discord only)
The Game-Master Council:
@Spartakrod
@Chimeraguard
@LilyWitch
@EternalStruggle
@Froggo Fantastic
@RaptorusMaximus
@patrickmm1
@BobTheNinja
Note: Due to the origins of this RP as a Reboot, most of the GMs (the non High ones, who were players of the previous version of this game), will likely be creating their own factions to participate as well. They are still bound by the exact same rules as all other players. The Arbitrator's role is to settle disputes between game-masters and decide on things that the GMs should not be allowed to know due to their role as players.
Player List (sorted by GM): Slots are granted after sheet acceptance. Until then, all you have done is an interest check.
Waiting List:
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Turn Layout & Mechanics
First of all are the two types of turns in the game, and what you do in them.
Strategic Turns
Diplomatic Orders:
All things that involve talking with your fellow beings goes here. Most obviously, trade treaties, guarantees of independence, and the forging of alliances go here. Additionally, internal diplomacy also goes here, whether that be negotiating with internal factions or pumping out propaganda.
Intelligence Orders:
Send out your spies, gather secrets, carry out assassinations and sabotage, scout out the nearby territory, this is where you wage your shadow wars. Both offensive and defensive espionage goes here, as does both internal and external spying. Resource Points can also be spent here to improve results, representing things from a wave of advanced spy ships to arming rebels in enemy territory by the bucketload.
Research Orders:
Maybe you want fancier guns, or bigger guns, or more guns. Research can give you all of these things and more. You can assign Research Slots to projects aimed at enhancing your warfighting capacity here, and all research must be military-adjacent at the very least. Improvements to industrial technologies happen automatically in the background, and civilian technologies can be handled in the fluff at the player's discretion. It is important to note that reverse engineering superior technologies captured or bought from foreign powers will give better results than trying to advance your technology with pure home-grown innovation.
Industrial Orders:
The construction of forts, the arming of soldiers, the creation of, and the development of planets are all important things for you to do as you settle in. This is the section where most of the game's harder mechanics come into play, as detailed below.
Military Orders:
Sometimes you just can't get along with your neighbors. Maybe they're space fascists, maybe they're warmongering ambulatory fungi that you can't negotiate with, maybe you just don't like them very much. Send out your War Fleets to attack the enemy, with a list of strategic aims and operational maneuvers to guide your forces to a hopeful victory. Also covers things like anti-piracy operations in your territory if that becomes an issue.
All things that involve talking with your fellow beings goes here. Most obviously, trade treaties, guarantees of independence, and the forging of alliances go here. Additionally, internal diplomacy also goes here, whether that be negotiating with internal factions or pumping out propaganda.
Intelligence Orders:
Send out your spies, gather secrets, carry out assassinations and sabotage, scout out the nearby territory, this is where you wage your shadow wars. Both offensive and defensive espionage goes here, as does both internal and external spying. Resource Points can also be spent here to improve results, representing things from a wave of advanced spy ships to arming rebels in enemy territory by the bucketload.
Research Orders:
Maybe you want fancier guns, or bigger guns, or more guns. Research can give you all of these things and more. You can assign Research Slots to projects aimed at enhancing your warfighting capacity here, and all research must be military-adjacent at the very least. Improvements to industrial technologies happen automatically in the background, and civilian technologies can be handled in the fluff at the player's discretion. It is important to note that reverse engineering superior technologies captured or bought from foreign powers will give better results than trying to advance your technology with pure home-grown innovation.
Industrial Orders:
The construction of forts, the arming of soldiers, the creation of, and the development of planets are all important things for you to do as you settle in. This is the section where most of the game's harder mechanics come into play, as detailed below.
Military Orders:
Sometimes you just can't get along with your neighbors. Maybe they're space fascists, maybe they're warmongering ambulatory fungi that you can't negotiate with, maybe you just don't like them very much. Send out your War Fleets to attack the enemy, with a list of strategic aims and operational maneuvers to guide your forces to a hopeful victory. Also covers things like anti-piracy operations in your territory if that becomes an issue.
Tactical Turns
Ordinarily, the Strategic Turn will pass by itself without issue, but there are often difficulties in running certain operations. Fighting battles against powerful opponents, conducting difficult diplomatic negotiations, some things require a personal touch. In such circumstances, a tactical turn begins, where players get to direct their forces or other personnel on a lower level and try to make the most of a tricky situation. In cases such as battles, players may also request a visual map as a guide if they deem it necessary for their planning.
Resource Points:
Practically everything costs resources, but on the interstellar scale some things are below the level of abstraction. For everything that isn't, there are Resource Points. These come from two main sources. First, internal production, dependent on your amount of territory and how developed it is. Second, external sources, ranging from trade treaties to war reparations.
As RP represents the general industrial capacity and raw resources available over a year as opposed to something like mere money, it cannot be stockpiled from turn to turn. Spare RP goes to things like consumer good production instead of being truly wasted, however.
Each player starts the game with a varying amount of either temporary or perminant RP production, representing either the initial stockpile of processed goods and initial industry that came with them on arrival, or the materials coming through a portal back to their home universe, depending on a faction's exact lore.
Population:
You need people to work your industries and staff your armies, for an army without any people on it tends to be ineffective. As well as your starting population stipend, population can grow over time, although at base population doesn't actually grow at a meaningful rate per turn. Population can be invested into, at a rate of five Production Points to generate one additional Population. This can represent everything from actual, if heavily boosted, population growth through a mixture of 'encouraged' natural birth, to civil development, increasing automation, and the mass production of robots to take over assorted jobs. Most notably, significant usage of cloning may be contributing to this growth if your faction has the technology.
Note that Explosive Breeders will both give you some actual population growth, increasing the natural growth rate from zero to 5%. Explosive Breeders also means that actively boosting population growth is cheaper, going down to three Production per Population Point Or to put things more simply:
-Normal: Each turn you gain one Population Point per 50 total Population your faction had at turn start/the end of last turn, gain one population per five production invested into growing your population.
-Monsters: Each turn you gain one Population Point per 50 total Population your faction had at turn start/the end of last turn, gain one population per four production invested into growing your population.
-Explosive Breeder: Each turn you gain one Population Point per 20 total Population Points your faction had at turn start/end of last turn, gain one population per three production invested
-Hive Mind: Each turn you gain one Population Point per 20 total Population Points your faction had at turn start/end of last turn, gain one population per four production invested
-Hive Mind + Monsters: each turn you gain one Population Point per 20 total Population Points your faction had at turn start/end of last turn, gain one population per three production invested
-Explosive Breeder + Monsters: each turn you gain one Population Point per 20 total Population Points your faction had at turn start/end of last turn, gain one population per two production invested
-Explosive Breeder + Hive Mind: each turn you gain one Population Point per 10 total Population Points your faction had at turn start/end of last turn, gain one population per two production invested
-Explosive Breeder +Hive Mind + Monster: each turn you gain one Population Point per 10 total Population Points your faction had at turn start/end of last turn, gain one population per two production invested
-Slow Breeders: 0% baseline growth, gain one population per seven production invested into growing your population.
-Monsters: Each turn you gain one Population Point per 50 total Population your faction had at turn start/the end of last turn, gain one population per four production invested into growing your population.
-Explosive Breeder: Each turn you gain one Population Point per 20 total Population Points your faction had at turn start/end of last turn, gain one population per three production invested
-Hive Mind: Each turn you gain one Population Point per 20 total Population Points your faction had at turn start/end of last turn, gain one population per four production invested
-Hive Mind + Monsters: each turn you gain one Population Point per 20 total Population Points your faction had at turn start/end of last turn, gain one population per three production invested
-Explosive Breeder + Monsters: each turn you gain one Population Point per 20 total Population Points your faction had at turn start/end of last turn, gain one population per two production invested
-Explosive Breeder + Hive Mind: each turn you gain one Population Point per 10 total Population Points your faction had at turn start/end of last turn, gain one population per two production invested
-Explosive Breeder +Hive Mind + Monster: each turn you gain one Population Point per 10 total Population Points your faction had at turn start/end of last turn, gain one population per two production invested
-Slow Breeders: 0% baseline growth, gain one population per seven production invested into growing your population.
It is through the employed population that one produces Resource Points that can be spent here and elsewhere. Baseline, one employed population point produces 1+(.2*(number of faction tier modifiers your faction has(tier ups count as tier modifiers, but the tier down doesn't), minimum zero)) Resource Points(RP) per turn. Please ignore the 1+(LOG10(employed pops + trade phantom pops)) that feeds into that simple calculation
Note: the cost of a Population point cannot go below 2 RP.
Territory:
The most vital asset available to an interstellar civilization is territory. Planets and asteroid belts and stars are all exploitable resources that must be used to improve the industrial capacity of your faction. Each square is split into nine equally sized Territory Points, corresponding to the 8 primary compass directions and the center. Unless otherwise specified, each TP is broadly identical once in your possession. Once you own a TP, you can develop its industry and defenses to improve your RP output and its ability to survive attack respectively.
Spoiler: Territory Improvements
First is your level of industrial development. Note that the costs associated are the absolute costs, so if you upgrade from a lower level then you may discount the costs by what you have already paid.
Also note that each territory can employ a certain amount of population. It is through this employed population that you gain more Resource Points, which each effective employed population point providing one RP baseline
Claimed: can employ one population, costs 2 RP
Colonized: can employ two population, costs 4 RP
Established: can employ five population, costs 10 RP
Industrialized: can employ ten population, costs 30 RP
Heartlands: can employ twenty five population, costs 75 RP
As for what these look like in the fluff (these are the average across the sub-sector being described rather than prescriptive of every controlled planet and system in that sub-sector):
-Claimed: Primarily occupied by small automated mining and research stations. Actual populated settlements are scarce and small.
-Colonized: Moderate colonial settlements on most worlds with high levels of habitability, with numerous basic resource-gathering operations and small-scale local industry.
-Established: Significant colonial settlements and shipyards are present, expanding across inhabitable worlds. An intricate web of resource distribution and manufacturing begins to form as the colonies are capable of en masse construction and development. The low-hanging fruit have been picked, and colonization opportunities previously discarded due to low habitability start to be investigated.
-Industrialized: Grand shipyards and planetside factories, fueled by vast mining operations. All worlds with a reasonable degree of habitability have been colonized with arcologies starting to form, those that aren't are still exploited to some extent, and void habitats are made as well to allow even greater amounts of colonists.
-Heartlands: Every potentially habitable world has been colonized and many that aren't are being terraformed, as well as numerous void habitats that house even more population and industrial facilities. Most worlds of any significance have at least one arcology. A Sector must have a Heartlands level of development before Megaprojects can be built in it.
You can also improve its defenses. Note that the costs are similarly absolute, and thus upgrading is still at a discount.
Lightly Defended: Purchase Cost 0 RP, Upkeep Cost 0 RP (Represents default planetary militia forces.)
Moderately Defended: Purchase Cost 3 RP, Upkeep Cost 1 RP
Heavily Defended: Purchase Cost 10 RP, Upkeep Cost 2 RP
Excessively Defended: Purchase Cost 25 RP, Upkeep Cost 3 RP
Ridiculously Defended: Purchase Cost 50 RP, Upkeep Cost 5 RP
What these represent in the fluff (these are the average across the sub-sector being described rather than prescriptive of every controlled planet and system in that sub-sector):
-Lightly Defended: Ground-side military bases are often fortified and defended by trench lines. Colonial militia armed with light surplus equipment are often present. Orbits are defended by light patrol ships and fighter garrisons. The default state of any established territory with no further investment, representing planetary militia forces.
-Moderately Defended: Orbital weapons platforms present, supported by ground-side anti-orbital weapons. Some subterranean shelters for ground forces. Theater shields start seeing consistent deployment if available. Worlds will begin to deploy larger system monitors able to engage military warships in small numbers. Planetary defense forces are now more consistently armed with military surplus and actual combat vehicles of some description.
-Heavily Defended: Dedicated orbital fortresses present, with attack craft complements and significant firepower. Planetary shields start seeing consistent deployment if available. Many defensive fleets will include some modern military warships and even outdated capital ships. Permanent garrisons will have full military training and equipment, although not always the heavier available gear and elite commandos.
-Excessively Defended: Heavily protected, city-spanning fortresses present. Armies can be shuttled about underground, orbital plates and exotic weapons present. Planetary armies are now large and as capable as many lesser military units, denied only the most massive ground units and augmented supersoldiers. Defense fleets of even less important worlds will now include capital ships, sometimes even fully modernized ones.
-Ridiculously Defended: Nearly every inch of inhabited land is defended in some way. Large planetary fleets present armed with cutting edge military warships, including the largest of conventional capital ships. Airless orbiting bodies are armed with super-weapons if available. Planets protected with every ground-pounding tool in the arsenal.
Note that a heavily colonized territory will also be more difficult to invade compared to a lightly colonized one. While not on the same level of defenses, a heavily colonized and therefore populated piece of territory can still increase the problems an invader has, particularly when combined with actual Defenses or War Fleets, or traits like Martial Society, Devoted Population, Living Weapons, etc.
Colonized: can employ two population, costs 4 RP
Established: can employ five population, costs 10 RP
Industrialized: can employ ten population, costs 30 RP
Heartlands: can employ twenty five population, costs 75 RP
As for what these look like in the fluff (these are the average across the sub-sector being described rather than prescriptive of every controlled planet and system in that sub-sector):
-Claimed: Primarily occupied by small automated mining and research stations. Actual populated settlements are scarce and small.
-Colonized: Moderate colonial settlements on most worlds with high levels of habitability, with numerous basic resource-gathering operations and small-scale local industry.
-Established: Significant colonial settlements and shipyards are present, expanding across inhabitable worlds. An intricate web of resource distribution and manufacturing begins to form as the colonies are capable of en masse construction and development. The low-hanging fruit have been picked, and colonization opportunities previously discarded due to low habitability start to be investigated.
-Industrialized: Grand shipyards and planetside factories, fueled by vast mining operations. All worlds with a reasonable degree of habitability have been colonized with arcologies starting to form, those that aren't are still exploited to some extent, and void habitats are made as well to allow even greater amounts of colonists.
-Heartlands: Every potentially habitable world has been colonized and many that aren't are being terraformed, as well as numerous void habitats that house even more population and industrial facilities. Most worlds of any significance have at least one arcology. A Sector must have a Heartlands level of development before Megaprojects can be built in it.
You can also improve its defenses. Note that the costs are similarly absolute, and thus upgrading is still at a discount.
Lightly Defended: Purchase Cost 0 RP, Upkeep Cost 0 RP (Represents default planetary militia forces.)
Moderately Defended: Purchase Cost 3 RP, Upkeep Cost 1 RP
Heavily Defended: Purchase Cost 10 RP, Upkeep Cost 2 RP
Excessively Defended: Purchase Cost 25 RP, Upkeep Cost 3 RP
Ridiculously Defended: Purchase Cost 50 RP, Upkeep Cost 5 RP
What these represent in the fluff (these are the average across the sub-sector being described rather than prescriptive of every controlled planet and system in that sub-sector):
-Lightly Defended: Ground-side military bases are often fortified and defended by trench lines. Colonial militia armed with light surplus equipment are often present. Orbits are defended by light patrol ships and fighter garrisons. The default state of any established territory with no further investment, representing planetary militia forces.
-Moderately Defended: Orbital weapons platforms present, supported by ground-side anti-orbital weapons. Some subterranean shelters for ground forces. Theater shields start seeing consistent deployment if available. Worlds will begin to deploy larger system monitors able to engage military warships in small numbers. Planetary defense forces are now more consistently armed with military surplus and actual combat vehicles of some description.
-Heavily Defended: Dedicated orbital fortresses present, with attack craft complements and significant firepower. Planetary shields start seeing consistent deployment if available. Many defensive fleets will include some modern military warships and even outdated capital ships. Permanent garrisons will have full military training and equipment, although not always the heavier available gear and elite commandos.
-Excessively Defended: Heavily protected, city-spanning fortresses present. Armies can be shuttled about underground, orbital plates and exotic weapons present. Planetary armies are now large and as capable as many lesser military units, denied only the most massive ground units and augmented supersoldiers. Defense fleets of even less important worlds will now include capital ships, sometimes even fully modernized ones.
-Ridiculously Defended: Nearly every inch of inhabited land is defended in some way. Large planetary fleets present armed with cutting edge military warships, including the largest of conventional capital ships. Airless orbiting bodies are armed with super-weapons if available. Planets protected with every ground-pounding tool in the arsenal.
Note that a heavily colonized territory will also be more difficult to invade compared to a lightly colonized one. While not on the same level of defenses, a heavily colonized and therefore populated piece of territory can still increase the problems an invader has, particularly when combined with actual Defenses or War Fleets, or traits like Martial Society, Devoted Population, Living Weapons, etc.
Research:
Research is the means by which you make yourselves better at fighting and winning, since for simplicity's sake non-military research is by and large put into the background, with some exceptions that fall in a dual-use area such as creating countermeasures against various chemical/biological warfare systems or esoteric infiltration methods.
Unless you have the relevant drawback, you get one research slot for free each turn. You can invest RP to generate more on a per-turn basis, but while a bit of funding can go a long way, you only have so many scientists able to work at once, so increasing your research capacity becomes exponentially more expensive as your purchased slots increase and caps at five slots. The costs per slot are thus 0, 1, 4, 9, and 16, shifting up to costing 1 through 25 with the drawback. The exception is the Research Megaproject, which not only grants two research slots for free but also allows you to go over the slot cap.
There are two different kinds of research: Doctrinal Improvements and Revolutionary Breakthroughs.
Doctrinal Improvements:
The Galactic Empire's first battle in Vyranodasik was a victory, but maybe it could have gone better. They got raked over the coals in boarding actions by enemy space marines, their smaller ground vehicles suffered against the foe's giant murder-walkers, and the TIE Fighter… is the TIE Fighter. Something should be done about all that, and fast.
To this end, they can research power armor for their stormtroopers, make giant mechs that are actually meant to fight peers unlike an AT-AT, and phase out the TIE Fighter for mass-produced TIE Avengers. Nothing that truly takes their forces to the absolute next level, but still very notable improvements. These fall under Doctrinal Improvements, which vary in cost from 1 to 5 research slots, the exact number being assigned by your GM depending on the difficulty and scale of the research project.
While the above projects are all about fixing notable weaknesses, that's not the only use. Strengths can be enhanced, new tricks such as stealth technology can be developed and implemented, and the aforementioned anti-WMD and anti-infiltration projects would also be considered DIs. However, this section's effects are limited to tactical upgrades. Increasing the overall firepower and durability of your forces as a whole through simple superior metallurgy or weaponry aren't so much a thing.
Revolutionary Breakthroughs:
All is proceeding according to the Emperor's designs, except the part where his forces keep getting trounced by nominally inferior formations that are exploiting the limited and often mutually-backstabbing nature of Imperial commanders. To fix this, Palpatine needs something more than a mere adjustment to doctrine. He needs something to take his command staff to the next level. He decides to spread Dark Side acolytes trained in the art of Sith Battle Meditation across the Empire, vastly increasing the abilities of his command staff and thus his forces as a whole. But this is no easy task.
Revolutionary Breakthroughs cost a full 10 research slots each, but have a correspondingly grand impact. Rather than improving your doctrine or granting new options, RBs simply make a segment of your forces better. They grant one pip, equal to half a Specialization, that can be spent on any subcategory of your forces to power them up. For example, the above project would be a Breakthrough affecting Lords and Commanders.
Overall, both kinds of research are likely to be extremely useful in their own ways, and a good mix of the two is generally advisable to keep your forces competitive with all comers.
Megaprojects
As well as standard territory development, there are also far more impressive works of planetary and even stellar-scale engineering available to the suitably wealthy and determined. These are Megaprojects, ranging in scale from relatively small projects that are still much too large in scale to be automated away, to massive Megastructures and Gigastructures involve the establishment of vast resource harvesting operations in a Sector to fuel a single massive creation, although said creation may in fact be spread across many different star systems.
Each Sector has a cap of ten megaproject points, with the smallest type, kiloproject, only taking up a point while the project is under construction. On the other hand, a megaproject usually permanently takes up four points while a Gigaproject always consumes the whole set of ten.
These slots are gained as you control more and more of a given sector, with each given sub-sector giving a single point and controlling the whole thing giving the final tenth point as a bonus.
There are numerous types of Kiloprojects, each with a somewhat different cost, and drastically different effects.
Mega Mining Project: the Military-Industrial Megaproject's lesser kin, this represents a single large stellar lifter or a series of planet crackers, made more for extracting large amounts of raw resources and processing capacity for said resources independent of 'population' than providing a never-ending chain of raw resources to be fed directly into the military-industrial complex.
-costs 50 RP
-provides 30 additional RP income per turn for ten turns, after which it has effectively exhausted its primary source, going down to only providing 10 RP income(after its own upkeep) per turn for the rest of the game. Note: this production is independent of population.
Gateway System: link two different areas that are under your direct control, allowing for direct, nigh-instantaneous, travel between these two sites for as long as this project remains intact. Note: unlike other Kiloprojects this does permanently take up a slot, if only in one of the two connected locations.
-costs 50 RP(and one slot)
Examples: the Portal at Voi(Halo), a giant series of much longer range Mass Relays
Additional Defenses: for when you want to stack defenses on top of your defenses so that you can stack defenses while you stack defenses, each build of this adds yet another instance of Ridiculous Defenses to the territory that it is in, complete with the same upkeep costs. Requires at least one instance of Ridiculous defenses to already be built in the territory in question.
Eccumenopoli Hub: for when you want to build a really, really tall empire, but you have a large population, don't want to spread out, and can't quite afford a full blown Megaproject or two, this is the Colonization Megaproject's lesser kin; it works the same, in that it autoconverts your pops in that sector into employed pops, but with a maximum supported employed pops of 100 instead of 1000. This permanently takes up the slot that it is produced in, as even with what they can in theory produce any given Eccumenopoli still requires an immense amount of raw resources to keep going, and this likely represents more than one such world.
Core Worlds: take all of the defensive strengths of a single application of Ridiculous Defenses, and then have all of said defenses be applied to only a small handful of worlds/systems. This here covers things ranging from Krork Core Worlds, to Forerunner Shield Worlds(other than Onyx), to mementic Sol from higher end interpretations of Warhammer 40k. Much like a Portal System or an Eccumenopoli Hub, this permanently takes up one of your megaproject/kiloproject slots, and unlike those two you can't have more than one of this kiloproject in a given sector/square at the same time.
Hidden Worlds: be it through warping spacetime, dimensional nesting, hyper-advanced stealth technology, or some other feat of magical/technological wizardry, such as the Webway, your civilian/'civilian' infrastructure within a given region becomes nigh-impossible to actually attack without first getting through all of your military infrastructure within a sector, and if you have Core Worlds alongside this even said military infrastructure becomes nigh-impossible to take out for good without jumping through some extra hoops(such as either taking out said Core Worlds or finding some other way to attack the hidden territory directly). If you have the Covert Experts Trait this improvement gets even better, as its price goes down by a further 20%(stacks with Master Builders), and one could absentmindedly travel through the entire sector/square while thinking it to be uninhabited even after the journey is over.
Infiltrating Infrastructure: costs 20 RP, requires you to have Hidden Worlds in the same or a neighboring (large) square, and can be built in enemy territory; at minimum, this greatly increases the ease of performing espionage against the faction whose territory this is, and, depending on your faction, can have greater effects, ranging from the direct deployment of armies onto enemy worlds without needing to control orbit, or completely bypassing their territory for the purposes of trade and other such things.
Dedicated Population Growth Facilities: Great banks of cloning galleries, continent-spanning factories outputting synthetic worker after synthetic worker, massive complexes of Hatchery-Wombs; whatever their form, these facilities are dedicated to increasing your population at a rapid, and consistent, rate.
Mega Mining Project: the Military-Industrial Megaproject's lesser kin, this represents a single large stellar lifter or a series of planet crackers, made more for extracting large amounts of raw resources and processing capacity for said resources independent of 'population' than providing a never-ending chain of raw resources to be fed directly into the military-industrial complex.
-costs 50 RP
-provides 30 additional RP income per turn for ten turns, after which it has effectively exhausted its primary source, going down to only providing 10 RP income(after its own upkeep) per turn for the rest of the game. Note: this production is independent of population.
Gateway System: link two different areas that are under your direct control, allowing for direct, nigh-instantaneous, travel between these two sites for as long as this project remains intact. Note: unlike other Kiloprojects this does permanently take up a slot, if only in one of the two connected locations.
-costs 50 RP(and one slot)
Examples: the Portal at Voi(Halo), a giant series of much longer range Mass Relays
Additional Defenses: for when you want to stack defenses on top of your defenses so that you can stack defenses while you stack defenses, each build of this adds yet another instance of Ridiculous Defenses to the territory that it is in, complete with the same upkeep costs. Requires at least one instance of Ridiculous defenses to already be built in the territory in question.
- Costs 75 RP
Eccumenopoli Hub: for when you want to build a really, really tall empire, but you have a large population, don't want to spread out, and can't quite afford a full blown Megaproject or two, this is the Colonization Megaproject's lesser kin; it works the same, in that it autoconverts your pops in that sector into employed pops, but with a maximum supported employed pops of 100 instead of 1000. This permanently takes up the slot that it is produced in, as even with what they can in theory produce any given Eccumenopoli still requires an immense amount of raw resources to keep going, and this likely represents more than one such world.
- Costs 200 RP(and one slot)
Core Worlds: take all of the defensive strengths of a single application of Ridiculous Defenses, and then have all of said defenses be applied to only a small handful of worlds/systems. This here covers things ranging from Krork Core Worlds, to Forerunner Shield Worlds(other than Onyx), to mementic Sol from higher end interpretations of Warhammer 40k. Much like a Portal System or an Eccumenopoli Hub, this permanently takes up one of your megaproject/kiloproject slots, and unlike those two you can't have more than one of this kiloproject in a given sector/square at the same time.
- Costs 50 RP and one slot(and you can only build this one in any given large square)
Hidden Worlds: be it through warping spacetime, dimensional nesting, hyper-advanced stealth technology, or some other feat of magical/technological wizardry, such as the Webway, your civilian/'civilian' infrastructure within a given region becomes nigh-impossible to actually attack without first getting through all of your military infrastructure within a sector, and if you have Core Worlds alongside this even said military infrastructure becomes nigh-impossible to take out for good without jumping through some extra hoops(such as either taking out said Core Worlds or finding some other way to attack the hidden territory directly). If you have the Covert Experts Trait this improvement gets even better, as its price goes down by a further 20%(stacks with Master Builders), and one could absentmindedly travel through the entire sector/square while thinking it to be uninhabited even after the journey is over.
- note: this requires you to control at least half of the large square in question to set up, and, in the case of the Covert Experts upgrade, for it to fully work properly requires you to not be in an active war with anyone else in said square.
- Costs 150 RP and one slot(and you can only build this one once in any given large square)
Infiltrating Infrastructure: costs 20 RP, requires you to have Hidden Worlds in the same or a neighboring (large) square, and can be built in enemy territory; at minimum, this greatly increases the ease of performing espionage against the faction whose territory this is, and, depending on your faction, can have greater effects, ranging from the direct deployment of armies onto enemy worlds without needing to control orbit, or completely bypassing their territory for the purposes of trade and other such things.
Dedicated Population Growth Facilities: Great banks of cloning galleries, continent-spanning factories outputting synthetic worker after synthetic worker, massive complexes of Hatchery-Wombs; whatever their form, these facilities are dedicated to increasing your population at a rapid, and consistent, rate.
- Generates 10 Population Points worth of people/workers per turn
- Costs 200 RP, and either one slot or 10 RP in upkeep
Battle Planetoids: The Death Star, Ork Attack Moons, the Hograthux of the Ulsamora Solar Regnum, etc. and so on. These are the big monstrosities on the scale of planets. Even getting a single one is worth a significant portion of a War Fleet. Some nations refuse to use them at all, considering them wasteful expenditures of resources. Others center their entire doctrine around them. But whether they're loved or hated, Battleworlds demand some special attention both when constructing them, and when trying to destroy them. Used properly, they are lethal force multipliers that can mean the difference between victory and defeat. Used improperly, and they're sitting ducks.
When you design a Battleworld, the first step is figuring out the details that determine its role in a battle line. For this, Battleworld functions are divided into three categories: Primary Systems, Secondary Systems, and Weaknesses.
Primary Systems: These are the traits about a Battleworld that first come to mind when people think about them. The Death Star just isn't the Death Star without its planet-killing Superlaser. When a Hograthux shows up, its psionic mind-whammying powers should always be foremost on your mind. Without these, your Battleworld is no Battleworld, just a really big space station.
Secondary Systems: These aren't the systems that come to mind first when someone pictures your Battleworld, but they are still an integral part of it. The natural defenses of a Hograthux immune system for example, or the macro-teleporters of a Krork War World.
Weaknesses: Yes, you read that correctly. It's not a real Bringer of Destruction without a weakness for your plucky enemy to exploit, and for you to scramble to find countermeasures for within the rest of your fleet. The form of a weakness can vary, but they all help cement one fact that you should always keep in mind: an unsupported Battleworld is a dead Battleworld.
Note that a vulnerability to strike craft (or perhaps more accurately, lack of ability to cost-effectively fight strike craft swarms) isn't considered a valid Weakness for a Battleworld. That one's more or less universal.
The other factors you need to keep in mind are Size and Tier. Tier refers to the technology tier of your faction (Maximus, Primus, Tertius, etc.) A more advanced nation can create a Battleworld with more systems and/or fewer weaknesses. When it comes to Battleworlds, Tiers are divided into three subcategories: Maximus+, Extremis-Primus, and Secundus and below.
Size, more formally known as Category, is also pretty self-explanatory. The larger your Battleworld is, the more systems it can support, though this obviously increases the Battleworld's cost as well. It is also worth noting that Battleworlds are purchased in groups, also known as Constellations, with the number of BWs per Constellation decreasing with size.
Leviathans (Category 0): Gargantuan ships over 100 kilometers long (capping out somewhere in the mid-high hundreds of kilometers), Leviathans are the missing link between the Supercapitals and Battle Planetoids, hence their "Cat 0" designation. These ships aren't anywhere close to as powerful as "actual" Battleworlds, but they are potent force-multipliers as either superweapon-haulers or mega-ships, and there's a lot more of them than there are Battleworlds, with one purchase getting you several dozen, sometimes over a hundred.
-Cost: 5 RP (1 RP Maintenance)
-Tier Maximus+: 1 Primary System, 1 Secondary System
-Tier Primus-Extremis: 1 Primary System, 1 Secondary System, 1 Weakness
-Tier Secundus or below: 1 Primary System, 2 Weaknesses
Category 1: Moving up the size brackets, a Category 1 Battleworld is in the high-multi hundred Kilometers, maxing out at somewhere a bit above a couple thousand kilometers at the largest dimension. In general, Category 1's act as tactical supercombatants, with a cost comparable to that of a full-scale War Fleet condensed into a few(4-10) massive vessels, and when unleashed can each dominate the system they're fighting in. (one purchase buys 4-10 of these vessels, to be specified in their description)
-Cost: 10 RP(2 RP Maintenance)
-Tier Maximus+: 2 Primary Systems, 1 Secondary System
-Tier Primus-Extremis: 1 Primary System, 2 Secondary Systems, 1 Weakness
-Tier Secundus or below: 1 Primary System, 1 Secondary System, 2 Weaknesses
Category 2: Upper multi-thousand kilometers long, Category 2 Battleworlds are massively costly, to the point where you could afford entire War Fleets for the cost of one, let alone the potentially up to seven that a single purchase of this represents. In this category, Battleworld primary systems often have effects that extend beyond just the system that they happen to be in. (one purchase buys 1-7 of these vessels, to be specified in their description)
-Cost: 50 RP(10 RP Maintenance)
-Tier Maximus+: 2 Primary Systems, 3 Secondary Systems, 1 Weakness
-Tier Primus-Extremis: 2 Primary Systems, 2 Secondary Systems, 2 Weaknesses
-Tier Secundus or below: 1 Primary System, 2 Secondary Systems, 3 Weaknesses
Another thing to note: If you want to create a new type of Battleworld, you also need Research Actions dedicated to designing them. Cat 0's and 1's require 3-4 Research slots, while a Cat 2 (and any theoretical higher class) would take up five Research slots easily.
Note two: the price of a Category 2 battleworld can be increased by 20% to grant it another Primary system, and the price of a Category 1 battleworld can be increased by 30% to add another secondary system. Both of these additions can only be made once for any given battleworld model, and these price increases are added before any price reductions are calculated.
Examples
Death Star
-Category 0
-Tier Primus
-Primary Systems:
–Composite Beam Superlaser: Planet-killing Superweapon.
-Secondary Systems:
–Tractor Beam Array: The Death Star mounts an abnormally expansive and precise array of Tractor Beam Emitters, letting them grapple many ships of various sizes for either capture or destruction.
-Weakness:
–Unstable Reactor: The Hypermatter Reactor of the Deathstar is remarkably temperamental. Any blow to it could set it off in a catastrophic chain reaction that would destroy the entire station.
Juggernaut (Stellaris)
-Category 0
-Tier Extremis
-Primary Systems:
–Aura Generator
-Secondary Systems:
–Shipyards
-Weakness:
–All Big Gun: The Juggernaut's ability to directly fight other ships is reliant on a pair of massive artillery guns. While impressive, these slow-firing weapons make the Juggernaut effectively helpless against anything smaller than a Battleship.
Ork Attack Moon
-Category 1
-Tier Primus/Secundii
-Primary Systems:
--Sub-Space Bridge:
-Secondary Systems:
--Grav-Whip:
-Weaknesses:
--Cannot fire main Grav-Whip weapon without lowering shields.
Hograthux Soldier
-Category 1
-Tier Maximus
-Primary Systems:
--Godlike Psionics
--Regnum Armaments
Secondary Systems:
--Natural Immune System
Weaknesses:
--Vulnerable Internals
Krork War World
-Category 2
-Tier Maximus
-Primary Systems:
--Horizon Fortress
--Doomsday Weapon
-Secondary Systems:
--Macro-Teleporters
--World Carrier
--Planet Eater
-Weaknesses:
--Lightly Armed: While the Doomsday Weapon is a fine thing for fighting other large Battleworlds, and the Planet Eater does good work in a pinch, the War World is somewhat lacking in more conventional armament.
When you design a Battleworld, the first step is figuring out the details that determine its role in a battle line. For this, Battleworld functions are divided into three categories: Primary Systems, Secondary Systems, and Weaknesses.
Primary Systems: These are the traits about a Battleworld that first come to mind when people think about them. The Death Star just isn't the Death Star without its planet-killing Superlaser. When a Hograthux shows up, its psionic mind-whammying powers should always be foremost on your mind. Without these, your Battleworld is no Battleworld, just a really big space station.
Secondary Systems: These aren't the systems that come to mind first when someone pictures your Battleworld, but they are still an integral part of it. The natural defenses of a Hograthux immune system for example, or the macro-teleporters of a Krork War World.
Weaknesses: Yes, you read that correctly. It's not a real Bringer of Destruction without a weakness for your plucky enemy to exploit, and for you to scramble to find countermeasures for within the rest of your fleet. The form of a weakness can vary, but they all help cement one fact that you should always keep in mind: an unsupported Battleworld is a dead Battleworld.
Note that a vulnerability to strike craft (or perhaps more accurately, lack of ability to cost-effectively fight strike craft swarms) isn't considered a valid Weakness for a Battleworld. That one's more or less universal.
The other factors you need to keep in mind are Size and Tier. Tier refers to the technology tier of your faction (Maximus, Primus, Tertius, etc.) A more advanced nation can create a Battleworld with more systems and/or fewer weaknesses. When it comes to Battleworlds, Tiers are divided into three subcategories: Maximus+, Extremis-Primus, and Secundus and below.
Size, more formally known as Category, is also pretty self-explanatory. The larger your Battleworld is, the more systems it can support, though this obviously increases the Battleworld's cost as well. It is also worth noting that Battleworlds are purchased in groups, also known as Constellations, with the number of BWs per Constellation decreasing with size.
Leviathans (Category 0): Gargantuan ships over 100 kilometers long (capping out somewhere in the mid-high hundreds of kilometers), Leviathans are the missing link between the Supercapitals and Battle Planetoids, hence their "Cat 0" designation. These ships aren't anywhere close to as powerful as "actual" Battleworlds, but they are potent force-multipliers as either superweapon-haulers or mega-ships, and there's a lot more of them than there are Battleworlds, with one purchase getting you several dozen, sometimes over a hundred.
-Cost: 5 RP (1 RP Maintenance)
-Tier Maximus+: 1 Primary System, 1 Secondary System
-Tier Primus-Extremis: 1 Primary System, 1 Secondary System, 1 Weakness
-Tier Secundus or below: 1 Primary System, 2 Weaknesses
Category 1: Moving up the size brackets, a Category 1 Battleworld is in the high-multi hundred Kilometers, maxing out at somewhere a bit above a couple thousand kilometers at the largest dimension. In general, Category 1's act as tactical supercombatants, with a cost comparable to that of a full-scale War Fleet condensed into a few(4-10) massive vessels, and when unleashed can each dominate the system they're fighting in. (one purchase buys 4-10 of these vessels, to be specified in their description)
-Cost: 10 RP(2 RP Maintenance)
-Tier Maximus+: 2 Primary Systems, 1 Secondary System
-Tier Primus-Extremis: 1 Primary System, 2 Secondary Systems, 1 Weakness
-Tier Secundus or below: 1 Primary System, 1 Secondary System, 2 Weaknesses
Category 2: Upper multi-thousand kilometers long, Category 2 Battleworlds are massively costly, to the point where you could afford entire War Fleets for the cost of one, let alone the potentially up to seven that a single purchase of this represents. In this category, Battleworld primary systems often have effects that extend beyond just the system that they happen to be in. (one purchase buys 1-7 of these vessels, to be specified in their description)
-Cost: 50 RP(10 RP Maintenance)
-Tier Maximus+: 2 Primary Systems, 3 Secondary Systems, 1 Weakness
-Tier Primus-Extremis: 2 Primary Systems, 2 Secondary Systems, 2 Weaknesses
-Tier Secundus or below: 1 Primary System, 2 Secondary Systems, 3 Weaknesses
Another thing to note: If you want to create a new type of Battleworld, you also need Research Actions dedicated to designing them. Cat 0's and 1's require 3-4 Research slots, while a Cat 2 (and any theoretical higher class) would take up five Research slots easily.
Note two: the price of a Category 2 battleworld can be increased by 20% to grant it another Primary system, and the price of a Category 1 battleworld can be increased by 30% to add another secondary system. Both of these additions can only be made once for any given battleworld model, and these price increases are added before any price reductions are calculated.
Examples
Death Star
-Category 0
-Tier Primus
-Primary Systems:
–Composite Beam Superlaser: Planet-killing Superweapon.
-Secondary Systems:
–Tractor Beam Array: The Death Star mounts an abnormally expansive and precise array of Tractor Beam Emitters, letting them grapple many ships of various sizes for either capture or destruction.
-Weakness:
–Unstable Reactor: The Hypermatter Reactor of the Deathstar is remarkably temperamental. Any blow to it could set it off in a catastrophic chain reaction that would destroy the entire station.
Juggernaut (Stellaris)
-Category 0
-Tier Extremis
-Primary Systems:
–Aura Generator
-Secondary Systems:
–Shipyards
-Weakness:
–All Big Gun: The Juggernaut's ability to directly fight other ships is reliant on a pair of massive artillery guns. While impressive, these slow-firing weapons make the Juggernaut effectively helpless against anything smaller than a Battleship.
Ork Attack Moon
-Category 1
-Tier Primus/Secundii
-Primary Systems:
--Sub-Space Bridge:
-Secondary Systems:
--Grav-Whip:
-Weaknesses:
--Cannot fire main Grav-Whip weapon without lowering shields.
Hograthux Soldier
-Category 1
-Tier Maximus
-Primary Systems:
--Godlike Psionics
--Regnum Armaments
Secondary Systems:
--Natural Immune System
Weaknesses:
--Vulnerable Internals
Krork War World
-Category 2
-Tier Maximus
-Primary Systems:
--Horizon Fortress
--Doomsday Weapon
-Secondary Systems:
--Macro-Teleporters
--World Carrier
--Planet Eater
-Weaknesses:
--Lightly Armed: While the Doomsday Weapon is a fine thing for fighting other large Battleworlds, and the Planet Eater does good work in a pinch, the War World is somewhat lacking in more conventional armament.
There are four distinct types of Megaproject, each with their own effect. They do not have upkeep costs, as each comes with additional industrial capacity to fuel it as part of the baseline construction process. Each Square can usually only support two of these behemoth projects at a time, and the cost to construct each one is a staggering 700 RP. Naturally, you can pay this weighty cost off in installments over several turns, and it would probably be wise to, and even if you did pay the entire cost in a single turn, it would take three for the project to actually finish, as that is the minimum number of turns that it takes for a 'standard' faction to build a full blown megastructure(can be modified by traits and drawbacks). Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither was Coruscant built in a year.
Megaproject Types:
Colonization Megaproject: this represents a series of Star-circling Ringworlds, Anderson Disks, or even a Birch World, but could just be terraforming operations conducted en masse upon entire star clusters. Either way, this represents enough room to house and employ a truly enormous population, made ever larger from an increasing number of cloning banks, synth-factories, and hatchery-wombs. Upon completion choose one of:
-This project acts like the 'Eccuminopolis Hub' Kilostructure, but with a maximum population of 1000.
- as above, but with a maximum population of 200 in return for not taking up any slots once completed
Military-Industrial Megaproject: Tremendous Stellar Gatherers harvest material from the stars themselves, collectors gather the emissions of Black Holes, automated miners consume asteroid fields and strip worlds barren, all is sent to lumbering megafactories that print out endless processions of war material, enough to reinforce and supply fleets across the galaxy.
-Upon creation of the megaproject, choose one of:
--effectively adds an additional level of damage between 'full health' and battered, representing the steady stream of reinforcements arriving throughout the battle from your home territory.(ignore the first 10% losses taken)
--Your damaged fleets automatically get replenished one damage level for free every turn.
Superweapon Megaproject: Batteries of fleet-smashing cannons linked to wormholes to allow firing at interstellar ranges, Nicol-Dyson Beams meant to incinerate armadas or burn away worlds, celestial bodies re-arranged in sympathetic patterns to empower psychic rituals conducted by armies of psions. These are weapons capable of striking enemies across intergalactic distances.
-Doomsday device that can strike enemies at distances ranging multiple sectors away. It'll have the most varied means of effect, and more than any of the other Megaprojects, here you'll have to specify what precisely your DoomWeaponofUltimateDestruction actually is. It doesn't even have to be an actual weapon so much as something meant to help military campaigns.
- these can either take up their standard upkeep of four slots for maintenance, or can be spun off of them to 'only' costing 120 RP per turn in upkeep.
Research Megaproject: A grand Matrioshka brain that encases an entire star receiving information from monitoring stations that observe celestial bodies in every abnormal form, researchers prying through precursor archives for every scrap of potentially relevant information, virtual worlds detailed enough to simulate a thousand different hypotheses. A scientist's dream, and all the resources they could wish to make them a reality.
-Two additional free research slots, does not count towards research slot cost increases.
Portal Home: for whatever reason, instead of building a portal to another part of this dimension, you are building/have built one to your home dimension, for better or for worse. Can only be built once, but, unlike other megaprojects, this ceases to take up its slots once completed/
Megaproject Types:
Colonization Megaproject: this represents a series of Star-circling Ringworlds, Anderson Disks, or even a Birch World, but could just be terraforming operations conducted en masse upon entire star clusters. Either way, this represents enough room to house and employ a truly enormous population, made ever larger from an increasing number of cloning banks, synth-factories, and hatchery-wombs. Upon completion choose one of:
-This project acts like the 'Eccuminopolis Hub' Kilostructure, but with a maximum population of 1000.
- as above, but with a maximum population of 200 in return for not taking up any slots once completed
Military-Industrial Megaproject: Tremendous Stellar Gatherers harvest material from the stars themselves, collectors gather the emissions of Black Holes, automated miners consume asteroid fields and strip worlds barren, all is sent to lumbering megafactories that print out endless processions of war material, enough to reinforce and supply fleets across the galaxy.
-Upon creation of the megaproject, choose one of:
--effectively adds an additional level of damage between 'full health' and battered, representing the steady stream of reinforcements arriving throughout the battle from your home territory.(ignore the first 10% losses taken)
--Your damaged fleets automatically get replenished one damage level for free every turn.
Superweapon Megaproject: Batteries of fleet-smashing cannons linked to wormholes to allow firing at interstellar ranges, Nicol-Dyson Beams meant to incinerate armadas or burn away worlds, celestial bodies re-arranged in sympathetic patterns to empower psychic rituals conducted by armies of psions. These are weapons capable of striking enemies across intergalactic distances.
-Doomsday device that can strike enemies at distances ranging multiple sectors away. It'll have the most varied means of effect, and more than any of the other Megaprojects, here you'll have to specify what precisely your DoomWeaponofUltimateDestruction actually is. It doesn't even have to be an actual weapon so much as something meant to help military campaigns.
- these can either take up their standard upkeep of four slots for maintenance, or can be spun off of them to 'only' costing 120 RP per turn in upkeep.
Research Megaproject: A grand Matrioshka brain that encases an entire star receiving information from monitoring stations that observe celestial bodies in every abnormal form, researchers prying through precursor archives for every scrap of potentially relevant information, virtual worlds detailed enough to simulate a thousand different hypotheses. A scientist's dream, and all the resources they could wish to make them a reality.
-Two additional free research slots, does not count towards research slot cost increases.
Portal Home: for whatever reason, instead of building a portal to another part of this dimension, you are building/have built one to your home dimension, for better or for worse. Can only be built once, but, unlike other megaprojects, this ceases to take up its slots once completed/
- Does not directly give any mechanical benefits, but allows for factions that haven't taken the 'Portal Home' Origin to access their home dimension, for better or for worse.
Gigaprojects are even more extreme, with even the smallest one costing at least 1500 RP and takes five turns to build no matter how much resources you're throwing at the project. Each one of these is a unique creation, with a price named by the GM(minimum of 1500 RP) upon the moment of said design being suggested. Either way, one of these is the sort of thing that would announce complete and utter galactic, or even intergalactic, dominance in almost any lesser universe. (takes up all ten slots in a territory)
War Fleets
Last but certainly not least, your offensive military assets. Instead of being tracked individually or as an enormous mass, your armed forces are divided into War Fleets that are comprised of both ground and space units. They will also possess the necessary support staff, transport capacity, and general crucial background personnel needed to do their job. As a side note, they may also include blue water vehicles and infantry for use on certain worlds if available to the faction, but that's mostly a fluff thing as opposed to something you need to seriously care about.
Spoiler: War Fleet Mechanics
Each faction can maintain up to ten distinct War Fleets at a time, and they may gain specialties over time that can help them in specific situations if they get consistently used in certain roles or take part in particularly impressive and memorable actions. To start with, a player will only have one War Fleet of the base Magnitude listed for their tier.
War Fleets cost 10 RP to create at the base magnitude for your faction's tier (Magnitude 1 for Tier Maximus, Magnitude 2 for Tier Extremis, etc...). Additional RP can be spent to create a War Fleet of increased Magnitude, with the increase in cost being directly proportional to the number of units in the fleet compared to your base, rather than being proportional to the Magnitude rating of the final fleet. For example, a War Fleet one Magnitude higher than normal costs 20 RP, one two Magnitudes higher costs 40 RP, etc. The exception is for when going up a Magnitude level multiplies the force levels by 2.5, in which case the final cost of the War Fleet is *also* multiplied by 2.5, resulting in costs such as 25 RP or 50 RP.
They also have an upkeep cost equivalent to 20% of their production cost, covering not only literal upkeep and personnel costs but also things like stockpiling for future campaigns and upgrading your forces with new technology.
Of course, if you take major losses in a campaign, that may reflect on your military's status. There are ten levels of damage, each representing another 10% of your War Fleet's forces being casualties:Battered, Bruised, Bloodied, Beaten, Battleworn, Savaged, Ravaged, Butchered, Crippled, and in exceptional circumstances Destroyed, which is quite self-explanatory. By default, a War Fleet will repair two levels of damage every turn, and can repair more with additional linear investment. So, for example, it would cost 40% of the War Fleet's purchase cost to repair four levels in a turn, and 100% to go all the way back up from Destroyed to full readiness as you might expect.
Note that you can stockpile RP in anticipation of a major campaign that turn that might require a lot of repairs. Just allocate the RP saying it's for replacing losses inflicted this turn, and the GMs will assign repairs accordingly. Note however, that if you end up spending more RP than is needed, then 50% of it will be lost, while the remaining 50% will carry over to next turn.
| Mag | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| Cost | 10 | 20 | 40 | 100 | 200 | 400 | 1,000 | 2,000 | 4,000 | 10,000 |
| RP Upkeep | 2 | 4 | 8 | 20 | 40 | 80 | 200 | 400 | 800 | 2,000 |
Legends
Adjacent to the War Fleets system are your Legendary forces. You always start with one (unless you choose not to), but as you continue to work in Vyranodasik and its neighboring galaxies, you are likely to accrue new ones over time. These are, for lack of a better term, your Named Characters: super-elites capable of doing daring missions that no one else can. That said, while they are incredibly potent assets, it would be unwise to throw them into the teeth of a large enemy force without support.
The exact nature of a Legend varies heavily, as they are by-nature a heavily narrativized force, ranging from individual characters to elite strike craft squadrons to whole field armies (if they have an impressive enough rap-sheet and history behind them.) In general though, Legends tend to have a couple of "Traits" that can be used to broadly get across what they're good at and where they are best suited at (with some Legends even being able to cross over into working in Diplomacy or Intelligence operations.) Depending on what they accomplish, a Legend can gain new attributes or skillsets as their story expands to include their feats within this new galaxy. Keep in mind however: Legends are not immortal, especially not if used poorly, and for all their skill and power, they cannot substitute for an entire military.
Diplomacy
Diplomacy is the pursuit of your state's interests, be it through negotiations, agreements, and treaties, or through espionage, sabotage, and war. Or, generally, a combination of all of those and more. This simple system is meant to allow the easy and structured processing of your diplomatic efforts in the world of Vyranodasik.
The fundamental action of Diplomacy is the Diplomatic Action, which when declared consists of four things: the target, whether the action is friendly or hostile, what resources are going into the action, and a short piece on how you're carrying out the action including details on what you plan to accomplish.
Friendly/hostile is a choice of approach. A friendly Diplomatic Action is by default known to the opposite party with effort taken to not offend them in the process. A hostile Diplomatic Action is by default hidden from the opposite party, with no effort taken to avoid offending them should they learn of your actions. These are generalities that can be modified by your specific plan, such as having a battleship show up over a planet to force an open trade treaty.
Resources are how much money, how much time, and how many special resources you are putting towards this project. A diplomatic action demands at least 0RP and one turn, but further investment can increase the odds of your success. Special resources might include fleets, legendary heroes, advantages gained by previous actions, or other such things that you believe will help.
Finally and most importantly, is your plan. This should be about two to three paragraphs laying out what you intend to accomplish, and how you intend to accomplish it.
Based on each of these things, your GM will adjudicate the success or failure of your Diplomatic Action.
To aid you in your diplomatic efforts, some example Diplomatic Actions are provided below, including covering a pair of special cases marked with *s:
Target: Unknown aliens
Nature: Friendly
Resources: 4RP, 1 turn
Plan: Any assets traveling near or beyond the borders of our space will be equipped with a First Contact package, a set of diplomatic instructions with which to introduce the aliens they may find to our culture and arrange for a cordial reception while specially trained diplomats travel to them.
Emphasis is placed by this package on our status as a [Kind], [HonorableHonourable] people, and our desire for peace and trade. It is our hope to avoid a war over misunderstandings.
Explanation: This is a reflexive Diplomatic Action, which can be taken on First Contact with another faction, allowing you to put money towards making good first impressions. First impressions are useful, as the relations set here are more difficult to change later, often getting 2-3 times the return of another Diplomatic Action.
If no First Contact action is set, a 0RP generic First Contact action is assumed.
And yes, you can have a hostile First Contact action. It's up to you to decide what that might look like.
Nature: Friendly
Resources: 4RP, 1 turn
Plan: Any assets traveling near or beyond the borders of our space will be equipped with a First Contact package, a set of diplomatic instructions with which to introduce the aliens they may find to our culture and arrange for a cordial reception while specially trained diplomats travel to them.
Emphasis is placed by this package on our status as a [Kind], [HonorableHonourable] people, and our desire for peace and trade. It is our hope to avoid a war over misunderstandings.
Explanation: This is a reflexive Diplomatic Action, which can be taken on First Contact with another faction, allowing you to put money towards making good first impressions. First impressions are useful, as the relations set here are more difficult to change later, often getting 2-3 times the return of another Diplomatic Action.
If no First Contact action is set, a 0RP generic First Contact action is assumed.
And yes, you can have a hostile First Contact action. It's up to you to decide what that might look like.
Target: The Federation
Nature: Hostile
Resources: 8RP, 1 turn, Four Magnitude 1 fleets
Plan: The peoples of the Federation to our north have gone too far this time! We shall strike out, and show them the folly of delving our ancient ruins and poaching our space fauna!
Our first fleet shall engage in a broad-front offensive on the border, pinning any border guards and drawing in their own fleets while the second and third move to the northeast and northwest respectively, enveloping the front and rolling it up from either end. Meanwhile, covert assets will disable monitoring posts and interdictors in the interior, allowing the fourth fleet to launch an undetected assault on their core worlds and decapitate their government.
For Honor!
Explanation: This is not a special diplomatic action, but is an example of a standard action for something you'll probably be doing fairly often.
Nature: Hostile
Resources: 8RP, 1 turn, Four Magnitude 1 fleets
Plan: The peoples of the Federation to our north have gone too far this time! We shall strike out, and show them the folly of delving our ancient ruins and poaching our space fauna!
Our first fleet shall engage in a broad-front offensive on the border, pinning any border guards and drawing in their own fleets while the second and third move to the northeast and northwest respectively, enveloping the front and rolling it up from either end. Meanwhile, covert assets will disable monitoring posts and interdictors in the interior, allowing the fourth fleet to launch an undetected assault on their core worlds and decapitate their government.
For Honor!
Explanation: This is not a special diplomatic action, but is an example of a standard action for something you'll probably be doing fairly often.
Target: Home front
Nature: Hostile
Resources: 4RP, 1 turn, Fanatic Population
Plan: The Raki have followed us here, and even now betray their presence in stolen children and furtive sigils. They will find no purchase on our new planets. Scan the crusts, millimeter-by-millimeter, and find their warrens. Seal any entrances they may use. Dreng them to the last.
Explanation: Counter-espionage is a special action you can take to defend yourself from the espionage of others. The more details of the covert action against you you get right in your plan, the better defended you are against it, but at the same time the more you get wrong the more you've sent your counter-espionage efforts running in the wrong direction. If you have multiple Counter-Espionage actions specified in a turn, the most applicable applies.
Like First Contact, if you specify no Counter-Espionage action, a generic 0RP 1-turn action is assumed.
Nature: Hostile
Resources: 4RP, 1 turn, Fanatic Population
Plan: The Raki have followed us here, and even now betray their presence in stolen children and furtive sigils. They will find no purchase on our new planets. Scan the crusts, millimeter-by-millimeter, and find their warrens. Seal any entrances they may use. Dreng them to the last.
Explanation: Counter-espionage is a special action you can take to defend yourself from the espionage of others. The more details of the covert action against you you get right in your plan, the better defended you are against it, but at the same time the more you get wrong the more you've sent your counter-espionage efforts running in the wrong direction. If you have multiple Counter-Espionage actions specified in a turn, the most applicable applies.
Like First Contact, if you specify no Counter-Espionage action, a generic 0RP 1-turn action is assumed.
Target: The Federation (south)
Nature: Friendly
Resources: 4RP, 4 turns
Plan: The Federation is well known for its vibrant culture, and one of the most transportable parts of that is its varied meals. First contact with our neighbors was mediocre, but we can stay in their thoughts and improve our standing through their stomachs. Gather the chefs, gather focus groups, and work out what they like.
And when we have? Bring the good food to them. Set up restaurants on every planet we can get to, and license trainers and ingredients out to any who wish to imitate our style. Let them know the wealth of our food, and through it, us.
Explanation: Here we have a plan set to take multiple turns. Time can be a powerful multiplier for the effectiveness of actions, netting this attempt more than they would get if they just plowed 16 RP in over one turn, but does require repeating the investment each turn the action runs.
Nature: Friendly
Resources: 4RP, 4 turns
Plan: The Federation is well known for its vibrant culture, and one of the most transportable parts of that is its varied meals. First contact with our neighbors was mediocre, but we can stay in their thoughts and improve our standing through their stomachs. Gather the chefs, gather focus groups, and work out what they like.
And when we have? Bring the good food to them. Set up restaurants on every planet we can get to, and license trainers and ingredients out to any who wish to imitate our style. Let them know the wealth of our food, and through it, us.
Explanation: Here we have a plan set to take multiple turns. Time can be a powerful multiplier for the effectiveness of actions, netting this attempt more than they would get if they just plowed 16 RP in over one turn, but does require repeating the investment each turn the action runs.
Target: The Federation (west)
Nature: Friendly
Resources: 8RP, 1 turn
Plan: The time has come for our two federations to open the borders, and let the merchants trade more freely. Call forth their diplomats, rent a secure room, and sit down for however many months it takes to hash out a fair deal between us.
Explanation: This is an action aimed at upgrading a tag, [Economic Integration], which is shared by another faction. Tags will be explained in the next section.
Nature: Friendly
Resources: 8RP, 1 turn
Plan: The time has come for our two federations to open the borders, and let the merchants trade more freely. Call forth their diplomats, rent a secure room, and sit down for however many months it takes to hash out a fair deal between us.
Explanation: This is an action aimed at upgrading a tag, [Economic Integration], which is shared by another faction. Tags will be explained in the next section.
So, now you know how to change your diplomatic relations, but what do these relations do for you? This is answered by a simple system known as diplomatic tags. Each tag has a rating of 1 to 5 (or -1 to -5 for negative tags) representing the severity of that relation. The sum of each tag can be used as a simple summary of the relations between two nations, and changes in tags result from diplomatic interactions between the two nations.
Some example tags are given here:
[War!] x: The two factions are at war. A 1 in this tag might be border skirmishes or a cold war, while a 5 is an outright war of annihilation.
[Economic Integration] x: The two factions have opened the gates of trade. Add x trade population per TP of the party you are trading with. Should this treaty be broken, a penalty of 0.2x will be applied to your population's productivity for x turns, as you seek to crash-develop autarky.
[Teachers] x: The faction has in the past taught your people much, and you look fondly on them for this.
[Subverted Political Infiltration] x: Some of your politicians have reported attempted bribery from this faction in exchange for their support covering for certain operations, and are now quietly working with your intelligence agencies.
As might be noted, these tags can be very specific due to largely being made in response to the situations encountered, and as such there is no exhaustive list. They may have mechanical effects, or just represent how your people feel about the other faction, or may even represent advantages gained in espionage and counter-espionage.
You know each of the tags you have towards other factions via internal polling and knowledge of which treaties you've signed, and may gain access to knowledge of what tags other factions have towards you or other factions via diplomatic actions.
Action Resolution
Diplomatic actions can be resolved with a simple opposed d6 roll.
When an action is submitted, the following metric can be used as a framework to adjudicate its success or failure:
Acting (Friendly)
Time: +1/turn
Well Funded: +1*This modifier is repeatable, but the amount required is doubled each time. So +1 at 4RP, +2 at 8RP, etc.
Underfunded Plan: -1
Good plan: +1
Applicable Legend: +1
Covert Experts: +2, but only for generic information gathering.
Master Diplomats: +1
Every +2 of aggregated relations: +1
Acting (Hostile)
Time: +1/turn
Well Funded: +1*This modifier is repeatable, but the amount required is doubled each time. So +1 at 8RP, +2 at 16RP, etc.
Underfunded Plan: -1/-2: This modifier applies at +1 when only 2RP is spent, and +2 against 0RP actions
Good plan: +1
Applicable Legend: +1
Covert Experts: +2
Misdirected Defenders: +1 This modifier applies when the defenders gave a counter-espionage plan that missed.
Every +2 of aggregated relations: +1* Hostile actions will very quickly degrade this bonus.
Defenders against the diplomatic action might gain the following bonuses:
Well Funded: +1*This modifier is repeatable, but the amount required is doubled each time. So +1 at 4RP, +2 at 8RP, etc.
Applicable Legend: +1
Covert Experts: +2
Bad plan: +1
Repeated Attempts: +1
Every -2 of aggregated relations: +1
The general thing to keep in mind when assigning tags as a result of this resolution is that the attempt still happens even if it fails, and that this can have effects. Someone who discovered an ally killing politicians to get a puppet elected will naturally feel quite betrayed and may break off that alliance.
When both sides are working towards the same thing in negotiations, or where otherwise appropriate, it can be helpful to consider the absolute value of the rolls. This can particularly come up with, for example, two friendly First Contact packages intersecting, or two nations mutually pushing for economic integration. On the other hand, such scenarios aren't guaranteed successes. If one side or the other botches it, or both even, that can lead to a negative outcome.
Mechanical effects of tags should be listed with the tag's description in the tag repository, here:
Tags between factions in a region you're GMing might be stored in a sheet like this, for ease of recording and reference.
Example Diplomacy Spreadsheet
Until they take an action to gain good information about how other factions feel about them/other factions, the player should only get their own section. For example, if I were playing Bandar Log, I'd just get to see rows 1-7.
First Contact
First impressions are important, and on a nationwide scale this is magnified. And in such circumstances, luck plays a strong influence. For first contact, first roll a d10 as an indicator of how things start, before any planning can take influence, and generate three traits, with the balance of positive and negative set by the d10 roll.
So a 1 generates three negative tags for each side, a 3 2 negative and 1 positive, and so on.
1-2= 3 Negative tags
3-4= 2 Negative tags and 1 Positive tag
5-6= 1 Negative tag and 1 Positive tag
7-8= 1 Negative tag and 2 Positive tags
9-10= 3 Positive tags
Then roll three diplomatic actions using the First Contact action for each side to modify and enhance these traits.
Trait integration
Monster: Cannot have positive tags with rating greater than 1. Forming positive tags is more difficult, and negative tags easier; start with an additional [Monster] negative tag at rating 5 on first contact.
Hive Mind: Other factions start with an additional negative tag on first contact with you.
Xenophillic: Start with an additional positive tag on first contact with other factions.
Master Diplomats: Start with an additional positive tag on first contact. Positive tags are easier to form and improve. Negative tags are harder to create and easier to degrade.
Repulsive: Other factions start first contact with an additional negative tag against you.
Alien Communication Methods: For each faction, a research project is needed to take diplomacy actions. Until this is done, you cannot take friendly diplomacy actions with that faction.
Prejudice: With factions that meet your prejudice, start with a negative tag on first contact, increasing in rating with every instance of prejudice and xenophobic you have +1. (So one instance starts you at a -2 tag).
Only War: Cannot have positive tags with rating greater than 1.
Xenophobic: Start with an additional negative tag on first contact.
Native origin: Good Public Relations: On purchase, generate first contact between you and your neighbors pre-game. For each additional purchase, degrade a negative tag by one, or increase a positive tag by 1. At a total relations value of +4 or higher, can take a one point treaty with your neighbor at start.
Example First Contacts
Let's take a few examples of the most complex scenario in this system, the First Contact. Note that for these I'm using cases I've heard of third or fourth hand to illustrate; details may be incorrect.
First off, a historically fraught First Contact, between C-space and the Rachni Hives. We start by checking the scenario, rolling a 1d10 and getting a 3, and so generate two negative and one positive tag for each side.
The Rachni look upon the Turians and see a [warlike] -1, [aggressive] -1, but [technologically familiar] 1 people. The Turians see a [silent] -2, [insectoid] -1, but [warlike] 1 people, generating an additional negative tag because they're dealing with a Hive Mind. Some shots were exchanged, suffice to say.
Then the diplomats arrive to try salvaging things. The Rachni have Alien Communication Methods and so make no attempts. C-space has the following First Contact plan:
So C-space attempts to impress their strength on the Rachni by forwarding the Turian fleet. They get a +1 from covert experts, and +1 for underfunded defenders (the Rachni, being unable to take diplomatic actions, didn't assign a First Contact plan). The Rachni defending get +1 for underfunding, +1 from the negative relations, and +1 for the bad plan.
C-space rolls a 4 and the Rachni a 3. Total of 6 to 6. Neither gains here, but loss of opinion is also prevented.
Second round gets a 4 and a 6; total of 6 to 9. The [warlike] tag the Rachni hold for C-space is deepened to -2, and C-space views of the Rachni increase to [warlike] 2, as the gathering of forces is firmly rebuffed by the Rachni.
Third round gets a 6 and a 4; total of 8 to 7. C-space won, and successfully establishes a [strong] 1 tag from the Rachni as they gain advantage in the skirmishes.
End result:
The Rachni Hives think of C-space as [warlike]-2, [aggressive]-1, [technologically familiar] 1, [strong] 1.
C-space thinks of the Rachni as [silent]-2, [insectoid]-1, [warlike]2.
Not great grounds for avoiding a war, but not a war outright like if C-space had rolled a 1 in round two.
Now, let's take a bit better first contact as a second example, between the humans and vulcans.
The 1d10 to establish scenario rolls a 6, giving two positive and one negative trait. Based on the factions involved, the humans get [peaceful]1, [friendly]1, and [logical]-1 as their first impression of the vulcans. The vulcans get [newcomers]1,[peaceful]1, and [illogical]-1 as their first impression of the humans.
The humans have no first contact package, but default to friendly. The vulcans have a first contact plan of:
This gives the vulcans a bonus of +1 for a good plan, +1 for funding, and +1 for building on a good impression. The humans get a bonus of +1 for being master diplomats and +1 from the good impression.
In round 1, the vulcans roll a 5 and the humans a 2 for their attempt, and the humans roll a 1 against the vulcan's 4 for their attempt (8v4, 3v7). The vulcan's traditional greeting of "live long and prosper" resonates, even through translation, and [friendly]1 gets upgraded to [live long and prosper]2. On the other hand, the human's failure to replicate the vulcan's gesture and alternate offering of a handshake runs into cultural difficulties, giving the vulcans a [hedonists]-1 tag towards the humans.
Round 2, the rolls are 3v1, 6v4. (6v3, 8v7, with bonuses). The vulcan surprises the human with a bit of advice for improving the warp core, and after some hesitation decides to go for the handshake offered even though to him it's basically the same as sex would be for the human. The humans gain the [knowledgable] tag towards the vulcans, and the vulcans dispel the [hedonists] impression.
Round 3, relations have increased enough that the bonus for both sides increases by one. The raw rolls are 3v5 (7v8), 5v5 (8v9). The vulcans depart, both sides preparing to tell their governments what happened, and the day will be fondly remembered as the beginning of a great friendship. The humans increase their [friendly] tag to [friendly]2, and the vulcans gain a [friendly]1 tag.
Diplomatic actions can be resolved with a simple opposed d6 roll.
When an action is submitted, the following metric can be used as a framework to adjudicate its success or failure:
Acting (Friendly)
Time: +1/turn
Well Funded: +1*This modifier is repeatable, but the amount required is doubled each time. So +1 at 4RP, +2 at 8RP, etc.
Underfunded Plan: -1
Good plan: +1
Applicable Legend: +1
Covert Experts: +2, but only for generic information gathering.
Master Diplomats: +1
Every +2 of aggregated relations: +1
Acting (Hostile)
Time: +1/turn
Well Funded: +1*This modifier is repeatable, but the amount required is doubled each time. So +1 at 8RP, +2 at 16RP, etc.
Underfunded Plan: -1/-2: This modifier applies at +1 when only 2RP is spent, and +2 against 0RP actions
Good plan: +1
Applicable Legend: +1
Covert Experts: +2
Misdirected Defenders: +1 This modifier applies when the defenders gave a counter-espionage plan that missed.
Every +2 of aggregated relations: +1* Hostile actions will very quickly degrade this bonus.
Defenders against the diplomatic action might gain the following bonuses:
Well Funded: +1*This modifier is repeatable, but the amount required is doubled each time. So +1 at 4RP, +2 at 8RP, etc.
Applicable Legend: +1
Covert Experts: +2
Bad plan: +1
Repeated Attempts: +1
Every -2 of aggregated relations: +1
The general thing to keep in mind when assigning tags as a result of this resolution is that the attempt still happens even if it fails, and that this can have effects. Someone who discovered an ally killing politicians to get a puppet elected will naturally feel quite betrayed and may break off that alliance.
When both sides are working towards the same thing in negotiations, or where otherwise appropriate, it can be helpful to consider the absolute value of the rolls. This can particularly come up with, for example, two friendly First Contact packages intersecting, or two nations mutually pushing for economic integration. On the other hand, such scenarios aren't guaranteed successes. If one side or the other botches it, or both even, that can lead to a negative outcome.
Mechanical effects of tags should be listed with the tag's description in the tag repository, here:
Tags between factions in a region you're GMing might be stored in a sheet like this, for ease of recording and reference.
Example Diplomacy Spreadsheet
Until they take an action to gain good information about how other factions feel about them/other factions, the player should only get their own section. For example, if I were playing Bandar Log, I'd just get to see rows 1-7.
First Contact
First impressions are important, and on a nationwide scale this is magnified. And in such circumstances, luck plays a strong influence. For first contact, first roll a d10 as an indicator of how things start, before any planning can take influence, and generate three traits, with the balance of positive and negative set by the d10 roll.
So a 1 generates three negative tags for each side, a 3 2 negative and 1 positive, and so on.
1-2= 3 Negative tags
3-4= 2 Negative tags and 1 Positive tag
5-6= 1 Negative tag and 1 Positive tag
7-8= 1 Negative tag and 2 Positive tags
9-10= 3 Positive tags
Then roll three diplomatic actions using the First Contact action for each side to modify and enhance these traits.
Trait integration
Monster: Cannot have positive tags with rating greater than 1. Forming positive tags is more difficult, and negative tags easier; start with an additional [Monster] negative tag at rating 5 on first contact.
Hive Mind: Other factions start with an additional negative tag on first contact with you.
Xenophillic: Start with an additional positive tag on first contact with other factions.
Master Diplomats: Start with an additional positive tag on first contact. Positive tags are easier to form and improve. Negative tags are harder to create and easier to degrade.
Repulsive: Other factions start first contact with an additional negative tag against you.
Alien Communication Methods: For each faction, a research project is needed to take diplomacy actions. Until this is done, you cannot take friendly diplomacy actions with that faction.
Prejudice: With factions that meet your prejudice, start with a negative tag on first contact, increasing in rating with every instance of prejudice and xenophobic you have +1. (So one instance starts you at a -2 tag).
Only War: Cannot have positive tags with rating greater than 1.
Xenophobic: Start with an additional negative tag on first contact.
Native origin: Good Public Relations: On purchase, generate first contact between you and your neighbors pre-game. For each additional purchase, degrade a negative tag by one, or increase a positive tag by 1. At a total relations value of +4 or higher, can take a one point treaty with your neighbor at start.
Example First Contacts
Let's take a few examples of the most complex scenario in this system, the First Contact. Note that for these I'm using cases I've heard of third or fourth hand to illustrate; details may be incorrect.
First off, a historically fraught First Contact, between C-space and the Rachni Hives. We start by checking the scenario, rolling a 1d10 and getting a 3, and so generate two negative and one positive tag for each side.
The Rachni look upon the Turians and see a [warlike] -1, [aggressive] -1, but [technologically familiar] 1 people. The Turians see a [silent] -2, [insectoid] -1, but [warlike] 1 people, generating an additional negative tag because they're dealing with a Hive Mind. Some shots were exchanged, suffice to say.
Then the diplomats arrive to try salvaging things. The Rachni have Alien Communication Methods and so make no attempts. C-space has the following First Contact plan:
Target: Unknown Aliens
Nature: Hostile
Resources: 0RP, 1 turn
Plan: Whichever ship made contact should prioritize securing the area and calling reinforcements, or retreating to friendly ground in untenable.
Nature: Hostile
Resources: 0RP, 1 turn
Plan: Whichever ship made contact should prioritize securing the area and calling reinforcements, or retreating to friendly ground in untenable.
So C-space attempts to impress their strength on the Rachni by forwarding the Turian fleet. They get a +1 from covert experts, and +1 for underfunded defenders (the Rachni, being unable to take diplomatic actions, didn't assign a First Contact plan). The Rachni defending get +1 for underfunding, +1 from the negative relations, and +1 for the bad plan.
C-space rolls a 4 and the Rachni a 3. Total of 6 to 6. Neither gains here, but loss of opinion is also prevented.
Second round gets a 4 and a 6; total of 6 to 9. The [warlike] tag the Rachni hold for C-space is deepened to -2, and C-space views of the Rachni increase to [warlike] 2, as the gathering of forces is firmly rebuffed by the Rachni.
Third round gets a 6 and a 4; total of 8 to 7. C-space won, and successfully establishes a [strong] 1 tag from the Rachni as they gain advantage in the skirmishes.
End result:
The Rachni Hives think of C-space as [warlike]-2, [aggressive]-1, [technologically familiar] 1, [strong] 1.
C-space thinks of the Rachni as [silent]-2, [insectoid]-1, [warlike]2.
Not great grounds for avoiding a war, but not a war outright like if C-space had rolled a 1 in round two.
Now, let's take a bit better first contact as a second example, between the humans and vulcans.
The 1d10 to establish scenario rolls a 6, giving two positive and one negative trait. Based on the factions involved, the humans get [peaceful]1, [friendly]1, and [logical]-1 as their first impression of the vulcans. The vulcans get [newcomers]1,[peaceful]1, and [illogical]-1 as their first impression of the humans.
The humans have no first contact package, but default to friendly. The vulcans have a first contact plan of:
Target: Unknown Aliens
Nature: Friendly
Resources: 4RP, 1 turn
Plan: Upon detecting a species's first FTL drive, land to meet its creator, wishing that they Live Long and Prosper as is the traditional greeting of our people. Check up on the drive and make sure it won't hurt anyone and offer advice for improvements.
Once done, contact Vulcan High Command with the news so further diplomats can be sent.
Nature: Friendly
Resources: 4RP, 1 turn
Plan: Upon detecting a species's first FTL drive, land to meet its creator, wishing that they Live Long and Prosper as is the traditional greeting of our people. Check up on the drive and make sure it won't hurt anyone and offer advice for improvements.
Once done, contact Vulcan High Command with the news so further diplomats can be sent.
This gives the vulcans a bonus of +1 for a good plan, +1 for funding, and +1 for building on a good impression. The humans get a bonus of +1 for being master diplomats and +1 from the good impression.
In round 1, the vulcans roll a 5 and the humans a 2 for their attempt, and the humans roll a 1 against the vulcan's 4 for their attempt (8v4, 3v7). The vulcan's traditional greeting of "live long and prosper" resonates, even through translation, and [friendly]1 gets upgraded to [live long and prosper]2. On the other hand, the human's failure to replicate the vulcan's gesture and alternate offering of a handshake runs into cultural difficulties, giving the vulcans a [hedonists]-1 tag towards the humans.
Round 2, the rolls are 3v1, 6v4. (6v3, 8v7, with bonuses). The vulcan surprises the human with a bit of advice for improving the warp core, and after some hesitation decides to go for the handshake offered even though to him it's basically the same as sex would be for the human. The humans gain the [knowledgable] tag towards the vulcans, and the vulcans dispel the [hedonists] impression.
Round 3, relations have increased enough that the bonus for both sides increases by one. The raw rolls are 3v5 (7v8), 5v5 (8v9). The vulcans depart, both sides preparing to tell their governments what happened, and the day will be fondly remembered as the beginning of a great friendship. The humans increase their [friendly] tag to [friendly]2, and the vulcans gain a [friendly]1 tag.
Combat System:
General Combat System:
Base casualty numbers: as a baseline, two warfleets of equal size and tier that specialize in the same things and go about combat in the same general way will each take 20%(one step) in losses in a normal fight against each other.Actual stuff that changes that number should be split into postional, major, and minor advantages, with major advantages either causing or mitigating more damage than minor ones.
Advantages should be split into having an edge(+), having an advantage(++) and having Supremacy(+++) in a given area.
Note: up until Supremacy someone having an edge/advantage in a given area doesn't necessarily mean that their opponent cannot have an edge/advantage in that area as well, as warfare can be asymmetric and how you got said edge/advantage matters just as much as what said edge/advantage is in.
Positional advantages are the 'you're quite literally starting to overwhelm your target in a given area, spilt into Front Advantages and Depth advantages, and while normally casualties inflicted by these advantages are only equal to those inflicted by Major Advantages, having both Front and Depth Supremacy means that you've almost certainly won the fight, as your opponent is forced to either retreat or suffer immediate huge casualties.
Front: edges/advantages here means that you're managing to either push the front back into their own territory or stall out the enemies advance(if you're on the defense). This is generally the 'you're winning the grind as a whole' advantage, but can also come from consistently out-playing your opponents when it comes to the fights that are actually occurring, as your forces achieve local superiority/supremacy enough to make their theoretical advantages come to nought. When on the defense in heavily built up territory, the Defender almost certainly starts with some level of edge/advantage(or maybe even full Supremacy) here by default as said defenses work to better hold the line and stall out enemy attacks(especially when supported by mobile forces that can actually deal with high enemy force concentrations)
Depth: edges/advantages here means that you've broken through and are now raiding the enemies back lines, disrupting their ability to receive supplies, reinforcements, and maybe even proper orders depending on where the people giving the commands are relative to the front and how said orders are being given.
Major Advantages are dependent on strategy and tactics and on how your forces actually operate on a battlefield as a cohesive whole as the battlefield shifts back and forth and as both ground and void battles cycle through their assorted phases. Note: unlike in the earlier category and in the category after this, advantages in one area here can contribute to advantages in another, with how much said contribution ends up being up to GM discretion.
Bombardment: fleets standing/moving around at a distance, jostling for position and bombarding each other from long range, attempting to take down shields and maybe even cripple or destroy enemy ships before the almost inevitable clash. edges/advantages here represent your forces dealing more damage in this long ranged game of potshots and (sometimes overwhelming) firepower, and can potentially cascade into edges/advantages(or at least reduced enemy advantages) in the Clash phase, as vessels are stripped of shields and/or otherwise damaged before either side can manage to get close.
Skirmish: this occurs at the same time as the Bombardment phase. This phase is a giant game of cat and mouse, as fast escorts move about and strikecraft move out, clash, and otherwise make to go take out enemy ships before things get too chaotic. This phase is defined by well… skirmishes, as fast moving lighter ships, strikecraft, and tactical-jumping ships move in to disrupt the enemies formations, pick off isolated targets, harass enemy back lines, and otherwise make a nuisance of themselves, sometimes so much of one that the damage dealt here outshines what was dealt by the actual long ranged bombardment. edges/advantages here can potentially cascade into edges/advantages(or at least reduced enemy advantages) in the Bombardment phase, as these skirmishes disrupt their ability to do any actual bombardment in the Bombardment phase.
Clash: here is where fleets generally go to die. Defined by frantic broadsiding and boarding, as ranges get so close and the fighting gets so dense that missing becomes almost an impossibility; sadly, if you want to take out the enemy quickly, force a large scale invasion on a nearby world, or break through enemy defenses as to ravish their back lines, this sort of engagement is almost completely inevitable. edges/advantages in this section cause double the usual amount of casualties suffered.
Disengage/pursuit: what almost inevitably happens, as whichever side is losing within any given instance of clash, or even both sides as the case may be, attempt to escape from the brawl before too much damage is suffered even as the other side does all in its power to keep . Unlike in the other sections here, edges/advantages in this category either reduce, or increase, depending on if your pluses are in disengage or pursuit, the number of casualties suffered in Clash, potentially down to the point where it is no more deadly than the other two sections or up to the point where Clash could outweigh both of the previous categories combined.
Skirmish: this occurs at the same time as the Bombardment phase. This phase is a giant game of cat and mouse, as fast escorts move about and strikecraft move out, clash, and otherwise make to go take out enemy ships before things get too chaotic. This phase is defined by well… skirmishes, as fast moving lighter ships, strikecraft, and tactical-jumping ships move in to disrupt the enemies formations, pick off isolated targets, harass enemy back lines, and otherwise make a nuisance of themselves, sometimes so much of one that the damage dealt here outshines what was dealt by the actual long ranged bombardment. edges/advantages here can potentially cascade into edges/advantages(or at least reduced enemy advantages) in the Bombardment phase, as these skirmishes disrupt their ability to do any actual bombardment in the Bombardment phase.
Clash: here is where fleets generally go to die. Defined by frantic broadsiding and boarding, as ranges get so close and the fighting gets so dense that missing becomes almost an impossibility; sadly, if you want to take out the enemy quickly, force a large scale invasion on a nearby world, or break through enemy defenses as to ravish their back lines, this sort of engagement is almost completely inevitable. edges/advantages in this section cause double the usual amount of casualties suffered.
Disengage/pursuit: what almost inevitably happens, as whichever side is losing within any given instance of clash, or even both sides as the case may be, attempt to escape from the brawl before too much damage is suffered even as the other side does all in its power to keep . Unlike in the other sections here, edges/advantages in this category either reduce, or increase, depending on if your pluses are in disengage or pursuit, the number of casualties suffered in Clash, potentially down to the point where it is no more deadly than the other two sections or up to the point where Clash could outweigh both of the previous categories combined.
Ground:
Shock: here is where armies meet. Where artillery and aircraft fill the sky, and where trench lines and general mechanized pushes make their play. Having at least an edge here is required for unlocking all of the later phases of ground combat.
Penetrate: here is where armored spearheads exploit momentary gaps and weaknesses in the enemies lines, penetrating through them and making a breakthrough, be it with only a small group or a large chunk of the locally available forces, to go on to ravageravish the enemies back lines. (halved actual losses from held advantages here, but opens up Exploit and Reduce)
Exploit: the forces that have broken through try and destroy their target's built up infrastructure and defenses here; a large enough Advantage in this area can also potentially even take out enemy planetoids as their key parts are taken out one by one. (halved losses to enemy ground forces from advantages in this category, but can reduce fortifications and infrastructure, which can have its own benefits to the wider battle/war)
Reduce: and here is where the majority of the actual ground based losses happen, as the breakthrough forces turn back around to flank and encircle their enemies front, reducing it to potentially non-existent(at least in this particular engagement). (edges/advantages in this category cause twice as many losses as normal)
Shock: here is where armies meet. Where artillery and aircraft fill the sky, and where trench lines and general mechanized pushes make their play. Having at least an edge here is required for unlocking all of the later phases of ground combat.
Penetrate: here is where armored spearheads exploit momentary gaps and weaknesses in the enemies lines, penetrating through them and making a breakthrough, be it with only a small group or a large chunk of the locally available forces, to go on to ravageravish the enemies back lines. (halved actual losses from held advantages here, but opens up Exploit and Reduce)
Exploit: the forces that have broken through try and destroy their target's built up infrastructure and defenses here; a large enough Advantage in this area can also potentially even take out enemy planetoids as their key parts are taken out one by one. (halved losses to enemy ground forces from advantages in this category, but can reduce fortifications and infrastructure, which can have its own benefits to the wider battle/war)
Reduce: and here is where the majority of the actual ground based losses happen, as the breakthrough forces turn back around to flank and encircle their enemies front, reducing it to potentially non-existent(at least in this particular engagement). (edges/advantages in this category cause twice as many losses as normal)
Unlike their more doctrinal kin, Minor Advantages are where unit specializations and doctrinal differences really get to shine, as these advantages represent qualitative/quantitative advantages in a 'my units of this category versus yours, go.' way. Although how said advantages are gained and where they are applied relies on doctrines almost as much as it does on qualitative/quantitative edges.
Note: all edges/advantages in one of these categories can contribute to getting edges/ advantages in one of the above major advantage category, with precisely where said bonuses end up going depending mostly on where said units focus doctrine wise.
AN: all categories listed here are meant to line up with the more general ones that a faction can have advantages in.
Space:
Capital ships: advantages here seldom ever cascade into Skirmish advantages, but can be added to Bombard and/or Clash depending on doctrinal differences.
Line Ships: advantages here can cascade into any area of the void battle, outside of maybe Disengage, which is purely doctrinal in nature. (which is to say Disengage depends on how one fights, not necessarily which categories you end up having an edge/advantage in)
Screen Ships: advantages here can cascade into any given area of the void battle, but usually favor Skirmish and are worse at Bombardment.
Strike Craft: advantages here can cascade into Skirmish and either Bombardment or Clash, depending on the nature of your Strike Craft (though Bombardment is generally considered somewhat easier.)
Ground: ground combat
Aircraft: can contribute to any area, but Shock, Exploit, and Reduce are the most likely
War Engines: can contribute to any area, but Shock and Penetrate are where they are strongest, if with the caveat that some of the entities in this size range may not be fast enough to properly take part in/take advantage of said Penetrate area.
Artillery: mainly contributes to Shock, as they likely aren't fast enough to meaningfully penetrate any weaknesses and what comes after that.
Vehicles: mainly contributes to Penetrate, but can contribute to any areas of the battle, as armored spearheads are usually fast enough and heavy enough to take advantage of any opportunities that arise.
Infantry: universally effective, but usually worse at Shock than Artillery and worse at Penetrate than Combat Vehicles. Generally requires special forces-style units to have effectiveness at Exploit.
Infantry Support: Modifies Infantry's effectiveness, though specifics vary on what sort of Support is more common. Widespread and effective IFVs and APCs generally bolster Penetration and Exploit, while large amounts of heavy weapon proliferation may increase resistance to enemy Shock/Penetration.
Note: once again, these advantages and where they cascade to is highly situational, and in some cases some of the above Minor Advantages can cascade into each other as well as the more general Major Advantages.
Proposed Sheets:
Clan Grendakal (Spartakrod)
Men of Iron (Chimeraguard)
Krork (Patrickmm1)
Khitomer Alliance (LilyWitch)
NUNS (EternalStruggle)
The Banished (SteelWriter77)
The Zerg (Lord_Abaddon)
Celestial Crows (Baron Ouroboros)
Adelaide and Richard's Day Out (Carstein)
Sith Empire (Revan4221x)
Phyrexia Resurgent (Froggo Fantastic)
Pan-Human Commonwealth (BobTheNinja)
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+1 Speed for all ships Medium speed or below. Red runed fleets may take a second set of attack actions, which will execute to full effect if the location where the fleet's first action took place yields Advantage to the Krork.) faster movement on the tactical and operational level allows for a very high level of 'win more' that takes full advantage of the Krork's eventual infrastructural and positional/maneuver-based advantages. - Kill Cruisers, Terror Ships, Hammer Battlecruisers, and all of the Krork's Battleships and Dreadnoughts are now all startingly fast in realspace, and even their War Hulks could no longer be called slow. -doesn't give an effective focus anywhere, but does allow for some serious 'win more' on the operational level.
