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Orders are the only means by which you may mechanically interact with the world. While we will do our best to take ICs into account, especially for faction forming/dissolving, orders will always take priority, and if you want something to have a mechanical impact, you should put it in your orders, or there is no guarantee it will happen.
Orders have a soft cap of 200 words overall. 50 words, at maximum, may be spent on personal and diplomatic actions, which may have varying impacts depending on GM evaluation. The remaining 150 should be spent on laying out battle plans for your forces, including deployment of forces or the spending of IP. Conditionals (AKA 'If X, then Y') are permitted and encouraged, especially regarding the conditions under which you will deploy nuclear force.
Orders must be submitted via the Conversation function on Sufficient Velocity, in a private conversation entitled 'Helios Weeps - [Character Name]', which includes you, TheMaskedReader, and Furrybacon.
Stacks are the base organizational group of units in Helios Weeps. They are made up of a maximum of 5 Combat Units. Each Stack combines the value of the Combat Units within it to calculate their Combat Power. Each Stack can also hold an appropriate Logistical element and an Officer. Stacks are made up of either Ground or Naval units - The two cannot mix. Strategic weapons are not held in a Stack - They can be assumed to be available for any Stack to utilize. For the purposes of this document, a Stack of ground forces can also be called a Corps, while a stack of naval forces may also be referred to as a Squadron. Multiple ground stacks are called an Army, and multiple naval stacks are called a Fleet. There is no cap on the amount of Stacks per tile, however, we reserve the right to inflict IC consequences if you garrison 30 Stacks in one tile.
As players, you all have a physical presence. During Turn One, you will choose a Stack of yours to assign yourself to. If that Stack perishes while cut off without another, undestroyed Stack of yours present, you will die or be captured - Either way, being taken out of the game. This Stack will also be the one that is required to be targeted for the purpose of Strike Team operations seeking to take you out of the game or steal valuable information from you, so it is in your best interest to avoid disclosing this to anyone you do not trust with your life. After Turn One, you may include orders to change your position into any Stack you control that is on the same tile or that crosses your tile.
It is possible to move independently of your Stacks, as a method of last resort and/or deception. However, if you come across any hostile unit in your path while doing so, you will be immediately captured/killed and removed from the game.
For the Stacks that you are not personally present in, coordination is required to ensure they answer your orders and are properly organized. This is where Officers come in. If an Officer is present in a Stack, they will follow your orders. If not, they cannot move and thus will serve solely as garrison and defense forces in whatever location you have them in.
Officers are also capable of organizing small, capable forces, known as Strike Teams, and leading them, removing them from being able to command your forces. These Strike Teams, each counting as 12 GP/NP, are capable of Special Operations, which if they collectively outnumber the targeted Stack's Combat Power or the targeted Location's Combat Power (taking into account Fortress bonuses/multiple Stacks), can accomplish a multitude of different things, from sabotaging/destroying IP to disabling Fortresses to deploying Dirty Bombs to assassinating officers (or even other Players). Talk to the GMs about what you want to accomplish with these - Creativity will be rewarded. Strike Team actions may only target within the Orbital Region of the Player. In terms of order processing, Strike Team actions will take place at the end of the turn, post-Movement but pre-Deployment of new Units.
Officers cost 12 IP, which may be reduced by one for every Warschool you control.
You can kill other players via Striketeam assassinations. This will likely be a key use of them, but, as a method of player-killing which does not rely on battle and strategic planning as much as flat-out death in battle does, we recognize that this may cause issues. Thus, we are laying out how it will work in advance, so that people are aware of the best way to deal with and prevent it, or at least to attempt to.
- You will pick a Stack to target.
- You will allocate Strike Teams to attack that Stack.
- We will measure the Strike Teams against the Stack's Combat Power. If they beat it, the mission proceeds. If not, the mission fails.
- If the Stack holds the relevant Player, the Player is captured or killed. Mission success.
- If the Stack does not hold the Player, the Officer in charge of the Stack is killed instead.
- If the Stack neither holds an Officer or a Player, the Logistical Element is killed.
- If the Stack holds none of these, nothing will happen.
Logistics is a key element of warfare, and that has not changed in the Final Century. When a Stack operates without Logistical Elements, its combat power is halved on both offense and defense, representing its undersupply. However, it is
not halved when calculating defense against Strike Teams, representing that the manpower is still present. Logistical Elements can be utilized as either Naval or Ground - Unlike all other units, there is no distinction between them. Logistical Elements cost 12 IP, which can be reduced by 1 per war school.
Controlled locations will produce Industrial Points (IP) per turn, at the rate indicated by the Economy Sheet. IP are spent to purchase Missile Points (MP), Naval Points (NP), Ground Points (GP), and Officers. At base, it takes 6 IP to purchase 1 point of MP, NP, or GP, so a Battleship's 36 NP would cost 216 IP. However, for every Arsenal, Shipyard, Barracks, or Warschool controlled, the relevant rate is reduced by 1. For example, owning 2 shipyards would allow you to purchase naval points at a ratio of 4 IP to 1, and reduce the cost of a Battleship from 216 to 144. The lowest exchange rate that can be achieved is 1 to 1. Officers start at an IP 6 to 1 ratio trade, but the effect of specialized buildings remains the same. IP does not carry over from turn to turn.
Ground units may be deployed from any occupied tile controlled by you or your faction unless it is either cut off from a Red Tile (AKA a city) or is directly in contact with a tile occupied by enemy forces. Naval forces may be deployed into any controlled tile, so long as you control a Red Tile on a planet that you are not cut off from (or, in the case of single-tile planets, simply the planet itself), but this is subject to the same restrictions as Ground units - If you are cut off or on a tile in direct contact with enemy forces, you will be unable to deploy.
However, there is the Desperation Exception - Militia/Converted units are able to be deployed into Red Tiles/Planetary Orbits that are in contact with hostile forces. In the case of Converted units, this includes if Orbit is occupied, though this will immediately initiate combat.
On Turn One, you will designate any one controlled tile of yours as your Supply Depot. Any unassigned Logistical Elements, Officers, and Strike Teams will be 'placed' there, and will automatically be able to be assigned to reinforce any new Stacks or Stacks who lose their officers/logistical elements, though this can be overridden with orders. If this Depot is taken by an enemy faction, however, you will lose all stored Logistical Elements, Officers, and Strike Teams. Depots can be moved freely to any controlled tile via orders. Factions share depots, and they control one per planet.
You are permitted to create variable units, rather than sticking to the GM-provided 1-4-12-36 units, representing the professionalization of irregular units and other such factors of war. To do so, simply inform us that you are spending X amount of points to generate a Y power unit, with the ratio being equivalent to whatever amount of Ground, Naval, or Missile Points you wish it to have. We request that you do not go crazy with this, though, as otherwise we'll have to restrict it to prevent bloat on the GM side, since we have to track and account for all your varying point values.
Projects are VPs attached to specific locations representing long term research the CDSU was engaged in before the start of the game. None of these projects will affect the game directly - they simply operate on too long of a timescale, but they will require investment if you want them to keep running. Every project will require a maintenance cost from your IP that increases each turn in order to keep it active, which is laid out in full on the Economy sheet. Inactive Projects will provide no VP and may affect the epilogue. Projects can be reactivated by paying the complete cost of what it would have been to keep it active since it was deactivated. Projects have 3 'hp', which means they can survive up to 3 MP being detonated on the location where they are present.
There are two types of tiles on Ground Maps - Red Tiles, which are Cities and which contain large concentrations of IP, VP, Buildings, or Projects, and Blue Tiles, which are transit tiles, representing the rural and desolate spaces between large megacities. There are several Fortresses on the maps, which double the combat power of garrison forces when defending.
When you move a unit in Helios Weeps, it's as simple as picking a destination on the map and ordering your force there. So long as your force does not run into any opposing units, you have a functionally unlimited in-map movement range. However, you are able to give more complex orders to take advantage of any unique factors, such as taking a specific route or splitting your forces as they move.
All moves happen simultaneously, one at a time, until all requested moves are complete. GMs reserve the right to say that a force has gone far enough in a turn (for example, if given an indefinite move order or asked to circumnavigate an entire map). You cannot order your forces to avoid any combat scenarios.
Moving from a Ground Map into the Naval Map takes a turn, and you must be on a Red Tile not in direct contact with an enemy force. However, you do not need to start on the Red Tile - Moving to it and then ascending is acceptable.
Invaders are a special unit, which are mostly utilized for Orbit to Ground invasions, which are covered later. However, in this section, it is important to clarify that Invaders cannot move on Ground Maps, as they are naval units.
Tiles on ground maps require forces to occupy them. The simplest method of doing so is leaving a stack behind on every tile you cross. However, if you have garrison forces at two Red Tiles, you will be considered to 'automatically' occupy every Blue Tile between the two, following the straightest path to it. If this path is interrupted by enemy forces, any non-garrisoned Blue Tiles will flip to 'neutral'.
Orbital Batteries are special units that can fire on Space Battles, contest Orbit to Ground landings, and fight Orbital Bombardments. To fire on Space Battles in orbit, they cannot have moved that turn, and they suffer a 50% strength debuff due to having to adjust fire to avoid friendly ships. In Orbit to Ground Invasions and Orbital Bombardment, they can engage in battle if the Invasion or Bombardment is occurring on their tile or in a tile adjacent to them. See the relevant sections for more details.
There are three types of tile on the Naval Map, being Purple, Blue, and Red/Pink. Purple are mapped planets, Blue are transit tiles, and Red/Pink are unmapped planets. Fortresses have the same mechanics as they do on Ground Maps.
Movement works the same as on Ground Maps. However, you can move along both green and black lines - There is purely a visual distinction between them for aesthetic reasons. Ground Forces, upon leaving a Ground Map, can move independently on the Naval Map without requiring a Naval Unit escort, but they are vulnerable to destruction by enemy forces if they do not have one. If an engagement occurs and all friendly Naval Units in the location of the Ground Units are defeated and/or destroyed, the Ground Units will be destroyed as well,
IF the victors have any ships remaining. If they do not, the Ground Units will halt movement, but not be destroyed.As with ground movement, all moves happen simultaneously, one at a time, until all requested moves are complete. GMs reserve the right to say that a force has gone far enough in a turn
There is no automatic occupation in space. If you wish to occupy territory, you will need to garrison it.
Controlling orbit allows you to deploy missiles on any tile on a mapped planet or unmapped planet as desired. If the tile is directly on or adjacent to an Orbital Battery, the Battery can return fire, and will first fire against the 'stack' of MP, following standard battle rules but not taking casualties (unless the bombs are aimed at their Stack, in which case, they will take casualties as normal). If it succeeds, it will then engage in a standard battle against the Naval Stack, not taking casualties. Orbital Batteries can be killed by bombardment, however, they are always affected last.
There are two kinds of landings, both of which take a full turn to conduct - Opposed and Unopposed. Unopposed landings take place when depositing troops in friendly controlled locations, and do not inflict the 'landing' debuff on naval forces. Opposed landings mean you are landing and attacking at the same time. Under this scenario, you are required to have actual Naval units in orbit, rather than just Invaders and/or Ground units. Any Naval units in orbit suffer a 50% power decrease while they support the landing, which does not contribute to the landing, and stacks with any logistical power decreases that they have. There is no Power Decrease if an Invader Squadron is Present.
Opposed Landings have slightly different rules depending on the location you land on. Landing on a Blue Tile limits the infrastructure you can rely on, meaning you may only land with a single stack + Invaders. Landing on a Red (City) tile has no limits on the number of stacks you can throw at the enemy - However, in addition to being more predictable and possibly defensible, you will run the risk of collateral damage inflicting IC consequences, especially if nuclear weapons are utilized by either side.
Orbital Batteries can contest these landings, by virtue of firing on the ships. If the tile is directly on or adjacent to an Orbital Battery, the Battery can open fire, and will engage in combat with the relevant Fleet Stacks, following standard battle rules but not taking casualties. If it succeeds, the Ground Stacks will retreat to Orbit without taking casualties.
It is, theoretically, possible for a naval ship to do the reverse, and spent a full turn to descend to the ground on a controlled, uncontested (AKA not in direct contact with a tile with a hostile garrison) Red Tile, where they will be unable to move from on the Ground. This is, in almost every single scenario we as GMs can imagine, completely useless. If you find a use case for doing so, however, feel free.
Using Missiles is simple. When entering into a combat engagement, either via conditionals or by informing the GMs, deploy a chosen number of missiles. These missiles will be added to your overall point total and will be a unique 'first' Stack, which will deal damage as per normal and be removed.
However, Missiles cause quite a bit of collateral damage, in addition to their strategic uses. They damage VP in the location equivalent to their MP. If the VP damage exceeds that, it spills into IP. It only damages the tile it takes place on, unless it is a Godbomb. There will also be IC consequences for utilizing strategic nuclear weapons and above on major civilian populations (Red Tiles on Mapped Planets). IP and VP lost in this way cannot be regained.
Dirty Bombs, being explicitly terroristic weapons, have a special rule - When deployed via Strike Team, they deal 10 IP damage and nothing else.
There has been one Godbomb detonated, and it killed an entire planet's atmosphere. Nobody knows what will happen for sure when you use another one on a different planet, or, for better or worse, somewhere else entirely. It will go beyond mechanics. It will be bad. Use them with care.
Factions are groups of players who are publicly and formally aligned. They share a collective IP pool which requires Strike Teams to disrupt. They also share their VP - When the end comes, they will negotiate together…or rip themselves apart over their differences.
However, Factions are also being watched by more than just their fellow players - NPCs can and will watch your factions and those who aren't in a faction, and will approach those who are seemingly ideologically aligned with them or partial to their goals to offer aid or request coordination, or simply to offer their services as mercenaries.
Even if you aren't in a faction, it might be in your interests to donate IP to others, to fund Projects or simply to prop up your enemy's enemy. However, donating IP to players not in your faction is inherently more risky than in-faction coordination, as NPC and enemy action can more easily disrupt it without needing to utilize Strike Teams - But it could be worth it, under the right circumstances.
Change log 9/25 2024
General Changes
Officers and Logistics cost 12pts Each. Warschools reduce the cost of Officers and Logistics by 1 each.
Calculator Changes
Smallest Unit in a Stack dies first, except for MOBs, which are 'last viable' priority (AKA, 20 stack attacks MOB+Battleship, MOB dies, but otherwise it dies last).
Invader Buff
The use of Invaders negates the 50% penalty for Naval Fleets participating in a landing.
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Economy Sheet with FACTIONS added
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First Orders Due Date will be October the 8th
