[Editor's Note: This file is more or less the way I found it, and I suspect that the copy I got wasn't quite complete. All I've done to it is remove the references to the old pele.cx site as well as all the CTRL-M EOL characters.

From the META tags, this was originally written using MS Word 97, which produces HTML that is -- less that clear, let us say. If the original author (or anyone who groks the output of Word 97) wishes to help clean this up, I encourage them to subscribe to the Universe-devel mailing list and help out.

Dave Butler (06/06/01)]

Themes

1. Economy

1a. r-table

amount of r status % of planets

1-1000 the world is poor 50

1000-10.000 the world is standard 40

10.000+ the world is rich 10

1b.Facility/object table

Facility/object costs/pp cargo value personel nto

mining facility 5 2 3

production facility 10 3 5

infrastructure facility 3 2 0

warehouse facility 3 2 1

research facility 10 3 5

opt: supply facility 10 3 5

tech: recycling facility 5 3 3

tech: warp gate 30 5 10

tech: gravity balancer 5 2 1

tech: terraformer 5 2 1

---------------------------------------------------------------------

ship 1 per mt* 1 per 3 mt hull

trooper 2 2

resource NA 1

supply NA 1

*This means that even ships can be transported. A ship with 7 mt has for example a cargo value of 3. This means that a freighter who wants to transport this ship has to have a minimum cargo-factor of 3.

1c. A mining facility can mine 1 r per turn

1d. A production facility can convert 5 r into 5 pp per turn.

1e. A warehouse facility on a stellar body can store additional 100 r or 100 sup or a mix of them.

1f. Each infrastructure can house 5 personel at the basic level.

1g. Only 1 i can be installed on a stellar body per turn.

2. Ships

2a. Ship component table

Component Multiple? mt

Laser y 1 per laser

shield y 1 per shield

cargo y 1 per cargo - each cargo = 1 cargo value

tech: magnet y 1 per magnet cannon

tech: teleport y 1 per teleport torpedo

tech: Black H. n 1

tech: ECM n 1

tech: Scanner n 1

tech: Fuel tank y 1 per extra fuel tank

FTL n 1 per 3 mt (rounded up)*

Hitpoints n 1 per 3 mt (rounded up) **

*For example a FTL of a 8 mt ship needs 3 mtīs out of these 8. This means that only 5 mtīs can be used, the other 3 are used for the FTL.

**For example a ship has 8 mt. This means that it has 3 Hitpoints.

3. Combat

3a. Each combat lasts 3 combat rounds.

3b. Troopers have 2 Hitpoints

4. Races

4a. Population growth is 5%

 

5.Planets

5a. You can build 1 i per positive habitability

5b.Athmosphere table (habitability)

athmosphere

% of distrib in galaxy 10 10 80

Race oxygen methan none

oxygenbreather - 6 2 1

methanebreather* - 2 6 1

*Other types of athmosphere are possible. All alien types have a habitability of 2.

 

5c.Gravity table impact on habitability distribution among the planets

very high -3, -3% replication rate 15%

high -2, -2% replication rate 20%

standard 0 35%

low -1 20%

very low -2 10%

Notize:

The computer should be so programmed that high gravity worlds have a greater chance to be resource rich than other worlds.

5d.Temperature table impact on habitability distribution among the planets

Hell -2 15%

Greenhouse -1 10%

Standard 0 20%

Cold -1, -1% replication 35%

Frozen -2, -3% replication 20%

5e.stellar body size table

Size r/sup store impact on habitability distrib. among the planets

huge 200 +2 25%

standard 100 0 50%

tiny 50 -1 25%

Notize: there should be a greater chance for tiny planets to be low or very low gravity. There should be a greater chance for huge planets to be high or very high gravity.

 

6. Technology

6a. Every player has 3 dep at the beginning and every 50 turns 1 additional dep

6b. Every player has 50 rep at the beginning of the game.

6c. Every research facility generates 1 rep per turn

6d. General Technology

6d1.Laser

lvl to hit cost/rep notes

1 30% 10 -

2 45% 20 -

3 60% 40 shield -15%

4 75% 80 shield -30%

Without laser 1 tech it is not possible to build the laser components for ships.

6d2.shield

lvl succes cost/rep notes

1 30% 10 -

2 45% 20 -

3 60% 40 laser -15%

4 75% 80 laser -30%

Without shield 1 tech it is not possible to build the shield components for ships.

6d3. FTL

lvl cost/rep parsecs/turn notes

1 20 0,05 *

2 40 0,1 *

3 80 0,2 *

4 160 0,4 *

Without FTL 1 it is not possible to build the FTL component for ships.

*A FTL can operate 10 turns then it has to be refueled.

6d4. ground combat

lvl succes cost/rep notes

1 30% 5 -

2 45% 10 -

3 60% 20 +1 Hitpoint

4 75% 40 +1 Damage

Without ground combat 1 it is not possible to build troopers.

6d5. mining

lvl +r/trn cost/rep notes

1 1 10 -

2 2 20 -

3 3 40 -

4 4 80 -

A mining facility can mine 1 r per turn.

 

6d6. production

lvl pp/turn cost/rep notes

1 6 10 -

2 8 20 -

3 11 40 -

4 15 80 -

A production facility can convert 5 r into pp per turn at a rate of 1r per pp.

 

6d7. research

lvl +%/trn cost/rep notes

1 10 30 -

2 20 60 -

3 30 120 -

4 40 240 -

each research facility has 1 rep basically per turn generated

6d8. infrastructure

lvl +p cost/rep notes

1 1 5 -

2 2 10 -

3 3 20 +1 i-install/turn

4 4 40 -

1 i can house 5 personel initially.

increases the amount of personel which can inhabit a infrastructure.

In level 3 it increases also the amount of iīs which can be built/per turn on one planet.

6d9. linguistics (optional)

lvl +bon cost/rep notes

1 1 5 -

2 2 10 -

3 3 20 -

4 4 40 -

Each level of lingustic gives +1 to the level between two communicating races.

 

 

 

 

6e. Special technologies

6e1. Advanced Scanner

lvl cost/rep scan range notes

1 10 0,5 -

2 20 1 +10% success

3 40 2 +20% success

4 80 4 +30% success

Advanced scanners are ship components and cannot be built in mulitple times. They need 1 mt space. They are used to scan the surrounding of their carrier ships for the presence of enemy ships.

They have 50% success chance to scan an enemy ship. (1 try per ship)

6e2. Cloaking ECM

lvl cost/rep notes

1 10 -10% success

2 20 -20% success

3 40 -30% success

4 80 -40% success

Cloaking ECM are ship components and cannot be built in mulitple times. They need 1 mt space. They cloak their carrier ships with the noted chance against advanced scanner which is subtracted from the long range scanning success.

 

6e3. Gravity balancer

lvl cost/rep notes

1 10 equals the effect of low gravity on a planet

2 20 equals the effect of low or high gravity on a planet

3 40 equals the effect of very low,low and high gravity

4 80 equals the effect of all gravity types of this theme

A gravity balancer is a facility. (see facility table)

6e4.Armor

lvl cost/rep Hitpoints

1 20 +1

2 40 +2

3 80 +3

4 160 +4

Armor enhances the amount of Hitpoints a ship has. Once developed all new built ships have the armor level.

6e5.Magnetic Cannon

lvl to hit cost/rep notes

1 30% 40 -

2 45% 80 -

3 60% 160 shield -15%

4 75% 320 shield -30%

Magnetic cannons do two damage points instead of one, once they hit. They are ship components and need 1 space per cannon. They can be built in multiple times.

 

6e6.Warp Gates

lvl cost/rep range

1 60 1 parsec

2 120 2 parsecs

3 240 4 parsecs

4 480 8 parsecs

Warp gates are direct connections between two systems. No time is expended if you travel via warp gates.

They are treated like facilities (see facility table)

 

6e7. Cloning

lvl cost/rep +replication

1 5 +1%

2 10 +2%

3 20 +3%

4 40 +4%

Once you have achieved cloning your replication rate increases.

6e8.Extra fuel tanks

lvl cost/rep +turns

1 5 10

2 10 20

3 20 30

4 40 40

Extra fuel tanks are ship components and take 1 mt of space per tank. They can be built in multiple times. They increase the amount of turns a ship can travel in FTL-mode.

6e9.Terraforming

lvl cost/rep +habitability % /success %failure % katastrophic

1 40 1 10 5 1

2 80 2 15 5 0,5

3 160 3 15 3 0,1

4 320 4 15 3 0,05

Advanced colonizing allows the purchase of a terraforming facility. This facility is used for making suitable life conditions. It heightens the habitability of a planet for a certain amount. Each turn there is a certain chance per terraformer that this happens. But there is also a failure chance that the level goes 1 back. And there is a minimal failure chance that the habitabilty goes to 0. (and the elimination of all existing i of the planet)

The max. increase is always the highest level terraformer on the planet.

6e10. Recycling

lvl cost/rep recycling rate

1 10 10%

2 20 20%

3 40 30%

4 80 40%

Recycling allows for converting existing objects into resources, which appears on the planet the recycled object is stationed. (rounded down always)

For recycling a recycling facility is needed. Ships have to be in the same system and other objects have to be at the same stellar body. (see facility table)

6e11. Transmitter Torpedo

lvl to hit cost/rep notes

1 30% 60 -

2 45% 120 -

3 60% 240 -

4 75% 480 -

Transmitter Torpedos are weapons which strikes through any type of shield. This means that no shield roll is allowed against a hit with transmitter torpedos. They are ship components and need 1 space per cannon. They can be built in multiple times.

6e12. Black Hole Shield

lvl Lvl supported cost/rep protection/ships

1 1 40 1

2 2 80 1

3 3 160 1

4 4 320 1

Black Hole shields are used to protect 1 ship (the own as a default setting) which wants to go through a black hole. There are different levels of black holes in the universe. The level is a value for the danger and unpredictability a black hole imposes. Also the higher the level the further a black hole could lead. If you travel through a black hole you have the possibilty to travel to any further black hole you know in 1 round. There is also a possiblity to get lost in space. (for example to appear at another black hole or random lokation, or to be killed or such)

The black hole table is the following:

 

7. Miscellaneous rules

7a There are 10 different language groups

7a1. Communication-reduction per level is 75/50/25/5/1%

7a2. Communication bonus of +1 after 50 turns

7b. Ships and Troopers which are out of supply lose 10% of their to hit capability and 10% of their move capability (ships only) PER turn they are out of supply.

7b1. Ships and Troopers can get on 10 turns without supply after their last supply delivery.

7b2. Ships need 1 sup per Hitpoint they have.

7b3. Trooper need 1 sup

7b4. 1 sup is able to refuel a ship fully with fuel

7b5. 1 sup is able to repair one hitpoint of a damaged ship.

7b6. A ship in the imperial reserve needs 5 turns to become active

7b7. A trooper in the imperial reserve needs 3 turns to become active

 

Abbreviations:

r: resourcepoint

sup: supply point

pp: production points

i: infrastructure

p: personel

dep: Developement points

rep: Research points

 

 

 

 

002.1.Economy

1.1.General

My economical philosphy is based on "facilities" and machines. People, colonist etc have a secondary role. (they operate facilities and deliver troops)

The design philosphy is to create rules which are so "transparent" as possible. Open and short formulas are the main point of the scheme. The most aspects should be calculable by simple mathematics.

1.1.1. Facilities are objects (building complexes) which can be transported by freighters at their destination planets, once they are built.

1.1.2. They can also be stored on any stellar body or freighter vessel for later use.

1.1.3. Once they are landed and operated by personel, they cannot be moved anymore.

1.2. Resources (r)

1.2.1.Each stellar object in Universe (moon, planet, asteroid etc.) has an certain amount of resources on it. This amount is a number between 1 (poor world) and many thousands. (very rich world)

 

1.2.2. r are exploited with the help of mining facilities. These facilities have to be transported by freighters to the destination planet and have to be loaded down on the planet to be effective.

1.2.3. Limited resources: Each mining facility mines a certain amount of r per turn. This number will be modified by the mining tech of an empire. The amount of r mined reduces the number of remaing r on the planet. Therefor if the r amount reaches zero, the planet is fully exploitet and no more mining is possible on this stellar object.

1.2.4. Mined r can be "stored" up to a certain maximum on the planet where the mining occured. But the mined r can also be transported and be shipped to stellar objects which have production facilities on it.

1.2.5. Warehouses are facilities which allows to store a extra amount of r or sup.

(thanks Geoffry for the idea)

1.3. Production

1.3.1. Production is handled by production facilities.

1.3.2. Production facilities produces ships, troopers and other facilities

1.3.3. For this task they need mined r. Each production facility transform a certain amount of r into so called production points (pp).

1.3.4. This output-amount can be modified by race advantages and technology advances.

1.3.5. The pp dont appear on the planet. They are only a possiblity to measure the value = costs of an object. PP cannot be traded or transported.

1.3.6. Production facilities can produce bigger objects for several rounds.

1.3.7. Production facilities on the same planet cannot combine their transformation value.

Example: If a ship costs 9 ppīs then 1 production facility level 1 can build it in 2 rounds. In the first rounds it can build 5 ppīs (out of the 9) and in the second round it can build the rest.

Example: Let us assume the planet where a production facility is located receives a freight of 7 r. The emperor/AI decides to use these r to build 1 ground trooper (maybe he costs 2 pp) and 1 little ship (it costs 3 pp) . The production facility has the techlevel 1 this means it can transform 5 r each round into the same amount of pp.

At the end of the round there exists one additional ground trooper on the planet as well as 1 additional little ship in the orbit of the planet. 5 out of the 7 delivered r has been transformed by the level 1 facility. 2 r have not be transformed. Maybe they are transformed next round.

(all examples use the actual themes)

 

1.4. Personel (p)

1.4.1. P is needed to operate facilities. This personel have to be on the same stellar body as the facility which they operate.

 

1.4.2. Infrastructure (i): The amount of personel which fits on one planet is limited through a factor which is called infrastructure (i). Each Level of i can house and nurture a certain amount of personel. The levels of i are restricted by the planet conditions and athmosphere.

1.4.3. i are facilities. They dont need any personel to operate themselves. They have to be transported and loaded down like other facilities. Then they have just to be populated by colonist arriving per normal freighters.

1.4.4. If the i-factor on a stellar body decreases (through events, quakes or so) then of course the amount of personel which can inhabit the planet decreases too.

1.4.5. Only a certain amount of i can be installed in one turn on one planet. (default value 1)

Example: There is a planet who has an i-habitability of 6 for your race. This means that you can construct a maximum of 6 i. Therefore up to 30 personel (with techlvl 1) could inhabitate the planet. Further this means that up to 6 production-facilities could be successfully operated on the planet. (This would be a really big factory planet) Of course its possible to construct more facilities but they cannot be operated. They are just stored.

 

1.4.6. Replication

Personel replicate themselves per round at no costs according to the replication number of each individual race.

1.4.7. Personel could be transported by freighters/transmitters or whatever.

 

002.2. Ships

2.1. General

In this scheme I want to show the idea of "unlimited" ship sizes. A further idea was the possibility to integrate virtually all types of components and any number of them (of course only if it can be paid).

2.1.1. Some factors are not included in this scheme. (like Power and Computer)

2.2. Blueprints

If you design a ship, you dont have just the design, not an actual ship. Designing a ships costs nothing. Building a ship cost a certain amount of pp per megaton the ship has.

2.3. How to design a ship

2.3.1.Determine what kind of task your ship have.(for example insystem-freighter or medium warship or such)

2.3.2.Determine the Megatons the shiphull will have. (Megatons = mt) A ship must have at least 1 mt. There is no upper limit of mt a ship can have.

2.3.3.Different basic Ship-components

A shiphull can comprise some different kinds of components. Some of these components can be built in multiple, other components not.

a. Laser: offensive devices, multiple lasers can be integrated, each laser needs a certain amount mt of space

b. Shields: defense devices, multiple shields can be integrated, each shield needs a certain amount of mt of space

c. Cargo: cargo allows a ship to transport objects, each cargo space needs a certain amount of mt of space. Each cargo factor can transport a certain amount of cargo value, multiple cargos can be integrated

d. FTL-drive: device to propel a ship over vast distances in short time a FTL drive needs a certain amount of the mtīs of a ship (rounded up)

A FTL-drive has a certain speed per round (in parsecs) and a certain numbers of turns before it has to be refueled. Only 1 FTL-drive can be integrated. It can be refueld at own systems with a production facility

(f. Hitpoints)

Each ship has automatically a certai amount of hitpoints per a certain amount of mt. (rounded up) Hitpoints are important in my combat model (

Example of designing a blueprint (all numbers in this example are according to theme table xxx)

1. I want to have a little cargo-ship which for insystem transportation of resources.

2. It should have 2 mt. This means it costs 2 ppīs.

3. Its insystem, therefor no FTL is necessary (actually of course it has a small fusion drive, but this drive is not important for my design model and will not be mentioned in the blueprint).

I will integrate 2 cargo-factors in the 2 mt hull. No armament or defensive equiment is necessary because of the transport-only character of the little vessel.

4. Our vessel-class, named "Blue rose" is ready. It consists of only 2 cargo-factors and 1 hitpoint. It can transport per round 2 resources (for example) from one point in a single system to another point in the same system.

Example 2 of designing a blueprint (all numbers in this example are according to theme table xxx)

1. I want to have a medium sized warship with the possibility to travel between the stars. It should be able to patrol in the outer regions of my empire, where I dont have a lot of facilities.

2. It should have 8 mt.

3. A FTL-drive costs 3 of the 8 mt. (5 mt are still available)

4. It should have also an extra fuel tank because it should be able to patrol in the outer regions (see technology section) A extra fuel tank costs 1 mt.

5. Furthermore I include also 2 Lasers and 2 shields. (a sufficient armament)

6. Our warship-class is ready. It will be named "Mercury" and the owner will proudly speak of it as a "Long-range patrol cruiser"

It consists finally of 8mt, 3 Hitpoints, 2 laser, 2 shields, 1 extra fuel tank and a FTL. The "Mercury-Class" costs 8 ppīs per ship.

 

 

003.3.Combat

3.1.General

3.1.1.Combat is purely strategical. This means that no tactical board is involved.

3.1.2.Combat is conducted in systems. Each ship has a basic scanner on board which can detect every enemy ship in the same system. This means too that every stellar body in a system will be involved in strategic combat and also graphically shown.

3.1.3. A further philosophy is the fact that I think that space/ground combat operations in which a lot of planets and material are involved can last very long. Therefor I limited the amout of combat rounds in one strategic turn. This means that a space/ground operation can last for several strategic turns without any final victory decision. Both parties can bring in further reinforcments in each strategic turn which lies between those combat rounds.

3.1.4. When does combat commence?

Combat begins when two or more enemy ships enters a system in the same turn. It is played out in a series of 3 successive combat rounds.

3.2. Combat rounds

Each combat lasts a certain amount (default setting is 3!) successive combat rounds. If there is no decision in this rounds the combat is carried over to the next strategic round. Then the combattants can fight again for 3 combat rounds.

3.2.1. This rounds are fought out abstractly with the help of the computer. There has to be a "battle-window" opening for all players involved which shows all participating ships and stellar objects in the system. Then both players decide simultaneously which of their ships attack which enemy ship. (just click and drag) The last step is to push the "resolve combat" button and the computer calculates all results and shows them in the window. Then the next combat round begins.

3.3. Ship attack & ship defend

3.3.1.Military ships have lasers for attacking. And they have hitpoints and shields for defending. (see ship section) Each laser has the possibility to fire once in one combat round.The players choses their targets. If the laser hits (the to hit chance depends on lasertechnology - see tech section) then the target ship loses a certain amount of Hitpoints out its total. If the ship has 0 Hitpoints left, it is destroyed.

3.3.2.Shields are used against laser hits. Each shield can try to protect a ship once per combat round against an incoming laser hit. The chance of protection depends on the shield-technology of the ship.

3.3.3.Combat is simultaneous. This means no ship can be destroyed without having the chance to shoot.

3.3.1. Ships are automatically repair their lost hitpoints if they are in the strategic turn in a system where a friendly production center is.

3.4. ships have to stay in space. they cannot land on a planet. (at least in version 1.0)

3.5. Action: an action is for example loading down troops or other objects on a planet during a space combat etc.

3.5.1. Actions are conducted AFTER a fire exchange of a particular combat round. This means that a trooper cannot fire in the turn he lands on a planet. (and cannot be fired upon) And if the troopers invasion ship is destroyed before the landing can begin then the trooper in it will be destroyed as well.

3.5.2. Actions have to be preplanned like ship attacks at the combat window with drag and drop.

3.6. Troopers

3.6.1.These guys are the armies of universe. The max. amount of troopers an empire can have is the current added amount of personel on its planets.

3.6.2.Troops can only be placed in freighters or on stellar bodies like planets, asteroids etc.

3.6.3.A Trooper takes up a certain amount cargo space and costs a certain amount of pp.

3.6.4.Troops fight in a similar way like ships. Parallel to space combat there is ground combat conducted as well. You can read the below combat example with troopers too. (without shields of course - troopers have no shields - at least not in version 1.0)

3.6.5. This means that troops have also a certain amount of combat rounds per strategic turns to fight it out.

3.6.6. Troopers have a certain amount of hitpoints and a certain chance to hit other troopers on a planet depending on the techlevel.

3.6.7. Troopers are necessary to capture and to defend a planet. Only troopers can capture the facilities and resources or the personel on a planet. Ships cannot capture anything. (like aeroplanes) The empire with the last trooper on a planet at a given strategic turn owns the planet.

 

For example (assuming 3 combat rounds)

2 ships ("shark-class", 1 laser, 1 shield, some other stuff, 2 Hitpoints)

are fighting against

one ship ("mercury-class", 2 lasers, 2 shields, some other already known stuff - 3 Hitpoints)

1st combat round:

shark A fired...miss

shark B fires...hit

mercury shields defend... 1st shield miss, 2nd shield success (it can defend against laser hit)

mercury fires both lasers, 1st laser hits (against shark A - player chosed with dragging the laser icon over shark A) 2nd laser miss

shark A shield defense ...miss, shark A takes one Damage. It has now only 1 Hitpoint of his originally two left.

2nd combat round:

shark A fires...miss

shark B fires...miss

mercury fires both lasers at shark B ...2 hits (lucky)

shark B shield defend...success but a shield can only defend against one hit therefore Shark B takes an automatic hit. He has now only 1 of his 2 Hits left.

3rd combat round: (the last in this turn)

shark A fires...hit

shark B fires...hit

mercury shield defend against 2 hits. one shield defend is a miss and the second shield defend is a success. This means that the mercury loses 1 hitpoint out of its 3.

mercury fires both lasers at shark B and both hit.

shark B shield defend against one of the two hits....miss. Shark B exploded. Just one hit would have been enough because shark B had only 1 Hitpoint left (remember 2nd combat round)

Summary after 3 combat rounds

Mercury and shark A remain in the system, licking their wounds. Shark A has only 1 hitpoint left and mercury has 2 Hitpoints left. Regarding the superior combat values of mercury the shark A would better flee out of the system (if it has a FTL with enough fuel), probably it would not stand further 3 combat rounds against the mercury-cruiser.

 

 

 

002.4.Races

4.1.General

I like the kind of race design Sean presented very much. Therefor I used virtually the same system. Thanks Sean.

4.2.Different races will have the following attributes available for modification.

4.2.1. Aggression: Influences the chance to hit for space and ground combat

4.2.2. Diligence: Influences the output of pp in production facilities

4.2.3. Replication: population growth, the base is "x"%

4.2.4. Logic: Influences the research output of the race

4.3. All of these factors have "1.0" as the default value. Increasing or decreasing these factors affect the formulas accordingly.

For example, a Logic Factor of "1.1" increases the research output by 10%.

4.4. Modification of these values determines the uniqueness for each race (other than name.) Raising one value will cause the lowering of other values. During race modification, sliders will be used to help facilitate the modification of these values (similar to MOO1's research sliders.)

4.5. To help balance the game, each factor will have a "weight" associated with it. These weights will be part of the Theme for the game.

For example, lets say that the Theme says that the Logic Factor has a weight of 2.0 where all other rates have a weight of 1.0. Changing the value of the Logic Factor has twice the effect as other values.

Lets design a race with a logic weight of 2.0. The goal is to design a "research" race. (all numbers are default values)

ATTRIBUTE FACTOR WEIGHT

Aggression: 1.0 1.0

Diligence: 0.9 1.0

Replication: 0.5 1.0

Logic: 1.3 2.0

The combat values of the race are quite normal. no % modifications

The output rate of a level 1 production facility is decresed for 0.6 (10% out of 6 ppīs) and therefore only 5 pp per round (round up)

The replication rate is decreased for 3% (50% of 5% rounded up) and is only 2%

The research output is increased by 30% to 1.3 rep per turn.

In the above example, the Logic Factor is increased by 0.3. Because of the weight on this factor, this change is represented by an 0.6 increase. This 0.6 change must be distributed out among the other factors as a decrease.

002.5.Planets

5.1.General

Each system has an amount of planets/planetoids and asteroids. These bodies are used by the empires for placing and storing facilities, personel, troops and resources.

5.2.Habitability:

ranges from a certain negative number till a certain positive number. Determines how many infrastructure (i) can be built up effectivly on a planet.

5.2.1.If the habitability of a world falls down at 0 or fewer, then this world could not habitated so long as this number exists.

5.2.2. You can build a certain amount of i per habitability factor.

5.3. Athmosphere: oxygen, methan, none

An athmosphere defines the basic habitability of a planet. In the first model there are only two types of athmosphere. (and ony type with "none"...)

5.4.Gravity: very high, high, standard, low, very low

High gravity means a reduction of habitability. Also there is an further impact of on the replication rate of a race. (see gravity table)

Low gravity means a reduction of habitability.

Standard gravity means no reduction.

Some worlds have gravitation anomalies

5.4. Size of a planet: huge, standard, tiny

5.4.1. Each planet can house a certain amount of already mined resources. Then it is full and cannot be burdened further until some resources are removed. (see stellar body table)

huge planets have a lot of surface space

standard planets changes nothing

tiny planets: like planetoids or asteroid-fields, few place

5.4.2. The siz of a planet effects its habitability.

 

5.5. Temperature: hell, greenhouse, standard, cold, frozen

A hot temperatured world effects its habitability (see temperature table)

A standard world effects nothing

An Iceworld effects the habitability and the replication

Notice: There could be a lot of more types of temperature. The 5 types above are only the basic. In future version there is the possibility to include more types.

The chance of a certain temperature depends on the sun-type, the location of the starsystem (near the galactic center there should be a higher chance for hot worlds) etc.

Example of a planet: (the race which detects it, is an oxygen breathing race)

Habitability

Athmosphere: oxygen 6

Size: Tiny -1

Gravity: low -1

Temperature: Greenhouse -1

result =3

this means that the planet has a habitability of 3 and that there can be 3 i with a sum of 15 personel at its maximum.

 

002.6.Technology

6.1. General

Research facilities create a certain amount of research points per turn.

6.1.1. All techs require a certain number of research points to be "discovered".

6.1.2. Rep cannot be stored or traded. Once gained they have to expended immediately in one of the technology fields mentioned in the themes.

 

6.2. General Technology

General Technology is divided in several fields. Each field is divided into levels. The higher a level the better. You cannot "jump over" a level of a technology. This means in order to discover lvl 3 you have to discover first lvl 1 and 2.

6.2.1. General technology is accessible for each empire.

6.3. Special Technology

There are a lot of fields of special technology. Special technology is not free accessible. Each empire has to "purchase" special technology at the beginning of the game and/or during the game via "Dep".

6.3.1.If an empire has not purchased a special technology, it cannot invest any rep in it.

 

6.4. Developement points (dep)

Dep can purchase a special technology and all its levels. Each special technology cost a certain amount of dep. (default is 1 dep)

6.4.1. At the beginning each player has a certain amount of dep. If the players agree there could also be a certain amount "appearing" during a game of universe every time after some turns. (the default setting is 3 dep at the beginning and 1 dep after every 50 turns)

6.5.1. The dep could be stored, but not traded or transported.

6.5. Technological transfer

Two empires which have a tech alliance can agree to make a tech transfer from one empire to the another empire. This means that the race which obtains the tech can develope it without developing the prerequsites or former levels of the common/special tech.

6.5.1. Such a technological transfer could also be made with special techs. (in this case the receiver of the tech need not to invest a dep for a techtransfer)

for example: race A gives race B the gift of "FTL 3". This means that race B, which owned only FTL 1 up to this moment can now invest in the technology FTL 3. Of course they have to pay for it normally. They dont have first to develope FTL lvl 2! But they cannot develope FTL 4 because they dont have FTL 2. They can only develope FTL 3.

6.6 Starting Technologies

Every player has a certain amount of rep at the beginning of the game.

002.7.Miscellanous Rules (optional and advanced)

7.1.Gifts

Every object in the game: ships, troopers, planets etc. can be given away as a gift. Just tell the computer what you want to hand out to whom. The new owner can now feel free to use the new items as he wants. Of course he can give the "present" back to the original owner next turn - as a gift.

7.1.1. Temporary Gifts: Regarding to gifts there is also a time limit which you can integrate. For example: Give empire B 16 troopers from planet X for 10 turns.

7.1.2. The empires which are involved have to be "known". Known empires are all empires which had at least one contact with ships in the same system.

7.2.Communications (funny and optional in multiplayer games only)

At the beginning of a game every race can choose a language number from 1 to 10 (default setting) 7.2.1.The language numbers are a "open" circle. This means after the 10 comes again the 1.

7.2.2.If two races are meeting and a chat window opens up, then the difference of both language numbers are compared by the computer. Only races with an equal number can communicate normally. (in english for example) If there is no equal number then the difference counts. Per point difference, the abilty to communicate reduces to a certain amount (default is 75/50/25/5/1%)

7.2.3. After a certain amount of turns there are bonis which are added to the difference (default setting is 50 turns)

The idea of communication-problems was suggested by Hal Davison.

For example:

Two empires meeting the first time in empty space. Race A has a language number of 2 and race B has a language number of 8. There is a difference of 4 between both (remember after 10 comes again the number 1) Race A has no "linguistic" technology therefore it gets translated in about 3% of the words the other empire tipps in the chat window. The other words are a mess of symbols and numbers. Race B has lingustic lvl 2 discovered and gets in about 25% of the words correct which the other emperor tipps.

Imagine a chat window message which looks like this: Why 6453&%$ if /87d6§" then WAR!!!

Maybe a reason to invest in linguistics?

7.3.Military Maintenance

7.3.1. Each ship and each trooper needs supply. If a ship/trooper has no supply at the end of a strategical turn, then it has disadvantages in movement and to Hit/defend rolls.

7.3.2. Each ship/trooper can after the last supply get on a certain amount of turns with it, but thereafter it needs supply. (default value is 10 turns)

7.3.3. Each ship/Trooper has a supply value in needed supply points. (sup) (default value is 1 sup per Hitpoint the ship has and 1 sup per Trooper)

7.3.2. Supply Facilities generate a certain amount of supply points per turns. For this they need a certain amount of r to convert them into sup. (default value is 1 r for 5 sup)

7.3.3. Sup can be transported, traded and stored on planets or freighters.

7.3.4. Ships can use sups if they are in the same system as a sup.

7.3.5. Troops can use sups if they are one the same planetary body as a sup. Troops which are currently transported need never supply. (the supply time is "freezed")

7.3.6. Refueling a FTL ship: a certain amounts of sup can refuel a FTL ship. (default is 1 sup)

7.3.7. Repairing the Hitpoints of a ship: Repairing a damaged ship requires a certain amount of sup per lost Hitpoint (default is 1)

7.3.8. Refueling and repairing are special actions which are optional to the sup system. Normally it would suffice to use the general rules for fuel or repairs.

7.3.9.Reserves: Ships and Troops can be given into a "imperial reserve" army. They then dont need any maintenance. But they need some turns to be active. (default setting is 5 turns) The imperial reserve cannot fight or move.

 

 

 

Further thoughts for future versions of Univsere with this scheme as a basic version

-Operation point model as Leland Davis suggested in one of his mails. In this it is not necessary to have the personel on the same planet (see above) just in a predefined range. (same system or so)

-more than one resource(r). Similar to Dave Peterschmidts suggestion there should be some kinds of different resources. A different kind of resource (r2) could be mean two different things to my econ scheme.

1. r2 is more intensive. This means that one r2 allows the transformation of 2 ppīs instead of only 1.

2. r2 is a totally different kind of resource. It is needed to produce other kinds of material. For example a infrastructure facility can now cost 2 normal pp and 1 pp which comes from the transformation of one r2. This means the cost are the same but the pp-origin results from two different materials.

-trade - more than one type of resource would require some thoughts about trade.

-Further component types.