System/Planet Specifications

Discussion for the Next Big Thing, which is purely theoretical.
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Arcalane
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System/Planet Specifications

Post by Arcalane »

Each system will hold one habitable planet (and other uninhabitables merely for decor) and each planet should have it's own specific information.

Population:
Morale:
Tax Rate:
Conditions:
Mineral Resources:
Mining Rate:
Special Notes:

Breakdown;

Population
An empire is nothing without it's people. A higher population means more income from taxes, more income from mining (as there are more miners) and so on and so forth. A higher population is harder to keep happy though, so keep tabs on Morale. Low morale means low population growth!

Morale
Equally, an empire is nothing without the support of it's people. A planet with low morale produces less resources per turn from mining and similar ventures, and if morale drops low enough, they may rebel against you. Fortunately, morale is relatively easy to keep in good condition.

Tax Rate
The only directly player modifiable 'stat', tax rate determines income based on population. High tax means more money, but lower morale, and of course low tax means less money but higher morale. Tax rate has no impact on mineral income.

Conditions
Not all planets are hospitable, even if they are inhabitable. Poor conditions means poor morale, and poor morale means slower population growth. Conditions are the hardest to improve, as they generally involve planet-wide terraforming operations.

Mineral Resources
Not all planets and systems are formed with the same amount of raw mineral resources. The larger and better the deposits are, the more income you get from mining ventures. Mining produces our universal resource at a flat rate which is modified by resources, population and any special notes, though not necessarily in that order. Mineral Resources are slowly depleted, however (though they bottom out at low level rather than dry up completely) and are impossible to restore.

Special Notes
Certain planets have their own unique touches and benefits. Some worlds are perfect for agriculture, and thus have a bonus to population growth. Others might be naturally scenic, improving morale. Yet another might have abnormally high levels of rare and valuable minerals, further improving mining output. Very rarely, some might even have other hidden things that can only be found by proper exploration. Archeological evidence has turned up remnants of a vast alien empire before... perhaps they left something important behind!

~~

A good place to start would be to determine the base income from taxes and the basic income rates for mineral levels. Then we can think about pricing ships and everything else.

I'm also open for ideas on the special notes. They're planet-specific bonuses as said, but there's plenty of room for expansion there. The ruins could contain all sorts of weird and wonderful artifacts - some kind of ship foundry, an archive full of alien history, an armoury loaded with ancient weapons, a massive observation unit that allows an empire to observe a single system in high detail every couple of turns, etc. etc.
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Post by Lloyd16 »

here's my idea on the money and resources stuff.

Money could pay for workers (maintenance on shipyards, resource stations and such), and minerals can be used for the building of them. use money only for planet improvements (like more houses to support more pop).
Base values could be (as an example) 10bc (billion credits), and minerals could be 15 tons per turn (and need storage to hold vast numbers of them).
We could use tons of weight on things that need minerals as a base for resource cost. (eg if a ship weights 50 tons, it needs 50 tons to build), plus weight of modules and weapons (include essential things like life support with the base value). Use a mixture of weight and reactor power from the ship to limit amount. A ship weighting 50 tons might need 5 bc per turn to pay crew (all made up figures).
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Post by Droid »

Don't overcomplicate things.

Population
Allegiance (Morale)
Tax Rate
Planet Type (Condition)
Resources

Basically the Sins of a Solar Empire breakdown (practically what Arcalane has there) is more than sufficient.

Make fleet upkeep cost just a % of your income based off your fleet size (like SoaSE again), if you want that. Otherwise, just keep resourcing for building military/infrastructure.
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Arcalane
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Post by Arcalane »

Population:
Tracked in tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, or millions?

Morale:
Rioting!
Terrible
Angry

Unhappy
Average
Content
Happy

Excellent
Superb


Tax Rate:
No ideas here just yet. Impacts morale and funds generated per unit of population. Extreme/Very High/High/Normal/Low/Very Low/None?

Conditions:
Terrible (-20% Morale, -25% Max Population)
Bad (-15% Morale, -20% Max Population)
Poor (-10% Morale, -10% Max Population)
Average (+0% Morale, +0% Max Population)
Decent (+5% Morale, +10% Max Population)
Good (+15% Morale, +20% Max Population)
Excellent (+25% Morale, +35% Max Population)

Resources:
Stripmined (0% Mining Output, only possible via extensive overmining)
Barren (10-20% Mining Output)
Scattered (30-40% Mining Output)
Lacking (60-80% Mining Output)
Average (100% Mining Output)
Plentiful (110-115% Mining Output)
Abundant (120-125% Mining Output)
Astounding (135-150% Mining Output)

Mining Rate:
No ideas here yet, should impact morale, mining output and resource depletion. See Tax Rate for prelim terms?
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Post by Droid »

I think population can be tracked by something like X x 100000 people.
So, population of a planet can be easily represented by say "20" but that would mean 20 x 100000 = 2 million.

I pick 100000 because that seems like a logical number a good (fleet of) colony ship(s) would be able to transport.
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Post by BizzarreCoyote »

Population: I'd say millions, keeps the numbers simpler.

Mining Rate: I don't think it should impact morale, if morale impacts mining rate. Sort of a downward spiral if either gets too low, though if both are high, they will both be difficult to reduce.

Perhaps the higher the resources, the higher the mining rate and output, and vice versa? After all, why be cautious if there's plenty to go around?

Forget the other one, just got a little overzealous.
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Post by Droid »

You mean like, you can opt to "explore" a system for artifacts? :P
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Arcalane
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Post by Arcalane »

BizzarreCoyote wrote:Population: I'd say millions, keeps the numbers simpler.

Mining Rate: I don't think it should impact morale, if morale impacts mining rate. Sort of a downward spiral if either gets too low, though if both are high, they will both be difficult to reduce.
You're potentially brutally tearing apart a planet's natural resources at lower levels, so that -will- hurt morale, by upsetting folks and obviously leading to protest groups.

Taxes and Conditions will be a major morale influencers, Mining Rate will only really significantly influence morale at the very high end of the scale.
BizzarreCoyote wrote:Perhaps the higher the resources, the higher the mining rate and output, and vice versa? After all, why be cautious if there's plenty to go around?
Because you can use a slower, more careful rate to extract the full potential, or you can use a higher rate to get as much as possible as quickly as possible, but at much greater cost to the resource deposits (because you're being less efficient/wasting some) and morale (much less efficient methods, like stripmining) and possibly planetary conditions if you destroy too much of the environment.
Droid wrote:You mean like, you can opt to "explore" a system for artifacts?
That would be what I was planning in the first place. ;)
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Arcalane
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Post by Arcalane »

Droid's Bonus got me thinking; should planets be split into Types as well? The Type could be used to smooth over initial specification gen; each type might have fixed ranges for Resources, Conditions and so on and so forth.

What do I mean by Type? Well, stuff like Ice Worlds, Desert Worlds, Lava Worlds, stuff like that.

Go nuts.
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Post by Droid »

We could probably have:
- Rocky (high resources, poor to decent conditions)
- Lava (high resources, terrible to poor conditions)
- Ice (terrible to poor conditions)
- Ocean (low resources, poor to decent conditions)
- Desert (average resources, average to good conditions)
- Gas Giant (high resources, uhm...good luck finding a place to stand!)
- Earth-like (average resources, good to excellent conditions)
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Post by AlphaDetisMegas »

so basically a classification system a la star trek M-class etc.
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Post by Arcalane »

More like the Space Empires series, Sins of a Solar Empire, or any other game which has multiple planet types; far easier to understand without looking it up somewhere else, 'cause it tells you all you need to know on the tin. "Class M" tells me jack shit. "Terrestrial" or "Earth-type" is far more informative. :roll:
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Post by Arcalane »

Conventional: Fairly boring and average planets, mostly.
  • Rocky: Harsh, rocky landscapes often riddled with craters and full of cliffs, valleys and such, with above average resources, and middling conditions.
  • Terrestrial: Comparable to Earth in many ways, with average resources and good to high conditions. Fairly rare though, beyond the initial starting worlds.
  • Oceanic: Largely water-covered surface, with extensive island chains. Very low to low resources, but good conditions as they make a good holiday spot. Apart from the occasional giant tsunami.
  • Atmosphereless: Completely lacking in atmosphere, perhaps due to cataclysmic events in the planet's history. Subpar conditions, but often possessing above average resources.
  • Desert: Planet is essentially one massive desert, with some rocky outcroppings. Poor conditions and unpredictable resources.
~~

Exotic: Hazardous, unnatural or non-standard worlds.
  • Icy: Permanently frozen worlds. Very poor conditions as a result of incredibly low temperatures, but often above average resources due to unnaturally high levels of otherwise rare minerals.
  • Volcanic: Volcanically hyperactive worlds. Vast supplies of easily accessible resources thanks to mineral-rich lava flows and geothermal energy, but searing heat and unpredictable lava flows lead to very poor conditions.
  • Gas Giant: Not often encountered as the prime world, Gas Giants have an abundance of important gaseous elements like He-3, making them very valuable. Unfortunately, gas extraction is also very dangerous.
  • Crystalline: Bizarre and beautiful yet truly alien landscapes made of giant crystal lattices. Resource rich, but tending towards poor conditions. Often has unusual properties such as nonstandard magnetic fields. Very rare and valuable for research.
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Post by Droid »

What you have there sounds excellent.
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Post by derekiv »

Vague Formula For Income for a Planet Output = K*P*Q*TR/M
Q=Quality
P=Population
TR=Tax Rate
M=Morale
K=Balancing Variable
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