Game design document

Map

Main focus of the game is a star map. Star map consists of the stars and fleets of star ships moving between them.

Stars

Stars are discrete points on the map. A star has:

• Position
• Name
• Size
• Type
• Trait
• Colony

The name consists of a constellation name and a prefix (Bayer letter). The size determines maximum colony size.

Star types

• Normal
• Giant – outgoing ship speed x2/3
• Dwarf – outgoing ship speed x1.5
• Nebula – outgoing ship speed x2/3, except for battleships
• Debris – outgoing ship speed x2/3, except for cruisers

Star traits

• Normal – no special properties
• Ancient – colony yields 50 passive research points
• Rich - colony yields x2 industry points
• Gems - colony yields x2.5 supply points
• Pleasant - colony population growth x2, population capacity x1.5
• Ruins - colony yields 10 passive research points

Fleets

Fleets are group of star ships that share location and order (final destination). A fleet has:

• Owner
• Position
• Ships
• Waypoints

Position

If the fleet is stationary then the position is equal to the star position the fleet is at. If the fleet is moving then it can have any other position.

Movement

Movement is only possible between two stars.
Maximum movement range is 2 units.
Movement speed is 0.4 units / turn, modified by star type.
Fleet can be ordered to fly to a star beyond movement range. In that case the fleet will move along the fastest path where individual strides comply to range rule.
Once a fleet moves away from a star, a final destination can be changed but the immediate destination cannot be changed.

Visible information

The player has access to all information about his own assets.

Vision range

Colony vision radius: 2
Fleet vision radius: 1
Vision ranges combine as sets (union of circles).
The player can see other player’s fleets and colonies only if they are inside the vision range.

Star information

If a star is unscouted, only it’s position, type and name are known to the player.
If a star is scouted the player will know all information about the star itself (size and traits).

Other’s colony information

A player knows nothing about other’s colony if the star is not scouted.
Player knows about the presence and ownership of the colony if the star is in the vision range.
Player knows population size, number of factories and the number of ground troops at the colony if there is allied fleet in orbit.

Other’s fleet information

A player knows all about other’s fleet if it in the vision range except waypoints beyond immediate destination.

Colonies

A star can be exploited by forming a colony at it. There can be at most one colony at a star. A colony has:

• Owner
• Population
• Factories
• Construction stockpile
• Troops

Colony is manipulated with following orders:

• Development policy (exploit, normal, expand)
• Output focus (construction, research)
• Construction queue
• Stimulation
• Rally point selection

Population

Population limit: star size
Growth per turn: 0.1 * pop * (1 – pop / limit)
Minimal growth: 0.1

Factories

Limit: star size
No growth, have to be built.

Troops

Limit: star size
Growth per turn: factories / 10

Colonization

A newly established colony starts with:

• 1 population
• no factories
• no troops

Construction

Colony performs construction only in following cases:

• Focus is set to construction
• Factories have priority over focus and factory limit is not reached yet

Staffed factories: min(population, factories)
Industry points: population + 2 * staffed factories

While industry points combined with construction stockpile are greater then current item cost, the item is built and remaining points are used to build next item. When items are built, stockpile is reduced first and then industry points. If there is insufficient points to finish a construction item then remaining industry points are added to construction stockpile. When construction queue is emptied the remaining industry points are used as research factor: Research factor = remaining industry points / starting industry points

Research

Passive research points: pop
Active research points: min(pop, 3 * factories)
A colony always contributes passive research points. Active research points are add too if colony focus is set to research or if research factor after construction is greater than zero.

Construction projects

• Factory
  • Construction cost: 30 + 10 * factories
• Colony ship
  • Construction cost: 250
  • Removes 1 population
• Troop transport
  • Construction cost: 100
  • Removes 0.2 troops
• Battleship
  • Construction cost: 80
• Destroyer
  • Construction cost: 40
• Cruiser
  • Construction cost: 40

Construction queue

If colony is ordered to build factories and can build more factories then factory project will be present at the start of the queue.

Development policies:

• Exploit – don’t build factories
• Normal – build factories in a manner that maximizes colony output
• Expand – build factories without limit

"Normal" development aims to build only so many factories that are usable by population next turn, respecting colony focus. But it also aims to ensure at least x0.1 industrial potential is allocated to factory construction, respecting colonies factory capacity.

All star ship projects except colony ship rotate in the construction queue, when one instance is finished, new order for the same ship type is added at the end of the queue. Troop transport and colony ship are normally removed from queue when built.

Construction projects can't drop colony population below 1 and defense troops below 1. Colony ships and troop transports are built up to that limit and any quantity that would go beyond it gets postponed.

Supplies

Generation rate: 0.2 * min(pop, factories) Unused supplies are stored in player’s abstract storage. There is no upper limit for how many supplies can be stored. Lower limit for stored supplies is 0, that is, the player can’t use up more than he/she has stored and is about to generate in a turn.

Stimulation

Stimulation supply cost: pop
Colony output factor: 1 + supplies / pop
If total stimulation cost S across all player’s colonies exceeds available supplies A (storage + generation rate) then stimulation for each colony is proportionally reduced to the available amount of supplies. In that case each stimulated colony receives following amount of supplies: pop * A / S
Supplies given to colonies are deducted from player’s generation rate and storage.
Colony output is increased by multiplying industry point output first and then active research. Passive research is unaffected.

Rally points

Stars can be marked as rally points. A colony can be ordered to rally new ships to a specific rally point, the nearest one or to not rally ships at all. Only ships built in the current turn are rallied. Other ships at the star are not affected. Rallying doesn't happen in case of combat at the colony.

Diplomacy

Contact

Diplomatic contact between two players is possible when either party has a fleet or colony of another party inside a vision range.

Relations

For each diplomatic contact, a player can select one of the following relations:

• War – players can engage in space and ground combat
• Peace
• Alliance – players win together and share vision

This is also the precedence order of relations. Effective relation between two parties is higher precedence relation selected by either party. Upon first contact both parties start in peace with each other.
Changing relation becomes effective on the next turn. Alliance can't be established and existing one would be broken (relation would be peace) if one party is at war with an ally of the other party.

Fleet actions

Scouting

When a fleet visits a star it becomes permanently scouted for the fleet owner.

Colonization

Any uncolonized star can be marked for colonization. When a colony ship visits such a star, and the star is not colonized, the colony will be established for the ship’s player. If multiple players attempt to colonize the same star system at the same time, the system remains uncolonized.

Successful colonization removes one colony ship from the fleet.

Combat

When two or more warring players meet at the same star with either fleet or colony, the following combat phases happen, in this order: space combat, bombardment and ground combat.

Stationary fleets prevent the movement of hostile fleets through the star system they are stationed in.

Combat side

All ships of the same player, present at the star, are grouped into a single combat side. A combat side has:

• Size
• Ship groups, each having:
  • Hit points
  • Attack points

Side size: sum of ship hitpoints * cost
Hit points: amount of ships
Attack points: amount of ships
Hit points and attack points carry over through combat phases and can be fractional.

Space combat

Space combat automatically happens when fleets of two or more warring players meet at the same star.
In the order from the biggest to the smallest side size, each combat side attacks each other side (also ordered descending by size) it is at war with. For each pair of sides, each attacker’s ship group attacks defender’s ships in the following order: space combat ships in order of cost effectiveness, troop ships, colony ships.
During the attack, attacking ship group spends attack points to reduce defender’s hit points. The number of spent points is limited to whichever is smaller: available attack points or attack points needed to reduce defender to 0 hit points.
Damage (hit point reduction) per attack point is 0.5 except in following cases:

• Battleship attacking cruisers: 2
• Battleship attacking any other type except battleships: 1
• Cruiser attacking battleships: 0.25
• Colony ships and troop ships receive 2x damage

Bombardment

Bombardment happens if a combat side has surviving space combat ships, is at war with colony owner and owner of combat side has allowed the bombardment of the colony.
Each point of damage reduces colony population by 1, factory count by 1 and ground troop count by 1.
Damage per attack point:

• Battleship: 1
• Cruiser: 0.1
• Destroyer: 0.1

If a colony population reaches or drops below 0, the colony is destroyed and the star can be colonized again.

Ground combat

Ground combat happens if a combat side has surviving troop ships, is at war with colony owner and owner of combat side has allowed the invasion of the colony.
Each troop ship is worth 1 ground combat strength, as is each point of colony’s ground troops.
Each side simultaneously reduces the strength of the other side by its own strength score. Colony ground troop count is reduced proportionally by the lost strength. If defender’s strength is 0 or less and attacker’s strength is greater than 0, the colony switches ownership to the attacker. Invading troop ship count is reduced proportionally by the lost strength, rounded up. The fraction that would be lost to rounding counts toward conquered colony ground troop instead.
If conquest is successful, ground troop count is less then 1 and there is at least one unspent troop ship then 1 more troop ship lands (is removed from space fleet and ground troop count is increased by 1).

Research

Each turn all of player’s research points can be invested in one of following branches:

• Chemistry
  • Industry points are multiplied by 1.2^level
  • Bombardment damage received from opponents is divided by 1.2^level
  • Ship range increased by 0.1*level up to +1
• Mathematics
  • Ship combat damage received from opponents is divided by 1.2^level
  • Bombardment damage received from opponents is divided by 1.2^level
  • Stimulus a colony can receive is increased by 0.2*level
• Physics
  • Space combat damage dealt to opponents is multiplied by 1.2^level
  • Bombardment damage dealt to opponents is multiplied by 1.2^level
  • Ship speed between owned colonies is multiplied by 1+0.2*level
• Sociology
  • Research points are multiplied by 1.2^level
  • Troop ship and ground troop combat strength is multiplied by 1.2^level

Research point cost up to level 7: 50, 75, 130, 200, 300, 500, 700
Research point cost after level 7: 1000*1.5^(level-8)

Inventions

Inventions have a type, level, and prerequisite. Invention bonuses applied only when the player achieves the technology levels listed in the invention requirements. Bonuses of higher level invention replace bonuses of the lower level inventions of the same type.

At the start of the game players are dealt 5 inventions. Additional inventions are dealt to players to keep the number of locked (requirements unmet) inventions to 5, as long as it is possible. Those additional inventions also have higher technology requirements. For first 5 additions each requirement level is increased by 8, for next 5 by 18 (10x - 2), etc.

Dealing inventions is independent for each player. For each deal, the type is an uniformly random one among the types that are not present among the locked inventions, and the player doesn't have the highest level of it. The level is either 1 or 2, or if the player already has that invention type, 1 or 2 above the highest level, uniformly random in both cases if the choice is possible.

Natalism policy

Increased population growth on a colony.

• By x1.25 at level 1, requiring sociology 2 and chemistry 1
• By x1.5 at level 2, requiring sociology 4 and chemistry 2
• By x1.75 at level 3, requiring sociology 7 and chemistry 5
• By x2 at level 4, requiring sociology 10 and chemistry 8

Cryogenesis

Changed colony ship population requirement and initial new colony size.

• To 1.5 at level 1, requiring chemistry 3 and 1 in all other branches
• To 2 at level 2, requiring chemistry 5 and 3 in all other branches
• To 2.5 at level 3, requiring chemistry 7 and 5 in all other branches
• To 3 at level 4, requiring chemistry 10 and 8 in all other branches

Zoning

Multiplies factory construction cost.

• By x0.8 at level 1, requiring mathematics 2 and sociology 1
• By x0.65 at level 2, requiring mathematics 4 and sociology 2
• By x0.5 at level 3, requiring mathematics 7 and sociology 5
• By x0.35 at level 4, requiring mathematics 10 and sociology 8

Militarization

Increased troop growth on a colony.

• By x1.5 at level 1, requiring sociology 3 and physics 1
• By x2 at level 2, requiring sociology 6 and physics 4

Particle screen

Battleship defense increased by x1.5, requiring mathematics 6 and physics 6.

Thrust vectoring

Cruiser defense increased by x1.5, requiring chemistry 6 and mathematics 6.

Improved slugs

Destroyer attack increased by x1.5, requiring chemistry 6 and physics 6.

Kinetic bombs

Increased destroyer bombardment strength increased.

• By x1.5, requiring physics 4 and 2 in all other branches
• By x2, requiring physics 7 and 5 in all other branches

Dropships

Portion of troop ships that would be lost during invasion survive instead.

• 1/5 at level 1, requiring mathematics 2 and sociology 1
• 1/3 at level 2, requiring mathematics 5 and sociology 3
• 1/2 at level 3, requiring mathematics 10 and sociology 8

Mobile suits

Colony ship and troop ship get space combat attack strength.

• Of base x1 at level 1, requiring physics 3 and 1 in all other branches
• Of base x1.5 at level 2, requiring physics 5 and 3 in all other branches
• Of base x2 at level 3, requiring physics 10 and 5 in all other branches

Game start and end

Starting conditions

Each player starts a game with one colony on a size 10 normal star. The colony starts with 10 population, 10 factories, no troops, and one cruiser in orbit

Player elimination

A player is considered eliminated when he doesn’t own any colony.
Any remaining fleets are converted to a neutral forces who don’t move beyond their immediate destination (first waypoint), are at war with all other players and bomb colonies. Neutral troop ships don’t invade and colony ships don’t colonize.

End condition

The game ends when at least one surviving player has formed an alliance with all other players. This implies that being only one player left ends the game too.

Scoring

Initial player score is 0. Each turn, player’s research point production is added to the player’s score.

Ranking

Surviving players always have higher rank than the eliminated ones. Surviving and eliminated player groups are ranked by their score (higher the better).

Qubit reward

After the game ends, the user of the application is rewarded certain amount of qubits, depending on his ranking and initial number of players. First place always rewards 10 qubits while other ranks receive 1 qubit unless specified otherwise below:

• 3 player game, 2nd place: 4 qubits
• 4 or more player game:
  • 2nd place: 7 qubits
  • 3rd place: 4 qubits

Survival mode

Survival mode has no “win” condition, the goal is to survive as long as possible. Everyone being in the same alliance doesn’t end the game anymore.

Starting the mode

After the normal game ends, the user can choose to continue it in a survival mode.

Survival mode can be started directly. Starting conditions in this case are as follows: a home star is same as in the normal mode, all of the stars, except the ones with guardians and are colonized by a player with the closest homeworld, all colonies are fully developed, players get no starting ships, and research is advanced to the level where next level costs more than best player's research output.

Qubit reward

The application tracks the highest number of turns reached in the survival mode. After survival ends, and the user has beaten previous best turn in survival, the user of the application is rewarded qubits equal to the difference between previous best run turns and new best run turns. For the first survival run, previous best is considered to be 0.

Quantum research

Qubits earned over multiple runs of the game (either normal or survival mode) can be spent on quantum research that provides following bonuses (level is level of the bonus):

• Nanotechnology
  • Chemistry additionally multiplies industry points by 1.01^(level*chemistry)
• Probe weapons
  • Physics additionally multiplies space combat and bombardment damage dealt to opponents points by 1.01^(level*physics)
• Probe defenses
  • Mathematics additionally divides space combat and bombardment damage received from opponents points by 1.01^(level*mathematics)
• Quantum computing
  • Research points are multiplied by 1.1^level
• Planetary shield
  • Bombardment damage received from opponents points are divided by 1.1^level
• Void ecology
  • Effective star size, for the purposes of colony population, factory and troop count limit is multiplied by 1.1^(0.5*level)
  • Minimum population growth multiplied by 1.1^(0.5*level)
• Starlifting
  • Colony factory limit is multiplied by 1.1^level
  • Effective population for the purposes of staffing factories is multiplied by 1.1^level
• Stargate
  • Ship speed multiplier between owned colonies from physics becomes 1+0.2*physics*(1+0.1*level)
  • Ship range between colonies is multiplied by 1.1^level

Cost of improving bonus level: 5 + level

The threat

The threat everyone is fighting in the survival mode are unending waves of alien probes. The probes are at war with everyone.

Each turn probe fleet spawns at the random point along the edges of the map, 2 units away from the nearest star. They head for the nearest colony and then towards the center (the ancient star). They attack all fleets and bombard all colonies along the way, taking time to destroy a colony. Once the center is cleared, the probes send 1/5th of the ships toward the nearest colony that is not along already being attacked.

They don't spawn before turn 100 (counting from the start of the normal mode) and their power progression is counted from there. Number of ships spawned in a fleet is (turn - 100 + 1) ^ 1.5. Fleet composition is as if a colony was building ships in following order: 2 destroyers, 2 cruisers, 1 battleship. Every 2 turns random lowest tech level is increased by 1 (initially all 0).

Global news

Global news inform all players about certain events.
Unless stated otherwise, the minimum number of turns between two events is 20. Events that occur during that period are dropped. Special events that do get reported anyway during that period do reset “no reporting” period for normal events.

Expansion news

Reported when total number of colonized star reaches ¼, ½, and ¾ of all stars. Thresholds lower then number of players * 3 are replaced with that figure instead.
When all stars are colonized the special event is reported (regardless of “no reporting” period).

Ancient star guardians news

Report when the ancient star is visited for the first time by anyone.

Report when each time a guardian ship is defeated. Defeat of the last guardian is the special event (ignores “no reporting” period).

Ancient star colonization news

When the ancient star is colonized it is reported via special event (ignores “no reporting” period).

Defeat news

When a player loses all of his colonies, it is reported via special event (ignores “no reporting” period).

Turn processing

When all player end their turn, next turn is processed in following phases: precombat, combat and postcombat.

Precombat

Following processes take place before combat events:

• Data collection for postcobmat phase
• Colony growth (population, troops)
• Colony construction projects
• Fleet movement

Fleets are moved in the order of their arrival time. Arrival time in this context can be fractional. When a fleet stops moving and is at (or has arrived to) a star then it can engage other fleets in space combat. Participating in a space combat prevents the fleet from moving further this turn.

Postcombat

Following items are awarded after combat but regardless of combat outcome, their values are the same as player sees them just before ending a turn:

• Supply generation
• Research points and technology advancement
• Score

Following events take place after combat:

• Colonization
• Contact establishment
• Diplomatic relation update