Pre-DaftNES4: Born of Stardust

Daftpanzer

canonically ambiguous
Joined
Nov 27, 2002
Messages
6,641
Location
Portsmouth, England, UK
Announcement: the galaxy is now full. Anyone posting race/faction descriptions now does so at their own risk.

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Welcome to Index Systems...

DaftNES4 is a fan tribute and complement to SLYNES and SysNES and MOO2.

Do you like creating your own sentient species and building space empires?

Well this is Pre-DaftNES4 (playtest / development). You are formally invited to post comments and/or help me crash-test the following rules for a few turns by playing a race of your own making, while I NPC the human race near the centre of the galaxy. Weird races and extreme actions are permissible, but this is not a 'lolz' NES as I am hoping to eventually run a proper NES based on this. Alternatively if you would like to play as pirates or mercenaries or merchants or something, let me know and we can work something out.

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Who dares dream within a dream? In one small corner of the galaxy, an abundance of intelligent life has emerged, most at equivalent level of technology. Nobody knows why or how this should be. An unthinking universe of maths and physics would surely never produce such a convergence. And yet, here it is. These species are now about to meet each other...



Stars and Things

Stars (and nebulas, and maybe other things) are the backbone of the map and of the game mechanics. They have up to four 'zones' or arcs or slots where you can put 'Bases' (up/down/left/right). Building Bases on Zones uses up Colonists, and this is how you expand. Each Zone can be single, double or triple value. These Zones represent different environment types that might actually be spread across several planets in the system. EG, a load of small rocky planets might be represented as one grey mineral Zone. On the other hand, two different Zones might exist on the same planet, like oceans and fertile land. And so, that is how things are abstracted. Zones have different settlement risks and benefits depending on your race. Some of the unsettled and seemingly empty Zones may have special features lurking, which will be explained along the way. A settled system will look something like this:



Zone Types:

Airsoup is very thick luscious atmosphere with enough water vapour and nutrients to support a haze of floating and flying biomass.

Cloud is useful isotopes and chemicals and things that may be scooped up from the mid-upper layers of thick atmospheres.

Aqua Bio is water ocean that is clean enough and has enough nutrients to support life as we know it.

Aqua
is dirty/strange/frozen water that is not really life-sustaining, though it may have industrial uses.

Bio
is large expanses of mostly-fertile land supporting plants and animals and that sort of thing.

Mineral
is rocks and crystals, useful for industry.

Chemical
is a more hazardous landscape with extra toxins, though still good for industry.

Energy is a zone where there is abundant free energy, perhaps from rare elements or the magnetic flux around giant planets.

Inferno
may be seas of molten metal and etc, not very pleasant but not necessarily worthless.



Races and Factions

Hopefully your race will be your reason for playing, not an excuse. I am thinking of my fun SLYNES experiences. On that note, you are allowed to have slave/servant/symbiont races if you want - you can list them separately or merge them into the same descriptions...

*I understand if you want to save your good ideas for the 'real' NES!*

Race Name: ~

Ruling Faction Name: ~

Start position: Feel free to pick any star on the map (and rename it), within reason. If you really want to start around a pulsar or in a nebula then there will be some explaining to do.

Physical description: Any variations on the humanoid form are welcome. If you really want a humanoid race that's ok. It might be better to think about the kind of homeworld you want, and then think of a sentient species that could have realistically ended up there. It doesn't have to be biological exactly (like the Kant of SLYNES).

Character description: Basically how your species view themselves and their role in the universe. But they don't have to be limited to a single stereotype. Humans seem a diverse bunch, and so can your aliens be.

Home system description: You can describe your whole starting system as well as your homeworld. In orbit around a gas giant? On the map, I will be abstracting this into the four 'zones' around the star, but the extra details may play a role in battles and events etc.

Brief history: I am interested to know how your species developed technology, so I know what starting techs to give you. Were there some big global wars or disasters shaking things up? Or has it been thousands of years of slow progress? Etc.

Faction description: You will actually play as a 'faction'. A single race may become split into multiple factions, or a faction may be an alliance of different races, etc. Anyway, here you can describe the kind of government you want. This may be tied in with your history.

Age:

  • Advanced start - you already have a colony or two, but maybe some extra problems. Feel free to specify which stars on the map you are interested in (and rename them if you want), and post a ship design or two - nothing over 20 Eco please. These will already be prototyped (see the Ship Design section).

  • Normal start - you've just built a spaceship ready to explore beyond your home system. Feel free to post a ship design along with your entry, it should be around 10 Eco or less. This will already be prototyped.

  • Slow start - you have no spaceships, but otherwise have a strong homeworld, and maybe strong Tech tradition that is currently focused away from space travel.

NOTE: There is only so much awesomeness to go around. The more godly you make your race, the more problems I will add to balance out. And vice-versa.

With all that done, your race will then get a ninja info card similar to the following:



NOTE: races can have certain special rules that overrule other rules, such as the above Humanity being able to build Colonists on the cheap.



Buildable Things

  • Ship: variable Eco (you design these customly, please see Ship Design below)

  • Army: 10 Eco (defends or captures bases, some ability to return fire against ships, needs to be escorted by a ship when invading)

  • Space Defences: 10 Eco (static, decent weapons against ships and armies, with minimal upkeep costs, can be used aggressively against enemy bases in shared systems)

  • Freighter: 5 Eco to build manually (keep your economy and military running smoothly)

  • Colonist: 15 Eco to build manually. Colonists are used up to build new Bases, which come in various forms:



Bases: The Colonization Procedure

If you are trying to build your first 'Base' in a system, you have to pay a Distance Cost, which is 10 Eco multiplied by the distance from your nearest settled system. You only need to pay this once per turn, per star, but it won't go away until you have some kind of Base in that system.

You then choose a Zone to settle, decide on a base/settlement type (see below) and decide how many Colonists to send. For simplicity, Colonists have instant travel across the galaxy - they are assumed to have tagged along with your ships, etc. But there is an element of risk involved, depending on the suitability of the environment in that 'Zone' (please see the right hand side of your race info card - a big green symbol means at least a 90% chance of success, while a single small red dot means 25% or less). Your Techs can improve the odds (notably Biology and Materials), and the risk is also slightly reduced if you have a Ship in the target system. The more Colonists you send in a single turn, the more chance you have of at least one being successful. Or if multiple Colonists succeed, this will give a head start to the new colony - fledgling colonies can be a net drain on your resources, as it takes some time for a new Base to actually become profitable.

By default, double and triple 'Zones' around stars yield double and triple incomes for any base. If your race has a bonus for certain types of bases in certain types of environment (please see the right hand side of your race info card), you can then expect the theoretical income to double again. But the Eco output of bases is never guaranteed. Note that if you have multiple races under your Faction, you can choose which race colonises where.

An Outpost base is special in that it is much less risky to settle (basically double the success chance), but gives absolutely no income by default. It will keep an eye on the system, and counts as a settlement for servicing spaceships and a foothold for further colonisation, but that's about it. Outposts can be built over later by other buildings.

A City gives ~ 2 Eco per turn once established, and provides more room for your Pop rating to grow over time. However, this can be affected by all kinds of social issues, and established Cities do not take kindly to being re-developed.

An Industry gives ~ 1 Eco per turn, but is more reliable and raises your Industry spending limit by one. It can be manually upgraded into various special things using Eco (all upgrades still count as being Industry bases for income and zone yield bonuses):

*A Habitat costs 10 Eco by default. It is a large artificial biosphere with easy access to space. It adds no income directly, but provides a convenient place for trade, culture and diplomatic exchanges. It also provides more room for Pop to grow, and encourages immigration into the system.

*A Military Base costs 10 Eco by default. It improves the performance of all military stuff in the system; nearby Ships are more likely to gain veteran status, while Armies raised in the system will also be of superior quality. It is a place to try out new weapons. It also has some weapons and things to defend itself against all threats.

*A Shipyard costs 10 Eco by default, now adds two points (instead of one) to your Industry rating, reduces fleet upkeep costs, provides more free Freighters over time, speeds repair of nearby ships, and might also boost any trade incomes.

A Sci base gives ~ 1 Eco per turn and raises your Tech spending limit by one. The more Sci bases you have, the more chance you have for some free random Tech advancement each turn. A Sci base might also be needed to research certain special artefacts.

A Capital represents a massive (and usually ancient) accumulation of population and industry, and is something you probably start with. It gives a whole bunch of free incomes and things depending on your race. Losing a Capital is usually a very bad thing, but it will not be so easy to destroy or capture. If you need to build a new Capital, there will be special rules depending on the circumstances.

All bases can also mutate into various special things, good and bad, which we shall describe if and when they encountered.



Stats

Example: Solar Federation (Human)
Manipulative Oligarchy - Capitalist
Fuel Cells: 0 (+0)
FTL: 1
Eco: 21 (+10)
Pop: 6 / Industry 8 / Sci: 5
* Sol: Homeworld, Capitol, volatile slum (+11e)
Upkeep: -1e
Ships: 2L
Armies: 1 (2)
Freighters: 2 (3)
Culture: +2
Colonists: 4 (4)
Tech Progress: 3 / 20 (Physics x2)
Tech Level: 3 (Physics x1, Materials x1, Energy x1)

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Your Faction can be pureblood or a montage of multiple Races

Your Faction Leadership is described in a few words. There are no solid rules for this, but each type of government (or a lack thereof) will have big effects on just about everything. You can attempt to change this at will, but healthy regimes (a high Culture rating) are likely to fight back.

Fuel Cells contain massive amounts of concentrated energy to give your fleets a boost in interstellar movement and combat. Or, they can be recycled for 3e each. They cost 5e to build manually, but you are likely to get some free production of Fuel Cells later on.

FTL (Faster Than Light) rating is the maximum speed at which your ships can travel through interstellar space (see Star Travel section). This is not just dependent on your techs, but also on racial/social quirks.

Eco points are not just money, they represent your potential to make stuff happen in general, which is affected by things like morale and organisation as well as more colonization/industry/tech. You cannot spend the number listed in brackets, that just shows how much you got last turn.

Pop is your total population in abstract numbers. You cannot have more Armies than you have Pop (at least not until droid soldiers are invented). Generally, more Pop means more Eco income, although social problems can make overcrowding counter-productive. Your homeworld will have most if not all of your Pop to begin with - if colonies get any noticeable Pop, this will be noted. Populations can grow over time, depending on your race, and especially if there's a surplus of Bio resources, but the biggest factor is likely to be migration; you can build new 'City' bases to encourage pop growth and/or immigration to that system. Your total population size adds 'inertia' to your Culture, which has pros and cons.

Industry is a limit of the amount of Eco you can safely spend on Ships, Defences, Freighters and/or Armies in a single turn. It is also the safe limit for the number of Fuel Cells you can build and recycle in a single turn. If you go over this limit, you may lose some of your investment to accidents and delays etc. It represents the limit of your hard industrial capacity, regardless of raw Eco. You can build Industry bases to increase this limit.

Sci is the limit of Eco that can be safely spent on research per turn. If you go over this limit, there may be nasty accidents. You can build Sci bases to increase this limit.

Income and colony status is listed system-by-system.

Ship numbers are listed as Light/Medium/Heavy, and will be your tools for exploring and conquering. If you want to think of them as actually being flotillas of ships, that is fine too. Please see the Ship Design section.

Armies cost 10 Eco each, and are there to either guard or try to capture bases. In defence, they have limited ability to shoot back at enemy ships. Armies can travel across space when attached to a Ship - any ship will do, as they are really just escorting the transports, but it would be better to have a dedicated warship. Armies are vulnerable to enemy ships and space defences in transit. The number in brackets is the optimum number of armies you can have without paying extra maintenance costs - militaristic races can get random free armies while under this limit. The absolute limit is your Pop rating.

Freighters cost 5 Eco each, and are miscellaneous ships that keep your economy running and your military supplied. The number in brackets is the optimum number needed - below this, you may lose income and/or your military will be weaker. They cost 5e each to build, though you slowly get random free ones if you are below the optimum. You can lose them to accidents or hostile action. You can also call them up to serve in defensive battles if you want to risk them, appearing as basic generic ships with short-range FTL drives - against any enemy with comparable tech, they will probably just be cannon fodder.

Culture could be called stability, but this is also your level of influence over other factions. Culture will affect incomes in the richer systems especially. You can invest to improve it, but this is a hit-and-miss process - the average cost is your current Culture rating multiplied by your Pop rating (if your Culture is less than 1, then the cost is just your Pop rating). This can get very expensive for populous empires, but smaller populations can be more easily affected by random changes and foreign influence. Culture can be shifted both ways, as you may wish to deliberately de-stabilize your society in order to make it easier for a new government to appear. Note that you can attempt to influence another faction's cultures in the same way, with better chances if your Culture/Pop mixture is higher than theirs.

Colonists can be 'spent' to build new Bases - with risks, depending on the environment, and new colonies are likely to be a net drain on your economy for a turn or two. While you can usually manually buy colonists for 15 Eco, the number will slowly/randomly recover to the 'optimum' shown in brackets.

Regarding Tech Progress, here you see the classic (eco spent) / (eco needed). In this NES, tech Level X costs a total of X Eco multiplied by five. So your third Tech will cost 15 Eco, etc.

You have an overall Tech Level, which can include special projects in different areas. Every time you start on a new tech level, you specialise the tech progress in a field of your choice, similar to SLYNES and the 'genes' idea of NESLife. These fields will affect just about every 'roll of the dice' situation and have many subtle effects. Some default Tech fields are: Biology, Energy, Materials, Construction, Physics, Nanotech, Neurology, Computers, Misc.

Special Inventions are game-changing things and will be listed as and when they are invented.



Star Travel

On the map, most places have lines connecting them with others. These lines do not represent 'star lanes' or wormholes. They are just navigational aids. You can always make a direct journey between any two points on the map, which is equal in distance to the shortest route you can find by tracking along the various lines. The dots on the lines represent the units of distance - usually no more than 3 (see below). These distances might not all seem balanced, but we can say this takes into account that space is actually 3D (heh). Note that there are binary systems with effectively 0 distance between the stars, but they can still have their own bases, defences, armies, fleets etc.

FTL Speed

With a FTL rating of 2, your ships can travel a total distance of 2 in one turn, or 4 over two turns, etc.

Fuel Cell Usage

Fuel Cells are bonus power-ups that can be assigned to individual ships when they are in your systems. A Fuel Cell can then be spent to add +2 to the FTL speed of one ship for one turn, OR to boost combat, giving a big boost to manoeuvring, energy weapons, shields, EM pulse devices etc. Multiple Fuel Cells can be used on a ship in a single turn, but with random and diminishing returns, not recommended for early FTL drives. Fuel Cells will be visible on the map when assigned to ships.

How far can you go?

Please note there are different types of FTL drives (see Ship Design below). The cheapest ones cannot normally venture outside of your settled systems, and thus are not ideal for exploration. The most expensive ones allow four turn's travel (at maximum speed) outwards from their starting point. These ranges are however ignored on turns that your ship uses a Fuel Cell for extra movement.

Ship Maintenance and Staying in Touch: IMPORTANT

Note that unless you have Quantum Communications (Special Invention), your ships will be out of contact when they are outside your settled systems. This means you give you will be sending out expeditions where you give your orders beforehand, and then wait for the results. Also, ships cannot normally be maintained while in deep space - you won't be asked to pay upkeep, but the condition of the ships will deteriorate over long voyages. The same thing will happen to your home fleets if you decide to cut their upkeep.



Ship Design

Ships consist of Modules, which require Eco points to build (please also see Industry, in the Stats section above).

By default, all ships have a basic set of systems like thrusters, computers, primitive weapons and engineering tools. Modules represent the special advanced extended features. A basic interstellar probe could consist of a standard FTL drive and nothing else. But a player ship must have some kind of FTL drive to qualify.

You may end up with a number of Ship Designs, and each individual Ship in the galaxy will belong to one of those designs.

Prototype Rule and Design Quirks: IMPORTANT

So you've designed a type of ship, but the first time you actually build one, it will come with a prototype cost. This prototype cost is simply +1 Eco for each unique module on the ship (see below). When the prototype is completed, there will be 'quirks' added to the design, both good and bad. These may be qualities like extra toughness, manoeuvrability, reliability, aesthetic appeal, reduced building costs, free bonus modules etc, together with penalties like unreliability, erratic systems, extra building cost, weak spots, etc. It is partly randomised, partly to do with the traits of your race(s) and faction. If you do not like the result of the prototype, you can just scrap it (see below) but you will need to build another one to proceed. Once you are happy with the prototype, each new ship will come with those 'quirks' and can be built without the extra prototype cost.

Tooling Bonus:

If you build a lot of a certain kind of ship design, it may randomly become cheaper, as your industries become experienced and optimised for building all the components etc. Otherwise, ship designs do not change.

Upgrading Ships

Whenever your Tech and/or FTL level increases, your ships will not get the full benefit until they receive maintenance for a full turn (IE not away from home, and no budget cuts). While you can't upgrade a ship from one design to another, the component modules will be updated to newer versions. However, as your Tech increases, older ship designs may become marked as 'Obsolete', meaning that technology has simply progressed too far since the original design, and any examples of that type simply can't benefit from the latest tech. Obsolete / non-upgraded ships are marked on the map and will be slower and weaker than otherwise.

Scrapping Refund

There is no exact formula for this. It will be randomly between 1/4 and 2/3 the ship's original cost in Eco.

Ship Classes and Maintenance Costs

Light (class I): 1-6 modules, Medium (class II): 7-14 modules, Heavy (class III): 15+ modules

There is no set formula for the upkeep cost that is deducted, but as a very rough guide, you can expect Light ships to cost 0.25 Eco per turn, Medium 0.5 Eco per turn, and Heavies 1 Eco per turn.

Repairing Ships

Damaged ships are highlighted on the map, and will slowly repair when parked in allied systems. You can aid the process by paying up to 1 Eco for every Module on the ship.

Modules

So modules are how you build ships. But first, an FTL Drive is needed, and these come in three flavours (please also see the Star Travel section, above). FTL drives do not add to the weight of the ship for deciding if it is Light, Medium, Heavy etc, but they will cost more for heavier ships:

  • FTL: Short Range costs 1 Eco, multiplied by the size class of ship. It can make journeys between your settled systems, with no journey longer than three turns.

  • FTL: Normal costs 3 Eco, multiplied by the size class of ship. It allows a ship to travel two turns out before heading back. It can linger at its destination, though.

  • FTL: Expedition costs 6 Eco, multiplied by the size class of ship. Allows a ship to safely travel four turns out before heading back - it can go even further out, but with increasing risk of being stranded.


As for the actual modules, below are some standardised components you might use. Similar to the 'genes' idea of NESlife, you can now add lots of individual abilities, or level-up in a certain area. EG, 'Scanner x3' would be three times as good as 'Scanner x1' at your current tech level, but weigh in as three separate modules.

Spoiler Default Modules :
Explorer Team: greater chance of detecting special bonuses lurking in a star system, including rare things hidden from orbital view.

Scanner: greater chance of detecting any special bonuses lurking in a star system, and/or in deep space. Gives earlier warning of hazards and, of course, enemy ships. Also improves the accuracy of ship weapons.

Thrusters: to evade hazards and/or enemy fire. Manoeuvrability would usually be an advantage in battles.

Computer: to analyse incoming data for patterns and anomalies, and keep a ship flying if the crew are incapacitated. In battle, it can predict enemy moves and identify a target's weak points. Opposing computers may find a way to hack into each other.

Life Pods: to provide a means of escape for veteran crewmembers, who can then transfer to other ships. This reassurance also boosts crew morale.

Life Support: to insure against accidents and make life more comfortable for the crew, especially on long voyages, or when entertaining alien guests.

Jammer: counters an enemy's Scanners and weapons targeting. With multiple levels, or with a Tech advantage, Jammers could even damage enemy systems. It does however advertise your presence.

Stealth: passively counters an enemy's sensors with the idea of keeping your ship invisible, for sneak attacks or just silent lurking.

Armour: the idea is to prevent damage to the ship's internal systems. Armour may face a losing battle against comparable weapons tech/strength.

Structure: holds the ship together, though does little to protect the ship's systems.

Shield: mainly for repulsing enemy Beam attacks. Will be mostly helpless against comparable Mass Driver tech. Has some ability to disrupt enemy scanners/targetting and also allows a ship to fly closer to radioactive things, like stars, which might be an advantage.

Point Defence: various weapons designed mainly to intercept and repel incoming enemy weapons, rather than attack enemy spaceships at long range.

Mass Driver: by whatever means, simply hurls unguided pieces of dense matter at high velocities for massive kinetic impacts.

Beam: these weapons travel at the speed of light, or near enough, transmitting high energies into the target.

Swarm: manned fighter-craft might not be feasible, but you can have swarms of self-guided kamikaze drones capable of massive acceleration across space, carrying all kinds of sub-munitions.

Barracks: specialist troops are carried for boarding actions, offensive or defensive. They can also play a role supporting army battles.

Interior Defence: automated turrets or traps designed to prevent infiltration of the ship by hostiles.

Bombard Ops: specialist hardware to improve the damage done when bombarding enemy bases and defences (not ships).

Engineering Bay: enables more field repairs, especially on long voyages, and salvages a little more from enemy wrecks before they disintegrate. Can also prepare tricks and traps for the enemy.

Science Bay: a ship-borne laboratory with subtle benefits. Technicians might work out ways to counter unexpected hazards and/or new enemy weapons.


So, you can add pretty much whatever you want. Unique things are welcomed, but only if they really need to be unique. If a weapon can be called a 'Beam', then it should really be listed as 'Beam' to aid comparison with other ship designs, and not 'Xongu Inflictor Device'. Etc.

An Example:

Dafpantheist Explorer Mk1 Prototype
FTL: Expedition
Explorer Team x1
Sensors x1
-
Ship class is Light (less than 7 modules), so FTL cost multiplier is 1.
Eco cost is 6x1 (the FTL) + 1 (Explorer Team x1) + 1 (Sensors x1), +3 (prototype cost for 3 unique modules), giving a total cost is 11 Eco, and you will need an Industry rating of 11 to build this in one turn.

Once a prototype is built, 'quirks' are added (*), the price is back to 8 Eco, and you need an Industry rating of 8 to build this in one turn:

Dafpantheist Explorer Mk1 (Light): 8 Eco
FTL: Expedition
Explorer Team x1
Sensors x1
* Reliable
* Sluggish
* Conspicuous
 
Diplomacy and War

There are no fixed rules about diplomacy and relations, except that if you want to transfer some Eco, it will take some time and some Freighters. And while you play as the power-behind-the-throne, your peoples will of course have their own opinions (and memories) about other races and events.

When it comes to how space warfare will actually play out, I don't want to tell you what to expect. Some races may have experience from in-fighting, but war in space will generally be a new experience. Your races will have to learn as they go along.



The Local Galaxy (map)

Surely the human race will conquer all. The edges are not fixed, this may expand over time:

Spoiler Galactic Map :
 
Announcement: the galaxy is now full. Anyone posting race/faction descriptions now does so at their own risk.

Race + Faction Template

Plz see the Races and Factions section above. This doesn't have to be epic, you can make this just a few sentences if you want. Examples on request, but I don't want to dilute anyone's creativity.

Race Name:

Ruling Faction Name:

Start position:

Physical description:

Character description:

Home system description:

Brief history:

Faction description:

Age:

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Ship Template (if appropriate - depends on your starting 'age')

Ship Name (I'll check the class and cost for you)
(FTL type)
(modules...)
 
Updates

* Update 0

Current Data

MAP:

Spoiler :


RACE DETAILS:

Spoiler :


FACTION STATS: (unfair and unbalanced!)

Spoiler :
Info: Kratocracy means rule by whoever is able to seize power, which at least prevents stagnation of government.

True Darth Empire of the Entha (Darth): Cull
Feudal Hierarchy - Expansionist
Fuel Cells: 2 (+0)
FTL: 1
Eco: 20 (+8)
Pop: 8 / Industry 8 / Sci: 8
* Mal: Homeworld, Capital, stable (+9e)
Upkeep: -1e
Ships: 2/0/0
Freighters: 1 (1)
Armies: 1 (3)
Culture: +1
Colonists: 3 (3)
Tech Progress: 0 / 15
Tech Level: 2 (Physics x1, Construction x1)

Legion (Zh): Kraznaya
Socialist Technocracy - Conservative
Fuel Cells: 3 (+0)
FTL: 1
Eco: 25 (+14)
Pop: 6 / Industry 10 / Sci: 10
* Redoubt: Homeworld, Capital, xenophobic social collective (+14e)
Upkeep: -0e
Ships: 0/0/0
Freighters: 1 (1)
Armies: 1 (2)
Culture: +1
Colonists: 1 (1)
Tech Progress: 0 / 20
Tech Level: 3 (Nanotech x1, Biology x1, Computers x1)

Acohtiberahlpgrodd (Gornnix): Matt0088
Imperial Kratocracy - Militarist
Fuel Cells: 1 (+0)
FTL: 1
Eco: 15 (+9)
Pop: 8 / Industry 10 / Sci: 5
* Solovar: Homeworld, Capital, factional warzone (+7e)
* MD2: developing mining colony, stable (+3e)
Upkeep: -1e
Ships: 0/2/0
Freighters: 2 (2)
Armies: 2 (4)
Culture: +0
Colonists: 2 (2)
Tech Progress: 0 / 10
Tech Level: 1 (Computers x1)

House of Cadrol (Adenari): Lord of Elves
Imperial Kratocracy - Militarist
Fuel Cells: 1 (+0)
FTL: 1
Eco: 15 (+10)
Pop: 8 / Industry 12 / Sci: 6
* Elhadros: Homeworld, Capital, shipyard, politically unstable (+9e)
* Llonesia: established science colony, stable (+1e)
* Aelenas: developing mining colony, stable (+1e)
Upkeep: -1e
Ships: 2/0/0
Freighters: 3 (3)
Armies: 1 (3)
Culture: +1
Colonists: 1 (2)
Tech Progress: 0 / 20
Tech Level: 3 (Physics x1, Energy x1, Biology x1)

Lenitean Republic (Lenitean): ZeletDude
Democratic Republic - Enlightened
Fuel Cells: 1 (+0)
FTL: 1
Eco: 20 (+14)
Pop: 5 / Industry 12 / Sci: 10
* Lolixoa: Homeworld, Capital, stable (+14e)
Upkeep: -0e
Ships: 1/0/0
Freighters: 1 (1)
Armies: 0 (1)
Culture: +3
Colonists: 2 (2)
Tech Progress: 0 / 15
Tech Level: 2 (Biology x1, Construction x1)

Dorlean Federation (Lenitean): Heraclius49
Republic - Expansionist
Fuel Cells: 2 (+0)
FTL: 1
Eco: 15 (+7)
Pop: 5 / Industry 7 / Sci: 6
* Dorlear: Capital, stable (+8e)
Upkeep: -1e
Ships: 1/0/0
Freighters: 1 (1)
Armies: 1 (3)
Culture: +1
Colonists: 2 (2)
Tech Progress: 0 / 20
Tech Level: 3 (Biology x1, Energy x1, Physics x1)

One (Za-Rak): MathNerd
Corporate Democracy - Expansionist
Fuel Cells: 2 (+0)
FTL: 1
Eco: 15 (+10)
Pop: 6 / Industry 10 / Sci: 8
* Zeta: Homeworld, Capital, stable (+11e)
* Beta: developing mining colony (+1e)
Upkeep: -1e
Ships: 0/1/0
Freighters: 2 (2)
Armies: 0 (3)
Culture: +0
Colonists: 1 (3)
Tech Progress: 0 / 15
Tech Level: 2 (Biology x1, Physics x1)

Solar Federation (Human): NPC
Manipulative Oligarchy - Capitalist
Fuel Cells: 1 (+0)
FTL: 1
Eco: 20 (+9)
Pop: 7 / Industry 10 / Sci: 6
* Sol: Homeworld, Capitol, sprawling volatile slums (+10e)
Upkeep: -1e
Ships: 1/0/0
Freighters: 1 (1)
Armies: 1 (1)
Culture: +1
Colonists: 3 (3)
Tech Progress: 0 / 15
Tech Level: 2 (Materials x1, Energy x1)

Yvwvtlea (Iadb'lathetb): Seon
Tenuous Coalition - Expansionist
Fuel Cells: 2 (+0)
FTL: 2
Eco: 25 (+12)
Pop: 10 / Industry 10 / Sci: 7
* Thitelath: Homeworld, Capital, sprawling volatile slums (+12e)
Upkeep: 0e
Ships: 0/0/0
Freighters: 1 (1)
Armies: 0 (2)
Culture: +2
Colonists: 3 (3)
Tech Progress: 0 / 20
Tech Level: 3 (Construction x2, Materials x1)

Alliance of Hanocked (Onid): Haseri
Tenuous Coalition - Conservative
Fuel Cells: 2 (+0)
FTL: 1
Eco: 20 (+9)
Pop: 5 / Industry 10 / Sci: 6
* Vinion: Homeworld, Capital, factional tensions (+10e)
Upkeep: -1e
Ships: 1/0/0
Freighters: 1 (1)
Armies: 1 (3)
Culture: +1
Colonists: 3 (3)
Tech Progress: 0 / 15
Tech Level: 2 (Energy x1, Physics x1)

Rimtreader Coalition of Poleis (Fa-Va): Disenfrancised
Intellectual Oligarchy - Expansionist
Fuel Cells: 1 (+0)
FTL: 1
Eco: 20 (+12)
Pop: 4 / Industry 10 / Sci: 6
* Si-Si-Si: Homeworld, Capital, stable (+12e)
Upkeep: -0e
Ships: 2/0/0
Freighters: 1 (1)
Armies: 0 (3)
Culture: +1
Colonists: 3 (3)
Tech Progress: 0 / 15
Tech Level: 2 (Biology x1, Nanotech x1)

Kaavap Preservation Initiative (Yhuj): lord_joakim
Intellectual Oligarchy - Enlightened
Fuel Cells: 1 (+0)
FTL: 1
Eco: 14 (+7)
Pop: 3 / Industry 6 / Sci: 6
* Kavaap: Capital, stable (+7e)
Upkeep: -0e
Ships: 0/0/0
Freighters: 2 (1)
Armies: 0 (3)
Culture: +2
Colonists: 2 (2)
Tech Progress: 0 / 20
Tech Level: 3 (Biology x1, Energy x1, Physics x1)

Socialist Democracy of Klin (Klin): lopaz
Democratic Technocracy - Conservative
Fuel Cells: 3 (+0)
FTL: 2
Eco: 20 (+11)
Pop: 8 / Industry 12 / Sci: 6
* K4: Capital, Homeworld, cramped metropoli (+12e)
Upkeep: -1e
Ships: 1/0/0
Freighters: 1 (1)
Armies: 1 (3)
Culture: +2
Colonists: 3 (3)
Tech Progress: 0 / 15
Tech Level: 2 (Biology x1, Energy x1)

The Twenty Individualists (Mover): Shadowbound
Authoritarian Oligarchy - Conservative
Fuel Cells: 1 (+0)
FTL: 1
Eco: 25 (+11)
Pop: 5 / Industry 8 / Sci: 6
* Origin: Capital, Homeworld, stable (+11e)
Upkeep: -0e
Ships: 0/0/0
Freighters: 1 (1)
Armies: 1 (2)
Culture: +1
Colonists: 1 (1)
Tech Progress: 0 / 25
Tech Level: 4 (Nanotech x1, Energy x1, Computers x1, Materials x1)

Dancer of the Teal Horizon (Choon): Lord_Iggy
Absolute Matriarchy - Expansionist
Fuel Cells: 2 (+0)
FTL: 2
Eco: 5 (+2)
Pop: 1 / Industry 2 / Sci: 1
* Took: Homeworld, stable (+2e)
Upkeep: -0e
Ships: 0/0/0
Freighters: 1 (1)
Armies: 0 (0)
Culture: +2
Colonists: 2 (2)
Tech Progress: 0 / 20
Tech Level: 3 (Energy x1, Physics x1, Construction x1)

Taz, Mother of the Violent Consumption (Choon): NPC
Absolute Matriarchy - Conservative
Fuel Cells: 1 (+0)
FTL: 0
Eco: 15 (+12)
Pop: 8 / Industry 6 / Sci: 6
* Took: Capital, Homeworld, stable (+12e)
Upkeep: -0e
Ships: 0/0/0
Freighters: 1 (1)
Armies: 0 (0)
Culture: +2
Colonists: 1 (1)
Tech Progress: 0 / 20
Tech Level: 3 (Energy x1, Physics x1, Construction x1)

The Eternal Union (Lauki, Mous): Luckymoose
Absolute Socialism - Conservative
Fuel Cells: 0 (+0)
FTL: 0!
Eco: 10 (+10)
Pop: 8 / Industry 6 / Sci: 6
* Lolixoa II: Capital, Homeworld, stable (+10e)
Upkeep: -0e
Ships: 0/0/0
Freighters: 1 (1)
Armies: 0 (0)
Culture: +1
Colonists: 1 (1)
Tech Progress: 0 / 20
Tech Level: 3 (Biology x2, Construction x1)

Peace Walker (Unmanneds): mgsmuhammad
Absolute Dictatorship - Expansionist
Fuel Cells: 1 (+0)
FTL: 1
Eco: 15 (+7)
Pop: 6 / Industry 8 / Sci: 6
* OG3: Capital, Homeworld, stable (+8e)
Upkeep: -1e
Ships: 1/0/0
Freighters: 1 (1)
Armies: 2 (3)
Culture: +1
Colonists: 2 (2)
Tech Progress: 0 / 20
Tech Level: 3 (Computers x1, Energy x1, Construction x1)


SHIP STATS:

Spoiler :


Entha (Darth) ships:


Imperial-Explorer Md1 (Light): 11 Eco
FTL: Expedition
Swarm x1
Mass Driver x1
Armour x1
Barracks x1
Computer x1
* Thrusters x1
* Aesthetic
* Compact
* Reliable
* High Maintenance

Acoh (Gornnix) ships:

Gornnix Cruiser (Medium): 19 Eco
FTL: Normal
Scanner x1
Computer x1
Armour x1
Mass Driver x2
Beam x2
Swarm x2
Shield x1
Thrusters x1
Life Support x1
Barracks x1
* Intimidating
* Sturdy
* Unreliable

House of Cadrol (Adenari) ships:


Sendas Class Cruiser (Light): 9 Eco
FTL: Normal
Computer x1
Life Support x1
Armour x1
Beam x1
Jammer x1
Scanner x1
* Aesthetic
* Adaptable
* Sluggish

Lenitean Republic (Lenitean) ships:

Commissioner Kotore (Light): 9 Eco
FTL: Normal
Armor x1
Beam x1
Shield x1
Swarm x1
Stealth x1
Jammer x1
* Thrusters x1
* Reliable
* Vulnerable Reactor

Dorlean Federation (Lenitean) ships:


V1 Scout (Light): 9 Eco
FTL: Normal
Explorer Team x1
Sensors x1
Life Support x1
Shield x1
Beam x1
Science Bay x1
* Reliable

One (Za Rak) ships:

Discovery MK1 (Medium): 18 Eco
FTL: Normal
Computer x1
Engineering Bay x1
Science Bay x1
Shield x2
Scanner x2
Interior Defence x1
Point Defence x1
Thrusters x1
Swarm x1
Armour x1
Life Pods x2
* Science Bay x1
* Cheap
* Erratic Systems

Solar Federation (Human) ships:


Mir Explorer (Light): 8 Eco
FTL: Expedition
Scanner x1
Computer x1
Life Support x1
* Cheap
* Sluggish

Alliance of Hanocked (Onid) ships:

Klaxamer Exploratory Vessel (Light): 8 Eco
FTL: Expedition
Explorer Team x1
Science Bay x1
Computer x1
Scanner x1
* Beam x1
* Cheap

Rimtreader Coalition of Poleis (Fa-Va) ships:

Za-Ro (Light): 7 Eco
FTL: Normal
Scanner x1
Life support x1
Engineering Bay x1
Computer x1
* Armour x1
* Compact

Socialist Democracy of Klin (Klin) ships:

Skrin (Light): 8 Eco
FTL: Normal
Explorers Team x1
Science Bay x1
Sensors x1
Computer x1
* Sturdy
* Reliable
* Sluggish
* Expensive

Dancer of the Teal Horizon (Choon) ships:

Vessel One (Light): 9 Eco
FTL: Expedition
Sensors x1
Life Support x1
Structure x1
* Engineering Bay x1
 
Wow! This is going to take awhile to read through, looks awesome.:)

What are players actually allowed to do? Create factions for you to NPC, or watch the fireworks and provide constructive criticism? Happy to help as always.
 
Apologies Matt, I have clarified the opening sentences. You can create a race and play in a test game if you want.
 
Will the test game be continued into the "full" NES or will it be scrapped?

BTW the rules look marvelous. :)
 
The "Capitol" only refers to the building in Washington DC. Capital is spelled capital. :3

Race Name:
Zh

Ruling Faction Name: Legion*

Start position: MD9, renamed Redoubt**

Physical description: The pinnacle of the evolution of the species which could come to be known as Zh occurred long ago, when they came out of darkness to achieve sapience around a hundred millenia past. When their battles forced them to struggle against the wild, they evolved sexually dismorphically, with strong warrior males to fight off threats and quick agile females to flee with valuables from danger. However, nearly a hundred thousand years of urbanization has changed the Zh greatly. The Zh are now physically frail creme colored humanoids, who are attended to by a subclass of virtual intelligences found in a vast robotics network maintained by Legion (traditional Zh conservatism and complacency has prevented the development of so called "cyborgs"). They lack body hair completely (facial and scalp hair being retained for the much more useful function of fashion and personal appearance), and wastes of resources such as vestigial organs, strong muscle definition, and most of their teeth have been done away with. The remnants of their former evolution only exist in traces: the males have a bulkier bone structure than females, and tower on average six feet to the female average of four and a half.

Character description: Arch-conservative, some what paranoid, and xenophobic, the psyche of the Zh and Legion are nearly inseparable. Scientific development has slowed to nearly a halt in the last thirty thousand years, and the Zh seem more content with their present lifestyle of lush prosperity than colonizing the stars. With the ecology and population of their home completely stable in accordance to Legion's plans, the need for interstellar exploration is nearly extinct and the budgets necessary seem prohibitive. Legion are content to keep an impressive mass accelerator defensive array around the planet to ward off any possible interstellar threat, and keep whatever greater galaxy at more than arm's length away. Only extreme exogenous shock could change that.

Home system description:
The cold red star of Redoubt supports but five planets, four of which are immense gas giants of varying types. The first gas giant is a massive Jovian named Ui, as red as the sun, and its surface perpetually distorted by raging storms. It however is surrounded by a veritable cachet of dozens of rocky moons, including three large enough to support thin atmospheres. These three, Ai, Kr, and Vn, have thus far been the only off-homeworld development that the Zh have participated in. Kr is toxic with a nitrogen-ammonia atmosphere, while Vn is nearly bare of valuable metals, but Ai is a gem among the Ui litteral, supporting a thin carbon dioxide atmosphere and filled with canyons of running water near the equator of the brown, dusty surface. Further out is another gas giant, the most diminutive yet also beautiful among the four, the blue-almost violet methane gem of Sa. Her attendants are only made up, however, of irremarkable ice moons and a thin layer of brilliantly white ice rings. The third of the giants is the quietly calm Qn, lacking any remarkable features beyond its unusually calm dark yellow surface. Last among giants is another raging ball of storms, not unlike the perpetually fluxing Ui. The giant Tl has traditionally been considered amongst the Zh to be Ui's always underachieving rival, the lesser of the gatekeepers of the giants which cannot match Ui's sheer strength of size. As a result, Tl's storms rage ever harder in compensation. Tl too is orbited by many moons of ice and rock pulled from the outer system debris, although nothing remarkable is present. At the far outer reaches of the system is the Ring of Cloaks***, a massive field of asteroids, dust, and debris that surrounds the system with a spherical layer of obstructions.

And what of the Zh homeworld, first among planets, home of civilization? Much closer to her star than Earth, the weaker heating of Redoubt leaves the homeworld of Ra quietly temperate. The slightly thicker atmosphere prevents significant weather variation between equator and pole, but Ra does possess an abundance of water, covering around 70% of the planet's surface. Biodiversity is high in the waters yet not as much as land, where the temperate climes and lack of variation in them was driven a final nail by the Zh-propagated mass extinction event in the last hundred thousand years. The land not devoted to farms and nature preserves has now been transformed into megacities hundreds of miles in perimeter.

Brief History There was nothing before Legion, for it are the first. There is nothing after Legion, for it are the last. There is only now, and our will today.

Faction description:
I am Legion, and we are many. We are the first and the last, the Alpha and the Omega. The oligarchy at the pinnacle of Zh society is formed from the brightest minds of the Zh civil service, and keep control via the vast network of servant bots which act as the eyes and ears, as well as their muscle in the form of military security. Not that civilian policing is necessary; individual will has atrophied to quite a degree in Zh society, with societal expectations coming to play a great part in any decision making. For their part, Legion comes to their own decisions seeking consensus among itself, and attempts to rule in the Zh tradition of philosopher kings. With Legion's control of nearly every aspect of Zh society due to the virtual intelligence network, this has erased nearly all conflict from the recent pages of Zh history.

Age: Slow Start; well developed and well defended homeworld

*, **, ***: Translations, of course. The transliterated names are either untranslatable or without real meaning beyond being a name.
 
Will the test game be continued into the "full" NES or will it be scrapped?

BTW the rules look marvelous. :)

Thanks :) The test game could translate somehow into the start of the full NES, I guess it depends how things go.
 
Expressing strong interest... I would like to play a corporation turned neo-feudalistic society but haven't gotten any good ideas for a race/species yet.

PS: Pictures are very pretty indeed.
 
I'd might like to get on this, faction to come soon.
 
This looks pretty cool, but I have a few questions:

1. How important are armies in this NES. Will Ground combat have an important role as in Halo or is just a secondary part of the NES.
2. What are the differences between the ship classes in terms of size. Would the small ships be considered fighters or would they be more like boats.
3. Could we eventually make really quirky or strange designs such as UFO disks or giant robot-like things.
 
My only comment/suggestion on the rules is that, like SysNES, you limit the amount of players to 8-10 MAX, or else risk your well documented tendency to overexpand a NES into a huge workload. It's certainly helped SysNES go forward strong through four months and 20 updates.

Otherwise, the rules look great.:)
 
Looks really interesting, however complex it is. It'll probably take me a couple days to sort through rules, but I can't wait to start.

And I disagree with the whole player limit concept. Everybody should at least get a chance to play if they wish.
 
Hope I did this right
Spoiler :
Race Name: Darth

Ruling Faction Name: Entha

Start position: MD1. Renamed Mal.

Physical description: To a human, a Darth would look like a giant spider humanoid figure. Typically black with stripes of varying colors, the Darth walk on 4 "legs", and use the other 4 "arms" as typical human arms. The Darth can go on all eight for faster speed.The record set by Entha Ito of max running speed of 100m is just under 7 seconds. The Darth possess two eyes that are near identical to Sol's Earth's cats. Their face is identical to a human, with eyes, mouth and ears in near identical place on their head. They posses no nose, or sense of smell Their height can be anywhere from 5ft to 7ft adults. They do however need to eat often, and use the bathroom often as well as a result.

Character description: The majority of Darth feel that is their given duty, after thousands of millennial of constant war and infighting among themselves, to fight and rule the galaxy. There is a small percentage of the Darth that wish for the Darth to become an isolationist, only showing themselves on the galatical stage when truly needed, and continuing their way of peaceful, scientific life.There are others than think that the Darth shouldn't even try to go out in the wider world before truly united themselves under one banner in the homeworld. The first faction, Entha, is in control of the largest, most advanced planet of Mal, Reon, and is, currently, the only faction to have space equipment capable of travel in the galaxy. The second faction, the Canmar, in control of the smallest of the three habitable worlds, Mak. The third faction, Gagii, is of middle strength, and holding the middle-sized, middle-level world, Shan

Home system description: The three planets of Mak, Reon, and Shan, orbit the gas giant. From there, there is Mak first. Between Mak and Reon is a large asteroid belt. While there is much distance between Mak and Reon, Reon and Shan are very close together. There is nothing of note past that. All three planets are roughly the same climate as Sol's Earth.

Brief history: The beginning of what is now the Darth came to be in Mak. The first Darth were fervent hunters, killing any other species that moved. Legend has it that the finest hunter of the Darth, whose name is now lost, got bored the mass killings of species, and decided to start a little wooden village. This was the birth of the Entha clan. This hunter, now known to the masses as The First, started a small village. This village was life that was similar to their previous nomadic hunting-killing life, however, instead of killing, eating, resting, killing some more, etc., the Entha would now kill, and store these food in their stone houses. Stone, a human reader might ask? Why, yes, of course. The Darth, from the very beginning used stones to hunt, kill, and rub their back. Stone was the Darth's wood. Everything they built in that time was stone. This was a golden age for the Entha. Soon, however, a new village sprung up far away. They called themselves the Canmor. The Canmor, after finding the Entha, waged a bloody war, known as the thousand-millennia to Darth historians. During the last millennia of war, both the Canmor and the Entha had developed to an amazing level, rivaling the twenty-first century humans. The Entha created a ship, of epic proportions, to launch into space, and to reach the distant planet of Reon, where they hoped to rebuild and live. However, the time spent on building, and not fighting meant that the Canmor had a war advantage. The Canmor were soon the Entha's capital. However, days before the Entha had launched. The Canmor found an abandoned city. The war was over, but the story is not. The Entha managed to land on Reon, and found a city known as the Imperial Center, the center of the True Darth Empire, home of the Entha. The Canmor, after so long of fighting, found that they enjoyed the peace, and sciences, and are now peaceful, building people. The Gagii formed from the outlaws that the Entha pushed out to space after landing, the workers, and the laborers. The Gagii took a primitive ship and landed on Shan, and live out their lives, lusting for blood of the Entha. After the Entha created better ships, they invaded both the Gagii and the Canmor. The Canmor and the Gagii swore to protect the Empire. The Emperor at the time, pleased at his victory, allowed the Canmor and Gagii to live out their lives. The Canmore and Gagii are vassals to the Emperor, and are allowed primitive space vessels only to be used within the system

Faction description: There are three governments, the True Darth Empire of the Entha, the Serene Trading Republic of Mal of the Canmor, and the Gagii Horde. The True Darth Empire is ruled by Emperor Thrawn Entha V(Monarchy), the Serene Trading Republic of Mal ruled by the Council of Twelve(Oligarchy), and the Gagii Horde(think Mongols), Leader Zig. The True Darth Empire is the only faction possessing inter-stellar space ships, have the biggest/strongest/best things, and are the masters of the vassals of the Serene Trading Republic of Mal and the Gagii Horde. The True Darth Empire therefore is the official government of the Darth.

Age: Normal start

Spaceship: Imperial-Explorer Md1
FTL: Expedition
Swarm x1
Mass Driver x1
Armour x1
Barracks x1
Computer x1
11 Eco to make
 
Looks cool, this post will soon feature a race description:

Points
1 - You have 'Aqua' in the text but 'Liquid' on the images? Liquid sounds better though.
2 - No 'ice' zone? With comets and gas giant moons I'd say this is a very common geotype that wouldn't fit into any of the other slots.
3 - If you want I can whip up a spreadsheet based ship designer.
4 - From the description the 'Capital' seems more like a 'Hub' rather than a political centre, also allows multiple Hubs. At an intersteller scale, where you put your administrative units within a system really isn't that relevent.
5+ Pending...

@MathNerd: no that's dumb, modding isn't a public service! That said 10 was a number that was right for me, Daftpanzer can easily pick something different (with your 30 odd systems I'd say 15 would be the absolute max though). The important thing is a) deciding when you have enough and not letting any more join, and b) telling those who don't contribute what you need to go away.
 
My only comment/suggestion on the rules is that, like SysNES, you limit the amount of players to 8-10 MAX, or else risk your well documented tendency to overexpand a NES into a huge workload. It's certainly helped SysNES go forward strong through four months and 20 updates.

I agree with this strongly. :)
 
And I disagree with the whole player limit concept. Everybody should at least get a chance to play if they wish.

Success/Greatness of SysNES, see.


Race Name: Gornnix

Ruling Faction Name: Acohtiberahlpgrodd (Emperor Tiberahlp Grodd)

Start position: Solovar (K1)

Physical description: Gorilla Cyborgs! Humans never developed large brains for advanced thought, apes did! Also able to easily walk on two feet when using hands for tool making, but retained preference against bipedal movement (societal bias?). Later when kings tried to retain their grip on numerous subjects and advanced technology was sufficently developed, implants were eventually used on the entire species (with incentives for doing so), and spurred development of the Gornnix as species into cyborgs.

Character description: Hostile to innovation due to the structure of Gornnix society, the path to the stars has been a very long time coming. The modern political arena today is a united empire under Emperor Grodd, who is the inheritor of an equally long process the Gornnix have undertaken to conquer and wage war as often as possible with all other Gornnix alpha males (evolved into chiefs, kings etc.) until the last world war, but even that statement is a hopeful predication at best. To grow into planet controlling leaders, the Gornnix alpha gorillas have been forced to use bureaucracies or else be conquered by those who benefit from them (being able command many many more subjects), but this decentralization of direct power from the alpha has lead to innumerable amounts of ever so common civil wars. I’m sure there’s also a few religions practiced widely as another tool for controlling the masses, and I’ll create and expand on them in time. EDIT: The Gorillas could have beem imported to Solovar long ago by some ancient interstellar society as pet or for some other reason (possibly being improved through modification?), and when that civilization mysterously disappeared, the Gorillas, now being the most evolved species on the planet, eventually took their place. This could also explain why the Gorillas have made some technological advances, being largely crippled otherwise in technological progress, finding ruins of this civilization. It'll also make prime material for a family of related religions, and help explain why there are so many space faring civilization at this time in this area.:)

Home system description: Around the five and half billion year old main sequence yellow-orange star of Solovar lie six voyagers of the sky, one of which the Gornnix take as their home. Hugging the star with rapid orbits are a pair roughly three thousand mile wide hunks of rock, any features they might have had blasted away as the heat of Solovar turns their surfaces to semi-molten slag, they are not much longer for this universe. Further out is the prize of the Solovar system, the third planet some 15,000 kilos wide, Grodd, so named by it's emperor owner. With a rich carbon biosphere billions of years in the making, Grodd is would be prize to any, but all is not well with the planet, numerous craters hide on the planet's surface under layers of geology and foliage, and the axial tilt of the planet is dangerously unstable, varying from 10% to 30% over thousands of years time, possibly due to the medium and small moon which orbit the planet, but slowly escaping its grasp, and then there's the highly active volcanoes belching ash into the sky ever so often. Further out in the system, the fourth planetoid of Solovar is giant, but perhaps that isn't fitting enough to describe quite a monster the mass of swirling multicolored clouds that alone are more massive then the other five planets combined and then quadrupled... a super Jovian. Having gorged itself on all of its neighbors, Morr is half a billion miles from any object nearby to feed itself on, and is alone in its region of the Solovar system, but it terror and a sight to behold all on its own. Lucky enough to have formed outside the range of Morr's gase are two nearly frozen featureless medium sized gas giant, closer to each other than Morr, minding their time quietly as the guard against the cold frontier of space.

Brief history: Um, well I kinda gave the very very basic overview in the character description (not noticing this until, well, now), but technological progress has been at snails pace other than weapons or other technologies useful for waging war, other than the directed research of a once in a blue moon actually caring or just plain crazy king.

Faction description: Worldwide Empire! Or if that is too far fetched or a bonus, a few major emperors and their empires mixed in with a collection of smaller kingdoms.

Age: Advanced Start, or else technology-wise I’d fall behind within the first dozen turns! I doubt there will be any Gornnix colonies until Grodd was united, the gorillas easily perfering to conquer the peoples miles from them instead of some smart, weak scientist gorilla telling them of some far off planet with no people to rule. If Grodd is united, expanding the Gornnix empire over further dominions might be the reasoning behind the expansion to other systems, even if to some not so nice planets (even if the colonists object, doesn’t mean their emperor does, and they’re a third brainwashed anyways). If this is the case, G1, WX1 and MD2 might be possible targets.

Ragnor class Light Cruiser.
FTL: Normal
1x Scanner
1x Computer
1x Armour
2x Mass Driver
2x Beam
2x Swarm
1x Shield
1x Thrusters
1x Life Support
1x Barracks

This is not an explorer, it's a warship stuffed full of every weapon known to the Gornnix that does some exploring on the side.
Cost: 3x2 (FTL) + 1x13 (Modules) = 19 eco.
 
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