Rules

Rules for Game of SPace

Game of SPace: Character Creation, Mechanics, and Values

So you've decided to participate in Game of SPace, or GoSP. This means several things. First of which, is that you are cool. The second, is that you will be wondering how the mechanics of interaction and advantage will come into effect and how this info might influence your choices.

At the basic level you will have a series of categories within which you can make any given reaction or action towards an NPC faction or group, or a player character's faction. Let's say your factions name is Roddenberry. the Roddenberry faction chooses to extend a proposition for alliance with another player's faction against the NPC faction The Jalapeno Empire. Roddenberry could choose to send a wave(think light speed email) plainly stating this. I would relay to the player's faction that Roddenberry has sent a wave bearing the message, and relay that message verbatim. This is a simple version because it doesn't require anything tricky.

But imagine another faction has spies on your ship, maybe a disenfranchised red-shirt or two that went looking to make some extra credits with a different faction,do they acquire this information? How does this mechanic function? The answer is the 5 4 3 2 1 system of Faction stats. I have designed this to be as absolutely simple and intuitive as I can possibly make it. There will be five categories and you may alot one of the 5 descending numbers to any category. This will determine what your factions strengths and weaknesses are. Using star trek's Ferengi as an example it might look like this:

5 in Infrastructure

4 in Diplomacy

3 in Ship

2 in Luck

1 in Fleet

Awesome, but what the heck does that mean?

Diplomacy:

If you place a spy on someones ship or try to intercept a wave, maybe spread false rumors, the scores that decide the outcome are the involved parties Diplomacy. Whichever highest wins that outcome. If you are attempting to assassinate/kidnap an opponent you must beat their Ship score.

Infrastructure: If you are mobilizing a fleet you must have access to water, food and energy. Even replicators require energy to function. This means that an fleet of 5 would need a 5 infrastructure score backing it to mobilize. But then how do I mobilize my five fleet when I can only have a 4 infrastructure at the most? Well you would need an ally to dedicate at-least 1 infrastructure to your fleet. If its revoked the fleet will lose ability to mobilize at the 5 level and will drop down to 4. If your entire infrastructure backing is removed then the entire fleet is kaput.

Ship: Where as the fleet is ALL your ships as they relate to your fighting force, the Ship score determines your personnel cruiser/dreadnought/command ship or what have you's individual defense. It relates to how secure you and your crew are against an invading fleet/or assassination-kidnapping via Diplomacy. When attacked you weigh the Ship score against the enemies attacking fleet score. The diplomacy must beat your ship to assassinate you or take a crew member hostage.

Fleet: this stat is perhaps the most easily recognized stat and has alot of practical value.

One way or another this stat will guide much of the game. If you don't have a high fleet score then you will more than likely be needing allies, and soon. This is because with the fleet you can sweep in and wipe-out a faction and it's crew. Once you designate the attack they cannot simply leave by an escape pod so this is very powerful. This is, of course, assuming the opponents score is lower than yours and he has no allies about to flank you in response, or mobilize on your ship while your fleet is engaged elsewhere. The only limiter to an Fleet is the supplies they need to stay flying and that is a direct correlation to infrastructure. 4 infrastructure backing equals 4 fleet supplied.

Luck: Luck exists because I wondered what would happen if a factions fleet matched its enemies fleet, or two fleets or diplomatic actions had the identical score. Luck, therefore, is your tie breaker. If two fleets clash with the same score, the player faction with the highest Luck will win. It might manifest as something like a stray missile catching your commander or perhaps your enemy used a hail marry maneuver and just managed to pull it off. It gives the victor that extra edge needed to win the engagement.

Now you know the stats, you have a general idea what they represent and how to use them. Now comes the next hurdle. Degrees. This is essentially a scale that determines how well an initiated action succeeds or fails and what the result of this will be.

If you send a fleet of 5 against an opponents ship of 1 you will obviously achieve total victory, but what happens when the opponent has a ship of 4? Surely that makes a difference? Yes it does. The number of that battle would be 1 because 5 fleet minus 4 ship is 1. Assuming there are no allies involved then you consult the below scale for the outcome.

The degree scale is as follows:

4 /3 You have entirely succeeded in your endeavor. Boarded the ship, captured the enemy or assassinated your foe.

2/1 You have succeeded but it was an imperfect victory. Perhaps the target of assassination survived long enough to call out to a security officer and your assassin is captured. He is still dead but now you have a loose end. Perhaps your army has taken the ship but a crew member is unaccounted for?

Finally the last thing to mention is Allies, allies will make or break you and you cannot stand alone.

Outwardly all the factions are neutral. But beneath the surface is a complex web of alliances and enemies. I will keep careful track of every single PC faction and NPC faction and who they are allied with and who they are not. If you ally with a faction you lose credibility in appeals to that houses enemies, and they yours. You also become a target of those enemies and so on. It becomes a highly complex ripple effect that will be delightful to observe.

But you have some allies now what?

Now you get into the habit of making/keeping them happy and vice versa. You deal with role-play scenarios that I will interject periodically. An example might be your daughter has been insulted publicly and on several occasions by your new ally's first officer. That has ramifications no matter what you do. On the one hand, you don't want to anger your allies, on the other you don't want your faction to reek of weakness or you may be attacked more often, turned down in alliances etc.

If you and your allies get along fine then you can actually get to the business of plotting and scheming. The Expansion hasn't succeeded yet so there is no standard rules for galactic warfare.

Battle mechanics with allies

If you and an ally wish to attack an enemy ship your score is increased but cannot exceed a total of 5. This total represents the effect an fleet of any size can have on a single ship under siege, only so much room to maneuver around it without blowing yourselves up. Your luck scores also combine to form a total not exceeding 5. When meeting in open space? IE: not attempting to lay siege to a ship? Their is no cap on the total. Allied armies can reach as high as possible its a big universe after all. When you are informed of approaching fleets you may send for help. When that help arrives with an fleet two things happen. The attacking fleet must 1) splinter off enough of their total to at least match the incoming allies fleet. An example is a total of 5 attacking, Incoming ally has an fleet of 3. You must use at least 3 to fight him off. 2) in addition to the incoming army splintering your forces, the player's fleet, if available, may add their forces to the melee, further splintering your army. The incoming ally reinforces the luck score of the defender with their own.

Any mobile fleet that is foiled in an attempt to take a ship will be beaten into a retreat back to their own territories/zones and will require one 'turn' to become available again. A turn will be designated by myself when they are completed. Example: new email > turn two has ended, turn three begins now< These turns will need to be tweaked in frequency as I get a feel for the time involved managing Player and NPC interactions, so I don't want it set in stone just yet.

Allies in Diplomacy

Ah Diplomacy. Spies work so well together don't they? No, they do not. You may lend an ally the protection or use of your Diplomacy score as follows: Example: total diplomacy of 4, Can a Lord choose to aid ally with total score of 4? NO. Because the Lord would then have a diplomacy score of 0 while they are away. This is unacceptable and leaves you painfully exposed. Therefore, I will designate 1 point of diplomacy as yourself and your crew. That is, they cannot be donated to another player or used in another players ship. But this means that if I have a diplomacy score of 5 and I attack a four I stalemate? Nope. When a 4 vs 4 in diplomacy occurs the luck score will determine success so you may still not win, furthermore if the luck score ties? And an ally can't tip the scales? The defender wins. Their isn't a tie in consoles rigged to malfunction. You have that assassin caught. The action didn't succeed. He may not reveal your identity but its a risk you take when playing that game.

Infrastructure and allies

The fleet might defend your ship cost free, but if it mobilizes anywhere at all it does so with financial backing. Most of the time infrastructure scores will be offered up to gather NPC/PC allies that need to have large fleets supplied and have low infrastructure scores themselves, so obviously infrastructure score is highly stack-able with allies.

Ship and allies

Allies cannot influence your Ship score.

Luck and allies

Luck is only added to allies in battle mechanics. It accompanies your fleet in battles. See= battle mechanics above.