Unofficial TGOD Handbook

The Unoffical TGOD Handbook is a resource for STGOD games containing mechanics, conflict resolution advice, and notes about implimenting these resources. These mechanics are generalized, so are usable by any kind of TGOD game, and were developed for STGOD 2k7. These rules and mechanics are unoffical, and many elements are still not completely agreed upon. Keep discussion of the TGOD mechanics and rules to the appropriate board thread, and leave the discussion section here for wiki related matters.

Rule of the 'Rule of Thumb'

The only rule for TGOD games is that the mechanics are a 'rule of thumb' used for ballparking figures rather than enforcing them. Even when the numbers are extremely specific, these are only guidelines for interpertation. Most commonly they will be used by the Moderators as a battle starts to give the players an idea of what the damage on each side would be, but so long as players agree to a result, that result need have nothing to do with the numbers the mechanics suggest. Never consider the mechanics and rules in this document as a dogma that must be followed, except this one.

Deciding What Happens

Simply put, if all participants agree to a result, these results enter into play. The reality of a TGOD is agreed-upon rather than rule-enforced. This applies to every aspect of the game, so an entire STGOD can be played without a single rule or reference being needed, so long as the players all agree to act with maturity and write a good story rather than write a good story about themselves winning. This is the most obvious in combat, where debates about losses on both sides are bound to cause heated debate, especially in extreme cases or when asking to leverage a subjective roleplay element into an objective unit loss. While combat may have many guidelines for determining theoretical losses on both sides, players can make their own decisions without regard to those guidelines, so long as they reach an agreement with everyone involved. Bartering and attempting to trade something each side wants ("my battleship dies if I kill 3 of your cruisers," "you can have the planet if you let my fleet escape") is a good way of helping to reach a conclusion all parties can agree upon. If players cannot come to an agreement, they may need to rely on the mechanics for a strict impartial result, or request a moderator decision. This is considered poor form, and players are encouraged to find ways of finding Roleplay solutions.

Resolving Disagreements

It's bound to happen. Back when you played superhero games and one kid kept saying 'ting' to every superpower you shot at him, the only way to resolve a conflict was calling a parent. Sometimes people with different ideas or interpertations are going to refuse to agree on certain things, especially if they have very extreme opinions of how a specific situation should play out, or have an awful lot on the line. Now that you're older, you have a chance to resolve some of these problems before busting out the mechanics. Failure to work out problems and relying too much on Moderator assistance will undoubtably cause Death By Falling Rocks. Here's a good process to go through when resolving a heated dispute.

• Try to meet them halfway. Maybe if you give a little, you'll find they're more willing to barter.
• Get your Alliances involved. More points of view are helpful, and neither team will want relations to sour so much that all conflicts would be Moderated.
• Ask for an exit strategy. Instead of risking moderators siding with your foe, or both of you taking heavy losses, consider a mutual retreat. It's a safe solution.
• Propose using the Mechanics. If the dispute is over numbers, agree to use the literal result of the mechanics as an impartial result.
• Request a Moderator jointly. If the disptue is deadlocked over interpertation, the two of you should request a Moderator.

Results of Moderation

When a situation gets so out of control, or so complex, or about a vague enough element of the theme or rules that there's no clear solution, a Moderator is often the only way to dig yourself out of a hole. Rarely do they make interpertations, as Moderators are not judges seeking to refine the law. If a moderator does make an interpertation, do not assume this interpertation of the rules will persist past this one single instance. Moderators rarely even rule in favor of one or the other, they merely state what they've decided has happened. These are to be considered final estimations.

This is because moderators resolve problems, not questions or disputes. This is an important distinction, as oftentimes a moderator will seek the simplest and most direct route for removing an issue that's slowing the game. If this issue is a type of special system, expect galaxy-wide spatial anomolies to render them inert. If the issue happens to be a player, expect rocks to fall on their head. This is just one more incentive to come up with a consensus.

Combat Mechanics Guidelines

Information about losses per turn and such. This can basically just be the 10% of unit size per turn damage mechanic. I'm putting this first so people can read it and understand it and then go onto the unit creation section with those ideas in mind.

Battle Damage

Describe combat fatigue, wounding, or degradation here. Controvesial mechanics ahoy, so this will probably be a WIP with no text for a while. Less controversially, re-iterate that defenders assign damage points as they choose.

Combat Turns

Not sure about this stuff yet. Did we reach any consensus?

Designing a Unit

A unit can be a tank, dragon, space whale or whatever else suits the setting you're in. For an STGOD, units will generally be your spaceforce, while for an FTGOD they may be a steampunk navy or an army. Units are basically the smallest things in the game you care about paying for, so in many settings fightercraft and ground units are not even considered units, they're just ammunition. Units are also generally the focus of an OOB (Order of Battle) and often the only thing you can purchase with your production points. The way a unit functions is defined by it's attributes, and can be roleplayed in generally any format you wish.

Basic Abilities

Ships often have special abilities, but do not require them. It may seem obvious at first, but people forget how important the ship's base value is. Many times people will refer to the 'basic' cost of the ship, or it's 'size' or it's 'weight' when trying to determine how well it lands troops or absorbs punishment. There's no fancy name for it, but 'normal' points are those points invested in the ship's base value. A 30+10H ship has purchased 30 basic points.

In addition to whatever specials they have equipped, ships have a full suite of basic abilities based on their base value (that 30 point cost), and buying a 'larger' ship (higher point cost) is the only way to expand it's hitpoints. A ship's hitpoints is always equal to it's basic cost, and it gets a point of offense for every point of basic cost as well! This makes the 'basic' attributes of the ship some of the most valuable overall, even if they have no special function besides absorbing punishment and doing basic damage. They'd also get the +1S and +1H that all ships have, giving them a basic competancy in hiding and the ability to hyperspace.

They also have what's called a 'baseline competancy' with all military equipment. This means, in broad terms, just because your civilization has never encountered a Blorfian does not mean Blorfian weapons automatically penetrate your shields--regardless of how your shields or their weapons work. It also means no vessel is completely devoid of any system, even special systems, but that their basic 'baseline' levels don't matter for much, since everyone has it anyway. A baseline competancy doesn't count for anything in the game, but it does help explain how people are able to block railguns AND psychic manipulation AND daemonfire with the same shield equipment.

Special Attributes

In addition to the basic stats of attack and hitpoints, there's a number of special attributes that can be applid to ships. These do not raise the basic attack or hitpoints level of a vessel, but are given special tactical importance that makes them useful for other situations. Your ship cannot be more than 50% Special Attributes. Consider each hitpoint of a unit the same thing as a few hundred meters of hull to mount things on. You can't have more systems than hull, and most games limit your systems to +10 of a single type. The bonus conferred by the +value is usually directly equal to the cost of the value. There's one exception to this: all vessels are considered to always have a +1 Hyperspeed Rating and a +1 Stealth Rating, cumulative with any extra they fit their ships with, and Hyperspeed Rating and Stealth Rating use a more complicated system designed to favor smaller vessels. When reading the value calculations, +N refers to the +1-10 value you have assigned the stat on that vessel. It is common practice to bold the abbreviation of a Special Attribute so it is not confused with a numerical value.

Sensors and Comms

Sensors and Comms give the fleet access to greater intelligence gathering equipment, allowing them to retrieve useful information about the enemy and reveal prowling stealth ships. Improvements here can also extend the range of your sensors, making you able to determine these things from a longer range. Having an extremely large advantage in Sensor coverage often plays into Moderator damage assessments.

• Abbreviation: C3
• Determining the Value: +N points of C3 can reveal an equal or lesser Stealth Rating on short and long range sensors. Furthermore, asking for detailed information about an enemy fleet (numbers, makeup, presence of specific classes or notable ships) often requires you to have at positive adjusted C3 value.
• Attribtue Interactions: C3 has decreased function against fleets with Active Defenses running. You cannot scan a fleet or detect stealthed ships if your C3 rating does not exceed the other fleet's Active Defenses. Stealthed ships may not run Active Defenses themselves, but can travel along with those that do. All planets are considered to have a C3 rating of +1.

Stealth

Stealth is the ability to become invisible to enemy sensor equipment at the cost of movement, attack, and most special systems. Even activating a maneuvering thruster or using a targetting system would betray your location to short-range sensors. However, you may enter and exit Hyperspace while stealthed. You may operate interdiction fields while stealthed, since interdiction fields are invisible to long-range scanners. Short-range scanners will be able to locate the center of the field though, so stealthed interdictors may still be attacked. Stealthed ships may travel along with non-stealthed ships to gain the advantage of Active Defense screening. Stealth and Hyperdrives do not assign a linear value based on purchase cost, they scale the bonus according to ship size, and assign a 'Rating' describing the effectiveness of that ship. List both the +S and Stealth Rating of your vessels in your OOB.

• Abbreviation: S
• Determining the Value: The value of Stealth decreases based on the overall size of the vessel. Stealth systems are not counted when determining the overall size of the vessel. In plain terms, your Stealth Rating is equal to +N divided by one tenth the cost of the overall non-stealth vessel size, and then added to the automatic +1 Stealth Rating all ships have. A 40+10S vessel would have, therefore, a stealth rating of +3.5, or ((10/4)+1). To compute a vessel's Stealth Rating, use the following calculation:

+S divided by (One Tenth Total Ship Cost besides Stealth) +1 Basic Stealth = Stealth Rating

• Attribtue Interactions: Because all ships have a +1 Stealth Rating, a fleet with no C3 equipped vessels would be unable to locate an enemy force from long range if they chose to 'run silent.' If an enemy has a vessel with C3 rating equal or greater to your Stealth Rating, you may be located and targetted as normal. All planets are considered to have a C3 rating of +1. Stealthed ships are only Stealthed when inert, though they may enter and exit Hyperspace while stealthed. Interdiction equipment may also be operated while stealthed, but short range scanners would detect the origin of the field and allow the ship to be targetted.

Hyperdrives

Hyperdrives determine your speed in Hyperspace, and also the ease at which you can be yanked into realspace and attacked by someone with Interdiction equipment. Like Stealth, Hyperspeed Ratings scale to favor smaller vessels, and use the same calculation for determining the rating. The rating is also used as a speed modifier for strategic map movement, generally interperted as a multiplier. A 40+10H ship would move 350% of normal movement speed, while a ship with no additional hyperdrives moves 100% of normal movement speed as determined by their natural +1 Hyperspeed Rating. It is possible to operate Interdiction fields and Hyperdrives at the same time, though reduce your Hyperspeed Rating by a value equal to +I when determining your movement speed.

• Abbreviation: H
• Determining the Value: The value of Hyperdrives decreases based on the overall size of the vessel, like with Stealth. Hyperdrive systems are not counted when determining the overall size of the vessel. In plain terms, your Hyperspeed Rating is equal to +N divided by one tenth the cost of the overall non-hyperdrive vessel size, and then added to the automatic +1 Hyperspeed all ships have. A 40+10H vessel would have, therefore, a hyperspeed rating of +3.5, or ((10/4)+1). To compute a vessel's Hyperspeed Rating, use the following calculation:

+H divided by (One Tenth Total Ship Cost besides Hyperdrives) +1 Basic Hyperspeed = Hyperspeed Rating

• Attribtue Interactions: Hyperspeed Rating directly relates to your Strategic movement speed. If an enemy has a vessel with I rating equal or greater to your Hyperspeed Rating, you may be interdicted and forced into a tactical battle, starting with weapons offline and within firing range. All planets are considered to have an I rating of +1. The higher your Hyperspeed Rating, the fewer losses you are expected to take when fleeing a combat zone.

Active Defenses

Active Defenses are a combination of advanced countermeasures that all conspire to avoid, soak, or deflect damage from your fleet. Higher levels make your ships able to ignore higher levels of enemy attack. Each point of +D lowers the damage your fleet takes by .25, equal to 2.5 points of enemy base attack. A player may choose to destroy points of +D in place of hitpoints, but these do not count towards Fleet Weight and do not provide a basic attack rating. Furthermore, enemies with levels of Improved Offensives can target hitpoints directly, removing the ability to trade +D for hitpoints in a pinch.

• Abbreviation: D
• Determining the Value: +N points of D soaks N x .25 points of damage per turn, allowing you to ignore it entirely. In some situations this may stop an enemy from being able to damage you with conventional attacks whatsoever. +D also reduces enemy C3 effectiveness, forcing an enemy to have a greater fleetwide +C3 rating than your +D rating before they can gain specific details about your fleet. Points of +Dmay be destroyed instead of hitpoints, no other special attribute may take the place of hitpoints.
• Attribtue Interactions: D reduces damage you take from conventional attack, and is tallied fleetwide, not individually. This may lead to odd situations, such as a 50 point ship massacring a 40+10D with several turns to spare, but the real advantage of +D is in screening friendly vessels. Furthermore the ability to selectively reduce your own levels of +D in leiu of hitpoints makes them a far superior defensive option.

Improved Offensives

Improved Offensives allow a vessel to target specific enemy ships and penetrade defenses, unlike basic attack, which is assigned by the defender Each point of +O counts for less than actual attack points, doing 10% of their total value rather than 25%, so a +10 deals a single 1 point of damage to the enemy. However, these values are tallied fleetwide and then assigned by attacker's choice. Furthermore, damage done by Improved Offensives is never soaked by Active Defenses and never strikes anything but the intended target. Damage done from Improved Offensives is dealt directly to Hitpoints. Avoid making too literal demands with +O values, as such specificity should not be a reason to abandon roleplayed damage. Improved Offensives do not benefit ground invasion. Despite what the numbers would say, these are not merely sniping weak weapons, it's just that making them do greater levels of damage than normal would make them too potent. Improved Offensives are the difference between railcannons that fire nuclear shells and marine striketeams that infiltrate enemy ships and plant nuclear payloads in the enemy reactor cores. Same damage, better placement.

• Abbreviation: O
• Determining the Value: +N points of O deal .1 damage per point, and assigned by attackers to targets of their choosing. Damage from +O is never soaked by the enemy Active Defenses and cannot be misdirected by the defender. This is not an excuse to abandon Roleplay, and this damage should be bartered for and bargained with as normal, just with the understanding it allows for specific targets to be chosen. It also acts as a disincentive to abuse +D.
• Attribtue Interactions: O interacts nearly not at all with the enemy, and nothing adds or reduces the effectiveness of Improved Offensives.

Bombardment

Extremely specialized, Bombardment devices are things that allow a fleet to provide advanced space-to-ground artillery. It also aids in breaching planetary shields and defenses for the purposes of landing invasion forces. Often far weaker than normal space weapons, the advantage of Bombardment systems is that they have the endurance and higher degrees of efficency that allow them to be used continuously for extended periods of time. These are also not planetbuster weapons, and would do little if any actual damage in fleet actions, where efficency is less important than maximum power in minumum time.

• Abbreviation: B
• Determining the Value: +N points of B count for 5 points of Fleet Weight for the purposes of sieging a world, invading surfaces and harassing planetary defenses. It has no other function and cannot be used in combat.
• Attribtue Interactions: B is only used when attacking the ground, but has a wide range of applications there. Depending on which of the optional ground rules are in play, this may be an extremely strong or an extremely limited attribute, but remember that the best defense against a strong ground invasion force is a strong space defense fleet. Bombardment modifiers cannot hurt a protected world.

Interdiction

Interdiction equipment acts like flypaper to slow down Hyperspace vessels, trapping enemies that have equal or lesser Hyperspeed Ratings than your best +I. Interdiction fields do not stack. A vessel slowed down completely is shunted back into realspace and cannot easily escape again, taking either heavy losses or taking many turns to escape. The field does not extend far on a tactical map or strategic map, and vessels that slip into an Interdiction field always appear with weapons offline and within targetting range, allowing an enemy the first strike. Destroying the Interdicting vessel will cause the field to terminate instantly.

• Abbreviation: I
• Determining the Value: +N points of I can halt an equal or lesser Hyperspeed Rating on the strategic or tactical map. Ships capable of flying through the field may enter combat along with the trapped ships, but arrive just as powered down as their slower allies. Attempting to escape an Interdiction field causes you to take extra damage that turn, rather than the 50% you normally would take for escaping, or may require you to spend several additional turns activating Hyperdrives. Work it out with your opponent.
• Attribtue Interactions: I technically reduces all enemy Hyperspeed Ratings by a value equal to +N Interdiction. Ships are literally slowed back to sublight speed by Interdiction gear. It is possible to enter Hyperspace while running Interdiction equipment as well, but you reduce the Hyperspeed Rating of your own fleet by the same amount as an enemy. Friendly ships reduced to +0 Hyperspeed Rating cannot enter Hyperspace at all.

Running an Empire

Talk a bout how you need to manage production, move fleets, invade worlds, etc. So people know they actually have some work to do between posts.

Time Management

Write down what the turns are, combat and production at least, and what those mean. If possible delve a little into the concepts of distance and travel within the amorphous setting of our month/production turn dynamic.

Production Management

Explain how it is that you allocate points to buy ships. This isn't complex either, but you can go into production more here. Trade fleets here too perhaps?

Fleet Management

Make it clear that ships have upkeep, how you can repair ships, and how you move them around. Not complicated, just a newbie-friendly statement about how you handle your ship piles.

Seige and Invasion Guidelines

This section is a work in progress, and currently a source of much contention. Consider any rules that DO get put here to be EXTREMELY unoffical.

Laying a Siege

Generalized rules about catapults and orbital bombs. Basically the same for either.

Taking Territory

Total controversy, not sure what to put here yet.

Population Assimilation

Same as above. Nobody seems to agree yet, hard to put anything here.

FAQ

Resummarize the header. None of this stuff is important so long as people have fun and work together. However, rules are useful and make things easier for everyone to understand quickly. Consider putting a few sample thingies down here. Basically use this space to clear up specific questions.