Unofficial TGOD Handbook

The Unofficial TGOD Handbook is a resource for STGOD games containing mechanics, conflict resolution advice, and notes about implementing these resources. These mechanics are generalized, and so are usable by any kind of TGOD game, and were developed for STGOD 2k7. These rules and mechanics are unofficial, 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.

Currently, many of the rules here only make sense when applied to TGODs occurring in space, like STGOD 2K8.

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 interpretation. 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 interpretations 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 dispute is deadlocked over interpretation, 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 interpretations, as Moderators are not judges seeking to refine the law. If a moderator does make an interpretation, do not assume this interpretation 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 anomalies 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

Fleet Combat

Fleets can be any size from one ship to a whole lot of ships. Fleets can only fire on other fleets, except for ships with O that can fire on individual ships. Fleets do 1/5 of their Fleet Weight in damage per turn. Fleet weight is simply the base points of all ships in the fleet. Players can declare that ships are not firing, and those ships would not contribute to Fleet Weight. A ship that is not firing and not running away may still be damaged by the opposing fleet.

In addition, fleets do an additional 1/5 of their O value in targetable damage. To hit specific targets, the attacking fleet must have a net C3 value of +5, compared with the defender's D value. If the C3 value is less than 5, then O damage is treated as normal untargeted damage.

Each ship has "hitpoints" equal to their base weight. Damage is distributed to ships in the fleet by the defending player, except for targeted O damage. Ships brought to 0 points are disabled and cannot fight, move, or interact with other ships under their own power. Disabled ships can no longer take damage from regular attacks, but can still be targeted by O. If the attacker chooses, he can continue to fire on a ship that is disabled with O, or simply say that he destroys the disabled ships after the battle is over. If a disabled ship is brought to negative half of its original hitpoints, it is completely destroyed and cannot be salvaged. So, a 10 point ship would take 10 points of damage to disable, 15 points to completely destroy.

Disabled ships can be salvaged by the victor of the battle. Rules for salvage are in the salvage section.

Part (or all) of a fleet may choose to retreat instead of attacking. The retreating ships are treated as a separate fleet for targeting purposes.

Retreating

A fleet can declare that it is retreating, and the damage it does while retreating will be halved. D, I, and C3 still work as normal. The turn that a retreat is called, the opposing fleet will continue to fire at it for full damage. For every turn that a retreat lasts after that, both fleets fire for half damage.

There are several methods of retreating. You can have your ships retreat as a fleet, or retreat as fast as they can individually. Retreating as a fleet means that your ships stay together, traveling at the speed of the slowest ship. Retreating individually means that all your ships flee as fast as they can, possibly staying with ships of the same speed, or just scattering.

Retreating is not always successful. The turn after the retreat is called, the other fleet may choose to pursue. He can pursue as a fleet, or divided up into smaller groups. A fast ship can catch slower retreating ships, and continue the fight.

Hyperspacing Away

While retreating, a fleet can (and should!) charge hyperdrives to run away. Charging a hyperdrive while retreating takes 3 combat turns. For every multiplier of hyperspeed a ship has, this time is reduced by one turn, to a minimum of one turn. For every 5 points of I present (friendly or hostile), this time is increased by one turn.

Speed

A ship's speed is equal to its normal base weight, and is modified by R. a 10-pt ship has a speed of 10. That same 10-pt ship at 3 HP also has a speed of 10. A 10+10R ship has a speed of 5. A 1+10R ship has a speed of -9 (it works). At a future date, there may be a mechanic to lower speed by O targeting the engines.

Smaller ships are faster than larger ships.

If an attacker's ship is facing a defender with the same (or faster) speed, the defender may choose to avoid combat indefinitely. If the attacker has a faster speed, he can force an engagement.

If a ship is pulled out of hyperspace by I, the interdicting player may choose to attack immediately, even if the interdicted ship is faster than the attacker's fleet. Of course, the defender may choose to retreat immediately

Speed has no effect in battle, besides retreating.

Battle Damage

There are no special penalties for ships that have taken damage: their base weight is already reduced which means that their attacks will be weaker.

Combat Turns

Each combat turn is one hour in real-time, unless both sides agree to something different.

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 hit points. A ship's hit points are 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 competency in hiding and the ability to hyperspace.

They also have what's called a 'baseline competency' 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 competency 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 applied 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. You are limited to +10 of a single type on a single ship. 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.
• Attribute 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 targeting 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.

The Stealth Rating of a vessel is compared to enemy C3 on a ship for ship basis. If no enemy vessel has C3 greater than or equal to the Stealth Rating of the stealthed vessel, it cannot be definitively detected. However, if enemy C3 is close, especially if more than one opposing vessel has high C3 ratings, they may detect sensor ghosts that will alert them to the general presence of a stealth vessel without fixing its location. When roleplaying a stealth vessel, err on the side of interaction.

• 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

• Attribute 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 targeted 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 targeted.

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 interpreted 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

• Attribute 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 +D may be destroyed instead of hitpoints, no other special attribute may take the place of hitpoints.
• Attribute Interactions: D reduces damage you take from conventional attack, and is tallied fleetwide, not individually. 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 penetrate defenses, unlike basic attack, which is assigned by the defender. To bypass D and choose targets with O, your fleet must have a net +5 to C3, which can be reduced by enemy D. Given the requisite C3 advantage, each point of +O does 0.2 points of damage to a specific target. These values are tallied fleetwide and then assigned by attacker's choice. Furthermore, damage done by Improved Offensives with a sensor advantage is never soaked by Active Defenses and never strikes anything but the intended target. Damage done from Improved Offensives is dealt directly to Hitpoints. Without net +5 to C3, O simply contributes its damage to the fleet throw weight. 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. Improved Offensives are the difference between railcannons that fire nuclear shells and smart missiles that home on their targets through jamming. Same damage, better placement.

• Abbreviation: O
• Determining the Value: +N points of O deal .2 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.
• Attribute Interactions: O interacts nearly not at all with the enemy, and nothing adds or reduces the effectiveness of Improved Offensives. Total fleet C3 must exceed total enemy fleet D by at least 5 to activate its special abilities.

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 efficiency 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 efficiency is less important than maximum power in minimum 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.
• Attribute 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 targeting 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.
• Attribute 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.

Realspace Engines

Realspace engines allow tactical movement before a battle and while retreating. They do nothing in a battle.

• Abbreviation: R
• Determining the value: First, determine the base speed of a ship, which is equal to the base weight of the ship while it is undamaged. For every two points of R, the base speed value of a ship is reduced by 1. A 10+10R ship would have a base speed of 10-(10/5) = 5. A 1+10R ship would have a base speed of -4.
• Attribute interactions: R does not interact with anything else.

Building an Empire

Points

At the start of the game, players each get an equal number of points to buy their ships, planets, racial bonuses, and special technology. Points are distributed into three categories.

Industrial Points

Industrial points are used to buy and maintain ships and troops. The ratio is up to the player, but a power without a strong fleet is vulnerable and one without an army can't take territory. For STGOD 2k8, each player starts with 2000 Industrial points.

Nation Points

Nation points are used to buy national bonuses. For STGOD 2k8, each player gets 500 nation points.

Planet Points

Planet points are used to buy planets. Although these are called "planet points," one could conceivably buy things like large space stations, asteroid colonies, deep space settlements, etc. For STGOD 2k8, each player gets 100 planet points.

Nation Customization

As a further method of customizing your empire, each game may allow the empires to spend points on different national attributes. These modify how well you do certain things, either by giving a bonus to something or potentially a penalty. Of note is that all empires are assumed to have basic competency (as would be reasonably defined by the setting) in the areas mentioned below.

Basic Abilities

These are the basic things that can generally be bought by all empires, and are mostly setting non-specific, although the names can be referred to differently in game (for example Improved Sensor Networks could be called Extended Scrying in a FTGOD). As a general rule of thumb, every attribute point spent in these abilities improves the ability by 1%, unless mentioned otherwise.

Improved Logistics

Lets you get fresh ammo, food, and replacement parts and crews from the points of production to the front faster and more efficiently. The in-game effect is an increase in the repair rate of units. Depending on repair mechanics, may also reduce the need for dry-docking and the like.

A nation with Improved Logistics may repair ships in the field. For every 100 points, at the beginning of each turn, ships in the field will have a quarter of their current damage, rounded down, repaired. For a nation with 100 in Improved Logistics, a 50-point ship at 11 HP would repair itself to ((50-11)/4)+11 = 20 HP. For a nation with 200 points in Improved Logistics, that ship would repair 25% plus 25% of the remaining 75%, or 44% (rounded up). For 300 points, 58% would be repaired per turn.

A ship with HP below 10% of its base weight cannot auto-repair, and must return to a base to be repaired.

In addition, if a nation with Improved Logistics wins or successfully retreats from a battle, they may immediately repair as if a turn just passed.

Improved Logistics has no effect on prepared repair.

Improved Espionage

The ability of your agents to blend in and vanish, get into places they shouldn't be, and gather information from a wide variety of sources. The higher this ability, the more information you receive on espionage missions and the lower your chances of being caught. Is compared to the target's counter-espionage rating.

Improved Counter-Espionage

The ability of your internal security to track down people who are in places they shouldn't be and doing things they shouldn't be doing. Higher ratings reduce how much intel can be gathered on you and increase the chances of catching an enemy agent.

Improved Salvage

Whether consummate looters or recyclers, improving this stat allows you to haul away more valuable goods at the end of a battle. Under normal circumstances the victor of a battle may choose to salvage the disabled ships (on all sides) of a battle and receive a bonus to the next turn's production of 5% of the total points value of destroyed ships. For every 20 points in Improved Salvage, the percentage you can salvage increases by 1. A nation with 500 points in Improved Salvage could salvage 30% of disabled ships.

Note: you cannot salvage destroyed ships.

Improved Assimilation

Increases the rate at which conquered worlds/cities/whatever are brought into productive compliance. May serve as a placeholder for the moment while ground combat mechanics are worked out.

System Defenses

You purchase system defenses with racial points, and they act as "free" ships. The defender may use these ships only during defensive actions. The ship's stats are 1+1X, where X is O, D, or C3. 100 pts buys 1 of these ships per planet point in that system. So a system with 25 pts of planets would get 25 of these ships. 200 points buys 2 per planet point, etc. These ships do not count as ships in your fleet, do not take maintenance, and are replaced for free at the beginning of each turn. For every 100 racial points in system defenses, you can only use as many of these ships as a quarter the point value of normal ships in-system. That means a nation with 100 points in O system defenses, with 25 points of planets and 50 points of ships in system, would have the 100 point fleet plus 12 1+1O patrol boats. If they spend 200 racial points in this, then they would get the 50 pt fleet plus 25 patrol boats. If they spent 200 racials and have a 100-pt fleet in-system, then they get the full 50 patrol boats that the system has. So it only takes 100 points of normal ships in-system to get the full system defense bonus.

Penalties

Any of the above attributes can be decreased in exchange for extra attribute points. The exchange is non-linear and follows this pattern: -10 penalty = +10 extra points -30 penalty = +20 extra points -60 penalty = +30 extra points -100 penalty = +40 extra points -150 penalty = +50 extra points Etc.

Outsider Tags

These are tags with a basic cost that indicates outsider status, which generally affects espionage and counter-espionage, placement, and the ability to purchase certain other attributes. In STGOD 2k8, outsider tags preclude the purchase of technological caches. Note that any counter-espionage and espionage bonuses or penalties may not apply to other outsider cultures, but that is up to the players and mods to roleplay on a case by case basis. Use common sense and fair play.

Barbarian

This empire is from outside the normal boundaries of civilization, and may in fact be quite civilized, but their ways are very different from standard, and the feeling is mutual. Gives +30 counter-espionage, -30 espionage, and the right to be located well away from the majority of other empires. Costs 50 attribute points.

Extragalactic/Extradimensional

Your empire is from way outside the norms. Like Barbarian only more so. Requires permission to use as too many empires with this trait would become silly. Gives +60 to counter-espionage, -60 to espionage in addition to the normal benefits and costs of the Barbarian

Improved Technology

These are special attributes in that they may be captured, unlike the basic ones and the outsider tags. They however allow for normal rules of unit design to be bent somewhat. To represent their capturable nature, all Improved Technologies must have a world/city declared as where they are located.

Improved Tech Cache

These allow for the special abilities of units to exceed the normal 10 point limit. The cost of improvement is 10 points for every point by which the normal cap can be exceeded.

Improved Shipyards

These allow for the construction of units larger than the normal 50 point cap. For every 10 points invested, the cap is increased by 1 point. Note that all units over the cap produced after the start of the game begin at the same place as the shipyard.

Planets

"Planets" or "Territories" (or whatever the applicable term is) are important in any TGOD. They hold your citizens, provide your industrial capability, and if they are all gone, your empire does not have long to last. Planets come in different qualities and sizes, and the better a planet is, the more industrial capability it will have, and the better of a target it will be for an enemy. Hostile powers can invade your planets and capture them, taking its industrial capability for their own.

In STGOD 2k8, planets come in ten categories, represented by the numbers 1-10. A planet's number represents its quality. The industrial output of a planet is its quality * 10. A class 1 planet produces 10 Industrial Points per turn, and a 10 point planet produces 100 Industrial Points per turn.

There can be no more than 25 points of planets in one system.

Running an Empire

Time Management

The passing of time in an TGOD is marked by turns. There are two types of turns, production and combat.

Production Turns

Production turns are generally anywhere from 2 months to 1 year in-game. These turns are major time increments, and signal the passing of enough time for your shipyards to churn out new ships. You get your current allotment of Industrial Points from your currently-held planets to spend at the beginning of Production turns.

Production turns are typically long enough for your ships to move across the known world/galaxy/universe.

Combat Turns

Combat turns are about one hour long in-game. They represent "turns" of action while in combat, and also manage the arrival of reinforcements. During one combat turn, opposing ships may fire, defend with Improved Defenses, declare targets for Improved Offenses, activate interdiction, attempt to escape, and any other reasonable combat action. A short skirmish may only take two combat turns, and end with both sides withdrawing, while a major battle might take 12 combat turns, enough time for both sides to bring in reinforcements.

Depending on where the battle is taking place, players may be able to bring in reinforcements. A player defending in his own territory may be able to bring in reinforcements on turn 4, while an attacker far from home may not be able to bring in reinforcements at all. There is no set rule for this, be reasonable and talk to the opposing player to resolve conflicts.

In STGOD2k8, each map hex takes one day to cross with a normal hyperdrive. This is equivalent to about 12 combat turns.

Production Management

At the beginning of each turn, you declare the numbers and types of ship you want to produce. The ship types typically are detailed in your OOB. You may choose to commission new ship classes, but these must then be recorded in your OOB. Remember that part of your total production must be allocated to maintenance of your current ships, otherwise you cannot keep them in full fighting condition.

Fleet Management

Movement

To move your fleet around, just RP your fleet doing something. If location is important, you may want to make a note of it, either on the overall map, or just in relation to some other point of reference (ie: in a hostile star system). Make sure you reference the rules on ship strategic speeds before you make any long-distance moves.

Maintenance and Repair

Your fleet takes production points to maintain. The default is 20% of the ship's production cost, for maintenance each turn. That means a person with a fleet of 2000 points needs to spend 400 industrial points per turn to maintain his fleet in full fighting condition.

All ships cost 20% their total cost a turn to maintain. Failure to provide enough points for maintenance will result in the faction being required to sell/scrap/dry-dock ships until they are no longer in a deficit situation. Selling requires another faction to be willing to buy the ships, at an agreed upon price, while scrapping requires no buyer and yields half the cost of the ship into that turn’s point pool. Dry-docking can either be maintained or mothballed. Maintained means that the supply cost is 1% the total per turn, but no degradation takes place. Mothballed means that the ship requires no supply, but loses 10% of its effectiveness a turn, to a minimum of 5%, and must have points allocated to repairs when taken out of dry-dock.

Damaged ships can return to drydock for repair. There are two forms of repair: automatic and prepared.

In prepared repair, a nation can set aside a certain number of industrial points for repair purposes. One of their damaged ships may go to drydock, use the repair points, and be immediately available that same turn for more combat. In this method, a ship takes 1/4 of an industrial point to repair 1 point of base point value, rounded up. a 10 hp ship brought down to 2 hp would take (10-8 )/4=1 industrial points to repair. A 50 hp ship brought down to 13 hp would take (50-13)/4=9.25 ~= 10 points to repair.

In automatic repair, a ship is brought to the shipyards, and is fully repaired for free at the beginning of the next turn.

Siege 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 unofficial.

Laying a Siege

Tempting as it might be to simply shell planets into submission, Earth-like worlds are rare, and glassing them will seriously impact the interstellar economy and food supply, as well as deny you the industrial benefit of possessing the planet. Warships may selectively bombard a planet (points in Bombardment are especially handy for this) to reduce its planetary defenses, but doing this while leaving infrastructure intact is a painstaking process. Every full production turn spent bombarding a planet lowers its garrison strength by the base attack value of the bombarding fleet (so a fleet with a total 100 base weight will reduce the planetary defenses by 20 points), but also lowers its category (and thus industrial output) by 1. A planet reduced to a category of 0 is effectively useless.

Taking Territory

A planet is assumed to have garrison forces, be they reservist formations or militia, equal in power to ten times the planet's value - a class 1 colony has a garrison equal to 10 points, and a class 10 world has a garrison equal to 100 points. This may be enhanced by troops purchased with industrial points. In order to successfully take a planet without leaving pockets of resistance, troops equal to three times the power of the garrison must be landed. Given that, fully securing a planet takes a number of production turns equal to half its category rounded up.

Population Assimilation

This is a matter for roleplay. Assimilation is an extremely subjective thing that does not lend itself to hard rules; an oppressed population might greet invaders as liberators or one that was well treated before and treated badly by the invaders might resent occupation for years. This will mostly be a moderator call. Until the population is ruled assimilated, the conqueror must continue to garrison the planet with regular troops, does not gain the use of free planetary militia, and the original owning power does not need to undergo an assimilation period if they take back the planet.

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.