| Author |
Planetary Supply Lines |
Sardaukar
Admiral
Raven Warriors
Joined: October 08, 2002
Posts: 1656
|  Posted: 2008-12-30 23:00
A suggestion to help focus the fighting, as it's currently just a little hectic and directionless. Dead tired, so no frills with this post.
Homeworlds act as the base of a Supply Line extending across your factions empire. Only worlds connected to this Supply Line (Or government extension, anything really) can thrive and develop their Research level or produce food beyond their natural capability (That is, Barren worlds will be unable to support anything, while a Terran world will have limited support). Owning a system ensures supplies to all planets within, and allows for the extension into the next system in line.
Capturing systems is done by securing a set number of flagged worlds, akin to scenarios; those worlds are the capital high-quality planet of a cluster, or other outlying significant planet, and the planets near them are tied to them in the supply chain. That is, you capture the a flagged world in a hostile system, thus disrupting the flow to the attached worlds and putting them in siege mode until you secure them. Siege mode basically means that they slowly diminish in food, and thus population and services, though silo structures can provide longer sustenance in an emergency. Perhaps allow players to run the gauntlet to hotdrop supplies to the surface as well (though only a limited number of such resources can be stored on the world, to prevent a fleet of stations just nuking the world with supplies so it lasts for days disconnected). A fleet can still capture a world behind the front line, but they'll need to keep it supplied manually until it can be connected to the proper chain. Perhaps add an outpost structure that produces a limited supply chain that allows planets to develop say, halfway. With a reworking of the Blockade system, a fleet could also sieze orbital control of a planet and wait for it to slowly die off.
Will add prettier phrasing tomorrow, maybe... But I think the general idea is conveyed. Give players a better sense of direction, but still retain freedom in where the offensive goes.
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Enterprise
Chief Marshal
Joined: May 19, 2002
Posts: 2576
From: Hawthorne, Nevada
| Posted: 2008-12-31 00:00
To expand:
Basically the chain could be pre-defined. The core worlds in a system, or the capital planets, whatever you want to call them would be the flag planets. They are your Terrans, your Oceans, your Arids, no less than three in small systems and no more than five in really big ones.
You would see the main chain as it was, on the Nav Map, as a line extending from the home planet, running through the core planets all the way through the MV. You would see minor branches off those core planets to the secondary planets.
The goal is pretty simple: to funnel players down specific pathways and more importantly, give them something to actually fight for rather than just random combat wherever.
The key to this is controlling how players get to one another.
Essentially, to move on to the next system, you must own the one you are in. You gain ownership of a system once you capture all the core planets in it. Once you do so, you can then move on to the next one via the gate. The gate itself would remain locked until then.
The supply chain as it is called is important to a new mechanic I've basically plastered everywhere I could as wanting to have in : sieging. The chain works by funneling up resources up the supply line, lines are connected by ownership of the planets. For example, Earth would be connected to Venus. To connect the line, you would have to capture Earth and Venus. You don't have to capture them in order, but if you don't, then the supply line isn't solid and you'd have to manually supply the unconnected world.
You'd manually resupply it in some way yet to be determined, an outpost could give limited support as Sard said.
The core planets would have their own branches as said before, connecting to the rest of the planets. And this is where I get into sieging.
Without supply lines or whatever you want to call them, being maintained, then the planets that are unconnected will begin to deteriorate. They will run out of food, population will die off, systems will shut down. The planet will return to what it would have been like population and food wise without buildings, eventually. This wouldn't be a fast process, it would take 10-60 minutes, The planets would deteriorate faster the further they are down the line.
However, you could capture the secondary planets whenever you wanted to, and capturing all the secondary planets connected to a core world could weaken that world too.
The idea is to force combat on a system by system, planet by planet basis, Giving players a goal and to concentrate them in areas where fleet action can happen and teamwork becomes important. Where not thinking like a team means you lose an entire system.
Planet should also become stronger the closer they are to the home world in my opinion. Since they've already put in enhancements, I don't know why they can't make it so planets get a percent bonus based on proximity too.
-Ent
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Leonide
Grand Admiral
Templar Knights
Joined: October 01, 2005
Posts: 1553
From: Newport News, Virginia
| Posted: 2009-02-18 22:10
i bump, and back this idea 100%. we need a reason for the players to fight over planets.
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captain of the ICC Assault Cruiser C.S.S. Sledgehammer
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Gejaheline
Fleet Admiral
Galactic Navy
Joined: March 19, 2005
Posts: 1127
From: UGTO MUNIN HQ, Mars
| Posted: 2009-02-21 17:34
Geja, having experienced annoyances like people sneaking into the rear lines to capture home systems, agrees muchly with this idea.
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[Darkspace Moderator] [Galactic Navy Fleet Officer]
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