StarGods

StarGods is an extra-unoffical ruleset for TGOD Games. A work-in-progress of Covenant. Unlike the other TGOD pages, the discussion page here can be used for critiquing the ruleset. It is meant as an attempt to utilize the Wiki system to streamline game play, allowing players to spend more time customizing their vessels and keeping them neatly, cleanly and easily accessed on their own ImperialWiki userpage. The use of icons and verbose unit stats would be more difficult to read on the forum, but is extremely fluid on a wiki. The gameplay remains the same, with easier hotlinking (linking directly to unit pages and OOBs for the ease of your opponents) than is available on a forum alone.

This is a file in a greatly messy state. Don't even bother reading up on it yet in it's current form.

StarForge

StarForge is an optional unit creation system for more advanced design. It lists stats for units in a more Roleplaying Game format, giving them attributes instead of numerical strings, and allows for a more complex balance of abilities to be used.

The mechanics of StarForge removes 'base value', or 'basic cost'. Hitpoints are replaced by a hull size attribute that also governs how many specials you can equip the ship with, it's Hyperspeed and Stealth ratings, and a few other things. Basic attack is now a purchased value, along with improved attack. Active defenses are now considered a standard component due to their omnipresent general utility, but the number of defenses you add to your vessel is up to you.

The special attributes operate the same way as before, except the maximum number of special attribute points you can purchase is limited by the hull size. A larger ship can equip more.

For the purposes of the system, let's create and absolutely ridiculous vessel with no heed to any kind of cost or usefulness analysis. It has a few of each special system, a designation, size, and both of the special options enabled. This is as long as a ship would ever get.

Sample Ship :: BBX-77 Exemplar-class Fleet Flagship

Cost: A lot

Size: Colossal

Command Ship: Yes

Transport: Yes

• Weaponry: 50
• Defenses: 50

• Nukes: 10
• Hyper: 10
• Radar: 10
• Siege: 10
• Inter: 10
• Sneak: 10

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.