Planets… maintenance and other things.
Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2008 7:33 am
Well having looked at the new updates in the development server I am under whelmed by their lack of logic and appeal. As such I would like to try to present a different way of making people pay “maintenance” while making them cost more if you do things differently than what is expected of you in the planet contract (so to speak)
The first thing that struck me was that everyone just assumes that size is the actual size of the planet. I find this silly. IF that was true then SG1 would have encountered planets where they would have been crushed to the ground by the gravity as soon as they stepped out of the iris onto the new planet. As we know that never happened.(some of them were even in space but never on a super heavy gravity planet) So if we assume that planetary gravity is within normal human ranges ( 0.9-1.3g ) then what is the size difference that we find on these planets? It is the POPULARITY of your empire on the planet in question. At first it is small BUT as you continue to help them out (pay naq to increase “size”) your popularity increases (tiny support, small support, “normal” support etc.) and more of their industry is turned more to uses you want (increased support structures, more academies producing the goods you want, or even just more trade goods etc.)
So what does this mean to the game then? Well from MY perspective to stay popular takes work and after a certain amount of popularity it costs to keep things at a certain level; bribes, fundraising, fixing elections, call it what ever you wish… So after an “above average” level of support is achieved these sorts of payments come into play. BUT in a predictable fashion. (3-4 year elections, death of the previous dictator or just being unhappy with the current rulers or way thing are done) So how to put this into a way that the game can show it, with just a simple number?
OK here goes…
The revolt percentage…
How does it work? IF your revolt percentage is above 1% then that is the percentage that the planet will go into revolt on the next turn change and then, if nothing is done in 12 hours (24 game turns)to fix the problem, the planet DROPS down to the previous level (huge to large, large to above average, above average to normal etc.) To fix the problem in the 12 hours while it is revolting will cost HALF the normal cost to raise it to the next level SO that is only 50 mill at above average, 500 mill at large, 5 bill at huge, 50 bill at monstrous etc PER PLANET in revolt.
Each turn the percentage increases by 1% until revolt occurs with the following modifiers to the revolt percentage
-200% start point
You created the planet -100% (see point 1)
You found the planet (and it has NO beacons other than yours on it) -50% (see point 1)
Planet size is
LARGE -50%
HUGE -100%
Monstrous -200%
Mind blowing -300%
have less than the min defense fighters that the planet needs +1-150% {See point 2}
having NO fighters at ALL +200%
having more than the min fighters on it (-1 to -100%) {See point 2}
it is a duel planet +50% (you are playing for 2 planets for the price of one so they think they are worth more)
*1: how to do this simply? My suggestion is this each planet has a pointer saying that you own the planet so the pointer of the planet shows your ID. To this is added the previous owners ID. IF you make the planet then BOTH previous and current owners ID will be the same (yours). IF you find it from the VOID it will have the previous ID of 0 (no previous owner) But what about those pesky beacons? IF you abandon a planet then ALL beacons placed by you disappear. How about other previous owners who had the planet stolen and then abandoned? Well EACH week someone owns the planet and it is not reclaimed by its previous beaconed owner 10% of the beacons disappear, minimum of 1 beacon. So after 10 weeks of ownership ALL previous beacons will be gone, no matter how many they had on the planet to start with! After 10 weeks you obviously just don’t care about getting the planet back really, do you? (or you just can’t)
*2: what do I mean by min and max fighters? Ok at each size the MAX fighters increase to 10x the old level. So a planet will assume that you will protect it to the old max level. If not then the people will be unhappy that they are not receiving the “protection” they think they deserve and will show it by revolting faster EG. A large planet will expect that you will have at least 100k fighters stationed on it. So if you have less that that then for each 1k (or part there of) that is NOT on the planet 1% is added to the revolt percentage to 50% and then 2% per k after that. On top of that if you have no fighters at all an extra 200% is added (you are expected to defend them after all) same in the other direction a -1% per % increase over the min fighters
So the costs can happen daily (above average with NO fighters, instant revolt every 12 hours) to 2 and a bit weeks (size 9 planet with MAX fighters which you made which has 100 mill fighters on it, I think, very expensive but doable if you really, really want to) these percentages could be made bigger or smaller, they are just a suggestion...
What happens during the "revolt"?
During the revolt stage there is a +1% chance per turn starting at -1% of your planet losing support structures as the rioters run rampant over your planet. You lose structures as if you had been successfully hit by an attacker (but you don’t lose the planet obviously) and the percentage then drops to -1% again for next turn
At the end of the revolt stage assuming you haven’t paid to stop them the planet drops to the previous level and the cycle starts again. HOWEVER if you have more fighters that the new planet max can handle they start to leave at 1% per turn (like the NAQ falling out of your bank used to) and just disappear. You can also pay to stop the revolt if the percentage chance of a revolt occurring is more than 1% (each planet would have the % chance beside it on the main page.
Also of note. IF you steal a planet from someone (or you find in with your MS) it starts at tiny for you. IF you then abandon it within 12 hours of getting it, the planet size x10%, is the chance that it will just go back to its previous owner at its original size (this process will use 1 beacon and puts the planet into instant revolt) however if you decide to spend on the planet EACH size increase will lower the size by 1 that it returns to the previous owner. For this I will need to explain. think of the planet as 100% pop. Each size means 10% of the people are friendly to you (to a max of 90%, you just can’t please everyone…) if someone steals the planet, the OTHER 10% are the new owners men. And any unused 10% are used first before the lowering occurs SO if for instance you had bought your planet to monstrous (80%) and someone stole it, If they then raised it to above average then abandoned it, If it then returned to you (80% less 30% so now only 50% chance) it would now only be above average in size (the 50% of people still loyal to you)
Of course if the planet drops to normal this entire % problem stops too. And the fighters then stop going away when they fall to 10k as well. (If you had that many to start with...)_________________________________________________________________
The first thing that struck me was that everyone just assumes that size is the actual size of the planet. I find this silly. IF that was true then SG1 would have encountered planets where they would have been crushed to the ground by the gravity as soon as they stepped out of the iris onto the new planet. As we know that never happened.(some of them were even in space but never on a super heavy gravity planet) So if we assume that planetary gravity is within normal human ranges ( 0.9-1.3g ) then what is the size difference that we find on these planets? It is the POPULARITY of your empire on the planet in question. At first it is small BUT as you continue to help them out (pay naq to increase “size”) your popularity increases (tiny support, small support, “normal” support etc.) and more of their industry is turned more to uses you want (increased support structures, more academies producing the goods you want, or even just more trade goods etc.)
So what does this mean to the game then? Well from MY perspective to stay popular takes work and after a certain amount of popularity it costs to keep things at a certain level; bribes, fundraising, fixing elections, call it what ever you wish… So after an “above average” level of support is achieved these sorts of payments come into play. BUT in a predictable fashion. (3-4 year elections, death of the previous dictator or just being unhappy with the current rulers or way thing are done) So how to put this into a way that the game can show it, with just a simple number?
OK here goes…
The revolt percentage…
How does it work? IF your revolt percentage is above 1% then that is the percentage that the planet will go into revolt on the next turn change and then, if nothing is done in 12 hours (24 game turns)to fix the problem, the planet DROPS down to the previous level (huge to large, large to above average, above average to normal etc.) To fix the problem in the 12 hours while it is revolting will cost HALF the normal cost to raise it to the next level SO that is only 50 mill at above average, 500 mill at large, 5 bill at huge, 50 bill at monstrous etc PER PLANET in revolt.
Each turn the percentage increases by 1% until revolt occurs with the following modifiers to the revolt percentage
-200% start point
You created the planet -100% (see point 1)
You found the planet (and it has NO beacons other than yours on it) -50% (see point 1)
Planet size is
LARGE -50%
HUGE -100%
Monstrous -200%
Mind blowing -300%
have less than the min defense fighters that the planet needs +1-150% {See point 2}
having NO fighters at ALL +200%
having more than the min fighters on it (-1 to -100%) {See point 2}
it is a duel planet +50% (you are playing for 2 planets for the price of one so they think they are worth more)
*1: how to do this simply? My suggestion is this each planet has a pointer saying that you own the planet so the pointer of the planet shows your ID. To this is added the previous owners ID. IF you make the planet then BOTH previous and current owners ID will be the same (yours). IF you find it from the VOID it will have the previous ID of 0 (no previous owner) But what about those pesky beacons? IF you abandon a planet then ALL beacons placed by you disappear. How about other previous owners who had the planet stolen and then abandoned? Well EACH week someone owns the planet and it is not reclaimed by its previous beaconed owner 10% of the beacons disappear, minimum of 1 beacon. So after 10 weeks of ownership ALL previous beacons will be gone, no matter how many they had on the planet to start with! After 10 weeks you obviously just don’t care about getting the planet back really, do you? (or you just can’t)
*2: what do I mean by min and max fighters? Ok at each size the MAX fighters increase to 10x the old level. So a planet will assume that you will protect it to the old max level. If not then the people will be unhappy that they are not receiving the “protection” they think they deserve and will show it by revolting faster EG. A large planet will expect that you will have at least 100k fighters stationed on it. So if you have less that that then for each 1k (or part there of) that is NOT on the planet 1% is added to the revolt percentage to 50% and then 2% per k after that. On top of that if you have no fighters at all an extra 200% is added (you are expected to defend them after all) same in the other direction a -1% per % increase over the min fighters
So the costs can happen daily (above average with NO fighters, instant revolt every 12 hours) to 2 and a bit weeks (size 9 planet with MAX fighters which you made which has 100 mill fighters on it, I think, very expensive but doable if you really, really want to) these percentages could be made bigger or smaller, they are just a suggestion...
What happens during the "revolt"?
During the revolt stage there is a +1% chance per turn starting at -1% of your planet losing support structures as the rioters run rampant over your planet. You lose structures as if you had been successfully hit by an attacker (but you don’t lose the planet obviously) and the percentage then drops to -1% again for next turn
At the end of the revolt stage assuming you haven’t paid to stop them the planet drops to the previous level and the cycle starts again. HOWEVER if you have more fighters that the new planet max can handle they start to leave at 1% per turn (like the NAQ falling out of your bank used to) and just disappear. You can also pay to stop the revolt if the percentage chance of a revolt occurring is more than 1% (each planet would have the % chance beside it on the main page.
Also of note. IF you steal a planet from someone (or you find in with your MS) it starts at tiny for you. IF you then abandon it within 12 hours of getting it, the planet size x10%, is the chance that it will just go back to its previous owner at its original size (this process will use 1 beacon and puts the planet into instant revolt) however if you decide to spend on the planet EACH size increase will lower the size by 1 that it returns to the previous owner. For this I will need to explain. think of the planet as 100% pop. Each size means 10% of the people are friendly to you (to a max of 90%, you just can’t please everyone…) if someone steals the planet, the OTHER 10% are the new owners men. And any unused 10% are used first before the lowering occurs SO if for instance you had bought your planet to monstrous (80%) and someone stole it, If they then raised it to above average then abandoned it, If it then returned to you (80% less 30% so now only 50% chance) it would now only be above average in size (the 50% of people still loyal to you)
Of course if the planet drops to normal this entire % problem stops too. And the fighters then stop going away when they fall to 10k as well. (If you had that many to start with...)_________________________________________________________________