Explanation of v3.0 series variables and terminology
The name the designer has given the series.
The maximum number of players that can join an instance of that game.
Little known fact: if the game "fills", but someone gets nuked or surrenders before the fifth update, then another player can join. At one time, even the player that just left could rejoin, but the code now
blocks that from happening.
The number of new planets that are added to the map whenever a new player joins the game.
The maximum number of allies allowed to each player. Games labelled "Cutthroat" do not allow alliance. Those marked "Blood" or "Grudge" do not even allow truce or trade.
Example: a group of four players all mutually allied with one another would have three allies per player. This would be legal in a game that allowed at least three allies.
The maximum number of ships that a player may have in play. This figure includes ships under construction, as well as those ordered to dismantle.
The starting Tech Level for any player that enters the game before the first update. Players that join later will get the highest Tech Level of the existing players. For every n² points of Tech Level, a player will have n tech selections banked (awaiting development).
The amount that a player's Tech Level increases on update, assuming the player does not consume any mineral and fuel resources. Otherwise, the actual tech increase will be reduced in accordance with the player's ratio of consumption of minerals and fuel to their production:
Tech Increase = Tech x (1 - (Consumption/Production))
An empire's Ag Ratio will be the lesser of its ratio of Agriculture to Population, or this maximum. Ag Ratio directly determines the growth of an empire's populations:
New Population = Ag Ratio x Old Population
Therefore, the Max will limit the prospects for pop-tricking. But for many games, this constraint weak enough to be irrelevant (e.g. with a "Max" of 100).
The agriculture, mineral, and fuel ratings of the home system. Games with high-resource homeworlds facilitate early building.
Note that starting population will equal the homeworld's agriculture.
The average agriculture, mineral, and fuel ratings of randomized systems. Systems created with builder ships will not be random, but will exactly equal the averages. Games with high resources increase the value of colonization.
The contribution that a planet makes towards feeding the empire's population. One point of agriculture enables the survival of one point of population. Excess agriculture leads to population growth, while insufficient agriculture leads to negative growth (see Ag Ratio). Unlike minerals and fuel, the actual agricultural production of a planet does not depend on the size of its population. The owner always receives the full value of the agriculture rating.
The mineral rating of a planet. The actual mineral production is the lesser of the planet's mineral rating and its population. Mineral production contributes to tech development, and is crucial for building and maintaining/repairing ships. Minerals constrain the speed at which a player may construct fully-effective ships. In most games — particularly those with a low Ship Limit — minerals are more important than fuel.
The fuel rating of a planet. The actual fuel production is the lesser of the planet's fuel rating and its population. Fuel production contributes to tech development, and is important for keeping ships operating at peak efficiency. Fuel contrains the absolute capacity for operating fully-effective ships.
Also called build threshold, this is amount of population required for a system to achieve "builder status" — that is, to gain the ability to build ships there.
The sixteen ship types. When a player purchases a
tech by spending a tech selection, he gains the
ability to construct ships of that type.
The above list is a somewhat awkward attempt to
group the sixteen ship types into classes. These
classes tend to share certain properties that are
relevant for "timing".
The techs that are known by
a player when first joining the game.
The techs that a player may
freely purchase by spending tech selections.
The techs whose selection is
constrained; see the maximum number of restricted
techs allowed.
The maximum number of
restricted techs that
a player may know at a time. An empire that already
has the maximum number cannot purchase another.
The maximum number of restricted
techs that an empire may "forget" during the course of
the game. The term "trade-in" is a bit misleading,
since an empire that forgets a tech this way does
not get another tech in return. Instead, the player
merely gets rid of a restricted tech that is counting
against the maximum allowed.
Assuming the player has at least one tech selection
in reserve, he can then purchase a different
restricted tech — one that otherwise would
have been incompatible with his existing selections.
Any techs that do not appear
in the list of developed,
unrestricted, or
restricted techs.
Such techs are totally absent from the game.
A class of ships with the ability to move. There
are actually two varieties of movement — "move"
and "explore" — although most movable ships only
have the first ability. An order to "move" enables a
ship to enter a known system. An order to "explore"
enables a science ship to enter
an unknown system.
Movement occurs during the pre-combat phase.
Therefore, a ship that is ordered to move out of
a system will not fight there. It will fight
in the new system if hostile ships are located there after all
movement is completed.
When orbiting a hostile system, movable ships also
have the ability to issue a nuke order. Nuke orders
are resolved post-combat — the ship must survive
combat for such an order to succeed. If successful:
- The system's population is eliminated.
- The system's resources are permanently halved.
- The system reverts to unowned status, and can be
colonized again.
- If the system is the victim's homeword:
- The victim is eliminated from the game.
- The victim ships are all destroyed.
- The victim's systems all revert to unowned status.
- The victim's permanent record gets plus one "been nuked".
- The nuker's permanent record gets plus one "nuke".
As with all ships, movable ships can be
ordered to dismantle. Dismantling is pre-combat.
A class of ships whose unique abilities are
resolved pre-combat.
A movable ship type whose unique ability is
to "cloak" and "uncloak". Such orders are
resolved pre-combat.
If uncloaked, the ship acts normally. If
cloaked, the ship:
- Is invisible to other players.
- Does not participate in combat (although
it can still be destroyed by a
minefield, if something else
causes the minefield to explode).
- Cannot issue nuke orders
In v3, cloakers are automatically cloaked
when built. Actually, this feature is another
series variable, but it happens to be turned
"on" for all existing series.
A movable ship type whose special ability is to
"explore" systems. Exploration occurs pre-combat.
Once a system is explored:
- The system appears on the player's map,
along with any unexplored jump points.
- The player's other ship types may "move" into
that system.
A class of ships whose unique abilities are
resolved during combat. Technically, the attack
ship has no such abilities, but is included here
because of its importance in combat.
The cheapest movable ship type. It lacks any
further abilities.
Sometimes called a super-attack, this is a very
dangerous v3 movable ship type. It cannot perform
any special orders, and it has no more damage-dealing
firepower than any other ship. Instead, the carrier's
strength is its resistance to destruction.
This resistance consists of a "quasi-immunity"
to damage dealt during the DEST phase of combat.
Whenever the battle routine targets a carrier for
destruction from enemy DEST, a certain amount of DEST is countered and absorbed. The carrier takes only minor damage — Carrier Loss.
The exact amount of DEST absorbed is equal to the square of the carrier's current BR after taking Carrier Loss.
A carrier can be destroyed in three ways:
- Excessive Carrier Loss.
- By damage dealt as 2DV.
- By an exploding minefield.
By absorbing damage, a carrier also helps shield
any other ships that the player has in the same
system. However, a carrier cannot absorb
damage destined for ships belonging to allies.
The carrier's resistance to destruction and
tendency to shield other ships might sound like
defensive abilities. Nevertheless, carriers
are primarily an offensive weapon. To see why,
consider a simple battle. One player has 10 carriers
and the other has 15 attacks. Neither side has enough
firepower to destroy the other's fleet — the
carriers will destroy five attacks, while the attacks
probably won't destroy any carriers. Hence both
sides have ships that survive the battle. What
happens when such a battle unfolds in an enemy
system? That which survives, nukes!
A movable ship type with the special ability to
prevent a minefield from exploding,
assuming that at least one minesweeper survives the
DEST and 2DV phases of combat.
A class of ships whose unique abilities are
resolved after combat. To use these abilities,
a ship in this class must survive combat.
This is a v3 movable ship type with the ability to
create entire planets.
To create a new planet, construct some builder
ships and move them to a system that adjoins an
"empty" sector — one with no existing system.
Give an order of the form "Create System(123,456)".
Creation orders are resolved post-combat, and
succeed only if the total BR of the ship(s) giving
the order is sufficiently high. The total BR must be at least one tenth of the game's
Planet Create Cost. If the
planet create cost is satisfied, the order is
successful and a new planet is created. Either way, the builder ships are consumed in the attempt.
A newly created planet will have exactly
average resources.
The system is considered "explored" for the player
that created it (see science).
If the builder ships all gave the creation order
from the same point of origin, then there will also
be a jump automatically opened between that point
of origin and the new system.
If the ships were in different locations when
executing the order, then the opening of the link
seems variable:
- Stargate server — a jump is definitely
opened, but perhaps not from the desired direction.
There seems to be a specific order of preference for
the various possible directions (I've forgotten the
exact rule here)
- Lugdunum — no jump is opened (usually?)
For historical interest, see wormholes.
A movable ship type whose special ability is to
populate and claim ownership of an unoccupied system.
An order to colonize can be given only if the
system has no existing population. If succesful,
the colony ship is consumed, and the population
of the system is set equal to the square of the
current BR of the colony ship. If several colony
ships attempt to colonize the same system, only
one will succeed and be consumed.
A movable ship type whose special ability is to
annihilate systems. Annihilating a system permanently
reduces its population and resources to zero, and
precludes colonization. In v3, annihilation has one
additional effect: it prevents a jumpgate from
targetting that planet as a destination.
A movable ship type whose special ability is to open
and close jumps between adjacent systems.
Each operation (open or close) requires an order,
and incurs Engineer Loss.
A movable ship type whose special ability is to increase the
agriculture rating of a system. Terraforming
a system adds ten times the ship's current BR to the ag rating.
The ship is consumed by the order.
A movable ship type whose special ability is to
"invade" an enemy system, transferring control of the
world and its population to the owner of the
troopship. A troopship can successfully invade a
planet with a population up to ten times its current
BR. If the invasion order is unsuccessful, the
population is reduced by twice the troopship's
current BR. Other troopships that attempt invasion
later in the same turn might then succeed against
the smaller population.
Invasion orders are resolved after nuke orders. If
a combination of attacking ships is ordered to
simultaneously nuke and invade the same planet, the
nuke, if successful, will occur first, reducing the
population to zero, and greatly increasing the chance
of a successful invasion. Such a combination is
known as the "trooptrick".
A v3 movable ship type that forms a class unto itself.
Its special ability is to shapeshift into any other
ship technology known by the same empire. Changing
form:
- Incurs Morpher Loss.
- Requires an order ("Change into -type-").
- Resolves pre-combat (with a few quirks on Lugdunum).
- Enables the morpher to gain the abilities of the
new form.
A morpher "appears as" a ship of the same type
it is currently emulating. For example, a morpher
that changes into a minesweeper will
appear as such on the systems menu of any player
who can see the ship, including the owner. Even the
owner's ship menu will list the ship as a minesweeper.
He can tell it's a morpher by looking at the orders
available to the ship; if it can "change" into
something else, then he knows it's really a morpher
in minesweeper form.
The morpher-cloaker requires two additional points of explanation.
First, when a morpher changes into cloaker form, it is automatically
cloaked if the series variable for "cloakers cloaked when built"
is "yes". If not, you will need a separate order to cloak the
ship. Second, a cloaked morpher cannot be given orders to change
into other ship types. You must uncloak it first.
Morphers are possibly the most challenging of all
the techs. True mastery of the morpher first
requires mastery of the other ship types. That alone
is not enough — morphers can achieve certain
strange things that no
other ship type can.
For historical perspective, you may be interested to know
that in older versions of the code, the morpher was an even
stranger beast than it is now.
- Virgin Morphers A morpher that had never morphed
into another ship type was in a very privileged state. First
of all, it was cloaked when built. If the ship changed into
some other type, it lost virgin status — even if it changed
back into "morpher" form, it would no longer be cloaked.
When combined with the following two bullet points, this
arguably made the Virgin Morpher the oddest entity
in all of Stellar Crisis.
- Uncloak Method A cloaked morpher could change directly to
another ship type, say an (uncloaked) minefield. (This was very powerful,
but due to the following bullet point, a bit less unbalanced
than it sounds.)
- Uncloak Timing An uncloaking morpher did not participate
in combat on the turn it became visible. It fought the turn after,
assuming it didn't recloak. One trick that exploited this behavior was
the "unkillable ship" — which in reality was two ships in opposite
phases, one cloaking as the other uncloaked. It was the ultimate in
cloaker harrassment.
A class of ships that lack the ability to move
or nuke. Such ships are not transported by
gates. Like any ship, a
stationary ship can be ordered to dismantle
before combat.
A class of stationary ships whose abilities
are resolved during combat. Coincidentally,
the ships in this class consume no fuel.
A defensive stationary ship type whose special
abilities are as follows:
- Immunity to the DEST phase of combat. What
this means is that the minefield will be "passed over"
as a target for DEST. Unlike a carrier, it does not
actually absorb DEST.
- Will "explode" under certain conditions,
destroying all ships in the sector and killing
half the population.
A minefield will only explode if:
- It is destroyed (by 2DV)
- On the turn the minefield is destroyed,
no minesweepers are
present in the same system after normal combat
is resolved.
It is best to think of "explosion" as a third phase
of combat that occurs after the DEST and 2DV phases
are resolved. Even though explosions only happen
after "normal" combat, they are still "part" of combat
as a whole. Events that happen after combat —
like gating — are resolved only after explosions.
A defensive stationary ship type. Has no special
abilities. The cheapest of all ships.
A class of stationary ships, consisting of
jumpgate and
stargate. Both types have the
post-combat ability to transport other ships to
distant systems. Though they differ in their
details, they share many properties.
To use a gate, you provide it an order that
specifies the coordinates of the desired
destination for your transported ships. The
destination must be within the gate's
range as determined by
current BR and the game's range settings.
The destination will also have other
requirements, depending on the type of gate.
The ships menu will only list legal destinations
for a particular gate. In other words, if you can
give the order, that system is a legal destination
— at least at the time you gave the order.
However, gate orders only execute after combat, and
can therefore fail if:
- The gate is destroyed.
- Some combination of overbuilding and/or combat
lowers the gate's BR enough to put the intended
target out of range.
If successful, transport occurs. However,
gates only operate on ships that:
- Are movable.
- Are in the same system as the gate.
- Belong to the gate's owner.
Note that since transport is post-combat, freshly gated ships do not fight in the destination system on the turn of arrival.
For historical interest, see wormholes.
This is a v3 stationary ship type. See gates
for an explanation of gate operation generally, including
range limitations. A jumpgate differs from a
stargate in that:
- Transport requires an order such as "Jump to System(123,456)".
- Jump orders incur Jumpgate Loss).
- The destination system must be:
This is a v3 stationary ship type. See gates
for an explanation of gate operation generally, including
range limitations. The range
requirement is what distinguishes the v3 stargate from
earlier versions. A stargate is distinguished from a
jumpgate in that:
- Transport requires an order such as "Send to System(123,456)".
- A Send order does not incur BR Loss.
- The destination system must belong to the gate's owner.
At one time, a bug in the code allowed builder ships
and gates to interact in a most peculiar
way. Consider a group of builders with a gate in the same
system (the "origin" system). The builders are ordered to create
another system and the gate is ordered to transport
the builders to a third. What happens? In the buggy version,
the creation order worked, but no jump was opened
between the origin system and the created system.
Instead, the jump was opened between the created
system and the gate's destination!
This type of non-linear jump point is known as a
"wormhole". Intentionally creating a wormhole could
potentially backfire. The wormhole worked in both directions
and could be explored and used by any player. But to permanently
rid yourself of the wormhole, you only had to close it with
an engineer. Once closed, it could never be reopened.
The amount of permanent BR lost by certain ships
as a result of special events and actions:
- Carrier — when it
absorbs an otherwise lethal dose of DEST.
- Engineer — when it
attempts to open or close a jump.
- Jumpgate — when it attempts
to transport ships to another system.
- Morpher — when it attempts
to change into another ship type.
A ship that does not have sufficient BR to pay
for Loss is destroyed, and any order it was trying
to execute will fail. An engineer, jumpgate, or
morpher whose BR is at least equal to the amount
of Loss incurred, but less than twice this figure,
is consumed by the (successful) execution of its
orders.
The "distance" that a stargate or jumpgate can
tranport ships, based on its current BR. On the official
series parameters as seen on the server, the number that
controls range is called a "range divisor". To determine
how far the gate can jump or send, divide the gate's BR
by the range divisor. If the range divisor is zero, the
range is infinite. On the
Bestiary chart, I've expressed
the range controller in a way that I consider easier
to understand (e.g., instead of saying the range divisor
is 0.4, I would write that the range is 2.5 x BR).
The relevant distance between two systems is not
the actual linear distance but the greater of the two
orthogonal distances (vertical and horizontal). For
example, the distance between (0,0) and (3,4) is four.
Range is actually checked twice:
- During display of the ships menu. Systems
that are out of range of a given gate will not be
selectable as the gate's destination.
- During order execution. A gate that is weakened
due to combat or overbuild might not have sufficient
BR to reach its intended destination. If so, no
transport occurs.
The amount of minerals required to build a ship
of a certain type, above and beyond the amount
needed as a function of its BR. Therefore the
total cost in minerals to build such a ship is:
(BR + 4)² + Special Build Cost
The amount of minerals required to maintain a
ship of a certain type, above an beyond the amount
needed as a function of its BR. Therefore the
total cost in minerals to maintain such a ship is:
2 x BR + Special Maint Cost
Note that the total fuel cost of a ship is always
twice the total maintenance cost (except for satellites
and minefields, which consume no fuel).
This number is used to determine whether
builder ships succeed in
creating a new planet. The total BR of the
ships giving the create order is multiplied
by ten, then compared against the create cost.
If the total BR is high enough, the creation
order succeeds. If not, the order fails.
Either way, the builder ships are consumed.
