Hi guys,
It's Friday again, and we've got that Friday feeling that makes us post proposals!
This weeks proposal ties in strongly with the background simulation, and how factions behave and change with regards to it, and what you, the players, can do to change the structure of the Galaxy.
Hefty stuff I'm sure you'll agree, but have a careful read and then give us your thoughts. Deep breath, here we go:
ELITE DANGEROUS – FACTION CAUSES AND THE BACKGROUND SIM
GLOSSARY OF TERMS
System – A collection of stars, planets or other astral bodies under a single collective name, e.g. “Lave”, and requiring a hyperspace jump to reach.
Faction – An organisation that adheres to a single set of laws and that has a relationship with other factions. Factions can control single systems (such as independent systems) or multiple systems (such as the Federation)
System Authority – All inhabited systems are controlled by a faction in the form of a system authority. System Authorities can adopt statuses and causes.
System Statistics – Statistics and data about a system authority.
System Statuses – Broad stroke conditions that effect a system, e.g. war, poverty, economic boom
System Causes – Sets of missions and events with a theme relating to a specific Status.
Tick – A variable amount of time that determines when background simulation data is collated, and system statistics are updated.
System Assets – These are the various objects, resources, and points of interest in a system.
WHO RUNS A SYSTEM?
Every inhabited system has a system authority, representing the physical presence of the dominant faction in the system (or representing lack of governance in case where no faction is in control). The system authority has a number of system statistics:
- Wealth – a rating of the system authority’s capital
- Between 1 – 1000. 1 represents low average wealth, 1000 represents a high average wealth
- Standard of Living – a rating of the wellbeing for the population under the care of the system authority
- Between 1 – 1000. 1 represents a low standard of living in squalid conditions, 1000 represent utopian living standards
- Development level – a rating of how technologically and materially advanced the system authority is
- Between 1 – 1000. 1 represents very low development and facilities, 1000 represents the highest development and facilities
- Security – a rating of the system authority’s military capability
- Between 1 – 1000. 1 represents low security, with the faction owning few combat capable ships, 1000 represents a highly secure system with a large faction fleet
- Population – a representation of the number of inhabitants under the care of the system authority
- Between 1 – 1000. 1 represents severe under-population, 1000 represents severe overcrowding
- Government Type – a description of the method of governance used by the system authority (some factions specify a government type)
- None (the system is unpopulated)
- Anarchy
- Commune
- Communism
- Corporate State
- Religious Cult
- Democracy (Independent, Federal, Alliance)
- Theocracy
- Dictatorship
- Feudal
- Imperial Colony
- Imperial Protectorate (part of the Imperial interstellar faction)
- Major Economy Type – the most prevalent type of market controlled by the system authority
- Agri
- Industrial
- Criminal
- Extraction
- Military
- Services
- System Authority Owned Assets – a list of points of interest under the control of the system authority
- Non-System Authority owned Assets – a list of points of interest not under the control of the system authority
- Neighbouring Authorities – a list of nearby system authorities close enough to be deemed “neighbours” and able to affect the system
- Each entry logs the factional relationship between the two system authorities
These system statistics can change based on player activity and statuses (described later). Importantly, they are collated and interrogated every meta-game tick to determine how the system evolves.
The faction behind a system authority determines the laws of the system, as well as determining diplomatic status with other factions. Such diplomatic status affects all systems controlled by a faction.
The system authority and its associated stats determine the welfare of the system and what things happen in it.
WHAT HAPPENS IN A SYSTEM?
Each tick, by interrogating system statistics, system authorities are assigned any number of statuses and a single cause.
STATUSES
Statuses give the player general information about the system authorities’ current system stats in the form of a broad, system-wide condition.
Different combinations of stats will lead to different statuses being awarded to a System Authority. For example, in order to receive the ‘Famine’ status, the following conditions must be met:
- Populations Stat must be 9 or more
- Standard of Living Stat must be under 3
- Agricultural Assets must be fewer than residential assets
System authorities can be awarded any number of statuses, as long as their system statistics meet the requisite requirements when the tick occurs. A status can have discrete positive and negative effects:
- Adds one or more causes to the potential list from which a single cause is chosen each tick
- Determines a list of statuses that cannot be selected whilst it is in effect
- Generates stories added to the news feed
CAUSES
Causes add themed missions and events into the mission/event creator.
Causes dictate what the majority of events and missions are that will be available in the system for that tick. They represent a theme associated to a status. For example, the “famine” status might have two associated causes: “exodus” where people are generally attempting to leave the system, and “food drive”, where people are making extra concerted efforts to obtain food supplies.
Each tick a cause is chosen at random, with statuses adding weight to their related causes.
Missions generated by a cause are in addition to other missions generated by the mission/event generator.
RESOLVING STATUSES
As players perform actions in the system, and react to the available missions and events, their actions will be recorded and logged.
When the tick ends all the aggregated data for all player’s actions in that system are collated, and the system authority’s system statistics are updated accordingly.
These updated system statistics are compared against exit thresholds values for active statuses. Each status may have a number of exit thresholds values that could result in different outgoing effects. If the system statistics match a particular set of exit threshold values, the status is removed and any outgoing effects are triggered.
OUTGOING EFFECTS
Status outgoing effects can have a positive or negative effect on a systems stats and assets.
When a status is removed it may trigger outgoing effects:
- Automatic activation of a particular new status
- Alteration to system statistics
- Creation, destruction or alteration of a system asset
- Alteration to system statistics numerical values
- Changes to government type
- Changes to factional relationships
NEWS FEEDS AND STATUSES
Statuses and causes will determine the contents of a systems news feed.
When a status is awarded to a faction, a story pertaining to that status is added to news feed for the system.
The Stories headline gives a brief description of the details of the status, with the story itself adding information on locations involved, what kind of events and missions to expect, specific details of the status and give clues to what player actions can affect that status.
When a status is resolved at the end of a tick a story should also be added to the news feed, giving players information on what the resolution of the status was as a headline, and details of the effect of the resolution and any changes to the faction’s stats and statuses in the article.
The Faction’s Selected Cause should be the main story for that tick, with news stories updated every tick.
EXAMPLE NEWS STORY
Status: Aware of Mineral Resources.
Cause: Secure Mineral Resources
Federal Democracy of Sol Plans to Acquire Gold Resources
A recent discovery in the Sol system (add ‘By <Player Name>’ if player was involved in discovery) has urged the Federal government to move to secure the Gold rich asteroid field at <Asset Location> for official government use. If successful they will put an end to the unofficial mining operations that have been taking advantage of the mining opportunities, and secure the resources for the Federation.
In a statement, <NPC Government Spokesman> said, “We will be sending security forces to the area to ensure the area is safe while our construction crews begin work on creating mining facilities in the area. We’d like to ask any pilots in the area to co-operate with federal forces in their efforts to secure the area, and report any illegal mining operations to security forces.”.
Several prominent pilots have spoken out against the Federations claim, saying that the resources should be free for private organisations to mine. Some extremists have threatened to attack federation forces in order to hinder the construction of mining facilities. Others are taking the opportunity to mine as much of the precious resource as they can before the federal clampdown takes place. With mining equipment readily available from a number of ship yards around earth, the Federal government must be expecting something of a gold rush.
EXAMPLE STATUS
Status: Economic Boom
A large amount of wealth distributed among a relatively smaller population leads to economic booms. Expect events and missions relating to trading, with players offered special prices and opportunities to acquire rare goods and services cheaply.
Required Stats: Wealth >700
Population: <800
Associated Causes: Construct new Trading Post, Buy <Trade Good>, build trading ships, build navy ships, subsidise trade
Resolution 1: The bubble bursts
Required Stats: Wealth <800
Population >800
Effects: -250 to wealth, -100 to population
Resolution 2: The Boom Continues
Required Stats: Wealth >800
Population >900
Effects: +100 to wealth, +100 to population, Economic Boom status injected to next tick
Economic boom increases a systems wealth and population. Players can help to prolong the economic boom, and will get missions and events that allow them to purchase things cheaply or sell for a high profit margin while it is active. When the bubble eventually bursts the systems wealth is greatly lowered, and the status is removed.
Notes and Issues
So, it's a complex system, apologies if it's a bit confusing. It should mean that systems are constantly changing and evolving. As statuses are acquired and resolved they should alter systems stats and create a narrative for systems as they change over time.
Players should be able to perform actions in systems and have significant changes in a system. Players should be able to look at the statuses a system has and, with a little player knowledge, perform actions that promote the result they want.
We need a good selection of statuses that System Authorities can get, with end conditions and associated causes. If you guys can suggest any ideas you have on those lines that would be a great help. If you have a good idea of what the stats would be associated with your example then all the better, but if not post it anyway, we can figure them out later.
This attachment is a flow diagram of how stats, statuses, causes and player actions are processed.
statistics and statuses flow.jpg
Thanks for reading, really looking forward to your feedback!
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