2nd Edition Menagere

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BLHarrison
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2nd Edition Menagere

Post by BLHarrison »

Just wondering, are all the species features from 1st Edition going to make it in some form to the 2nd?

And are we going to see many new features?
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Tyrel Lohr
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Post by Tyrel Lohr »

The 2E Menagerie rules are going to see some major departures from the existing rules. The same core system is going to be in use, but some of the elements that were traits before will be changed into something a little different.

First, all species will be divided into six orders of life: Carbon, Silicon, Exotic, Hydrogen, Synthetic, and Transcendent. Most alien species in the 1E Menagerie were assumed to be Carbon, with other physical traits being applied for diversification. In this system, however, that diversity is enforced by the orders of life.

Each order of life has its own advantages and disadvantages. Carbon life has no modifiers, and is still the default. Off the top of my head: Exotic life gets a species design point bonus but find it harder to live on other planets; Hydrogen life inhabits gas giants; Synthetic are robotic species that do not experience population growth but can build their own Census; and Transcendent life does not build colony infrastructure but instead is just 100% productive wherever they're at.

Beyond the order of life, we then have the various traits. There are physical/evolutionary traits, homeworld traits, and social/cultural traits, much like there were before. Most of the old traits will move forward to 2E, though some of them are now integrated into standard 2E rules. For example, High and Low Gravity Species is gone as there is now an actual Gravity climate stat for that. Similarly, with the AIX values now standard, Aggressive and Pacifistic will disappear.

The traits advantages/disadvantages will also become a bit more granular compared to 1E. You will have twice the number of design points to spend, but the abilities will only give about half their normal bonus/penalty. This allows for a bit more variety in species. Almost all traits should be cumulative, too.

I'll write more later -- have to go now!

-Tyrel
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Post by BLHarrison »

<snip>

I like the brief discription you gave and look forward to it, along with the fact that there can be more points available than before, it will enable me to be closer to how I want the various races to be in my campain.

BTW is some form of flight going to be included? In a long ago post I had asked how it could be shown under the V1 rules and one of the replies indicated that (at the time) Flight was being condidered as an additional trait in V2.
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Tyrel Lohr
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Post by Tyrel Lohr »

The number of species design points will now be determined chiefly by your species' preferred climate statistics, too. You take the absolute value of your preferred stat of each type minus 5.5, and then add all four of them together, and that is the number of points you have available to spend. For example, Humans have 5/5/5/5 preferred climate, so they would have .5+.5+.5+.5 = 2 species design points to spend. However, a species that begins on an extreme climate planet with 1/8/9/2 would have 4.5+2.5+3.5+3.5 = 14 species design points available.

I think species will be forced to spend at least half their available points on physical or homeworld traits, just to keep things fair, but I am still on the fence about that.

As for Flying, yes it is a new physical trait that confers some combat bonuses, I think along the genre cliche of making those species better pilots. This means their Flights and Aircraft gain bonuses to their combat stats.

-Tyrel
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Post by BLHarrison »

<snip>

I like the brief discription you gave and look forward to it, along with the fact that there can be more points available than before, it will enable me to be closer to how I want the various races to be in my campain.

BTW is some form of flight going to be included? In a long ago post I had asked how it could be shown under the V1 rules and one of the replies indicated that (at the time) Flight was being condidered as an additional trait in V2.
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Post by Gareth_Perkins »

Tyrel Lohr wrote:I think species will be forced to spend at least half their available points on physical or homeworld traits, just to keep things fair, but I am still on the fence about that.
You could go with something like:

[Total Points / 2] - 2

That way races with only a few points aren't too heavily restricted, but races with loads of points will need to take several physical/home world traits?

(In your example the humans would have a free hand, and the other race would need to spend at least 5 points of physical or home world traits,
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Post by Emiricol »

This may already be answered and if so, I apologize. But, will Hydrogen planets have an orbit number that somewhat determines viability?
Hydrogen life inhabits gas giants;
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Post by Tyrel Lohr »

Hydrogen Lifeforms will essentially "flip" the habitability modifier values for the Giant Planets with those of the Terrestrial Planets. That means you will have Hot Giants at 100%, Gas Giants at 125%, and Ice Giants at 150% whereas Hospitable Worlds are at 100%, Adaptable at 125%, and Barren at 150% for most everyone else. Hydrogen Lifeforms then treat all of these planets at Dead Worlds at 200%.

When I finalize the Menagerie rules, these habitability modifiers might also vary depending on the species' home gas giants. For example, a Hydrogen species from an Ice Giant might have 100% at Ice Giants, 125% at Gas Giants, and 150% at Hot Giants.

I also expect all planets, with the exception of Dead Worlds and Asteroid Belts, to be saddled with planetary climates when those rules are used. This will increase the habitability modifiers for the planet, making it more expensive to colonize or purchase infrastructure on planets.

-Tyrel
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aelius
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Post by aelius »

When you say Transcendent life is 100% productive without colony infrastructure what do you mean? Do you just use the RAW and Biosphere times census and produce that way. And what about shipyards now that they are an infrastructure for colonies?
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