[Lights in the Sky SPOILER THREAD] - The Wolves

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[Lights in the Sky SPOILER THREAD] - The Wolves

Post by virtutis.umbra »

The Wolves are an autonomous, self-replicating, quasi-intelligent weapon of annihilation left over from a foregone galactic epoch; they are the insurance policy of an ancient power, now long absent from the galaxy after moving past their starfaring phase into a Matrioshka Brain transcendence in a system somewhere near the galactic core. Wishing to prevent any other starfaring race from developing in this galaxy to ensure their own protection, privacy, and galaxywide entropy-minimization (all lesser intelligence is primitive, aggressive, disruptive and unconscionably wasteful when one is planning on hanging around running simulations unto the heat-death of the universe), these ancients unleashed the Wolves upon the galaxy to keep their neighborhood quiet and predictable.

An individual ‘Wolf’ is somewhat difficult to define, but in one sense it is a near-invisible nanoscale machine. Capable of radiating extraordinary amounts of electromagnetic energy along nearly any spectrum and of generating modest gravitic and strong nuclear field effects, these machines can decompose any dense matter into new copies of themselves; tens of thousands can be generated from a single gram of pure carbon. These units self-assemble into huge, swarmlike clouds, moving like a liquid or a school of fish through the black vacuum of interstellar space. If needed, and given sufficient time, they will decompose an entire planet to generate a new swarm.

These tiny machines are not individually intelligent, but are highly communicative and coordinated; due to network effects, large enough clusters of them attain the cunning and predatory intelligence necessary to adjust tactics and ruthlessly pursue their prey, behaving like some strange hybrid of a hunting shark and an extremely advanced starship. Extraordinarily large and well-organized clusters are capable of rudimentary strategic and logistical reasoning, and it is these ‘seeds’ that function like anthills to send out scouting sweeps and assault swarms to detect and destroy intelligent life. When they have utterly sanitized a system, they disperse or self-disassemble back to a relatively mindless observing state, retreating to seed systems where they await new targets.
This menace is central to the story and gameplay for Lights in the Sky Episode 1: The Wolves. Primarily, the Wolves compose the "faction" that engages in Raiding, as modified by these rules. Their ‘ships’ and ‘ground units’ have the same mechanical properties as the Ze’U’Lok from the Menagerie, except as noted. New Wolf units' maximum In-Service Date is always (Game Year + 5).

Wolf Aggression: Ranked 0-12, starts at 5
At the start of the Raiding Phase, evaluate for changes in Wolf Aggression caused by events since the start of the previous Raiding Phase.
Adjustments to Wolf Aggression:
[list]
[*]+2 - Any Empire fields a TY3005 class vs. a Wolf encounter (1x per game)
[*]+1 - Wolf Raid randomly targets a non-homeworld colonized system (1x per Empire)
[*]+1 - Vesper Homeworld recolonized
[*]+1 - An Empire generates (not finds) a new Jump Lane
[*]+1 - An Empire has Census on 4 or more worlds (1x per Empire)
[*]-2 - Wolves destroy a homeworld
[*]-2 - Average (Mean) Wolf Immunity of all remaining Empires is 5
[*]-1 - 1 or more Wolf Assaults destroyed in a single turn
[*]-1 - 3 or more Wolf Raids destroyed in a single turn
[*]-1 - Edge System rendered impassable to Wolves[/list]


Wolf Activity: If Wolf Aggression is now nonzero, roll 2d6 + Wolf Aggression and consult this chart.
[list]
[*]3-5 - No new Wolf activity this turn.
[*]6-8 - 1D3 Raids
[*]9-13 - 2D3 Raids
[*]14-18 - 1 Wolf Assault
[*]19-22 - 1 Wolf Assault + 1D3 Raids
[*]23-24 - 1 Wolf Assault + 2D3 Raids[/list]


Wolves don't preferentially target poorly-guarded commerce fleets and systems the way the standard Raiding rules do. This is because they're not looking for profit, but extermination. Assign Guaranteed Raids and Assaults to empires randomly, but with a weighting based on Wolf Immunity. Each empire has a randomization weight of 10-(Wolf Immunity). Roll randomly against the empires’ relative weights to determine which empire will be targeted.

For instance, given 10 active empires: assign a range of 10 results of a d100 roll to each empire. If the ones digit of the roll is less than the Wolf Immunity of the empire, reroll the d100. Repeat until a valid result is achieved that doesn’t contradict Wolf Immunity. If empires are eliminated, disregard and reroll results that would target them. Alternately, use an electronic random number generator or other fair means of applying a weighted randomization to skip all the rerolls.


Weighting for an empire that gets assigned an Assault or Raid is subsequently reduced to 1 for the remaining rolls this turn; a second assignment reduces their weight to zero.

Wolf Raids target a random system within the selected empire. The Wolf forces appear in the affected system as if a regular Raid were taking place. Do not roll randomly for raids; this mechanism replaces and supersedes the Campagn Guide’s Raiding and Piracy mechanics.

Wolf Assaults generate fleets in the Edge System nearest the target player's home system (CM choice if multiple edge systems are closest) and attempt to destroy interstellar life in any system between the starting position and their target. Assault fleets are built to total construction cost 1d10*(Wolf Aggression).

Wolf Assaults consider all systems to be Explored and therefore move at a rate of two (2) jump lanes per turn. An Assault fleet must make a direct approach from its starting system to the targeted homeworld (choose randomly between equal paths in any Movement phase), but must stop and destroy anything they encounter – colonies or units – belonging to any interstellar empire. Units or systems belonging to Empires with Wolf Immunity 10 can still be “targets of opportunity” for Wolf Assaults on their way to a primary target. They will invade a colony and pursue annihilation at a rate of 1 Census per turn, beginning the first turn after all ground units on the colony have been eliminated.

There can only be (Wolf Aggression / 2) Assaults in the sector at a time; additional Assault results are ignored. (Extra Assault Fleets still in-sector when Aggression decrements persist until eliminated.)

Self-Replicators: as self-replicating machines, the Wolf starships have the following special Construction abilities, which they will use in the Construction Completion Phase if eligible ships exist unopposed in a system:
Supply allows Ship/Base Construction: Ships/bases with the Supply ability are also Constructors. They can generate free construction equal to the lesser of (combined Supply value, current Wolf Aggression) per turn towards construction of a Base or Ship. They will attempt to build a Base if enough construction capacity is present in the system, and no Base is already present.

Assault/Basing allows Flight/Ground Unit Construction: If not already occupied, Wolf ships with the Assault ability are capable of generating 1 Ground Unit per turn per ‘division’, and Wolf ships with Basing Capacity can generate one Flight Unit per turn.

Transformative Flights can become Ground Units: Flights belonging to the Wolves that have the Transformative ability can be converted into half their C$ in Ground Units instead of being lost if they are deployed as ground units on a planetary surface. Furthermore, Wolf flights with the Transformative property that would otherwise be lost due to lack of Basing Capacity after a Defensive Scenario can instead, if no opposing spaceborne (Ship, Flight or Orbital) assets exist, perform a Planetary Assault from orbit instead of being lost/scrapped. If any survive the Planetary Assault they must be immediately converted into half their C$ in standard Wolf ground units.

Wolf Ground Units (but not Transformative Flights) are considered to act as a Planetary Shipyard with a construction output and Construction Capacity equal to their Attrition. Each full or partial Division of ground units utilized in this fashion provides a single "slip." This capability is subject to the normal Planetary Industry doubled cost for non-Atmospheric ship construction.

Units constructed or converted in any of these fashions appear during the Construction Completion phase.
Last edited by virtutis.umbra on Thu Apr 12, 2012 5:13 pm, edited 18 times in total.
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Re: [Lights in the Sky SPOILER THREAD] - The Wolves

Post by virtutis.umbra »

This mechanism has worked more or less flawlessly for hundreds of millions of years, snuffing out any intelligent life that was able to unlock the secrets of faster-than-light travel or communications before they had a chance to expand beyond two or three systems (more often before they fully colonized beyond their own homeworlds). The vast majority of intelligent life got nowhere near the technological sophistication of the New Races, much less the Vespers.

But even the Wolves’ extremely advanced designers weren’t able to completely circumvent the relentless march of years, and over the eons small errors have crept into their behavioral systems through the cycles of Wolf seed clusters successively activating/attacking/adapting/deactivating. Those errors have left their vigilance somewhat in decline, which allowed the circumspect Vespers to grow and thrive in their home systems through careful shepherding of their technological prowess. That grace period is now at an end, but the animal intelligence of the active Wolf variants is also in decline. Their adaptive systems are slower than they used to be, and their entropy-conserving directives remain in full effect, insisting on the minimum expenditure of energy necessary to ensure destruction of their targets.

These two factors mean it has slowly become possible to gain small windows in which a starfaring race’s tactical and technological cleverness can outpace the Wolves’, especially if given sufficient guidance and data from a power that has already reached greater heights. The Centauri Sector already seems to enjoy a surprisingly low Wolf presence, with major movements always ranging in from the edges of its jump web. This means the New Races are in a unique position to potentially outpace the Wolves. Now, perhaps for the first time in galactic history, it may even be possible to carve out a civilization that can keep the Wolves at bay.
Wolf Immunity: Tracked per empire; Ranked 0-10, starts 0
  • [*] +1: Destroy a Wolf Assault, including at least one point of damage from Anti-Wolf upgraded AS factors. (No limit.)
    [*] +1: Achieve Tech Year 3007 - numerous small innovations combine to help avoid Wolf detection past this point.
    [*] +1: Develop Quiet FTL Technology (At Tech Year 3004, the Vesper Message reveals some understanding of how the Wolves home in on FTL drive signatures): a Hard Special Research Project that provides a low-cost, easy solution to altering the drives' FTL radiation to reduce the 'echo' caught by the Wolves. This is instantly applied to all starships as part of the cost of the Special Project. (This becomes a Moderate Special Research Project if Wolf-Scrambling Physics is already understood.)
    [*] +1: Develop Stealth capability: Medium Special Research Project. Empire must then install Stealth systems on at least 30% of all starships and fixed defenses (each installation costs 1/2 unit's Construction Cost in Tech Points, and increases the numerator of the upgraded ships' Maintenance Cost by 1. If total Stealth proportion ever falls below 60%, this Wolf Immunity point is lost and must be regained. This upgrade also grants the traditional Stealth special ability.
    [*] +1: Stealth ability on at least 60% of all starships and fixed defenses(Maintenance and loss conditions as above).
    [*] +1: Destroy a Wolf Raid (limit 3 per empire).
    [*] +1: Render one of the edge systems closest to the empire's homeworld impassable (limit 5 per empire).
    [*] +2: Unlock Wolf Scrambling Physics (see Alpha Centauri entry in a later post.)
    [*] +3: Acquire Wolf Seed Research (see Alpha Centauri entry in a later post.)
Last edited by virtutis.umbra on Sat Aug 27, 2011 4:59 am, edited 4 times in total.
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Re: [Lights in the Sky SPOILER THREAD] - The Wolves

Post by virtutis.umbra »

Special Systems
Vespra, the Vesper Homeworld
80-EP Wolf Guard Fleet present (will split 50% to attack intruder's homeworld next turn if not destroyed)
Capture increases Wolf Aggression by 1
Slightly degraded Homeworld-quality system (RAW6, CC10, Prod3
Vesper Foundry: Automated Factory with Unique Component Firmware. A Shipyard built in this system can construct from the Vesper (Obscari Enigma) force list up to ISD 3010. Max construction of this type per turn = Vespra's current RAW.
Grand Observatory: Remote Viewing 'stone' (pool from the intro sequence)
See later thread post Finding Vespra for details on locating this valuable system.

Alpha Centauri, Derelict Wolf Sector Hub
The reason all major Wolf sanitization swarms originate outside the sector is that Alpha Centauri, the primary seed system responsible for this sector, is heavily corrupted. Nearby Beta Centauri periodically emits dramatic bursts of exotic energy; these waves flicker back and forth between FTL and normalspace manifestations, and as a result are extremely unstable, decaying into normal background radiation after a few light-years; but their strength is sufficient when they reach Alpha Centauri to have some odd effects.

Bombarded by this exotic radiation, the Wolves at Alpha C. have degenerated into an atavistic state, their cunning and predatory intelligence that should result from their mass accumulation is almost completely absent. Instead, they writhe and seethe and strike out like blinded serpents.

Even nearly completely offline, a Wolf Seed World is a terrifying place: these "Wild Wolves" have already destroyed all but one of the non-stellar bodies in the system, and now they consume one another, or else gobble up bits of stellar wind and particle effusion, growing slowly and roaming like revenant spirits through the system.
  • Wolf-Scrambling Star: See the later entry in this post for full details. This manifests on turn 3000.1 and every third turn thereafter. Alpha Centauri begins the scenario populated by dissolute Wild Wolf swarms equivalent to 25 Wings of "Bronze" class flights.
  • Dynamic Equilibrium: The exception to the malfunctioning Wolves' thoughtless devouring is Alpha Centauri A, where the failed seed node resides. This world has sufficient resources and biosphere to be a Major Colony if one could ever clear the Wolves away. The seed node has a dim enough grasp on semisentience, and the broken Wolves in the system enough hardwired protocol adherence, that it is able to keep them at bay. It's a delicate stalemate, and if something should draw the wild swarms' attention away for long enough, the seed world might be able to reestablish control.... :twisted: If that happens, Alpha Centauri becomes an Edge System. Conversely, if the Wolf Seed (equivalent to a Switch class Medium base) receives two or more Damage Levels from external attacks, the remaining Wild Wolves will subsequently attack and overwhelm it. They will subsequently begin consuming the remaining planet in the system unless stopped.
  • Wolf Seed: A Wolf Seed represents the only component of the Wolf defense system that isn't completely distributed and sub-molecular in scale. A fist-sized nanoreplicating supercomputer, if this unit can be captured mostly intact and contained for research (an Impossible Special Research Project), the researching Empire's Wolf Immunity increases by 3.
Wolf-Scrambling Stars
The strange energies propagating from Beta Centauri have started occurring on other suns in the sector over the last few hundred thousand years... only certain ones seem susceptible, and the effect is not triggered until a Wolf swarm enters the system for the first time. One begins to wonder if there might be an intelligence at work here that has laid these traps for the Wolves...
  • Any Unimportant system the Wolves enter has a 10% chance of suddenly acquiring and immediately expressing this special trait, unless it already possesses another randomly-assigned special trait due to player exploration. A Wolf Scrambling System has the following special qualities:
  • Scrambling Radiation: On the manifesting turn, no Ballistics, Cloak, Stealth, Scout or other electronics-dependent ship special abilities have effects in an active Scrambling system, and any jump orders during that turn are canceled. Furthermore, Wolf units in the system when this effect is active are rendered incoherent for the next 5 turns. Any Wolf ship dissolves itself into "Bronze" flights totaling the original ship's Construction Cost. Scrambling Radiation occurs on the turn this special trait is applied
  • Wolf-Scrambling Physics: Observation at close range (in-system) for 2 consecutive Scrambling Radiation emissions provides enough data on the effects of this strange phenomenon that a Special Research Project (Hard) becomes available. Success immediately raises the researching Empire's Wolf Immunity by 2 and provides Anti-Wolf weaponry upgrades as an option to refit individual units. This modification costs (unit AS value / 2) Tech Points and increases the numerator of the modified ship's Maintenance Cost by 1.
Edge Systems
The six nearest sector hubs' rudimentary intelligence is sufficient to extend their own low-level sweep coverage to include portions of the Centauri Sector, but they lack the necessary coordination and oversight to keep it locked down. The Wolves' efforts are not able to extend much scrutiny to the worlds nearest the center of the sector, so coverage is sporadic on a scale of tens of thousands of years between visits to systems, barring any significant use of FTL tech to draw their attention; this, and the lucky discovery of stealth technologies early in their industrial development, is what allowed the Vespers to remain unmolested for so long.

These outside bastions of Wolf oversight are now awakened, however, and are beginning to be cognizant of just how far things have slipped in the Centauri Sector. Their Sanitization Protocols are spinning up, and increasingly-large swarms are ranging across the jumpweb toward the edges of the derelict sector...
These are systems from which the Wolf Assaults from other, operational sectors can enter Centauri Sector's jump web and start moving against the New Races in force.

Code: Select all

82 Eridani
Altair
Beta Hydri
DM+ 15 2620
DM+1 4774
DM-12 4523
DM-20 4125
DM-36 13940
DM-49 13515
Fomalhaut
G 158-27
GJ 1116 - A
Groombridge 1618
L674-15
L722-22
LP 656-38
LP731-58
Ross 47
VB 10
Wolf 294
Wolf 459
WX Ursa Majoris
Stepbrother Stars [Neutronium Deposits Special System Resource]
There is a bizarre and rare subclass of binary systems known to the ancients as 'stepbrother stars': systems in which a massive primary star caught in its gravitational clutches a small, wayward neutron star, flinging it out on a long, erratic elliptical orbit.

But several such systems exist whose 'stepbrothers' were destroyed some eons ago, ravaged by some unimaginable disruption; the neutron degenerate matter making up most of each stepbrother star was showered over the accretion disk of the host system, enriching the developing stellar bodies with molecular neutronium: a heavy, amazingly dense and nonreactive material. Much of that material is bound up in the systems' asteroid belts, Oort clouds, and rocky inner-system planets.

The Vesper Transmissions contain some very interesting schematics making use of neutronium. When subjected to the right sorts of supraluminal field effects, the Vespers' science indicates, a sufficient amount of neutronium shielding serves to attenuate jumpdrive signatures and other FTL-propagating hyperwaves. Knowing this was possible, but lacking the material necessary to do it, has of course given the New Races' scientists fits because it's an incredibly difficult material to synthesize in any meaningful quantity. Small amounts of neutronium have been used in lesser signals-evasion capabilities of many races' scout ships, such as the Senorian GlowWorm; but full stealth capability requires more neutronium than is reasonably synthesizable.

Instead, it seems the Vespers must have made use of former stepbrother systems to harvest the material for their starship hulls, thereby rendering them far less detectable to entities listening for eddies in the FTL medium. This, it seems, is the basis of the Vespers' ability to evade detection by the Wolves for so long. Alternately (or additionally), a more pedestrian use exists for these neutronium deposits: reinforcing a ship's hull structure with strategically-placed neutronium struts greatly increases damage capacity.
Neutronium Deposits in a system allow the construction of starships that utilize Vesper Neutronium Shielding technology.

Each turn, the system may apply this Special Resource bonus to a number of new construction units in the system equal to the system’s Utilized Productivity. This military bonus applies only to units purchased in the system containing the Special Resources, unless Transport Fleets are used to transfer the resource between systems as per the Campaign Moderator's Guide 2.5.2 Transferring Special Resources, p. 46. No more than 10 ships per turn can be constructed utilizing any particular Neutronium Deposits resource, regardless of how much Utilized Productivity is supplied with neutronium via transferring operations.

Any ships built utilizing this resource should be listed with a consistent racial desriptor, such as "Stealth" or "Silent" or "NS" (for Neutronium Shielded) at the beginning of their name, and should be considered a new and separate starship class, modified in either or both of the following manners:
  • Neutronium Shielded Jumpdrive: +1 Maintenance Numerator; Stealth (+1)
  • Neutronium Reinforced Hull: +1 Construction Cost; +1 DV
Applying both modifications to a single ship construction counts as 2 uses of the 10 ships per turn capacity of a Neutronium Deposits resource.
Last edited by virtutis.umbra on Mon Oct 10, 2011 8:52 pm, edited 12 times in total.
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Re: [Lights in the Sky SPOILER THREAD] - The Wolves

Post by Vandervecken »

Gotta say this Campaign looks very cool ! And as a Dr. Who fan, I also need to say "Bad Wolf".
I weary of the Chase. Wait for me. I shall be merciful and Quick.
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Re: [Lights in the Sky SPOILER THREAD] - The Wolves

Post by virtutis.umbra »

Finding Vespra
The Vespers don't want the New Races to come looking for them - not until the fledgling starfarers are ready, anyway. But Cinnraith's vanity and love for his people was enough that he passed along a fair bit of cultural information, so that the Vespers' ways and history wouldn't be completely forgotten. Incidental to this are certain mythic elements relating to the Seven Rivers of Light, which could be used by a clever-enough researcher to discover the location of Vespra sooner, rather than later.
Vespra occupies a position in the jump web analogous to Alpha Centauri: it can be reached along a separate set of restricted jump lanes from Sirius, Lalande 21185, L143-23, Ross 248, Groombridge 34, Tau Ceti, and UV Ceti. The only difference (besides that the lanes are Restricted) is that Sol does not connect to Vespra.

There are three methods for uncovering this information:

Basic Tech Unlock: Achieving Tech Year 3005 means an empire has decoded enough of the Vesper Transmissions to decipher the location of the Vesper Homeworld, and which systems connect to it.

Directed Tech Unlock: A player with an explicitly stated interest in finding the Vesper Homeworld can enact a special research project (50% of a normal Tech Target) to sift the cultural payload for hints as to the star's location. Doing so provides them immediate notification whenever one of their ships enters a Vespra-connecting system. There's a 50% chance that entering any system 2 jumps away from Vespra (including Alpha Centauri) that they will be able to determine that this system is 'close.'

Random Chance: If an empire develops the ability to search for unmapped jump lanes and happens to search in the proper systems, they may stumble on one of these restricted lanes by accident.
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Re: [Lights in the Sky SPOILER THREAD] - The Wolves

Post by virtutis.umbra »

Closing the Gates

It is possible to lock down the Edge Systems to prevent Wolf incursions from neighboring sectors.
  • Eliminate Jump Lanes - requires Tech Year 3005. Each Edge System has 1d3 links out of the sector; a Moderate Special Research Project is necessary to properly evaluate the gravitic pulses necessary to disrupt each particular jump-point. Then, the presence of 10 Supply Points worth of military or civilian ship assets can provide the necessary materials to execute the closure. This procedure can be executed in non-Edge systems as well, but closing all the out-of-sector Jump Lanes in a particular Edge System removes its Edge System status permanently.
  • Scorched Earth - requires Tech Year 3008. This project is an attempt to destroy a star itself; the release of energy and gravity changes caused by a supernova and subsequent stellar collapse are sufficient to completely eliminate all jump points in the system. A combat force in excess of 150 Anti-Ship factors (discounting Flight units) must be present in the system and engaged in Supernova Generation (executed during the Planetary Bombardment Phase) to begin accumulating damage against the star. Each turn there is a cumulative +10% chance that the star will begin to nova; once this process begins it is irreversible and will complete in 1d3 turns. Any units or colonies in the system when the supernova occurs will be destroyed.
  • Star Trap - requires Tech Year 3010 + Wolf-Scrambling Physics knowledge. A Hard Special Research Project unlocks a new Stellar Disruptor DEFSAT unit: this unit costs 20 Economic Points, has DV 1 and all other stats 0*, and must be transported and deployed in a target system under the normal Cargo rules. Once deployed, the Stellar Disruptor can be activated at the conclusion of the following Combat phase, inciting the system to begin behaving as a not-yet-activated Wolf-Scrambling Star. This removes the Edge System status of the system at the same time.
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Re: [Lights in the Sky SPOILER THREAD] - The Wolves

Post by virtutis.umbra »

Changes to Special Encounters
Since I decided to use Brennall's excellent Stella Erratica resource as an integral part of my adjudication of exploration results, I had to do some quick tapdancing around the more complex elements of system attributes from the Companion. Most of it was pretty easy, since the randomizer does all the hard work for me. :) But I did have to rethink Special Encounters, since Splinter Colonies and Pirate Caches don't make much sense in this campaign setting.

Wolves Scenario Special Encounter Table


[list]
[*] 2 Interplanetary Ruins - (+4d10 economic points)
[*] 3 Industrial Ruins - (+2d10 economic points)
[*] 4-5 Ancient Ruins - (See CC 2.6 Ancient Ruins for effects)
[*] 6-7 System Terrain - (Roll on System Terrain Table)
[*] 8-9 Ancient Derelict - (See CC 2.7 Ancient Derelicts for effects)
[*] 10 Special Natives - Roll on Special Natives Table - Player choice: Friendly, Hostile, or Neutral?
[*] 11-12 Mysterious Encounter - (CM Only) or Roll Twice[/list]

Roll for Colony Type
[list]
[*] 2 - 6 - Bug Hive: A species of large, mostly-mindless insects capable of stunning feats of industry and coordination, led by a somewhat-more-intelligent breeding class. Roughly Terran Industrial era technology with limited interplanetary capability, effectively stuck there for the past few million years. The Bugs cross the stars via egg sacs launched by huge specialized launcher bugs.
[*] 5 - 9 - Aam Enclave: The Aam from the Menagerie, except basically immobile individuals: furthermore, they build no ships and multiply extremely slowly. How they move between systems is a complete mystery, and they're not telling.
[*] 10-12 - Weaver Trees: Semisentient plant life capable of launching encysted spore-balls across interstellar space at sub-light velocities.[/list]

Friendly Engagement Outcome: Befriend / Assimilate. Good benefit, but at a cost:
[list]
[*] Bug Hive: +[RAW] Construction Bonus per turn; -1 to Morale checks on turns when all bonus EP are not utilized.
[*] Aam Enclave: +3 Extra Research per turn; Maintenance Cost 1 to maintain Enclave, or it dissipates permanently
[*] Weaver Trees: +[RAW] Miscellaneous Income/turn; 10% higher Productivity Increase costs[/list]

Hostile Engagement Outcome: Enslave / Annihilate. Sizable one-time payoff, but the aliens will fight for survival:
[list]
[*] Bug Hive: 3D10 EP of plunder; Fight 2 Units of N'Lyk'Tyra Regulars
[*] Aam Enclave: 2D10 Tech Points; Fight 2 Units of Aam Regulars
[*] Weaver Trees: +1 Carrying Capacity; Fight 2 Units of Generic Regulars (CG110) with +1 Def[/list]

Neutral Engagement Outcome: Coexist / Tolerate. Small benefit, lower cost than Friendly.
[list]
[*] Bug Hive: +1 Rebels if planet revolts; Trade (2)
[*] Aam Enclave: +1 Tech Point per turn
[*] Weaver Trees: Ground Units retain Supply if system blockaded; 5% higher Productivity Improvement cost[/list]


"Construction Bonus," "Extra Research" and "Miscellaneous Income" do not count toward system or empire TDP for purposes of tech target, trade income calculation, etc.

"Construction Bonus" is usable only for construction in the system containing the Bug Hive population, and cannot be converted into Economic Points in the "Empire Treasury." It cannot be saved from turn to turn, and if not used it is lost.
"Extra Research" is income directly to Tech Points.
"Miscellaneous Income" is income directly to the "Empire Treasury."
-Patrick
crit·ic /ˈkritik : Someone who knows the way but can't drive the car. -- Kenneth Tynan
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