CYOE 4 Rules

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Introduction

Welcome one and all to CYOE! You may be asking what all this is, well simply put it is the next step up from CYOF. In CYOF you controlled a single faction of a much larger whole, here you control an entire Empire, its fleets, its people its corporations you name it. So come on in and get ready for a game of epic fleet battles, political intrigue, and galaxy shaping decisions.


Building Your Empire

To play in CYOE you will of course need an Empire to control, this can be anything from a lost fleet of star ships looking for a home, to an ancient and powerful theocratic empire that believes it is the will of their gods to control the stars belong to them.

Approximately a thousand years ago, there was a great ‘Node Storm’ where thousands of ‘Jump Nodes’, portions of space that act a lot like wormholes, opened in the ancient home system who’s name has long since been lost. And in an event many call ‘The Scattering’ ships of all kinds were flung or choose to be flung right across the galaxy.

Some of these unfortunates found quiet locales, and were able to build up in relative peace. When the second great Node Storm occurred, reopening the nodes and allowing these folk to expand, they did so into calm space, space only occupied by their lost brothers.

But some ended up caught in the heart of the storm. The gaping tear in space and time, renewing itself with each convulsion, systems being caught up in its fury and then being cast aside. Some were brought into it recently, others were caught in the loop of time and have been trapped for tens of thousands of years. All subject to the fury... of the Maelstrom.

The space around and within the Maelstrom is the setting of the game, and just about anything goes. Let your imagination run wild, and think about what kind of people, or robots, or strange aliens you want to play. The Maelstrom consumes all, from every corner of space and time... so consider, and then proceed to the next stage... how to make your empire within the rules?


Todo: Reformat this section'

Empire Profile

Before starting out on the nitty gritty, you have two choices to make. The first is whether you wish to play by yourself, or with another player. If you want to play a multiplayer empire, the process is much the same - the details of multiplay are described in another section. The other is to decide your Disposition.

Disposition As part of creating your empire, you have to choose a Disposition. The following is a list of suggestions. It is by no means absolute, and if you have other ideas, feel free to provide them! The profile is not hardcore rules, but is linked to your morale, and how your people react to certain decisions you may make; in other words, it is a way for an admin to judge how your empire is running, based on your ideas, rather than their own.

Pacifist: Pacifists are happiest during peace time, and encourage the formation of alliances, peace treaties and trade deals. Being at war cripples them, though, and pacifist governments can shatter under the pressure of conflict.

Rigid: Rigid civilisations simply don’t care. Nothing fazes them. War, peace, alliance, trade – it’s all part of everyday existence. Rigid civilisations find it hard to lose morale, but find it just as hard to regain it. So long as you’re successful, you’re fine. If not…

Guardian: Guardians cherish peace, but unlike pacifists, they are not blinded by their love of it. Guardians cannot stand seeing suffering around them, and their morale is based upon helping struggling neighbours, punishing ‘evil’ empires and generally being good Samaritans. Being unable to follow this code will conversely reduce morale.

Destructive: Chaos and destruction are your MO. Your people are happiest in the middle of a war, and extended peacetime may result in restlessness. They’ll get unhappy if they lose all the time, but they take ordinary defeat in their stride. So long as there’s blood, who cares?

Imperialist: Imperialists are all about territory. Expanding makes them happy. War is simply a means to more territory and power. Losing territory through trade, war or anything else will make them unhappy.

Traits and Techs

Now for the hard rules. Your starting traits and technologies will have an enormous effect on how you play, so choose carefully...

Positive Traits These are what make your empire unique, the ingrained things that make your people different from all the other empires out there. You may select any 2 of these.

WARNING: the two you select are permanent and cannot be changed once your empire has been created, choose well.

(Have an idea for a trait that’s not listed here? Then contact the rule writers with your idea! If it works and is balanced you will be allowed to use it!)

Fleet Balance Doctrine (Battlestar Solution): While other empires are known either for pilots with supernatural luck or unbreakable capital ship formations, your empire takes a different path. Your empire knows that any good capital ship needs a fighter screen and that any good fighter needs a better carrier to support it. As a result each CL3-size hull and above comes with 15 free Production Points worth of Strike Craft. Note: This trait stacks with the Dedicated Carrier Tech, boosting it’s number of Strike Craft to 115 PPs worth, though they still have the same limitations.

Production Focus (Industrious): When asked the question “What’s the best to focus on?” your empire responds with “Building things!” If it’s engineering genius, advanced robotic workers or a people who just really like making things is your choice. At the end of the day all your production facilities (including planets) produce an extra 15 Production Points every turn.

Research Focus (Genius Bonus): Your Empire is famous for its scientists and your laboratory facilities attract the best and brightest from across known space. When it comes to developing advanced technology you are the masters among amateurs. Every research facility (including planets) you own produces an extra 15 research Points every turn.

Marine Focus (Super Soldiers): Maybe life on your planet is tough or perhaps you have the most rigorous training regime since ancient Sparta, or perhaps it’s your augumentive technology for your troops. Whatever the case your ground forces are peerless, if you are invading a planet, boarding a ship or repelling boarders, the enemy is in for a fight they’re not soon going to forget. Mechnically this improves your ground combat effectivness by 25% and give syou the oppertunity to potentially capture ships before they can self desctruct.

Salvage Discipline (Scavengers): To your people, there’s no point wasting material, not even from something like a battle, that debris needs clearing away! You are the people to do it. Any battle you take part in that your side wins, you will salvage 10% of the PP worth of all ships destroyed. Note: If the enemy however self destructs, you gain no PP as self destruction deliberately destroys any useful salvage parts.

Colonization Initiative (Lucky): The founding colony ship of your empire was either very thorough in its initial survey, very patent in finding a home, or was incredibly lucky. Whatever the case may be, you start off with one additional class 0 planet in your home system.

Ancient (The Elders): Your empire is older than living memory, with pillars of science beyond imagining. You start with 3 techs instead of 2. Note that you still have a total of 5 tech slots, so you only have 2 free ones.

Manifest Destiny (The galaxy is ours!): You are utterly convinced that it is your destiny to go forth and conquer the stars, and thus far fate has proven you right. You begin play with one additional class 0 planet which can be placed in any system adjacent to your home system. It cannot be placed in the home system itself.

Gardens of Kadesh (Why settle just planets?): Your civilisation lurks in the dark places of the galaxy, building its strength where others see only navigational hazards. Each nebula you come across may be treated as though it were a Class H planet (Though baught with the Turn 0 Exception prices not with a Colony Ship), though one that cannot be raised above Class 2, this may be captured by other empires, but only those with this trait can upgrade it (So if an empire without this trait captures your Class 1h Nebula they cannot upgrade it to class 2h).

Backwater Navigation (We Know A Shortcut): Open space? Try clouded space. Whether it be advanced senors, EMP resistant hulls, or because you've grown up in hazardous space, navigational hazards hold little threat to you, indeed you are able to use the harsher galactic enviroments to your advantage. Your ships gain combat bonuses when using the terrain in Nebula, Asteroid fields, and Black Holes.

Station Defences (All hands, battlestations!): Production Stations and Research Stations are armed with stationary guns the strength of 1x CL-2 for Small stations, 1x CL-3 for Medium Stations, and 1x CL-4 for Large Stations.

Elite Training (The Best of the Best): No expense has been spared by your academies to ensure that your officers and crew are the best anywhere - or perhaps your people are simply adept at dealing with the perils of space and space combat. All ships you control gain a bonus to their Training.

Economically Capable (Efficient): Your civilisation understands the keystones of a successful economy, and are highly adept at putting them into practice. You have a natural bonus to Stability.

United (Naturally Happy): Your civilisation has a basically happy-go-lucky approach - or alternatively, just doesn't much care about how things are going. You have a natural bonus to Morale.

Expert Privateer (Yo ho ho): From some shady past or other, your civilisation excels at the art of stealing things from other ships, instead of just blowing them all up. When conducting convoy raids on other players, you gain 75% of the lost resources rather than 50%.

No Civilians (Compulsory Training): Nobody is a civilian in your empire. Everyone pulls together, everyone knows how to handle a weapon, and nobody is left out of a fight. All ships with the Non-combatant tag have it removed. This also allows Transports to use the Boarding Parties technology.

Mining Prowess: From a naturally corporate approach, pragmatism, or some trace of essential pacifism, your larger warships are equipped with mining and processing equipment. Warships of CL4 hull and larger all produce 5 PP per turn in systems with Asteroid Belts, and 5 RP per turn in systems with Nebulas. Note that a supply chain or transports must be available to take advantage of this, the ships themselves cannot store the resources. The income from Mining Prowess is not affected by Production/Research Focus or Reduction, or by Titanic/Mass Produced ships.

Negative Traits Perhaps you want a challenge, or something else to help fit the concept for your empire? That’s where these traits come in; they give your empire a weakness in a certain area. Not keen on worrying about research? Research Reduction gives you extra toys to play with elsewhere.

You may have up to 2 Negative traits, each negative trait you have unlocks an additional trait slot, so you can have up to four positive traits this way, assuming two negative traits are picked.

Production Reduction (Lazy Workers): Perhaps they’re lazy, perhaps your machinery is just not efficient or your designs just take longer to build, whatever the case your production facilities just can’t match those of other empires. All your production facilities (including planets) produce 15 less Production Points at the end of the turn.

Research Reduction (Stupid Scientists): Due to oppression by the ruling class, your people favour athletics and the military over academics. Whatever the reason every one of your research facilities (including planets) produces 15 less Research Points every turn.

Under Funded Troops (Why Bother With Soldiers?): Your empire has spread to space! The ultimate high ground, wars are fought with ships against other ships, colonies brought into line with orbital strikes, there’s no need for ground forces any more, as a result the few troops you do deploy are at a major disadvantage in terms of training and equipment. Mechnically this reduces your ground combat effectivness by 25%

No Colonization Initiative (Unlucky): Your people have a very special place in the universe, in that you have no home. For whatever reason your colony ship was unable to find a planet or perhaps it was lost in a calamity and all that is left is space stations and ships. You begin play with zero class 0 planets in your home system.

Young (We're in some kind of Sci Fi?): Your empire suffered from a Dark Age - or perhaps you simply kept going along the wrong tracks with its research. Regardless of the reason, you start with only 1 tech instead of 2. Note that you still have a total of 5 tech slots, so you have 4 free ones.

Slow & Steady (We'll win no Races): Inefficient engine design, shortages of exotic fuel, or merely no desire to rush around the galaxy means that your ships lack the speed to match other empires. While this does not affect their combat performance, it means that your ships can move one less jump per turn (one jump per turn normally, or two with Advanced Propulsion tech), and only BR class ships can take the Run Blockade option unless the blockading ships also have this trait.

Spacebound (Living amongst the stars): Perhaps you have adapted to life on starships and have no desire to tread the surface of a planet, or perhaps you are an alien species native to the void of space. Whatever the reason, planets are all hostile to you, and you cannot make use of them. You cannot colonise or attempt to capture any planets, though you can bombard them as normal.

Nomadic (Planets Are Just Big Asteroids): Your people never stay in one place for long, and any planets you claim are subject to massive mining operations instead of colonization. Your ships are more home to your people than any world, and any stations often double their duties with providing living space for your wandering people. Your planets do not come with any of the defences that planets usually come with and require half the troop capacity to capture.

It Will Do (Lil' Bit Unlucky): Your colony ship arrived in the system to find less than hoped, more than feared. Your home system has no class 0 planets, only a class H.

Alien Resources: Your economy is based entirely upon synthetic materials, and the gases and minerals in asteroid belts and nebulas are of no use. You gain no benefit from asteroid and nebula resource bonuses. May not be taken with Mining Prowess.

Rapid Training (Conscripted): Crew aren't as important as the ships, right? If the ships are good, they'll figure it out. All ships you control have a penalty to their Training.

Economically Incapable (Inefficient): While you can get the resources mined and processed, the people paid and everything running, it's all by the skin of your teeth. If something goes wrong, it could all crash down around your ears. You have a natural penalty to Stability.

Divided (Naturally Unhappy): "There's no pleasing some people" is a phrase they could have made about your civilisation. You have a natural penalty to Morale.

Incompetent Raiders (No Timbers to Shiver): Your crews are too bloodthirsty and rampant to be good at checking their fire at times, and so often a lot of stuff is blown up, rather than retrieved... When conducting convoy raids on other players, you gain 25% of the lost resources rather than 50%.

Neutral Traits Not everything is black and white, and not all of your empire straits have to be straight advantages or disadvantages. As a note, these advantages and disadvantages stack with the other traits, so be very careful if you pick any. You have one Neutral Trait slot. In addition, you may choose to fill Positive Trait slots with Neutral Traits (so you may have up to 5 Neutral Traits, if you wish).

Dogmatic (No Other Way): Your empire has no idea how its technology works. Perhaps it was stolen, perhaps they have simply forgotten. Regardless, what they have is venerated and copied, and to conceive of improving it is blasphemy. You start with 5 techs, but cannot conduct research of any kind, including receiving it from trades or reverse engineering. You may not take Ancient or Young with Dogmatic.

Incompatible (Just too different): Whether it is because your facilities are organic rather than technological, or made entirely of pure energy, your empire is totally incompatible with all others. Ships, stations and planets you own cannot be used by other players, and you cannot use theirs. It is possible to trade and capture assets, but ships and stations are automatically retired and may not be reverse engineered. Planets lose all Class Levels and no PP is gained.

Moderate Colonisation Initiative (Unusual Luck): Your home system (In addiiton to standard starting planets) contians a Class H world, while your people are happy that they have more breathing room economists have nigthmares over the costs it induces.

Technology Parasites (Why Innovate Ourselves?): Your race is no good at research. They just can't get the hang of working things out from scratch. If they have something to copy, however... all research times are doubled. However, if you are reverse-engineering a tech (whether through trade, a captured ship, or observation), your research time is halved.

The Flotilla (Always on the move): Your people are born, live and die in space. To them, planets are just a resource to be exploited, not a place to call home. Your MPB, MRS, Gen and Civ class ships generate their normal income when undeployed, and double income when deployed. However, you are unable to build bases of any kind, other than defence bases in systems containing a colonised world (or the equivalent such as a 1h or 2h Nebula). NOTE: Undeployed ships still count towards your station limit with this trait, as such you cannot gain income from more then 20 ships in the same system, in addition other traits which influence income are added after the doubling when deployed.

Wide Research Base (What do you mean by 'applied'?): Your empire has spent many years studying the underlying laws controlling the universe and little time developing them in any practical way. You start with no pre-researched technologies but all research times are halved. (Rounding up. RP costs stay the same). This may be stacked with Technology Parasites. You may not take Young or Ancient if you take Wide Research Base.

Totalitarian: Your rigid control over every aspect of your empire gives a bonus to Stability. However, you have a penalty to Morale. This stacks with other traits.

Democracy: Everyone has a say, and everyone is listened to. Your morale is higher as a result, as your people feel that they are responsible for all that occurs, but the incessant arguments and debates results in a penalty to Stability. This stacks with other traits.

Mass Production (Quantity over Quality): Numbers, that’s what counts! Who needs quality when you can have quantity? With this trait you gain the ability to produce MP versions of any ship you can build (ie CL-3mp). Mass Produced ships cost half as much as normal, but have half the firepower and resilience, and produce half the resources (not including Mining Prowess, and before nebula/asteroid and focus/reduction bonuses/penalties). They also have one third fewer troops than normal. NOTE: You may still build standard ships or even take the Titanic trait and have a fleet with Titanic, standard and Mass Produced ships.

Titanic (Size matters): Your empire does not believe in subtlety. Perhaps you rely on rare archaeotech and ancient artifacts, or perhaps you simply build to last. With this trait, you gain the ability to produce T versions of any ship you can build (ie CL-3t). Titanic ships costs twice as much as the standard version, but are worth two standard ships in their resilience and firepower, and produce double resources (not including Mining Prowess, and before nebula/asteroid and focus/reduction bonuses/penalties). They also carry 50% more troops than normal. NOTE: You may still build standard ships or even take the Mass Production trait and have a fleet with Titanic, standard and Mass Produced ships.

Menace (Faceless Enemy): You may not form alliances or trade with other players, may not bribe pirates, and in general may not do anything not directly related to your own empire. However, you have a small bonus to Stability and Morale, and have significant bonuses to your ships. SUBJECT TO ADMIN APPROVAL. You may only take this trait if you gain permission.

Hero and Nemesis: You start out with a ‘hero’ ship. This is an expensive and extremely capable vessel, which can be either economic or military in focus, the details of which can be discussed with the admin. The hero is also extremely lucky, able to escape from all but the most dire of situations. However, you have a nemesis that will do their best to make life hard for you. SUBJECT TO ADMIN APPROVAL. You may only take this trait if you gain permission.

Cookie-based Infrastructure (Omnomnom): You have a fundamentally different approach to resources than most. Your marvellous factories run on nothing more than solar power, and are fully capable of producing anything, at will. Unfortunately, a side-effect of working in these manufacturing plants is an intense craving for cookies. Instead of Production Stations, you use Cookie Bases, which are entirely based around producing mountains of cookies to feed your empire. May only be taken if your name is Bubble. Does not take up a trait slot.

Techs These represent improvements to your fleet or fleet wide special abilities that you can deploy in your battle strategies. You begin play with 2 free technologies and 3 additional free technology slots, you may replace the technology in any existing slot at any time once you have paid for a new tech, but you cannot have more techs then you have slots for. In addition, each Tech may only be purchased once unless specifically stated. Techs require you to have a free techslot and the full cost of the tech saved up in RP before research can begin. You may research as many techs as you have free techslots and RP to research at once. In addition, techs can be traded to any other empire with a free techslot, traded techs have no RP cost, but still need to run through their research times.

Equipping Techs When you research a tech you may globally apply it to all your ships, and while in some cases, such as enhanced range or speed, this is a good idea, in other, such as Ambush, it may not be.

In situations where you don't want to apply techs globally you may instead apply them to specific ship classes, either to make such techs harder to reerse eingineer by not beng on every ship or to create a secret stealth fleet so you can create plausable deniability saying you don't have the tech in question, or for any other fluff reasion you can think of.

To help keep the Admins life simpler, keep your Encyclopedia threads up to date, stating which techs are globally applied and which are only on specific ships.

Reverse Engineering By luck or by skill you’ve captured an enemy ship which has a technology you don’t; if you have a free techslot you can begin the process of reverse engineering. This sacrifices the ship but allows you to begin research at 60% of the listed cost (Rounding up)! The exception is Advanced Technology, which costs the normal price.

Observed Reverse Engineering You do not always have to capture a tech to try reverse enineering it, with the advanced sensor arrays on Science ships and Mobile Research Ships present another option. If either of those two kinds of ships survive a battle that they witness a tech you do not have used in then you may attempt to reverse engineer the tech based of off these recordings. This costs 20% more in the case of normal technology, and double in the case of Advanced. There is also a chance of failure.

The standard success rate for Observed Reverse Engineering is 50%, boosted to 75% with Advanced Electronics.

Advanced Technology and Artefact Research There are two additional types of technology.

Artefacts are to be found deep within the Maelstrom. There is a limited number, all examples of technology so old and advanced that trying to reproduce them would be like an ant building a car. When you find one, you must research how to use it. This does not require a tech slot.

There is also Advanced Technology. Every empire has an Advanced Technology slot, and cannot get another. Once it is filled, if they wish to obtain another one, they lose the advanced tech they already had.

You may spend 2500 RP in an attempt to isolate and advanced technology. There is a chance of failure, but if you succeed, you will be able to research the real thing - which will be something big, bad and mean, that is somewhat more powerful than ordinary technologies.

The list of advanced technologies is classified, but what you get depends partly on the chosen traits and disposition of the empire, and partly on how you have played. Play aggressively, and you might get a nifty new weapon, for example. Advanced Technology does not use standard tech slots.

Standard Technology List

(Have an idea for a tech that’s not listed here? Contact the rule makers for your game and propose your idea to them!)

Technology Institute (3,000 RP, 1 Turn, x2 Repeat Multiplier): Facilities and laboratories to analyse and work on new technologies. Each time it is researched, you gain an additional tech slot. You may research this technology as many times as you wish, but the price doubles each time.

Enhanced Infrastructure Management (4,000 RP, 3 Turns, x2 Repeat Multiplier): Each tier of EIM increases your maximum I-Rating in systems by 1. It also increases the number of bases you may construct in a system by 1. Even numbered tiers increase the bonus base cap for habitable planets by 1 but these must still be placed in planetary orbit. You may research this as many times as you wish, but the price doubles each time.

Resource Extraction (5,000 RP, x3 Multiplier): Each tier of Resource Extraction increases the output of all your bases by 5 PP each. You may research this as many times as you wish, but the cost triples each time.

Advanced Propulsion (10,000 RP, 5 Turns): With this tech your fleet has been tuned for engine performance, as a result your ships are faster and more maneuverable in battle and you can move up to 3 jumps a turn instead of the usual 2.

Self Destruction (12,000 RP, 4 Turns): You’ve seen that your enemies like boarding actions and you want to deny them anything that’s yours, perhaps even salvage, or perhaps you just don’t want any knowledge about you falling into the wrong hands. Regardless with the Self-Destruct tech, you can detonate you ships and stations to deny your enemy capturing them or salvaging their debris. There is a chance of failure that is increased by being attacked with Disabling Weapons, Super Soldiers (with Boarding Parties) or Elite Training, and reduced by Underfunded Troops (with Boarding Parties) or Rapid Training.

Enhanced Range (10,000 RP, 5 Turns): He who has the high ground has a tremendous advantage in any battle, with these piece of technology, you’ve tweaked all the weapons in your fleet to give you a range advantage, effectively allowing you to have the high ground while in space.

Electronic Warfare (10,000 RP, 5 turns): Your ships have specialised in jamming and disrupting enemy sensors, weapon locks and communications. This translates into an increase to their defence that increases with range.

Disabling Weapons (14,000 RP, 6 Turns): Through a breakthrough in EMP or perhaps Ion weapons or maybe you’ve invested the points in finding out the precise places to strike an enemy warship to disable it. Regardless of the method, you may give orders to Disable rather than destroy in your battle strategies. Disabled ships may be boarded and captured after the battle, and are treated as Crippled even if they are not (see 'Combat'). Disabling Weapons are subject to Enhanced Range.

Boarding Parties (12,000 RP, 6 Turns): The enemy might have tough ships, but you’re sure your troops are tougher then theirs, as a result you’ve invested the time to develop drop pops or boarding shuttles or perhaps even some form of teleporter to beam your troops onto theirs, allowing you to capture enemy capital ships (strike craft are too fiddly, although they can be captured if attacked using Disabling Weapons). See the Troop Strengths section to get an idea of what can be feasibly captured. You may also use Boarding Parties in your tactics to disable and/or destroy enemy ships, but do not benefit from Enhanced Range.

Advanced Electronics (16,000 RP, 6 Turns): Your ships have had their communications, sensors and power systems refined and reinforced. They are less susceptible to enemy electronic warfare and disabling weapons, can react faster to surprise attacks, and are more capable at navigating hazardous phenomena like black holes, asteroid fields and nebulae.

Dedicated Carriers (6,000 RP, 4 Turns): Unlocks the ability to construct the dedicated carrier type of capital ship. Dedicated carriers are comparable in size and cost to CL-4’s but have only the firepower and durability of CL-2’s. This is due to the vast areas of the ship are hollow and store inordinate amounts of strike craft. Specifically each carrier comes with 100pp worth of strikecraft (50pp worth on the MP version and 200pp worth on the T version), these do not count as independent units when not in combat however as they remain docked or in the same system as the carrier at all times. The composition of the 100pps (or 50/200pps) of Strike craft are defined by you when research on this tech is completed; you may choose to change this at a later stage, but the change is global and takes one turn to come into effect (any DCs in combat on this turn count has having no strike craft). Additionally, DCs have built-in factories that are able to repair and rebuild their squadrons at the cost of power that is needed in combat; one turn out of combat replenishes the DC's full strike complement. Note that the factories are designed only to maintain these special craft, and thus cannot produce anything else.

Troop Transports (3,000 RP, 4 Turns): Unlocks the ability to construct the troop transport type of capital ship. Troop Transports are typically around the size of CL-2 class ships, yet are able to carry the amount of troops usually stationed on a CL-4 and as such count as CL-4’s when counting troops for planet, station and ship captures. Troop Transports have limited anti-fighter weaponry, and do not benefit from Disabling Weapons or Enhanced Range.

Blockade Runners (3,000 RP, 4 Turns): Unlocks the ability to construct the blockade runner type of capital ship. Blockade runners are little more then souped up CL-1 class ships. They have massive engines and advanced anti jamming systems, this makes them hard to target and excellent and outrunning everything other then enemy blockade runners. Blockade runners gain large bonuses to running enemy blockades. They are also excellent convoy raiders.

Mobile Production Bases (9,000 RP, 6 Turns): Unlocks the ability to construct the mobile production base type of capital ship. MPB’s are vast ships, that come complete with fully functional production facilities aboard. When deployed the MPB produces 40pp a turn. When undepolyed an MPB is a large weak hulled ship with minimal defensive weapons. An MPB takes one turn to deploy and undeploy. NOTE: Mass Production MPBs produce 20pp per turn, Titanic MPBs produce 80pp a turn.

Spinal-mount (6,000 RP, 4 Turns): Unlocks the ability to construct the spinal-mount type of capital ship. Spinal-mounts are effectively one huge gun array the size of a large CL-2, containing the firepower of much larger vessels, however due to the set up this makes the ship very weak against anything smaller then itself and absolutely useless against fighters. It counts as a CL4 under ideal circumstances.

Mobile Research Ship (9,000 RP, 6 Turns): Unlocks the ability to construct the Science Ship type of captial ship. Science ships are dedicated to exploration of space and the advancment of the sciences, a such they carry minimal arament, however like MPBs they can be deployed in a system and produce 40 RP a turn. NOTE: Mass Produced MRSs produce 20rp a turn, Titanic MRSs produce 80rp a turn.

Colony Ships (6,000 RP, 4 Turns): Unlocks the ability to construct the Colony Ship type of Capital Ship. Colony ships carry the population and equipment to establish new colonies on uninhabited worlds. Instead of paying PP to up a planet from 0-1 you may use a colony ship to do so, in addition colony ships are the only way to raise class H worlds to Class 1H. Colony ships may not boost the rating of and already colonised world.

Generation Ships (12,000 RP, 7 Turns): Unlocks the ability to construct the Generation Ship type of Capital Ship. Generation Ships are like bigger better colony ships, using the same rules with the exception that they instantly bulk a world from 0-3 and they may not colonise Class H worlds. Generation Ships may not boost the rating of an already colonised world. In additon Generationships may be deployed like MPBs and MRSs and produce 25 RP and 25 PP a turn. In addition like deployed MPBs and MRSs deployed Generation ships count as MPBs for upping a systems I-Rating using thier deployed feature.

Orbital Habitats (9,000 RP, 4 Turns): While some empires focus on production and others on research, you prefer a more balanced approach. You may construct the Orbital Habitat type of base.

Civilisation Ship (18,000 RP, 6 Turns): These ships are the culmination of an entire planetary exodus; if you could find it on a developed planet it will be somewhere inside this ship. Civilisation ships are the pinnacle of space-based civilisation, and generate 100 PP and 100 RP per turn.

Stealth Fighters (4,000 RP, 4 turns): These fast strike craft are hard to detect and able to pack a nasty surprise. In an open fight, they are inferior to normal fighters, but the element of surprise can allow them to do heavy damage to enemy wings and light capitals.

Stealth Hunters (5,000 RP, 5 turns): These light warships are designed to be hard to detect, able to strike crippling blows through the element of surprise. They are excellent convoy raiders, and can do significant damage to light capitals, but are extremely fragile in an open fight. They are roughly equivalent to a CL1.

Stealth Raiders (7,000 RP, 6 turns): A scaled-up variant of the Stealth Hunter. Stealth Cruisers are also extremely fragile and hard to detect, but have considerably more firepower, particularly against large targets and stations. They are based upon a CL3 hull and CL2 resilience.

Q-ships (6,000 RP, 4 turns): Q-ships are advanced military transport vessels, loaded with far more armour and armament than normal, designed to accompany and blend in with the rest of the convoy. A mixture of armoured transports and Q-ships is a far deadlier prospect for pirates than any normal convoy… In all respects, a Q-ship Convoy is treated like a normal Military Convoy. However, it can take far more punishment, and counts as having double the normal escort (thus, 2 CL2, 4 CL1 and 8 F).

Starter Points

Now that you have your Empires Traits, Techs and hopefully an idea of its history, it’s time to move onto buying your initial forces and facilities. Every player begins the game with:

15,000 Production Points, to be spent how you want 1 Class 0 Planet (Unless you have the lucky ((Start with 2 Class 0)) or unlucky ((Start with no Class 0)) traits) to be your races Homeworld 0-3 Class U Planets

In addition, things can be placed/upgraded in any system 1 jump from your Homeworld during turn 0.

Costs

Nothing in life is free, not even for an Emperor, there are two kinds of points you can spend to buy things, trade between empires or give as gifts to gain support in CYOE.

Production Points The bread and butter of the game, these wonderful little points represent your industrial capability; everything in the game has an amount of Production Points (PP) that it takes to build.

Research Points These points are used to bring advanced or special abilities into the game, you are actively encouraged to come up with your own ideas on what to spend them on, just contact the Admin for a pricing when you have your idea finalized. Primarily, RP is spent on researching technologies, analysing Artefacts, and conducting Advanced Research.

I-Rating Every system has an I-Rating (I standing for Infrastructure) which shows how developed your building industries and shipyards are in that system. Systems start at I-0, and you start off able to upgrade this to I-5, but with research, this can go up to I-10 (if you're deranged enough to want to go further, this can be discussed). I-0 represents cobbling material together, enough to construct basic vessels and stations, while I-10 is a system so industrialised that it can generate a fleet so large that it can obscure the stars.

The I-rating of a system limits how much PP in assets you can deploy in a turn, and also limits what types of ship may be built there.

I-Rating Maximum PP Deployed Per Turn 0 500 1 1000 2 1500 3 2500 4 4000 5 6500 6* 10500 7* 17000 8* 27500 9* 44500 10* 72000

  • I-Ratings above 5 can only be unlocked through research.

Your I-rating is generated from the following modifiers. Planets add their class to the systems I-Rating If there are five or more Production Bases or MPBs, the I-Rating is increased by +1 If there is one or more Civilisation Ships present, the I-Rating is increased by +2 If there is one or more Generation Ships present, the I-Rating is increased by +1

You can also build Shipyard Complexes, which add 1, 2 or 3 to the I-rating for Small, Medium and Large respectively. Shipyard Complexes ignore the usual deployment limits; if you have the resources, you may place a Large Complex in an I-0 system.

Building Assets In order to build something in CYOE, you must first declare what system you are building it in (you must either own the system, or already have assets in it), and in the case of stations, where in the system (see below). The system must have the I-rating required to deploy it, both when you pay the initial cost and when you deploy your new asset. In the case of stations, you must check that you are not exceeding the limit of 20 (with some exceptions – see below).

You must then pay the necessary PP (and in a few cases, RP) cost. Most assets are deployed the next turn, but some take several turns to complete. If the system no longer has the necessary I-rating to deploy your asset at any time, it is lost!

For example, a player decides to buy 5 CL5 (costing 1750 PP), 30 CL3 (costing 3000 PP) and a Medium Production Station (costing 300 PP) in an I-5 system. This is well within the requirements, being considerably less than the 6500 PP maximum for an I-5 system, and having the facilities to produce CL5s (which require I-5).

That turn, an enemy player raids the system and destroys enough to lower the I-rating to 3. The CL5s are lost automatically, as the system can no longer produce such large and complex ships; the half-built hulls were all lost in the carnage. With this taken out, the overall value is 3300; the maximum deployable in an I-3 system is only 2500, so the player must choose between sacrificing the station and 5 CL3s, or 8 CL3s. With this decision made, the remainder can be deployed and used as normal.

Deploying Assets Deploying ships and stations is simply a case of adding them to your ‘Initial Positions’ listing. Ships may move and fight immediately, even (and especially!) if the system is under attack. Stations likewise may be attacked, and (in the case of Defence Platforms and stations armed by the Battle Stations trait) fight back. However, you do not gain the income from stations on the same turn that you deploy them. In all cases where you gain control of something that produces resources, you only gain the benefit of that income the turn after you receive that control. This is because mining and processing are not instantaneous. Income represents the fruits of the previous turn’s work.

When deploying stations, you must declare where in the system they are.

A system may contain 20 bases. Each base in a system must be placed in a particular location when it is built, and may not be subsequently moved. In orbit around a specified planet or black hole Near to a specified jump node As part of a deep space cluster Inside an Asteroid Ring or Field

It must be clear which stations are together when multiple deep space clusters are used.

If a system contains a Class 0 or Class H world, it may place an additional 5 bases per such planet, but these must be placed in orbit around the world in question.

The Cost List Listed below are the PP costs of everything in the game, for a detailed description of what each thing is, please consult the Forces and Facilities section of the rules

Bases:

Production: Small- 150 PP Requires I-Rating of 0 Medium- 300 PP Requires I-Rating of 2 Large- 600 PP Requires I-Rating of 4

Defense: Small- 50 PP Requires I-Rating of 1 Medium- 100 PP Requires I-Rating of 3 Large- 175 PP Requires I-Rating of 5

Research: Small- 300 PP Requires I-Rating of 2 Medium- 600 PP Requires I-Rating of 4 Large- 1200 PP Requires I-Rating of 5

Orbital Habitats (All require Orbital Habitat tech): Small 225 PP Requires I-Rating of 1 Medium 450 PP Requires I-Rating of 3 Large 900 PP Requires I-Rating of 5

Shipyards: Small - 2,500 PP Ignores I-rating, requires 5 station slots Medium - 5,000 PP Ignores I-rating, requires 5 station slots Large - 7,500 PP Ignores I-rating, requires 5 station slots

Units:

Strike Craft:

Interceptor (I Wing) - 5 PP per Wing Requires I-Rating of 0

Fighter (F Wing) - 7 PP per Wing Requires I-Rating of 0

Bomber (B Wing)- 10 PP per Wing Requires I-Rating of 0

Stealth Fighter (SF Wing) - 15 PP per Wing Requires I-Rating of 2 and Stealth Fighter Tech

Capital Ships:

Class 1 Capital Ship (CL1) - 20 PP Requires I-Rating of 1

Science Class Ship (S) - 35 PP Requires I-Rating of 1

Transport Class (T) - 20 PP Requires I-Rating of 1

Blockade Runner Capital Ship (BR) – 30 PP Requires I-Rating of 1 and Blockade Runner Tech

Class 2 Capital Ship (CL2) - 50 PP Requires I-Rating of 2

Stealth Hunter (SH) - 40 PP Requires I-rating of 2 and Stealth Hunter Tech

Troop Transport Capital Ship (TT) – 40 PP Requires I-Rating of 2 and Troop Transport Tech

Military Convoy (Con) - 500 PP Requires I-rating of 2

Spinal-Mount Capital Ship (SM) – 110 PP Requires I-Rating of 3 and Spinal Mount Tech

Class 3 Capital Ship (CL3) - 100 PP Requires I-Rating of 3

Colony Ship (CS) - 300 PP Requires I-Rating of 3 and Colony Ship Tech

Class 4 Capital Ship (CL4) - 200 PP Requires I-Rating of 4

Dedicated Carrier Capital Ship (DC) - 220 PP Requires I-Rating of 4 and Dedicated Carrier Tech

Stealth Raider (SR) - 150 PP Requires I-rating of 4 and Stealth Raider Tech

Q-ship Convoy (QCon) - 1,000 PP Requires I-rating of 4 and Q-ship Tech

Mobile Production Base Capital Ship (MPB) - 400 PP Requires I-Rating of 4 and Mobile Production Base Tech

Class 5 Capital Ship (CL5) - 350 PP Requires I-Rating of 5

Mobile Research Ship (MRS) - 800 PP Requires I-Rating of 5 and Mobile Research Ship Tech

Generation Ships (Gen) - 1,500 PP Requires I-Rating of 5, a Class 3 Planet and Generation Ship Tech

Civilsation Ships (Civ) - 5,000 PP Requires I-Rating of 5, a Class 5 Planet and Civilisation Ship Tech

Upgrades Sometimes instead of building something entirely new, you want to expand on something already there, in CYOE this is called upgrading, to upgrade something you need a base or planet to start with (So you can’t upgrade a base the turn it’s built), however you can upgrade as far as you have the cost to, for example, if you have a small production base and 300pp you can upgrade it to large in a single turn.

Production Base Small to Medium- 100 pp Requires I-Rating of 2 Medium to Large- 200 pp Requires I-Rating of 4

Defense Base Small to Medium- 35 pp Requires I-Rating of 3 Medium to Large- 50 pp Requires I-Rating of 5

Research Base Small to Medium- 200 pp Requires I-Rating of 4 Medium to large- 400 pp Requires I-Rating of 5

Orbital Habitat Small -> Medium- 150 PP Requires I-Rating of 3 Medium -> Large- 300 PP Requires I-Rating of 5

Shipyard Small -> Medium - 2,000 PP Ignores I-rating Medium -> Large - 2,000 PP Ignores I-rating

Planets: Class 0-1 300 pp Class 1-2 600 pp Class 2-3 1200 pp Class 3-4 2400 pp Class 4-5 4800 pp

Class H-1H Colony Ship (Or in Turn 0/Garden of Khadesh Nebula 600 pp) 1H-2H 1200 pp 2H-3H 2400 pp 3H-4H 4800 pp 4H-5H 9600 pp

Retiring Sometimes you need to pack up stations to free slots or perhaps reduce your fleet size in accordance with a treaty, in CYOE this is called retiring, when you retire a ship or station you gain 25% of it’s PP. Note: you receive no PP for abandoning/downsizing planets.

Forces and Facilities

An Empire is a vast collection of ships planets and stations, and as we saw in the costs section, there are a lot of different types, in this section we’ll go into detail on what those things are.

Ships Ships are the various craft your empire sends out into the void to explore, colonize and conquer the galaxy, there are two main types of ship, further subdivided into classes of these types

Strike Craft: Small craft that are typically crewed usually by no more then 1-3 people and are built and deployed in wings of 3-9 craft.

Interceptor: Strike Craft that are faster and less armored than other classes. These excel in taking down other strike craft but are picked off easily by capital ships.

Fighter: Strike craft with an equal balance in Armor and Speed. They are able to fight other craft and capital ships relatively well.

Bombers: Strike craft that are heavily armored but slower than most strike craft. Able to deal heavy damage to capital ships but are vulnerable to other strike craft.

Capital Ships: From small patrol ships to massive empire leading flagships, these ships are the backbone of any Empire, they enforce your will and crush your enemies, each class comes in a size range detailed in their description.

Class 1 Capital Ship (CL1) - Between 100 and 200m, these are the lightest class of capital ship. Generally Gunboats and Frigates these ships are light, but faster than other capital ships.

Class 2 Capital Ship (CL2) - Between 200-400m A medium class of capital ship, these ships are powerful, but not quite the best. Mounting very powerful weapons and shields, these ships are a force to be reckoned with. Examples of these are Cruisers and Destroyers.

Class 3 Capital Ship (CL3) - Between 400-850m A heavy class of capital ship, these are the backbone of most navies. Generally reserved for the most skilled captains, these are the ships that provide the muscle for fleets. Examples of these would be Battleships.

Class 4 Capital Ship (CL4)- Between 850m-2000m , These are the super ships that lead entire Battle Fleets. Enormous and incredibly powerful, these ships can easily crush the competition. Examples of these ships would be Heavy Battleships and Dreadnoughts.

Class 5 Capital Ship (CL5) - Over 2000m These behemoths are the enormous ships that strike fear in the hearts of enemies. Able to match firepower with an entire battle fleet, these are the most powerful warships that an empire can have. Examples of these are Super Dreadnoughts and Flagships.

Transport Class Ship (T) - While generally large these ships are typically civillian designed and pressed into miltiary service or simpley just much lighter versions of Troop Transports, regardless these are unarmed. For planetary invasions or captures Transports count as CL-2's, but have the advantage that they need no tech to produce. Transports really shine though when it comes to moving vast quantites of civllians or resources, as shown on the following chart:

Class 1 => 2/2 => 1 requires 5 full/empty transports respectivly Class 2 => 3/3 => 2 requires 10 full/empty transports respectivly Class 3 => 4/4 => 3 requires 20 full/empty transports respectivly Class 4 => 5/5 => 4 requires 40 full/empty transports respectivly

NOTE: If the transport is destroyed before it unloads the class level then the class level is lost. In addition the planet must have at least Class 1 to accept the trnasported class rating, otehrwise there's no intrestructure to support the landing ships.

Moving resources will be covered in a later section.

Science Ship (S) - Again these are generally civillian ships or specalised miltiary ships, luckly however Survey ships are usually very lightly armed though not enough to disuade anything heavier then a wing of Interceptors. Science ships excel at navigating and scanning things; fleets with Science ships in them are more adept at navigating asteroid fields, nebulas and black holes, and may attempt to use Observed Reverse Engineering.

Equivalency: For things like orbital bombardment to lower a planets class or for conquering a planet you need a certain number of ships, typically each section shows the smallest number of ships needed, however sometimes you won’t have the larger ships it’s using, to work out how many smaller ships you need to achieve the same effect, please consult this table. Note: For troop combat your traits and the enemy traits may alter the exact numbers required, query an Admin if you’re unsure. In addition the special tech ships state in their description what each one is he equivalent of for these things.

1x CL-5 = 2x CL-4 1x CL-4 = 2x CL-3 1x CL-3 = 2x CL-2 1x CL-2 = 2x CL-1 1x CL-1 = 10x B Wings (Bombardment Only) 1x B Wing = 5x F Wings (Bombardment Only) 1 T = 1 CL-2 (Troops only, may not use Boarding Parties)

So using this chart, we can work out we would need 4x CL-3 to have the troop numbers or bombardment power of 1x CL-5

Tech Ships Each of the special-tech ships is equal to a certian standard ship when it comes to bombardment power/troop capaciity, this next lsit illustrates that.

BR = 1x CL-1 (Bombardment and Troop Capacity) TT = 1x CL-4 (Troop Capacity) 1/2x CL-1 (Bombardment) SM = 1x CL-4 (Bombardment Only) DC = 1x CL-2 (Bombardment Only, Strikecraft count seperatly) 1x CL-4 (Troop Capacity)

Non-combatants and Defensive Ships Some ship classes are not designed for boarding work, being designed for other purposes. Others are crewed by civilians who, while able to fight reasonable well in their own right if forced to, are not trained to attack, merely to defend.

A Defensive ship may never benefit from Boarding Parties, and may not help to capture disabled ships, or help to capture stations and planets. They simply aren't designed for it. A Non-combatant ship also has these restrictions, but because this is a case of training rather than engineering limitations, they may lose these restrictions if the No Civilians trait is taken.

Strike Craft of any kind do not have a troop strength. When disabled, prying out the pilots is childs' play, and so do not even have a defensive troop strength.

In all cases, the ratios refer only to troop strength.

Non-combatants

MPB = 1 CL-3 MRS = 1 CL-3 Col = 1 CL-4 Gen = 2 CL-5 Civ = 10 CL-5 S = 1 CL-1 Con = 1 CL-3 QCon = 1 CL-3

Defensive

SM = 1 CL-1

Troop Combat Ratio

Look up a coefficient for the attacker's and the defender's Troop traits, and multiply the number of ships (or equivalents) needed to capture a given thing by this number.

Code:

        Attacker  Marine Focus  No Trait  Underfunded Troops

Defender

Marine Focus 1 1.25 1.5

No Trait 0.75 1 1.25

Underfunded Troops 0.5 0.75 1


Stations While Ships are the mobile bulk of your Empire’s armed forces, stations are the stationary structures that produce ships, research or defend fixed locations like Jump Nodes, other stations and planets. They come in five varieties;

Production: Small – Minor factories or tiny shipyards, these small bases typically supply others or deployed on small frontier colonies. Small Production Bases produce 50 PP a turn

Medium – Moderately sized factories and standard sized shipyards, thee bases are typically the mainstay of an Empires ship building capacity deployed in almost every system an empire controls. Medium Production Bases produce 100 PP a turn

Large – Huge factories or the enormous shipyards capable of churning out fleets on their own, these massive industrial facilities are typically only deployed in secure areas. Large Production Bases produce 200 PP a turn

Research: Small – Typically small singe science team orbital labs. Small Research Bases produce 50 RP a turn

Medium – Usually well funded multiple team endeavors, these labs are common sights and home to most new discoveries. Medium Research Bases produce 100 RP a turn

Large – Huge orbital universities and research centers home to the best and brightest in any given empire, these facilities probe the very fabric of reality. Large Research Bases produce 200 RP a turn


Defense: Small – Small satellite defense networks or border stations, these small military outposts deter small scale scouting runs, pirates and generally support fleets in the area. A Small Defense Base is equivalent to a CL4 Warship that cannot move.

Medium – Moderately sized and armed, these bases typically defend mid ranged colonies or fortify borders between rivals; they typically act as fleet command centers for surrounding systems. A Medium Defense Base is equivalent to a CL5 Warship that cannot move.

Large – Enormous battle stations, capable of making even the largest fleets pause and rethink their strategies, sometimes military academies and often fleet commands for an entire Empire, these stations are not to be underestimated. A Large Defense Base is equivalent to two CL5 Warships that cannot move.

Shipyard Complexes: Small - An extensive network of mineral processing plants, part factories and dockyards for assembling and repairing warships, as well as warehouses and loading sections for construction ships building other stations. While large by comparison to most facilities, these are fairly simple affairs. A Small Shipyard Complex takes up 5 station slots and increases the I-rating by 1. You may ignore I-rating restrictions when deploying Shipyard Complexes.

Medium - More expensive, efficient processing areas, larger shipyards and generally more than a Small, a Medium Shipyard Complex can maintain a decent-sized border fleet by itself. A Medium Shipyard Complex takes up 5 station slots and increases the I-rating by 2. You may ignore I-rating restrictions when deploying Shipyard Complexes.

Large - Truly titanic areas, full to bursting with industrial potential. One Large Shipyard Complex could build an entire battlefleet in a very short amount of time. A Large Shipyard Complex takes up 5 station slots and increases the I-rating by 3. You may ignore I-rating restrictions when deploying Shipyard Complexes.

Orbital Habitats: Small - Primitive space stations and small rotating habitats, these stations are typically home to a few hundred people at most. Some more exotic bases, such as facilities built onto the surface of asteroids or comets also fall into this category. These are usually the first space stations constructed when spaceflight is first discovered, often being little more than prefab modules lifted to orbit and bolted together. More advanced civilisations build them as the precursor to large stations, or as outposts in newly discovered systems. Small Orbital Habitats produce 25 PP and 25 RP per turn.

Medium - The first real orbital cities are these, often large rotating rings or other complex structures. They house thousands of people, sometimes tens of thousands, and serve as transit hubs for people moving to and from the planet below. Many smaller hollowed out asteroids fall into this category as well. Medium Orbital Habitats produce 50 PP and 50 RP per turn.

Large - Huge constructions that are often the size of small moons, or may even be carved out of massive asteroids. Hundreds of thousands, sometimes millions, of people live in these structures, and they operate as self-contained countries. With vast factories, extensive research facilities and docking space for thousands of ships, they allow a population to expand well beyond the limits of its homeworld. Large Orbital Habitats produce 100 PP and 100 RP per turn.

Capturing a Station Once you have defeated an enemies fleet and defences, you have a choice, you could destroy everything he owns, reduce his planets to glass and salt his fields and so on. But wouldn't it be better if you could take his things and so expand for free? This is capturing a station, to see the number of ships full of troops it would take to capture one station a turn, check the chart below.

Small Station = 1x CL-3 Small Shipyard Complex = 1 CL-5

Medium Station = 1x CL-4 Medium Shipyard Complex = 2 CL-5

Large Station = 1x CL-5 Large Shipyard Complex = 3 CL-5

As always, check the equvalncy charts to see how this pans out for other ships. And again as always, certin traits may increase/decrease your odds of success.

Planets Class 0 – Uninhabited and uninteresting balls of rock, these are unclaimed or undeveloped worlds. Class 0 planets output 0 RP and 0 PP a turn

Class 1 – While not always the most habitable, these worlds do have small rugged settlements and settlers who are there to spread the glory of their empire. Class 1 planets output 25 RP and 25 PP a turn and improve a systems I-Rating by 1. They have defences equivalent to 2 I wings and 2 F wings.

Class 2 – These planets are small but thriving, typically with one major city space port and at least a town on every major continent. Class 2 planets output 50 RP and 50 PP a turn, improve a systems I-Rating by 2. They have defences equivalent to 5 I wings, 5 F wings and 1 Small Defence Platform.

Class 3 – Thriving with multiple major cities and starting to encroach on the environment, these worlds are similar to present day Earth. Class 3 planets output 100 RP and 100 PP a turn, improve a systems I-Rating by 3 and come complete with defenses equivalent of 3 Small Defense Platforms, 10 I wings and 10 F wings.

Class 4 – Bustling with cities, factories and just plain housing, Class 4 worlds are fully tamed and sometimes beginning to have population problems of their own. Class 4 planets output 150 RP and 150 PP a turn, Improve a systems I-Rating by 4 and come complete with defenses equivalent of 5 Medium Defense Platforms, 15x I wings and 15x F wings.

Class 5 – Massively developed worlds, either coated entirely in cities and factories or with its population in huge arcologies, these worlds have no more space to expand into and as a result have huge spaceflight industries. Class 5 planets output 200 RP and 200 PP a turn, Improve a systems I-Rating by 5 and come complete with defenses equivalent of 7 Large Defense Platforms, 25 I wings and 25x F wings.

Capturing a Planet As you can see, planets are great prizes, and if you can take control of a planet that’s already upgraded you save on so much PP! The process of taking a planet is a simple one, as all ships carry troops, just consult the list below to see how many ships full of troops (Or the equivalent too) you’ll need to secure a planet. Note: The appropriate troop traits can halve or double the numbers needed.

Class 1 1x CL-4

Class 2 1x CL-5

Class 3 5x CL-5

Class 4 12x CL-5

Class 5 21x CL-5

Lowering a Planets Class If you’re attacking an enemy planet and wish to lower the rating, either to deprive your enemy of it’s bonuses or to wipe them out utterly. It requires 2x CL-5 or equivalent (i.e. 4x CL-4, 8x CL-3 and so on) to lower a planet by 1 class in 1 turn, to lower it more quickly, apply more ships.

A player can abandon a planet at a rate of 1 class per turn, at no PP cost but gains no PP benefit from doing so.

I-Rating lowering and planets There are plenty of ways of lowering the I-rating of a system, since many of them are related to specific ships or stations being present. However, it is also possible to target the facilities in orbit of a planet; that is, the I-rating generated by the planet itself. It requires 1x CL-4 or equivalent (i.e. 2x CL-3, 4x CL-2 and so on) to lower planetary I-rating by one level per turn. Like planetary bombardment, this can be sped up by using more ships.

Planetary I-rating automatically restores itself after one turn where there is no combat in the system. Alternatively, it may be rebuilt using military resources for 10% of the price it would cost to raise a planet to the appropriate class; so if a Class 5 planet loses a level of I-rating, it can be forcibly repaired at a cost of 480 PP.

Environment

Space is far from empty. The following are the known phenomena that you may encounter... but some things are not known about...

Class H Planets: These hazardous worlds are not the easiest to live on but yet are not totally opposed to life unlike Class U worlds. Class H worlds may be colonised, but only with colony ships, and the PP cost for raising it's Class is doubled due to the harsh nature of the enviroment.

Class U Planets: Class U worlds are inimical to life, and cannot be colonised using any conventional methods. Pressure cooker worlds, or those with little atmosphere, are both Class U. There is some small hope for them, however... but not by any current science.

Asteroid Fields: Huge expanses of floating rocks that orbit a star. Traversing an Asteroid Field has its inherent dangers; the sheer number of projectiles could prove dangerous and may cause serious damage to ships. There are benefits to setting up production bases, each production base built near an Asteroid Field grants a 10PP bonus to said base.

Nebula: Gasses that are forming together to create a new star, these naturally occurring birthing processes are a beautiful sight to behold. Traveling through a Nebula is often discouraged; the gases are proven to disable sensors. However, the wealth of raw, simple chemicals and curious phenomena from the protostars within are ideal for research purposes, and any research facilities in a nebula gain an additional 10 RP per turn.

Black Hole: Black holes are the greatest menace to space travel. The cores of ancient stars with gravity so intense that nothing can escape, travelling through a Black Hole system is perilous at best. However, curious effects of time and space occur near them, effects that the brave or foolhardy may attempt to exploit... it is possible to build in black hole systems, but it may prove more trouble than it is worth.

Jump Nodes: The only known way to travel between the stars, Jump Nodes are natural phenomena that fold two sections of space together allowing instantaneous transit to two parts of the galaxy that are usually very far apart. Most Nodes are stable, but some are known to change position, destination or even vanish, so never become too reliant on existing paths.

Unexplored Systems: What’s beyond the Jump Node? At the start of the game, all save your starting systems is unexplored and mysterious. Any capital ship in an unexplored system may declare that it is Exploring a system; in which case, you will receive a full report of the contents.

The Maelstrom: Somewhere on the map is the Maelstrom. The Maelstrom is the ultimate in unstable sectors of space, where the very fabric of time and space fluctuates. When you enter the Maelstrom, you have no choice about where you go; the jump nodes flicker and reform from one minute to the next, with little in the way of certainty. You may declare whether you want to go further into the Maelstrom, or attempt to go further out and hopefully exit. Your wishes may not amount to anything, but there is at least a chance of success. This chance substantially increases if you have a Science ship in your fleet.

Other Players and Ship Commands Combat and Movement Discounting natural threats, there are even greater ones from your fellow players; they too seek to spread their empires to all corners of the galaxy.

Movement Is very simple, you notify everyone on your turn that you will be moving ship grouping x to position y, bear in mind that ships can only travel up to 2 jumps a turn on standard engines.

Combat Once you’ve moved your ships into position, the next phase is combat, declare your combat on your turn and PM your battle strategy to the Admin, who once the other player has been notified and sent their strategy will give you both the results. Combat results are worked out and posted only at the end of each turn, so if you see a battle in range of one of your fleets/systems you too can join in.

This brings us to a somewhat controversial aspect of combat. CYOE is a turn-based game, but it is one without a set turn structure. This brings us to the concept of Initiative.

Thus, things do not occur all at once.

Initiative 1: all ships capable of moving three jumps move their first jump simultaneously (even if not moving 3 jumps) Initiative 2: first X combat rounds Initiative 3: all ships capable of moving 3 jumps move their second jump, and all those capable of moving 2 move their first Initiative 4: second X rounds of combat Initiative 5: decomissioned ships/stations are decomissioned if they havent been captured yet Initiative 6: all ships make their final move (including Slow and Steady ships) Initiative 7: all remaining combat

Thus, there are three types of combat that may occur - Attacks, Blockades and Intercepts. An Attack is when combat is initiated against something present in a system. It is possible to move out of the system after an attack has been started, and depending on the above initiative order, no combat may actually occur.

An Intercept is where a fleet moves to attack a fleet in transit. This requires careful timing, so count the jumps! Note that if hostile fleets pass each other through the same node, they can engage in combat, even if the initiative order would seem to declare that they pass through each other without fighting.

Finally, there is the Blockade.

Blockades When you don’t want anyone to move past a certain node, it calls for a blockade. Ships assigned to guard a node are considered to be Blockading it, they will automatically engage and try to stop anyone specified from moving past them, with success dependant on how many ships assigned.

If your forces come across a blockade there are two options:

Fight: Your fleet halts it’s movement and engages the blockade in combat.

Run The Blockade: Your fleet ignores the enemy and moves right on through. Depending on the composition of your fleet and the enemy fleet the casualties will vary but if the fleet survives it will continue on to its objective.

Effectively, Blockade is a form of pre-emptive Intercept. Instead of moving to engage a moving fleet, you instead declare an attack on a fleet moving through you.

Capturing and Trading As part of any combat, you may order your ships to capture the enemy. In order to capture hostile ships or defence stations, you must have either the Boarding Parties or Disabling Weapons technology. Capturing is far too risky a proposition without specialised technology. Capturing normal stations and planets can be done without either, although they do improve your chances.

A captured Ship or Base will be damaged by the attack. Damaged ships can move only a single jump per turn, regardless of technology. Damaged ships and bases do not produce any PP, and will suffer penalties if engaged in combat. Repairing a ship or base costs 10% of the cost of building it (rounded up), after which it acts as any other ship or base as normal.

A captured planet loses one class level as a result of the devastation caused by the attack. The exception is class 1 and 1H planets/nebulas which are small enough to capture without too much infrastructure damage. Captured planets produce only half their normal PP and RP until the world is pacified. This takes a number of turns equal to the planets class when it was captured. This also applies to worlds which have been traded between allies (to represent cultural integration and unrest rather than suppression of rebellion) except in very special circumstances (ie. Admin’s discretion).

If an enemy ship, base or planet chooses to surrender, then it changes hands peacefully and none of the above effects apply. Note that not everyone will accept their commander’s orders to surrender, and heavily populated worlds in particular may resist an occupying force despite orders from the imperial government to surrender.

Regardless of how you acquire them, captured ships handle the same. They always retain the techs and traits they had at the time of capture, but do not gain your traits or techs, even ones you develop after capturing them. Of course, it is possible to ask allies to upgrade ships if they traded them to you. Note: The only traits which don’t carry over are ones that influence training, morale or troops; they inherit yours.

Convoys and System Control In order to claim a system, you must pay 100 PP and have a ship or station in the system. This pays for the communications relays, refuelling outposts and listening stations. (Note that this cost is waived in Turn 0.) Empires do not run themselves; trade and movement of supplies are a vital part of their operation. Much of the work is done by civilian operators, and indeed, it is possible to rely entirely on civilian contracts. However, there are risks to this. Pirates, renegades and many other hazards litter inhabited space, all more than willing to prey upon vulnerable traffic.

There is a chance that, at any time, civilian convoys will be attacked or damaged by pirates. When this occurs, you receive a one-off penalty to your income as valuable cargo is lost. The exact amount is either a very small percentage of your total income (around 1%), a percentage of the income from that system (around 10%), or a percentage of the total value of assets being built in that system (around 10%) – whichever is the highest!

In order to counter this, you can produce Military Convoys. These use armoured freighters, short-range fighters and escort frigates to ward off unwanted attention, and in most cases can neutralise the risk. You need a number of Military Convoys equal to the I-rating, with a minimum of one, to have safe trade routes; so you would need five in an I-5 system to be safe from pirate raids. It is suggested that you place your Convoys and their escorts at the top of your list of assets in a system.

You can also assign any normal warships and strike craft in the system to escort convoys, which can be a particularly good idea on the borders, as hostile players can play pirate as well! You can declare a pirate raid on any hostile system, using whatever forces you wish. If successful, you gain 50% of the resources that your victim loses (the Expert Privateer trait increases this to 75%, while the Incompetent Raider trait reduces it to 25%).

Military Convoys have an escort equivalent to 1 CL2, 2 CL1 and 4 F, and can be affected by all the normal technologies, unless specifically stated. A final note – if a Military Convoy is successfully raided, it is lost!

Supply Chains Military Convoys have a secondary purpose – supply chains. Civilian contractors refuse to go beyond occupied territory; if you have an isolated system, either due to a gap in your claimed territory, I-rating shared with an ally, or perhaps a system being maintained by MPSes, you must have a Military Convoy in each system between the isolated one and the rest of your empire. It is possible to share civilian and Military convoys with allies, but this must be declared. Be wary, as there is a chance that if a shared convoy is raided, both players will lose resources!

If the supply chain is broken, the isolated system may only use its own resources. Thus, a group of MPSes generating I-rating with no supply chain to the main empire could only build assets in that system using the resources they themselves generate.

Advanced Piracy There are three ways that players can get involved in piracy themselves. The first is outlined above – this is Direct Raiding.

Extended Deployment is the second. You can order a fleet to go an Extended Deployment in another player’s space, or in neutral space. You lose control over them, and have no knowledge of their location. At this point, they will operate as though they were normal pirates. There is a chance at any time during a raid, or when moving through hostile space, that they may be identified and engaged. Smaller, faster and stealthier ships are all less likely to experience this. After a predetermined amount of time, the fleet will return, providing 50% of the total raid damage (adjusted by traits). If the force is entirely lost, you gain nothing.

Bribery is the last. It is possible to covertly fund pirates in the territory of another player to increase the strength and regularity of their raids. You do not gain any of the resulting resources, but there is very little risk of discovery, as you do not have to state publicly which pirates you are funding!

Morale The system of morale was previously unclear at best, and thus has been stripped out and reworked. It now consists of three aspects.

Training affects combat strength. A better trained force are more likely to be able to follow complex, dangerous and even suicidal orders. Training is affected by traits.

Stability affects your economy. Low stability can cause reduced production, I-rating fluctuation and increased chance of pirate raids. Very high stability can give access to limited-use economic powers, like placing assets in a different system from the one used to build. Stability is partly based upon traits, but also affected by consistently strong I-ratings, well defended convoys and secure borders (nothing causes chaos like enemies on the doorstep!).

Finally, Morale covers how your empire feels. Defeats, surrenders and unpopular decisions can all lower morale, while victories and popular decisions increase morale. What are popular and unpopular decisions? Whether a particular decision a player makes is popular or unpopular is based heavily upon the background of your empire, and the profile chosen when you made it. You are encouraged to discuss with the admin the kind of people you are leading when putting together your empire - see Disposition.

Low morale can have deadly consequences. Systems may defect, fleets disobey orders and even rebellions form. The higher your morale, the more loyal and devoted your empire will be, and the more likely everything will work smoothly.

Dealing with Other Players In the course of negotiating with other players, you may want to exchange resources, ships, technology and so on.

Of course, doing this takes time, and doesn’t happen by magic…

When trading technology and RP, the receiving player gets it the turn after you sent it. So if you send Advanced Propulsion to your ally on turn 9, they don’t start reverse engineering it until turn 10. Otherwise, there are no restrictions.

When trading ships and stations, the other player must have a ship or a station of their own in the same system. Likewise, they do not gain control until the next turn. Thus, in the case of a player trading a Large Production Station to their ally on turn 4, the ally will gain control on turn 5, and gain the 200 PP income on turn 6.

Trading PP directly is no longer possible. It is, after all, rather more tangible than raw information! Trading PP must be done through the use of Transports or Military Convoys. You must declare that you are loading a Transport or Military Convoy with a certain amount of PP. A single transport may carry up to 200 PP, while a Military Convoy may carry up to 2000 PP. Note that a Military Convoy may not contribute to the supply chain while carrying resources.

You may unload the resources in any allied system, at which point it is treated like extra income in that system the next turn.

These mineral shipments can also be done within your empire, as a means of circumventing the needs of a supply chain. Be aware that such loaded ships may be subject to pirate attacks, and all the same rules as for convoys apply!

Treaties, Alliances and Non-Aggression Pacts In the process of dealing with other players, unless you simply ignore everyone or try to fight everyone, chances are you’ll end up signing agreements of some kind.

These agreements are binding, and breaking them can have unpredictable consequences. As they are publically declared, and the relevant information taken as read by your people, problems arise if there is an abrupt change of orders.

The upshot of this is that two things must occur when an alliance or peace treaty are ended. The first is an official declaration. Initiating combat on the same turn as this occurs will result in complete chaos, as your military has no clue whether to follow existing rules of engagement, or these new surprise orders. There may be unrest among civilians, and your economy will be thrown into chaos by the sudden need for munitions and repairs. This applies to both parties. In particularly severe cases, even longer than one turn may be needed to prepare.

As a result, initiating combat during this 'preparation time' will have severe short-term morale and stability penalties

There are two exceptions to these rules.

Extended Deployment piracy may occur at any time, even against an ally. If the ships involved are identified as yours, either while a peace treaty, non aggression pact or alliance is in effect, or during the turn that such an agreement is broken, the confusion by the public at large will result in the above problems.

If both parties have ships in a system which has been jointly claimed by both players, combat may not be initiated, but ships do not have to leave, and moving more into the system is allowed.

As a result of these rules, all such agreements between players must be either public, or the admin must be informed.

Multiplayer Empires So you want to try playing along with somebody instead of going it alone? A multiplayer empire follows all of the normal rules, but has a few more quirks to itself.

You may split up responsibility for the empire between you as you wish. There are dozens of ways of doing this, whether simply one person managing the economy and the other the military, or controlling two halves of the empire, or whatever. The following exceptions to the rules apply.

Trading Trading between players in a multiplayer empire is instant - there is no turn delay. Of course, if something is sent and not received, or received and not sent, this can result in awkwardness, so make sure you and your partner decide these things in advance before posting!

Additionally, there is no 'reverse engineering' delay for technology; they simply add it to their list.

Morale and Stability Morale and stability is shared between players. Particularly severe actions can result in one part of a multiplayer empire having a different set, but they will naturally change to become universal.

Parts of a multiplayer empire are always treated as being in an alliance. Thus, in a civil war (which is entirely legal!), the morale and stability penalties will apply for as long as the civil war is in effect!

Empire Profile All players in a multiplayer empire have the same disposition and starting techs. Additionally, although each part may research any technologies they wish, they all use the same tech slots. It is at the owner's discretion whether to share this technology with the other parts, but they will have occupied a tech slot even if only they use it. In a sense, it is a special case of technology not being universally applied.

Note that a multiplayer empire has only one advanced tech, regardless of how many players it contains.

The traits are slightly different, however. The Empire has a 'core' set of traits, and then each player may change one of these traits for another one. However, you may not change a trait that affects Stability or Morale, as these are global factors. (And it would give the admins too many headaches.)