Planetary-Control Game
Index
Basic Game Mechanics Civilizations Planets Resources Tech Tree In-Game Views List of Attribute Combinations
Basic Game Mechanics
The setup of the game is Planetary-Control. You play one civilization in the universe, starting with one planet. Your civilization will be at the brink of discovering space travel. Once you have researched the first few spaceships available (scout/colonization ship), you can start scouting and colonizing other planets in your star system. Once you have researched hyperdrives you can travel to other star systems in the universe. This is where interaction with the other player starts, be it peaceful trading or war. The goal of the game is to eliminate all enemy players. Depending on the number of players in the game you may share an allied victory with a certain number of players. For instance, 5 or less players would not allow an allied victory, while 8 players would allow allied victory to a team of two players. 12 players then would allow victory to up to 3 allied players.
Attributes and their use
The civilization attributes make a player more powerful in certain areas. The primary attributes unlock the entire tech tree for that attribute, whereas the secondary attributes have more access but not completely. Combining of certain attributes is possible. While the goal is to make most of them compatible with each other to create as much different playstyles as possible, only several ideas exist at the moment. Take note that it is probably impossible to combine them all. Examples of how attributes could work together Using spycraft you can gather information about enemy planets. Then you can pick out a planet that is weak where you are strong. I.e.: You could send a preacher to a non-religious planet, or a heavy fleet to a barely defended planet. A combination of research, bio-technology and military could be used to create a strong military force. Bio-tech would provide cloned soldiers, while research would provide better energyfacilities to generate the needed energy. Military could then be used to train your soldiers to high levels.
Page 1 of 15 22-3-2012 Herman Groenenboom & Teh Lulz 2011
Civilizations
A civilization consists of two primary and two/three secondary attributes. These attributes define which technologies are available to a player, and therefore his playstyle. Primary attributes are the areas in which a civilization will have the most advanced research/tech tree. A secondary attribute also has an extended tech tree but not as much as the primary ones. Civilization attributes generally come with one or two traits, which make a player more powerful in these areas. For instance: The spycraft attribute could come with a faster spy training trait. Civilization Attributes: Research Trading Infiltration/Spycraft Farming Mining Spacecraft Robotics Military Religion Bio-Technology Leadership
Page 2 of 15 22-3-2012 Herman Groenenboom & Teh Lulz 2011
Research
Primary bonus: Scientists output 20% more research points. Research labs are built 15% faster and have -10% upkeep costs. Two research labs can be built on one planet without penalty. A few secondary technologies from all attributes are available. Secondary bonus: Scientists output 10% more research points. Research labs are built 8% faster and have -5% upkeep costs.
Research is the basis of all other civilization attributes. Using scientists (or researchers) which generate research points you can improve your civilizations ability to use its primary and secondary attributes. The number of scientists on a planet is limited by the number of buildings of a certain type on that planet. Lets call these research labs for now. For instance: You would be able to assign 10 scientists to every research lab. If a planet had 5 research labs then 50 scientists could work on that planet. Specializing in research also gives you better energy-generating facilities, or the ability to research those.
Trading
Primary bonus: Merchants train 10% faster. Trading ships move 15% faster. Secondary bonus: Merchants train 5% faster. Trading ships move 8% faster.
Trading is the ability to exchange resources and player intelligence with other players. As all other attributes it is available to all civilizations but in more efficient and powerful primary and secondary forms. Trading comes in the form of merchants. A merchant is a unit that defines the ratio at which resources are exchanged. The higher the trading power of the merchant the better. This can be increased by research and training. It should be noted that a player cannot directly influence the ratio at which resources are traded by merchants. There are two types of merchants: One is the stationary merchant, while the other is the traveling merchant. The stationary merchant waits on a friendly planet until the merchant of another player arrives. This merchant then looks what resources are available to sell (defined by the player) and if the other merchant is interested in these resources he will purchase these resources. The ratio at which this happens depends on the difference of trading power between the two merchants. Having multiple merchants on one planet will increase the trading power, but less with every merchant. For instance: Two merchants with 20 trading power combine to a total of 30 trading power, while three merchants with 20 trading power only have 35 combined traing power. Trading of player intelligence always happens directly between two players without the influence or need of merchants.
Spycraft and Infiltration
Primary bonus: Spies are trained 10% faster and 10% cheaper. Detection chance of friendly spies on enemy planets is decreased by 10% and vice versa. Spies can perform devastating actions on enemy planets. Having two spies on one planet does not increase their detection chance. Spies travel 10% faster.
Page 3 of 15 22-3-2012 Herman Groenenboom & Teh Lulz 2011
Secondary bonus: Spies are trained 5% faster. Detection chance of friendly spies on enemy planets is decreased by 5% and vice versa. Spies can perform more sabotage actions on an enemy planet than usual.
Just like trading and merchants, spycraft happens through spies. Spies are units able to gather information from enemy planets and armies, and detect enemy spies on friendly planets. The power of all spy actions are based on their skill level. A spy stationed on an enemy planet will gradually gain more information about what is happening on the planet. Starting with basic information like population, and then gaining intel about armies and buildings. The longer a spy has been under cover, the harder it gets to detect him. Apart from the passive information gathering spies are also able to take actions against a planet. Spy actions vary from stealing resources to assasinating key leaders and temporarily disabling production queues, mining facilities or research centers. The change of a spy being detected depends on his skill level and the skill level of enemy spies present on the planet. When you have multiple spies stationed on a planet they will gather intelligence faster but with a higher detection chance.
Farming
Primary bonus: Farms output 20% more food and can hold 10% more farmers. Can build farms on non-fertile planets (space farms). Secondary bonus: Farms output 10% more food and can be built on non-fertile planets. A planets population needs food to eat. Food is a resource that can be gained through farming. Farming is done by farmers who work on farms or other food-generating buildings. These buildings generate a very small amount of food on their own, but can hold a limited number of farmers who will generate a greater amount of food while working there. The food output of a farm and its farmers is defined by the fertility and amount of farms on a planet. The higher the fertility, the more food you can get from a single farm or farmer. There is a limit to this though, since a planet with more farms will output less food per farm.
Mining
Primary bonus: Mines output 10% more resources. Mines can hold 10% more miners and mine build and upkeep costs are 15% less. Secondary bonus: Mines output 5% more resources and build and upkeep costs are 10% lower.
Mining is pretty much the same as farming. The only difference is that there is a different resource type available to mine on every planet. A resource can be mined using mines and miners, just like farms and farmers. Resources never deplete, but a planet has a certain base amount which defines the speed at which resources are mined. Just like with farms, the more mines you have the less they will output.
Spacecraft
Primary bonus: Start with scout ship researched and spaceships have a 5% attack and 10% speed bonus. Can use the most advanced spaceships. Spaceships costs 5% less. Secondary bonus: Spaceships have a 3% attack and 6% speed bonus. Can use more advanced spaceships.
Page 4 of 15 22-3-2012 Herman Groenenboom & Teh Lulz 2011
Spacecraft is the ability to build spaceships. Starting with simple scout and colonization ships the tech tree of spacecraft also includes trading ships and advanced war frigates. Even though spacecraft as a primary or secondary attribute is recommended for a player using aggresive strategies to attack the other players, it is not necessary to have spacecraft to beat the enemy.
Robotics
Primary bonus: Automated mines, farms and factories are 20% cheaper and output 5% more resources. Robot factories produce robotics 15% faster. AI control increased by 10%. Secondary bonus: Automated mines, farms and factories are 10% cheaper. Robot factories produce robotics 8% faster.
Robotics is the area of automation and AI. Robotics never really works on its own but combined with military or mining technologies it can be a very helpful attribute. Robotics combined with mining would give you automated mines, which require no miners. Combined with military it would give you robot fighters. Robotics can even be used for research, but this has certain dangers which will be explained later. A player specializing in robotics will have to generate a lot of energy. Robots dont require any food though, so farming would be less important. Robots have the risk of turning rogue. The more AI you give them, the stronger they get, but also the higher the chance of them turning against you. The best ways of countering this is either not putting too much research into AI, or having a large military force available to prevent the AIs from turning other robots rogue. Research can also reduce the dangers of AI.
Military
Primary bonus: 10% faster training of military. Marines have 10% more attack power. Spaceships requiring 3 or more marines for flight can be controlled by one less. Secondary bonus: 5% faster training of military. Marines have 5% more attack power.
Military is the backbone of basic warfare. Specializing in this branch gives you more advanced training and stronger units. A combination with spacecraft and robotics probably suits an aggresive player and unlocks very powerful and humongous war machines.
Religion
Primary bonus: 15% faster training of preachers. Start out with a religious empire (50% faith). Preachers travel 10% faster. Maximum negative faith decreased by 15%. Secondary bonus: 8% faster training of preachers. Maximum negative faith decreased by 8%. Religion has the power of converting entire populations. Using preachers and artifacts you can increase the faith of your people. Faith is a stat that stays neutral when you dont practice religion, but can turn negative once youve started it. Faith can increase your populations happiness, but if you dont return the populations demands faith will quickly drop resulting in a decline of happiness. The higher the faith stat has been, the lower it can drop. There are several religious buildings to be made and relics to be found. Once your people are starting to get interested in your religion they will want to visit these buildings and relics. If you succeed in delivering this it will boost their faith, and if you fail it might turn negative. Page 5 of 15 22-3-2012 Herman Groenenboom & Teh Lulz 2011
Religion can also be used against your enemy. If you send a preacher to an enemy planet, he will start to convert the population on that planet. Note that if that civilization already has its own religion your preacher might have trouble converting them or even get accused of heresy. Once the enemy population has gathered enough faith, they will start traveling to your religious buildings and relics. This causes the enemy commander to be notified, and that is when he can start acting against you. If you capture any planet with force (soldiers and ships), sending a preacher with them might help in giving the newly capture planet a faith boost. The starting faith of the planet also depends on your empires average faith level.
Bio-Technology
Primary bonus: 10% decrease in cost of biotic amplifiers and bio bombs. 15% faster cloning process. 15% less happiness decrease when using bio bombs. Secondary bonus: 5% decrease in cost of biotic amplifiers and bio bombs. 8% faster cloning process.
Biotic amplifiers, bombs and cloning are the strengths of bio-technology. Biotic amplifiers can be used to greatly increase the power of single military units. It practically gives one soldier the power of a tank, but for this the soldier has had to be implanted with bio-amps at birth. Bio bombing is a very aggressive way of warfare. It greatly decreases population growth, productivity and happiness on enemy planets. However, when used too excessively it the happiness on your own planets will start to decrease and might even cause revolts. Bio bombs are also quite expensive and might attract the enemies attention. Cloning can be used to increase your population count at the cost of resources. Clones are very effective when you have researched much in military. Combined with spacecraft you could even make portable cloning facilities. Bio-tech combined with robotics results in superfuntime cyborgs.
Leadership
Primary bonus: 10% faster training of leaders. 10% decrease in leader training cost. 5% protection bonus against preachers and spies. Leaders also give a small speed boost to fleets based on their level. Secondary bonus: 5% faster training of leaders. 5% decrease in leader training cost. Leaders also give a very small speed boost to fleets based on their level.
Leaders are another form of trained specialists. Just like religious preachers they practice control upon your population, but in more direct ways. Whereas religion can be used to convert the enemy civilizations, leadership is used to maintain happiness and control. Leaders keep up the moral (hapiness literally) of your civilization in wars and other bad times (hunger/bio-bombing). They can also be sent with military fleets to for bonusses to stats like attack power. Otherwise they can directly and passively boost the effectivity on spies on friendly planets, whereas happiness does not. Leaders also decrease the power of planet conversion by preachers, and active abilities of spies wear out faster and are less effective under the influence of a leader. This all means that leaders can be used to create a strong defensive position. Their attacking abilities are only small, but when used correctly you can greatly diminish enemy power by letting enemy forces crush themselves on planets supported by high level leaders. However, keep in mind that leadership on its own will not be enough to deliver a powerful offense. Page 6 of 15 22-3-2012 Herman Groenenboom & Teh Lulz 2011
Normally when taking over an enemy planet through force the happiness level decreases greatly. But when a skilled leader is present at the take-over happiness will drop significantly less. This makes it easier to maintain such conquered planets.
Page 7 of 15 22-3-2012 Herman Groenenboom & Teh Lulz 2011
Planets
Planet Attributes: Resources Size Fertility Volcanoes, wind and distance to sun Relics/Artifacts
Resources
Credits Energy Metal Food Research Points Crystal Deuterium
Page 8 of 15 22-3-2012 Herman Groenenboom & Teh Lulz 2011
Tech Tree
Basic technology
Scout Ship
Colonization Ship
Fighter Ship
Basic Farming Techniques (unlocks new tech tree)
Basic Mining Techniques (unlocks new tech tree)
Leaders (unlocks new tech tree)
Transport Ship
Infiltration (unlocks new tech tree)
Bio-Technology (unlocks new tech tree)
Robotics (unlocks new tech tree)
Page 9 of 15 22-3-2012 Herman Groenenboom & Teh Lulz 2011
In-Game Views
Population View
Farmers Miners Spy training Merchant training
Production
Free workers:
Researchers Preacher training
Leader training
Here you see the population view. This is where you manage worker distribution and training. Workers are available by a certain percentage of your planet population, while training doesnt require any workers but is limited to one per class and costs credits.
Event log
Important Building Planets Training Research History
Earth: Building of Farm finished Mars: Building of Research Center finished
The event log shows you everything that has happened in the last tick. Different categories are used to organize them. There is also a history available which shows all past events. The Important (maybe call it Main) category would hold message such as planets or fleet being under attack, or spies having been compromised. The Planets category would only show capturing and loss of planets. In the history view you should also be able to filter events and scroll through turns.
Page 10 of 15 22-3-2012 Herman Groenenboom & Teh Lulz 2011
Map view
Lamba Thatar
Unknown Turtle Gargarensis Bittersweet Ciclopootis Gargarensis
Derptron Ciclopootis
Unknown
Unknown
This is the map view. It shows you all star systems using color codes. Blue are your systems, while yellow are allies and red are enemies. Maybe add a neutral color? White is undiscovered systems, while green systems have multiple players of different allegiance in them. The player names colors do not have a meaning, but are unique per player and are meant to keep them apart in case they have confusing nicknames. As you can see some stars have circles around them. The player can place those to set objectives for himself. Obviously they are invisible to other players. In this example it could be that the player (who is Thatar) wants to attack the Bittersweet star and explore the Unknown star system to his right.
Page 11 of 15 22-3-2012 Herman Groenenboom & Teh Lulz 2011
List of Attribute Combinations
It should be kept in mind that combinations are to be reasonable and interesting. They also shouldnt overlap any of the already existing attribute specialties making them unneeded. 1. Research 2. Trading 3. Infiltration/Spycraft 4. Farming 5. Mining 6. Spacecraft 7. Robotics 8. Military 9. Religion 10. Bio-Technology 11. Leadership Research + ??? The combination of the research attribute and anything else does not hold any interesting creativity. A possibility is to unlock an extra specialized item for the second element in this case. The research attribute would then allow for more advanced research of this specific area. Simply said unlocking even higher tiers. This is impossible to define at the moment though since the tech tree isnt even fully realised yet. Trading + Spycraft It is hard to think of a specific item in this combination. Maybe when the game has been actually formed this is possible. However, some things can be said. Trading couldnt really empower spycraft, but the other way around is possible. Using spycraft you would somehow be able to give your merchants an edge in their deals. Trading + Farming/Mining Trading + Spacecraft Naturally this combination would give you superior trading ships. Trading + Robotics Automatic trading of resources with a trading ratio dependend of the AI level of your robots. Maybe a small trading ratio bonus to planets without any merchants. Not really an interesting idea though, merchants trade automatically in any case. Trading + Military Trading + Religion Trading + Bio-Tech Maybe bio-amped merchants. Big question mark to this though. Page 12 of 15 22-3-2012 Herman Groenenboom & Teh Lulz 2011
Trading + Leadership Ability for a leader to trade without a merchant available. Spycraft + Farming/Mining Spycraft + Spacecraft Stealthed spaceships. Really, what did you expect. Spycraft + Robotics Stealthed robot military. Spycraft + Military Now this could be interesting. Infiltrating military units onto an enemy planet, ready to attack at any moment. Spycraft + Religion Preachers which you can let disappear at any moment, giving the enemy player the illusion that he has left. Spycraft + Bio-tech Ability to let bio-amped soldiers go stealth, a bit like the spycraft+military combination. Spycraft + Leadership Farming + Spacecraft Ability to build farms on non-fertile planets. Farming + Robotics Farms in which robots can work. Farming + Military Farming + Mining Farming + Religion Farming + Bio-tech Super duper deluxe mega awesome-de-bawesomesauce farms. Farming + Leadership Mining + Spacecraft Mine planets from space without colonizing. Page 13 of 15 22-3-2012 Herman Groenenboom & Teh Lulz 2011
Mining + Robotics Mines in which robots can work. Mining + Military Mining + Religion Mining + Bio-tech Mining + Leadership Spacecraft + Robotics Spaceships which can fly on their own, not even requiring any robots. Otherwise some portable robot factory. Spacecraft + Military Soldiers get trained while they travel in transport ships. Spacecraft + Religion Spacecraft + Bio-tech Soldiers who are spaceships through bio-amps. Spacecraft + Leadership Robotics + Military Robotics + Religion Robotics + Bio-tech Soldiers who can effectively control robots through bio-amps, thus requiring less AI. Robotics + Leadership Military + Religion Military + Bio-tech Since bio-amps are automatically available to military, there isnt much to boost here.
Page 14 of 15 22-3-2012 Herman Groenenboom & Teh Lulz 2011
Military + Leadership Special military leaders, maybe just generals. Religion + Bio-tech Religion + Leadership Bio-tech + Leadership -
Page 15 of 15 22-3-2012 Herman Groenenboom & Teh Lulz 2011