Ethos & Prestige What separates the representative democracy from the oppressive despotic empire? Ethos. Ethos represent the values your civilization hold most dear. Some ethos are compatible with each other, even if they value different things, while others by their very nature are destined to be opposed. These don’t, in general, have a particular domestic or international focus-they can be interpreted however you wish in describing your society, and can be used quite creatively. Diplomacy is easier with NPC states that share your ethos. Conversely, you can get prestige if you opposed the actions of a state whose ethos are very different from your own. Prestige is the marker for how your country is viewed, both internally and externally. Actions and decisions can raise or lower your prestige. Prestige can be spent to have GMs re-roll critical dice (in a diplomatic negotiation, for example, or to hire mercenaries), but be careful-high Prestige has passive benefits, and low Prestige can hurt you. Of course, it is also perhaps the best meter stick to measure player achievement during the course of the game as well, and is obviously a way for players to ‘keep score’. Ethos General Rules You can take each Ethos as a Major (2 slots) or a Minor (1 slot). You have 6 slots. You are required to take at least one Major. The buffs and debuffs granted herein are always additive to the base value inherent to the game. For example, tech Development costs default to 15% of Income. Increasing that by 10% means it will cost 25% of Income instead, not 16.5%. A seventh slot can be unlocked by completing a number of tasks, including an investment tree or researching certain technology. An eighth slot is unlocked completing an ascension tree. Any other slots that would be gained (be it through completing an investment tree or anything else) are converted into a free creation point. Prestige/Casus Belli Conditions All Ethea have Prestige conditions for which they gain bonus Prestige, or that are entirely unique to it. The exact amount of Prestige is still to be decided for now but some of the “weaker” Ethea should tend to collect Prestige faster. Majors tend to gain double Prestige for their conditions. Casus Belli conditions are conditions for which a holder of the Ethos has higher justification of responding with punitive measures. Passive prestige triggers are generally listed in the prestige document. Changing Ethos Major Ethos almost never change because they are core to your national identity. A turnover in one of them could properly be termed a revolution. However, once every two ingame years, you can change a single Minor Ethos. This can be an election cycle, a cabinet shuffle, or a regularly scheduled, violent tantrum on the part of Dear Leader - it's entirely up to you. The two year timer resets the moment you opt to make the change. A triggered change is a one-time change to a Minor Ethos set off by something happening, such as Space Pope declaring a crusade, a particularly deadly terrorist attack, or your neighbour being eaten by a jackboot-wearing hegemony. For a PC, whether you want to take advantage of the option when presented is entirely up to you. For NPCs, this represents their societies responding to challenges. Whether a PC has a valid case to make a swap is ultimately up to the GM, but they should err on the side of it being okay as frequent swaps aren't all that beneficial anyway. Especially when the trigger relates to hegemonic aggression in civilized space or flagrant danger on the high stars, the ability for peaceful states to respond to challenges is integral to balance of power. You can try to incite change of Ethos (Major or Minor) in NPCs using soft power, covert actions, or by bombing them until they agree (in order of increasing likelihood to backfire). Trying to do this with a PC will give them the option to go along with you by giving them a triggered change and a suggestion. If it's a hostile action however, it is entirely likely the victim will ignore you or pick something dangerous like "Militarism" to give you a hard time going forward. Minor NPCs may have fewer Ethos slots. Major NPCs may have custom Ethos defined by the GM that were not available to players at the start of the game and these will hopefully be balanced but may come across as not perfectly balanced. This is purely there to make the game cool. Ethos List There are nine pairs of Ethos (18 total) where each is the polar opposite (and cannot coexist) with one other. Not taking a given Ethos does not mean you or your citizens have no opinion on the matter, it just means they aren’t defining issues or philosophies for you. Multilateralism/Hegemony These Ethea give definition to a nation's outlook on international affairs. They are appropriate for states that want to take leadership roles in the international community and work issues through diplomacy. Whether peaceful or not, you are very polite about it. Multilateralism Multilateralism is the belief in international governance and a system where multiple countries work in concert for common causes. This entails treating all states with a standard of dignity and respect even when they are much smaller than yours. The modern western world is prototypically multilateral but Comintern was kind of that too. What matters most is the spirit of the engagement, not the substance of the common beliefs. Casus Belli Conditions: Requires multilateral consensus for offensive military actions. Minor -Concert Diplomacy: Gain an extra +2 to Diplomacy per Ethos you share with the target but lose an extra 1d6 instead if the target shares no Ethos with you. -Multilateral Politics: You are specifically able to bring multiple NPCs at once to a single table on diplomatic issues or to form international organizations so long as you all share at least one Ethos and the agreement has to do with that Ethos. (Multilateral Politics is intended to be a powerful ability. On the other hand, the interpretation of aggressive Diplomacy here is pretty strict; it includes any cessation of sovereignty or territory, including attempts to take it after a war or even if some happy NPC is voting themselves out of existence.) -Coalition of the Willing: Multilateral states enjoy a 1% upkeep reduction if a third of their military is deployed outside their home system supporting allies or engaged in peacekeeping or antipiracy operations. This discount is increased to 2% if that number is 2/3rds. This effect is calculated for the majority of the calendar year because otherwise people's heads would explode. States with Coalition of the Willing may lend a Sortie to allied states to use without penalty. -Arsenal of Democracy: Friendly states you have some relationship with can buy your units with no additional upkeep. Major -Concert Diplomacy -Multilateral Politics II: Gain an additional 1d6 for Multilateral Politics. -First Among Equals: You may not engage in aggressive Diplomacy. -Double all Prestige gains from peaceful Diplomacy. -Coalition of the Willing -Gain a Size 1 Ally either on the Grid or on Elysium. This ally can be buffed by spending creation points. -Arsenal of Democracy -Standardization of Forces: You may use ships purchased from friendly states without upkeep penalty. Hegemony Hegemonic nations believe that weak states should bow to strong ones and that power and respect are the currency of international relations. They prefer bilateral, sometimes discriminatory one-to-one relations with individual countries which give the powerful more leverage and the weak the promise of some support and protection. They are much more agnostic when it comes to what ideologies other states have and more than comfortable with alliances of convenience. Casus Belli conditions Permissive. You may deliver ultimatums over points of contention and essentially gain Casus Belli by describing how it impinges on your sphere of influence. Might makes right! Minor -You take and impose none of the basic penalties of Diplomacy arising from differences in Ethea. -Strong and Polite: You may conduct a conspicuous military exercise. This costs helium but provides .25/.5/1 Prestige for every battlecruiser/fleet carrier or battleship, dreadnought/monitor/supercarrier involved and boosts your Diplomacy efforts in the vicinity by between +1 to +3. Strong and Polite Exercises do not consume a Sortie but must come from active duty or training forces. -Jackboots: You may use a military operation (rather than covert or diplomatic ones) to control or trigger Ethos changes in those under your hegemony. You may, accepting a moderate level of risk, target yourself. Major -You take and impose none of the basic penalties of Diplomacy arising from differences in Ethea. -Strong and Polite. -Jackboots: You may use a military operation (rather than covert or diplomatic ones) to control or trigger Ethos changes in those under your hegemony. You may, accepting a moderate level of risk, target yourself. -Roll twice for aggressive (including by extension, any benefiting from your Strength and Politeness) or military Diplomacy. -Capital Ships build 25% faster. Corporate Your “nation” is actually more of a corporation doing business for hire. This is intended to represent mercenary companies and pirate cartels. It is only available in a minor version, and it cannot be taken alongside Multilateral/Hegemony. You must have GM approval to take this ethos -Off The Shelf: No upkeep penalty for buying units from friendly states -Fine Print: Reduced diplomatic consequences for actions under contract -Money Talks: Ignore diplomatic penalties when being paid for a service -Bullshit Walks: Take ethos penalties as multilateral for diplomacy that does not involve a financial transaction Egalitarianism/Hierarchy Taking these Ethea represents strong views on whether people in society should be equal or if inequality is the natural and preferable state of things. This is not always clear cut; democracy is egalitarian but capitalism implies hierarchy and money in politics, so a “typical” modern state could swing either way or skip it entirely. Egalitarianism The go-to for the devoutly social and the fiercely democratic, Egalitarian states are almost always functional democracies. They have leaders, not rulers, and their citizens regularly take action to hold said leaders accountable. Minor -May change a Major Ethos or two Minor Ethos once every two years. -Immune to Social Warfare. -Social Upkeep increased by 2%. -Freedom Fighters: Territories spawn regular infantry brigades when invaded, and grant mercenary credit (representing free traders and private vessels rallying to your side) Major -May change a Major Ethos or two Minor Ethos once every two years. -Immune to Social Warfare. -Social Upkeep increased by 5%. -Freedom Fighters provides twice as many units as Minor -Hopes and Dreams: Roll twice for all military Hearts and Minds effects or Social Warfare covert operations. Hierarchy Monarchies, oligarchies, plutocracies and unclimbable social ladders of all types. Those in power are heavily entrenched and those outside of that select group regard the halls of power mostly with resignation. Minor -Social Upkeep decreased by 5%. -Gain 1d6 against Covert actions except for social change. -Can only change Ethos via triggered change. (Triggering a change yourself is harder.) -One capital ship class of your choice has an additional small module. -Free "Royal Guard" ground unit of $125 that has innate martyrdom-does not cost upkeep. Major -Social Upkeep decreased by 10%. -Lose 1d6 resistance to Covert actions of social change. -Gain 1d6 against Covert actions of any other type. -Can only change Ethos via triggered change. (Triggering a change yourself is harder.) -One capital ship class of your choice has an additional large module. -Free "Royal Guard" ground unit of $200 that has innate martyrdom-does not cost upkeep. Individualism/Collectivism These Ethea are concerned with an individual’s relationship to the state and which one of the two predominantly serves the other. Individualism The power of the the state and its laws should be carefully limited, either voluntarily or constitutionally, to avoid impinging upon the personal lives of its citizens. Such governments are intentionally constructed with limited scope and competency, which can make it hard for them to relate diplomatically to states that manage (and expect others to also manage) things they don’t really dabble in. Minor -Social Upkeep decreased by 5%. -Tech Research cost -5%. -Command and Conquer: Individualist commanders are fiercely independent and have an increased chance to rally their forces (+1 to luck or tactics depending on roll), but beware this can also result in boneheaded maneuvers (-1 luck or tactics) -Hero Ground divisions are awarded an extra divisional specialization. -10% increased chance to change an NPC ethos to Individualism Major -Social Upkeep decreased by 10%. -Tech Research cost -10%. -Command and Conquer -Hero Ground Units are awarded an extra divisional specialization; Hero naval Units are awarded an additional small module -25% increased chance to change an NPC ethos to Individualism Collectivism The state and the greater good should have primacy over the concerns of individuals. Collectivist societies are usually authoritarian but can still be democratic, presenting as tyrannies of majorities or states where the conservative party is almost always in office. Minor -Immune to Economic Warfare and Social Warfare intelligence missions -At least a eighth (2.5% of income) of your Social Spending must be in the form of actual social spending and not other spending allowable under other ethos. -Reduce Prestige losses by 5, to a minimum of 1. -Will of the People: Each infantry unit gets 25% of the pacification/rehabilitation benefit of a Civilian Affairs Brigade. Major -Immune to Economic Warfare and Social Welfare intelligence missions -At least a quarter (5% of income) of your Social Spending must be in the form of actual social spending and not other spending allowable under other ethos. -Reduce Prestige losses by 10 to a minimum of 1. -Resource Infrastructure and Combines now build 50% faster. -The Will of the State: A major Collectivist state may, in times of crisis, adopt the tenets of any one Minor Ethos as a slotless ethos (similar to religion). There is a chance that, should this slotless ethos be adopted for more than a year, that your state could suffer a triggered shift into Minor Collectivism and this ethos, which is less likely to happen in war time. Once you have dropped the slotless ethos, there is a one year cooldown before it can be used again. -Will of the People Prosperity/Bootstrapper Are people defined by how much they are enabled to enjoy life and prosperity, or do deprivation and hardship build character? Prosperity People want - and should want - primarily to live well and be free from worry and danger. Life doesn't need to be hard. Nations on the Prosperity Ethos tend to go “tall”, leveraging vast infrastructure and megaprojects to conquer the hostile environment of space through brute force. The desire is more to improve your territory you already own to the max rather than expanding into undeveloped territory. Minor -Exploration Cost +10% -Initial Colonization cost +15% -Resource Infrastructure cost -15%. -Gain 5 Prestige for every resource extractor you place in a territory after the first. -Income Infrastructure cap doubled on Major territories. -Chance per year of discovering a special resource in territory you own. Major -Exploration Cost +20% -Initial Colonization cost +30% -Resource Infrastructure cost -30% -Gain 5 Prestige for every resource extractor you place in a territory after the first. -Income Infrastructure and Megastructure spending counts towards Social Upkeep. -Income Infrastructure cap doubled on all starting territories. -Chance per year of discovering a special resource in territory you own. -Additional free resource in your home territory and extractor. -May build a Combine to capitalize a special resource-costs $4000 and takes two years to complete. The value that resource is doubled for one extractor on each resource in that territory. (IE, a Lotus produced at a Combine would reduce social spending by 10% instead of 5%.) These can be built on each extractor on a resource but each one is only valid for a single extractor. A Combine is not considered to be a Resource Infrastructure thus its price is not affected by any modifiers. Bootstrapper People should be defined by hard work, day to day challenges and the ability to endure hardship. Where Prosperity build civilization, Bootstrappers adapt. They are the rugged frontier folk perfectly happy to eke out a living, or run a military campaign, with the most marginal of amenities. Square your jaw. Square the universe. Join the Spartan Corps today. Minor -Initial Civilian Infrastructure cost -10%. -Resource Infrastructure cost +10% -Mobile Infantry brigades gain the Direct Combat Modifier of Mechanized Infantry Brigades. Pathfinder Brigades gain the combat statline of Mobile Infantry Brigades but may choose to route & reform instead of fighting in combat. -3% military upkeep. -Each colony you found for yourself gains you 2 Prestige. Major -Initial Civilian Infrastructure cost -20%. -Resource Infrastructure cost +20% -Mobile Infantry brigades gain the Direct Combat Modifier of Mechanized Infantry Brigades. Pathfinder Brigades gain the combat statline of Mobile Infantry Brigades but may choose to route & reform instead of fighting in combat. - -3% reduced military upkeep -In ground combat, roll Tactics twice and take the better result. -Each colony you found for yourself gains you 2 Prestige. Pacifism/Militarism Your nation's view on war, specifically on whether or not it can be avoided and what role having a military in the first place has in said avoidance. As the galaxy’s politics shift, it is not uncommon to find nations reassessing their opinion on that first, most important point. Pacifism War is bad. It can and must be avoided if humanity is to have a future. Minor -Cannot engage in invasions resulting in occupations or annexations to your nation. Can engage in liberation wars (wars seeking to free other peoples/nations or change ethos) and militarily support wars of independence. -If you participate in wars that violate this condition, you must either suffer a triggered change out of Pacifism to another ethos, or suffer a 10% penalty to social spending, and 10% to military upkeep for the war’s duration. -Double the prestige for being on the victorious side of a liberation war or war of independence. -Military capped at 3x Income and upkeep costs reduced by a third. - +1% income growth per year ('the peace dividend') Major -Cannot engage in invasions resulting in occupations or annexations to your nation. Can engage in liberation wars (wars seeking to free other peoples/nations or change ethos) and militarily support wars of independence. -If you participate in wars that violate this condition, you must either suffer a triggered change out of Pacifism to another ethos, or suffer a 20% penalty to social spending, and 20% to military upkeep for the war’s duration. -Double the prestige for being on the victorious side of a liberation war or war of independence. -Can only have bilateral defensive alliances and are limited to 2. -Military capped at 2x Income and upkeep reduced by half. -You received 5 prestige for each peace treaty you broker. -Defensive military operations receive a +1 to tactics. - +2% income growth per year ('the peace dividend') Militarism War is inevitable. We fight to win. Casus Belli conditions You give other people tons of Casus Belli. Minor -Effective DI +50% -Lose 1d4 to any non-military Diplomacy. -Military Upkeep +5% -Military Upkeep can replace 50% of Social Spending. -Military technologies have a 2% discount to development. Major -Effective DI +100% - -3 to all non-military Diplomacy -Military Upkeep +10% -Military Upkeep can replace 100% of Social Spending. -Military technologies may be researched and developed simultaneously, but other technologies cost 25% extra to research and develop. -Cannot change our of Major Militarism unless you suffer a triggered change (Egalitarianism does not allow changes out of Major Militarism) -Must be at war or engaged in active conflict, have been issued a war threat or declared a war threat within 1 year, or be recovering from a war or major conflict within the past 2 years. If these conditions are violated, either suffer an automatic change out of Major Militarism or reduce effective DI by -50%, lose ability to replace Social Spending with Military Upkeep, and increase Military Upkeep by 5% until you again meet one of these conditions. Spiritual/Materialist The holders of these Ethea might say they deal with what humans can know and what they should care about. Others might describe them as different brands of crazy. Spiritual Even the most certain elements of our universe prove no more than an illusion in the face of the Beyond. By most definitions, Spirituality is a measure of madness; whether you are mad for Jesus, Space Satan or the next teen pop idol out of Nekoheim doesn't actually matter. Minor -Doubled chances for Hero units. -All units check twice for morale. -Evangelism: You may spread your religion as if it were a slotless Ethos (including via military force if you are a Spiritual Hegemon). If successful, your religion is established, giving you between +1 and +3 to Diplomatic and Covert actions as appropriate. -Monuments: A type of Infrastructure that does nothing but convert your money into an extra 5 Prestige. Can only be built on a territory where your religion is established. Costs $1000 and takes a year to construct. Major -Doubled chances for Hero units. -All units have perfect morale. As a result, any of them will fight to the death if told to do so. -Evangelism -Monuments. Building Monuments counts for social spending. -Martyrs: Territories spawn standard infantry brigades if invaded. -Martyrdom: When told to fight to the death, every unit gets an extra roll, a powerful attack to ram, kamikaze, charge screaming, or whatever. Every successful martyr grants 1 Prestige. Materialist The Materialist is concerned with the here and now, putting her trust in blasters and credit chits, not hokey ancient religions. Minor -Bonus Income +3% -DI Increase cap +5% -Income Growth benefits from war if not at war. Major -Bonus Income +6% -DI Increase cap +5% -Income Growth benefits from war if not at war. -You gain a bonus Sortie, which may only be used for operations you receive monetary compensation for. -Helium infrastructure adds an additional 10% to the income they contribute. Open Palm/Clenched Fist This is to a degree largely related to how you approach problems and challenges facing humanity in the 25th century-through fair dealing, open intentions, and a positive mindset, or with a degree of aloofness, suspicion, and self-reliance. Open Palm So named in honor of the multi-species polity that dominated this stretch of the Orion Arm approximately 40,000 years ago, this ethos has a fundamentally positive approach to challenge. Very much the 'Federation' ethos. Casus Belli conditions Heroic Intervention, positive regime change, to a degree, that kind of thing. OP can be inherently hegemonizing in its own way, it's the tone and approach that matter. Minor -Cruisers cost -15% DI. - 20% decrease in cost for gate related technology research and development, construction and upkeep -+d3 to Diplomacy, increasing to a d6 with non-human states -A Shining Beacon in the Night: Allows you to begin with the Starbase technology researched and developed. Additionally, your starbases count as Forward Operating Bases. -A Meeting of the Minds I: 2% discount to the income cost of xeno investments Major -Cruisers cost -25% DI, reduced build times by 25%. - 50% decrease in cost for gate related technology research and development, construction and upkeep -+d6 to Diplomacy -Diplomacy at a -3 with Clenched Fist Major states -A Shining Beacon in the Night -A Meeting of the Minds II: 4% discount to the income cost of xeno investments -Fly the Flag: You unlock the ability to produce Expeditionary Cruisers. These ships are symbols of your nation reaching out into the black. (These are the Voyages...) Clenched Fist Not inherently fascist or militaristic, it represents the degree of openness and trust you put into others to face common problems. Encourages a "Do what must be done", "the ends justifies the means", "We stand alone if we must" kind of attitude. Minor -Commerce Raiding against non-human targets sees increased 'loot'. -Roll twice for Covert actions against non-human targets, xeno-collaborators, and certain NPCs -Roll twice for Tactics when raiding non-humans, xeno-collaborators and certain NPCs -Protectors of Humanity: You gain the ability to produce extremely capable ‘Specialists’-type brigades that have powerful bonuses in combat. -Of Course, No One Must Know: Gain access to the Deniable Assets mechanic. You also gain a bonus Sortie which may only be used for deniable operations. Additional sorties must be built via naval base and are subject to DA limits as normal. Major -Commerce Raiding against non-human targets sees increased 'loot'. -Diplomacy -3 with Open Palm major states -Diplomacy +3 with other Clenched Fist -Roll twice for Covert actions against non-human targets and xeno-collaborators -Roll twice for Tactics when raiding non-humans and xeno-collaborators -Protectors of Humanity -Mankind Ascendant: Double all prestige for defeating alien/collaborator forces, or exposing alien collaborators, or other large conspiracies. -Of Course, No One Must Know: Deniable Assets With the Clenched Fist Ethos, states may invest in the development of deniable, covert operations cells to pursue objectives without the hindrance or vulnerability of a national identity. These cells draw their resources and personnel from a web of dummy corporations, dead drops, and other black ops methods, but do not directly implicate the nation which funds them should they be discovered. Units assigned to DA's have appropriate paper trails to permit the state from which they originated to properly disavow their actions and avoid the usual stigma of one's black ops program coming to light at an awkward moment, although obviously utilizing all foreign purchase equipment will be factored in if a nation is particularly paranoid. A Deniable Asset costs 5% base of a state's income worth of initial investment. Additional money can be spent to increase the amount of resources that can be allocated to the Deniable Asset, and once created allows the patron nation to assign units- both military and intelligence- to it on a yearly basis, equal to the dollar value of the Deniable asset. For these purposes, an intelligence operation attached to a Deniable asset has a value of $750. When a Deniable Asset is created, choose from a list of the following its purpose. A given Deniable Asset has a small bonus to operations that fall within the scope of its purpose. (Research, Espionage, False Flag, Sabotage, Piracy, etc). When you gain your first Deniable Asset, you also gain a bonus Sortie which may only be used for deniable operations. Additional sorties must be built via naval base and are subject to DA limits as normal (ie: you only get one free regardless of how many DA’s you have). -Deniable assets run by minor XF states are more vulnerable to discovery and counter-infiltration than those run by those states with a Major XF ethos. -Military units assigned to a deniable asset do not cost upkeep. -Uncovering the supporters of a given Deniable Asset with espionage is a mission that requires the allocation of an espionage team that must infiltrate it as if the Deniable Asset was a state. Assets, given their small operational footprint, are better on 'defense' than a number of player states. Reactionary/Transhumanistic Technology can be dangerous, as the Collapse amply demonstrated, and while interstellar flight has deferred (perhaps indefinitely) the spectre of self-extinction, continued development of technologies that drastically alter the human condition have been met variously with elation and/or alarm. Reactionary Technology is dangerous and the only way ensure the continuity of humanity as we know it is constant vigilance. Science fiction should remain fiction, lest it become reality. Casus Belli conditions Major can always attack Transhumanists. Minor -Gain 1d6 to resistance to Covert actions. -Diplomacy -2 with Transhuman factions and aliens. -Research of human tech below Grid Tier is free; development of human tech is reduced 1 tier. -Cost of xenotech non-peer research: +5% -You can only be baseline or very close to baseline human. -Fortify - Static Defense $ costs are reduced 25%, upkeep is reduced 25%. -25% of research or development can be used towards social upkeep. Major -Gain 2d6 to resistance to Covert actions. -Diplomacy -4 with Transhuman factions and aliens. -Research of human tech below Grid Tier is free, 1/2 at Grid tier; development of human tech is reduced 2 tiers. -Cost of xenotech non-peer research: +10% -Fortify -Stay off My Lawn - in defensive wars, you receive a reduction of build time and DI on military units of 33%. -You can only be baseline or very close to baseline human. -50% of research and development can be used towards social upkeep, but this is reduced equally by any amount of xenotech non-peer tech you research or develop during the year. Transhumanistic With technology, we can transcend our own humanity. Minor -The tier of a technology is reduced by 1 (to a minimum of 1) for the purposes of researching it. (This does not count for non-peer xenotech) -Systems Breach: Enhances basic intelligence gathering. While in effect, all further offensive covert operations on target are automatically revealed to you and gain or lose 1d6 at your option. -Research of non-peer xenotech reduced by 5%, development cost reduced 1%. -Diplomacy -2 with Reactionaries. Major -You cannot be baseline humans. -The tier of a technology is reduced by 1 (to a minimum of 1) for the purposes of researching it. (this does not count for non-peer xenotech) -Systems Breach -Gain 1D6 to covert actions against all non-Transhumans -Research of non-peer xenotech reduced by 10%, development cost reduced 2%. -Diplomacy -4 with Reactionaries. -50% of costs of non-peer xeno research/development counts towards social upkeep. -Superiority Complex - You have the option for your ships to cost 15% more $ and DI, but you may choose one stat, excluding HP), to buff 20% Solbound/Starbound These Ethea tackle your nation's view of mankind's place in the cosmos. It is an inwards/outwards duality on whether humanity should return to deliver and liberate the planet that birthed them, or empty the nest and fly ever further in a new age of exploration. Starbound Despite centuries of successful and practical spacefaring, you are still not content with what you - or anyone else - has or has had. This is a new age of exploration and your nation faces outwards towards the infinite cosmos, always wondering what is beyond the next hill. Minor -Exploration missions roll twice for territories and resources if applicable. -Any exploration ship suffering a random encounter or accident immediately becomes a Hero unit. -Roll twice for Luck when the flagship of the combat has a Lab. -Prestige Exploration costs 25% less. Major -Exploration missions roll twice for territories and resources if applicable. -Any exploration ship suffering a random encounter or accident immediately becomes a Hero unit. -Roll twice for Luck when the flagship of the combat has a Lab. -All Exploration costs count towards Social Upkeep. -Prestige Exploration costs 50% less. -Aliens! Garden Worlds! Solbound Nothing can take away Earth's status as humanity's cradle. Nor can the Jewel's importance to humanity's survival be discounted. Many Solbound nations have strong attachment to an historical national identity but all have strong views regarding the conditions of Earthers, the fate of Earth and the Jewels, and are often leading the reconstruction of Earth. Casus Belli conditions Permissive, especially when responding to use of force around Earth or the Jewels. May take arbitrary action on Earth. . Minor -Gain +1d3 to diplomacy with Grid NPC Minors -Deployments to the Solar system do not require a Sortie slot. -1% income discount on investments in Earth-Luna -Increased chance of improving Habitability Track per investment you possess in a continental zone. -Gain a permanent +2 to tactics versus any state using WMDs versus civilian populations. -Library of Alexandria - Sol based NPCs aligned with you develop technologies you've developed automatically. (They must still research it first) -Treasure Hunters - Roll twice for explorations in the greater Sol system. You may perform prestige archeology / exploration in Sol -You may replace social spending with investments purchases for Earth / Luna. This only applies for investments purchased with $$, obviously. -You may construct twice as many concurrent projects in a Sol holding before the cost increases. -If you have territory in Sol, all forces deployed to Sol cost 2% less in military upkeep. Major -Gain +1d3 to diplomacy with Grid NPC Minors, and an additional +2 to diplomacy with Sol minors. -Deployments to the Solar system do not require a Sortie slot. -2% Income discount on investments in Earth-Luna -Increased chance of improving Habitability Track per each investment you possess in a continental zone. -Gain a permanent +2 to tactics versus any state using WMDs versus civilian populations. -Gain an additional region that qualifies for the "heartland" discount. -Library of Alexandria - Sol based NPCs aligned with you develop technologies you've developed automatically. (They must still research it first) -Garden of Eden - Treat the Habitability Track as being one higher when determining the bonuses you can receive in a Continental Zone. -Treasure Hunters - Roll twice for explorations in the greater Sol system. You may perform prestige archeology / exploration in Sol -You may replace social spending with investments purchases for Earth / Luna. This only applies for investments purchased with $$, obviously. -You may construct twice as many concurrent projects in a Sol holding before the cost increases. -If you have territory in Sol, all forces deployed to Sol cost 4% less in military upkeep. Prestige projects cost 5% less income if built in Sol -Any NPC allies in Sol share your growth rate Diaspora vs Cynosural Basically going places vs building around one specific place. Cynosural isn’t just ‘I have a homeworld’, but more specifically “empire building”. Where hegemony cares about the diplomacy, Cynosural is all about having a physical place- a seat of empire. This represents centralized state building rather than anything specifically “imperial”, and does not conflict with democratic ethos; a strongly centralized democratic republic could easily be called cynosural. Diaspora is meanwhile the opposite, all about casting your people to the winds like so many scattering flowers. Diaspora Prestige Conditions: Gain prestige whenever you establish diplomatic relations with a new polity/travel to a new region. (New region is probably defined as ‘place you haven’t been in at least five years’) Minor Diaspora (Nomads) -Can build a Convoy, which hold DI, GDP, and can mount one or more stations/defenses. Convoy Ships are large, semi-vulnerable, but mobile and existing GDP can be loaded onto them over the course of construction. They are ill suited for direct combat, but surprisingly resilient on the defensive. Each Convoy can hold up to $3000 worth of GDP & 300 DI, costs $2500, and takes three years to build. They are functionally minor territories for purposes that care about territory type. -Gain bonus growth from making diplomatic contact, trade with foreign polities, especially aliens. Lose growth from hanging out in the same place too long while not having a convoy ship under construction within the last two years. -Raid people for GDP, DI -May possess colonies, minor and major territories, but primarily for the purpose of building additional convoy ships. -Your convoy ships count as friendly territory/sectors for the purposes of deployment. -New players starting with any level of Diaspora have Viable Micro-Ecosystems (the technology to transfer resources) researched & implemented. Paying this cost moves the resource to a colony ship and establishes an extractor. Major Diaspora -Convoy Ships -Better Convoy Ships. Support double GDP and DI for same price, bonus to all stats. Build in 2 years. -Growth Bonus/Penalty -May possess colonies, but may not possess minor/major territories unless converting them into convoys. -Raid people for GDP, DI, Growth -Convoy Ships may mount Territory Shields or City Shields, but not World Shields. Each convoy ship counts as one partition for these purposes. -Replace Social Spending with convoy ship construction costs. -Your convoy ships count as friendly territory/sectors for the purposes of deployment. Cynosural Prestige Conditions: Gain prestige for every gate link you build/own between your capital and a province/colony system, and whenever you designate a Province. Minor Cynosural (Empire Builders) -Increase Partition Size of all your holdings by 1. - 10% discount to the construction of city/territory/world shields. -Include basic defense package in colony construction (Light Orbital Defense) for an extra $500 (reduced by colony discounts). -The Marches: You may establish territories in systems under your dominion or that have become close allies as Provinces of your state. A province represents a sector of one to three contiguous or gate-connected hexes, and your Capital System, which is typically your home system. Multiple provinces will share the same capital system, even if it isn't directly linked to them by gate (due to vagaries of the map). Squadrons on patrol at your Capital or in your Provinces double their strategic movement rate. They also gain +2 to jump rating and get +1 to luck and tactics. Major Cynosural -Increase Partition Size of all your holdings by 1. - 20% discount to the construction of city/territory/world shields. -Include basic defense package in colony construction (Light Orbital Defense) for an extra $500 (reduced by colony discounts). -The Light of Civilization: Replace social spending with $$ spent on Gates/Beacons, including hypergates and associate structures. -The Marches (tactics and luck bonus improves to +2) -Seat of Empire- When performing Colony Consolidation, you may also consolidate up to five minor territories into one major.. ------------------ Religion: Spiritualism requires a bit more nuance than the rest of the ethos. Without this nuance, states that share the spiritualist ethos, but believe diametrically opposite things, would be natural allies under the ethos system even if their respective religions tell them to do explicitly the opposite. So, we want to avoid that. Instead, we've got a simplified 'values' system for religions, where you select two values to best describe the tenants of your religion. These have no impact in terms of abilities or stats or anything like that, they purely exist to define your religion and compare it at a glance to the other spiritualist states out there. By extension, spiritualist NPCs will have their own values that, if they're radically opposed to your own, are obviously going to keep in mind when it comes to negotiation. The obvious example is the Satanists of NOD, and, well, everyone else really, but especially the Catholic Church of the Holy See on Terranova. There are eight total values, in four pairs. Just like ethos, paired values are the polar opposite. Values: Order -- Chaos Bioconservative -- Transhumanist Pacifist -- Militarist Collectivist -- Individualist Prestige Besides being used to 'keep score' Prestige has some passive and active benefits. Accumulating prestige unlocks passive benefits for your state, whereas you can also spend Prestige in order to force re-rolls at critical points. When you 'spend' Prestige, it's gone for the purposes of accumulation to unlock passive benefits, but keep track of the total amount of Prestige you accumulate over the course of the game, as that directly impacts determining who has 'won' the game. Passive bonuses that "get better" don't stack. Prestige Buddy Notes You can gain prestige from the actions, not passive stuff, of your buddy states. They are collectively tracked under your player total. You can spend your prestige on investments etc for your buddies like they were a player. (so you can buy them that extra naval doctrine or RCP) Passive Prestige Bonuses 10- +1 to Diplomacy rolls with Elysian NPCs 15- +D6 to exploration/survey rolls 20- +1 to all Tactics rolls 25- 5% discount on researching new technology 30- +1% Bonus income every year (Not growth, just a bonus like infrastructure income) 35- -2% to Social Spending 40- +2% income every year 45- +2 to Diplomacy rolls with Elysian NPCs 50- +2 to all Tactics rolls 55- +1 to Diplomacy rolls with metaplot-relevant NPCs. 60- Able to work with radically different ethos builds with less chance of mod penalty 65- 10% discount on researching new technology 70- -10% to resource infrastructure costs 75- +3 to all Tactics rolls 80- +3 to Diplomacy rolls with ALL NPCs. Prestige Purchases: 5 Prestige: 1 re-roll (Non-Dungeon) 5 Prestige: National Geographic conducts a free Survey mission for your state, with the Major Solbound bonuses. 10 Prestige: National Geographic conducts a free Prestige exploration mission for your state. 15: Research and develop a technology in a single year 20 Prestige: National Geographic conducts a free exploration mission for your state, with the Major Starbound bonuses. 20 Prestige: The blueprints for a tech that is at the tier level of the Grid. The cost is increased 50% for each tier above Grid level the tech is. 20 Prestige: Bring the difficulty of research and development of a single technology down one level (From High to Medium, or from Medium to Low) 20 Prestige: A new investment or entanglement (latter subject to multiple entanglement cost increase). 25 Prestige: Research a technology without possessing its prerequisite tech 50 Prestige: New $500 Hero unit; must be composedcomprised out of items already in your OOB 50 Prestige: Weird Special Unit; these would tend to be unique and likely have some kind of posting requirement. This unit would not have 'hero' shields. 75 Prestige: Gain 1 RCP that can be spent on new advantages or negating disadvantages. 100 Prestige: Buy a fourth Naval Doctrine. A nation can pay a prestige fee to upgrade foreign warships. This does not eliminate the upkeep penalty but does convert their national advantages and doctrine modifiers to your own. 3 Prestige per escort, 5 per cruiser, 10 per capital ship, 20 for supercapitals Prestige Projects: There is a limit of one for each project per state. Each completed Special Project gives the state that completes it 5 Prestige. An example: Crapjackistan's total income is: $12,000 The Crappies want to build a Space Modulator (+12% to effectiveness of Marvin the Martian in Blowing Up The Earth). The price is 50% of total income. That means the price tag, to Crapjackistan, is $6,000. Merchant Marine Cost: 40% of Income at the start of the project Build Time: 2 Years Effect: Gives a state 5% bonus income per year. Military Command Cost: 50% of Income at start of project Build Time: 2 Years Effect: Provides a +2 on Luck and Tactics rolls when resolving a combat. Espionage Center: Cost: 40% of Income at start of project Build Time: 2 Years Effect: You increase the static difficulty for foreign spies to achieve mission success against your nation by one tier. Colonial Administration Center Cost: 30% of Income at start of project Build Time: 2 Years Effect: Reduces colonization costs 20%. Orbital Forge Cost: 50% of Income at start of project Time: 2 years Benefit: -10% to infrastructure costs OR -10% to ship build cost and DI Grand Embassy Cost: 40% of Income at start of project Time: 2 Years Benefit: Grants you a +2 on all diplomacy rolls with minors, and a further +1 on rolls with states you are considered "Close" to (as decided by a moderator) Spyglass Sensor Array Cost: 40% of Income at start of project Time: 2 Years Benefit: Gives you “broad strokes” intelligence about ship movements on the Grid and in nearby space. This information is incredible generic and parsing out data for even a single system in more detail requires significant dedication of resources (on the order of a significant expenditure of $$$ or convincing St. Pusheen to help). This information is, however, fairly close to real-time and can give you a solid idea of ‘broad strokes’ Grid movement. Technology Research Projects Project Prometheus Cost: 20% of Income at start of project Time: 2 Years Benefit: Unlocks advanced antimatter construction rules as seen in the Antimatter Technology Section - including Dilithium Overboost Also unlocks Icarus Fighters and Icarus Gunboats Secrets of the Creators Prestige Project - 20% Income - Must have several Velan T2 techs unlocked or Velan Ascension (Maxed Velan ascension reduces cost to 10% Income) The discovery of the origins of the Velan species has led to the rediscovery of some of the hidden features of Velan technology. Elements of the other clades of warships can incorporated into the vessel. Result: All T2 Velan craft gain equivalent effects to Hard Fields and +2 Elusive Enhanced Velan ships may be upgraded with one year of careful treatment and feeding. The result is a ship that incorporates all of the primordial technology of the Creators that was lost in millennia of evolution. This costs the same amount of DI and $ as the ship's construction cost, and gives a synergy bonus (equivalent to V-fields) Any hero ship may undergo this procedure, as can vessels with Eidolons or Helix Engines. One resource may be applied during this process to permanently upgrade the vessel with the resource effect. This also adds a large omnipod to the vessel. Project Phalanx Prestige Project - 20% Income - Requires Prometheus (Maxed Human ascension reduces cost to 10% Income) Recent experiences have revealed the ongoing need to combat advanced, hostile xenotechnology capable of subverting ship systems and bypassing crew. By pioneering methods of redundancy and defense in depth, advanced vessels can achieve unparalleled resilience against subversion attacks, boarding actions, and other phenomena. Like a phalanx, each of many systems standing together becomes stronger than the whole. Result: Ships with Overboost Fields now gain resistance to subversion attacks at the level of Hard Fields, along with similar resistance to boarding actions. They also take reduced damage from using the TKK hull zap protocol. Halve damage from criticals. Ethos-flavored Vanity Projects Joint Naval Academy (Multilateral) 50% GDP + Naval/Expeditionary Base or Megastructure Holding A ship is always referred to as 'she' because it costs so much to keep one in paint and powder. Allows the refit of ships from allied nations as normal, and allows for multi-nation ship hulls that combine doctrines and ethoses as per Hulk rules. Ships built this way never have upkeep penalties but cost 50% more $ to lay down due to overhead from multilingual OS, variable hatch sizes, configurable life support, etc. Forbidden City (Hegemony) 40% GDP + Garden/Gaia/Megastructure Holding You can neither lie to a neighbourhood park, nor reason with it. Doubles the value of counterintelligence assignments to prevent the assassination of your head of state. Provides a massive prestige boost when an heir or significant family member comes of age. Hegemonic democracies gain a similar benefit, but may simply designate their preferred successors instead. Defense Training Estate (Militarism) 50% GDP + Uninhabited System There is nothing worse than a bloated peacetime military burning on the docks after a surprise attack. Allows for advanced, realistic military exercises in an uninhabited system. Every full sortie of ships destroyed in these exercises provides a +2 Tactics bonus (maximum +8), fading at a rate of 1 per year. Even a single sortie destroyed counts as a major conflict for the purposes of Militarism. As with other special deployments, this uses raw sortie weight rather than adjusted by Doctrines. Peace Gardens (Pacifism) 30% GDP + Any Terrestrial or Megastructure Holding Paradisiacal gardens with flora and fauna drawn from all corners of space, a perfect venue for diplomacy. Witness to the vast beauty nature, men can forget the metrics, vendettas and arbitrary lines which define a state at war. Provides +1d6+X diplomatic bonus when brokering peace or attempting to soothe tensions, where X is the number of unique terrestrial worlds you own. Double the prestige reward if you broker a peace using the gardens. Xollywood (Egalitarianism) 40% GDP + Any Terrestrial or Megastructure Holding Nothing is more democratic than pop culture. Significant state investment can generate positive cultural hegemony via mass media and improve the prestige of the national brand. Allows you to assign units and money to Blockbusters, which are mechanically identical to Strong and Polite if done as part of a media project with a specific intention. Also increases the diplomacy bonus of these operations by X, where X is the percentage of GDP spent on the media campaign. Eaton Mess (Hierarchy) 30% GDP + Any Terrestrial or Megastructure Holding A silver spoon to gilded hall pipeline for the nation.s young elites, training the next generation of political and military leadership. Adds your maximum possible new Royal Guard value (based on your level of Hierarchy or any investments) when built, and grows a new batch of Royal Guard units every 4 years. Provides 1 extra prestige per unit that becomes a hero (including Royal Guards). X Valley (Individualism) 40% GDP + Any Terrestrial or Megastructure Holding A center of science with a creative acquisitions processes. Allows you to .steal. unlocks from other players by spending 10x your Research and Development cost, typically by poaching or paperclipping scientists involved. The attacked player can attempt to outbid you to keep their secrets or encrypt their research via [REDACTED]. If outbid, you can.t attempt to steal that tech again until the following year. National Service Academy (Collectivism) 40% GDP With the rise of state-sponsored overtech terrorism, special police are necessary. Airmobile powersuited units can rapidly respond to crisis environments and further enhance the riot suppression power of police. Civilian Affairs Brigades fight like Mobile Infantry in your home territories. National Bank (Prosperity) 50% GDP Instruments of advanced finance, self-evolving algorithms that surpass the lightspeed traders of yesteryear and allow outsize solvency for national reserves. Get 10% interest on any surplus funds you hold at the end of the year. If you have more than the top bracket in that year, this number is reduced to 5%. Sovereign Wealth Fund (Bootstrapper) 30% GDP What good is money if it doesn.t buy anything? A sovereign wealth fund allows further state investment into critical industries at the cost to the health of regular institutions. Instead of taking bonus income, you may use that year.s Stock Market gain to raise your Defense Industry expansion rate. Ecumenical Council (Spiritualism) 40% GDP + Any Holding with a Monument The faithful pay alms, perform pilgrimage and some come to serve. The communion of disparate rites makes us stronger as one body, one faith. Every nation that practices your religion reduces your Social Spending and Military Upkeep by 1%. It is more difficult for others to create breakaway splinter faiths, and easier to absorb them. Mother Base (Materialism) 50% GDP + Any non-Capital Holding You.re all diamonds now. All defenses in the selected holding build twice as efficiently (get 2 for 1). Your mercenaries roll for heroes as though you had Major Spiritualism and if you have a mercenary sortie via Major Materialism it expands to 600 weight. National Museum of Civic and Military History (Solbound) 20% GDP + Any Sol Holding Controlling the story of the nation.s past allows you to direct its future. You may decommission military equipment to museum status, trading them at a 1-1 value for additional Earth Investments. Retrotech vessels, aircraft and other units are worth double, and salvage rewards from surveys are worth four times their regular value. Hero units retired this way grant a significant amount of prestige and other benefits (contact Earth mod). The NMCMH allows for unlimited Earth investments made this way in the nation.s designated home region(s). Stellar Skunkworks (Starbound) 50% GDP + Any non-Terrestrial, non-Sol Holding Aviation is a dynamic profession. The rate of obsolescence of equipment is high and new aircraft have to be placed in inventory periodically in order to stay abreast of the requirements of modern war. You may conduct bi-yearly Design Competitions when building a new ship or fighter class. Pay base cost +15% of GDP per competition prototype, which is rolled out similarly to Gardenia experimental units. At completion, a single variant is determined as the .winner. and becomes a production model with its special hull modifiers retained across subsequent units as long as the modules/upgrades remain the same. Prototypes are then turned into one-off heroes. The resulting blueprint can be traded or sold, allowing a state to build that design with those modifiers. A state that acquires this blueprint must still possess the relevant technologies involved in its construction, or approximate equivalent. Translator.s Guild (Open Palm) 30% GDP Even the TKK and Daedalians, who find humanity at large to be a quaint distraction, will appreciate your backwater understanding of their sophisticated language. Insults on the other hand, will be much less forgivable. Reroll failures when dealing with (NPC) aliens, and their disposition is generally improved. During first encounter, trained linguistics (or psions) also provide a bonus to establishing translation protocols. BFG Division (Clenched Fist) 30% GDP There are no problems that can.t be solved with a sufficient application of firepower. You may arm your Orbital Interface Specialists and other high-end infantry with one-off prototype weapons. During pre-combat, every .5% of GDP assigned to OIS brigades guarantees an automatic division kill in the pre-combat phase. For the purposes of damage mitigation, this is considered orbital bombardment. GDP spent this way lasts a single engagement. Re:Creation of Adam (Transhuman) 50% GDP + Terrestrial or Megastructure Holdings Prior to the Collapse, there were many projects of interest to humanity. The creation of artificial life, uplifting of higher mammals into sapience and integration of AI into our lives; all these took a backseat to the concerns of survival, sovereignty and the conservative bioethics that dominated the following era. Now the taboos are sundered. Allows for the creation of new sophonts as a Tier 0 (no RCP) NPC, which must have its colonies, DI and research built from scratch. The uplifted or created gain 1 RCP every 1000 GDP, to a max of 6, which cannot be spent on additional GDP or DI. At moderator discretion, certain technologies and discoveries may add extra RCP. Hyper-Genealogical Terminal (Reactionary) 40% GDP Those who fail to study history are doomed to repeat it, thus we should all study our genes. Predictive models based on genetic predispositions improve career sorting, combat the spread of congenital illnesses and improve social harmony. A state with an HGT has soft immunity to disease outbreaks and other random disasters (GM determination). They can also perform genealogical mapping of human societies, turning money into soft power leverage at rate of +1 diplo bonus for every 1% of GDP spent. Counter-espionage based on profiling or identifying a culprit with genetic samples can be enhanced in the same manner. Imperial Diet (Cynosural) 50% GDP + Any Capital Holding In the end the concerns of the metropole predominate over everything. Dialectic notions of rural and city, province and capital are false equivalencies to give legitimacy to reactionary sentiment. What is, is the State. A grand structure that also acts as a lavish parliament/statehouse/etc, providing a small bonus to prestige whenever you use it as a meeting place. You may force a consolidation year for you and your close allies/subjects by spending 20 Prestige, combining as normal. If you have far-flung territories that need moving for consolidation, you can transfer up to 1 Minor Territory or $1000 income infrastructure per 2% GDP spent as an alternative to ethos-shifting into Diaspora. These transfers may need escorts if they are particularly distant. Grand Harbor (Diaspora) 50% GDP + Any Convoy Vast shipyards span the length of the convoy vessel, opening it up to the elements. Shielded docks line the interior, with thousands of ships flying to and fro. It has everything. What cannot be made here, can be bought. Treats the player.s convoy as a venue for the Iase Investment: trades made through it benefit the owner (donated resources go to them instead of vanishing into the Iase caravans) but give standard benefits to the player. The player can additionally trade through themselves for the same benefits, with no chance of losing goods to pirates. Additionally, non-player mercenaries hired to the Grand Harbor arrive 1 quarter sooner than normal. Player mercenaries instead get the benefits of The Marches as though Major Cynosural (+2 Jump Range, +2 Tactics and Luck) while transiting to work for the for the 's owner Ascension Projects When a state reaches a certain point of development, typically a minimum of $10,000 native income, it becomes possible for it to look towards the future, to seek the farther shore of destiny and begin the long road towards realizing it. Ascension Projects are unlike other vanity projects in that they do not represent infrastructure, or specialist knowledge in the hands of a few, but rather represent a superlative enhancement of nothing other than your actual population- a statewide dedication to a cause. As such, these projects are not undertaken lightly- but when undertaken grant great rewards that go with your people wherever they go. While Ascension Projects can be dealt damage while incomplete- retarding progress or forcing a rebuilding polity to once again reach the minimum size necessary to advance that project- once complete, they are present in every individual, a unique piece of your nation’s identity. All ascension projects are built on the same model. Each has three tiers, each tier takes 2 years to complete and costs 20% of your income the year you start it. When you complete an ascension, you typically gain some sort of bonus ethos slot, and will modify the associated Ethos to gain an extra bonus. This represents your people internalizing the ideologies of this Ethos, making it a key part of their cultural makeup. As a direct result of this, a nation may not pursue multiple ascension projects, one after another. Instead, each nation may only develop one ascension project- so choose wisely! With that said, individuals from multiple states that have completed separate ascensions may work together freely, exchanging in inter-ascension dialogues or other collaborative projects, though this does not allow for the combination of ascension exclusive features- you may not make a hybrid hive-keeper-XExplorer-Shockship-II supership, although you could put those all in a single squadron. Ascension Ethos Capstones When a state achieves the last milestone in an ascension tree, they also unlock the associated ethos capstone ability, which permanently modifies that ethos for them. The capstone abilities are as follows: Sophia/Spiritual - Spiritual I am one with the light, and the light is with me: Your ships always roll Martyrdom when they would be destroyed. Human - Reactionary/Closed Fist Stay Out of My Galaxy: You gain the Stay off my lawn benefit while at war with nonhuman powers and polities, not just in defensive wars. Xan - Open Palm A Federation of Peers: Your NPC allies start at XTL1 instead of 0, and you may transfer spare XTP to other nations. XTP transferred this way provides a significant diplomatic bonus.. Velan - Bootstrapper Beyond the Farthest Shore: Your Gatepunches have a max range of 5 Hexes per jump instead of 2. Metatron - Spiritual/Materialist Ships that have been fitted with smartmatter do not suffer foreign upkeep penalty. Humani Aeternam Alea Iacta Est - you may burn (remove) all non-peer xenotech from your tech base, converting all funds spent on it towards banked funds that can be used for purchasing the Humani Aeternam ascension. Archives, etc are not refunded. Any leftover burnt Xenotech funds are returned as general revenue once this ascension is complete. For each level of this ascension, terrestrial worlds you colonize have one additional territory slot. 1) Ad Astra - The DI cost of Overboost is reduced by 25%. Increase terrestrial territory value by $100 and increase Civilian Asteroid Mining Operation value by $100 for all of your colonies. You also get a morale saving throw against Aliens and Xenotech abusers. You gain 1D4+2 territory claims that can be placed on the Grid in a non-homeworld system representing friendly corporate and small-landholders aligned to your cause and permit colonization in systems where you would otherwise not be able to do so. These can be in the Solar system. They do have to be colonized but you have a very firm claim on them regardless of other circumstances. 2) Ad Augusta - The DI cost of Overboost is reduced by an additional 25%. All ships/stations with Xeno Overtech Tier 2 double in upkeep costs.You get an automatic standing casus belli (if you chose to exercise it) towards known hostile aliens and Xenotech abusers. Additionally, you gain an extra naval doctrine. 3) Ad Infinitum - You get an automatic standing casus belli (if you chose to exercise it) towards non-friendly aliens. Your military fights with perfect morale against xenos and xenotech abusers. You gain a Tier 1 ally somewhere on the Grid aligned ideologically with you (work with mods to determine placement. If an NPC buddy achieves Tier 3, they instead get 3 RCP) You gain a level of reactionary (you ignore its restrictions, but if you are any level of transhuman ethos, you lose those levels and must select new ethea). If you are already major reactionary, or do not want to lose transhumanism, you may take an additional ethos slot of your choice. Finally, Prometheus Tier One ships gain an extra L module. Blessed are the Pilgrims (Sophia) For each tier level, gain improved relations (+3 to diplomacy) with the bond, as well as a scaling bonus to rolls for gaining hero units. Tier 1: Crusaders! For each NPC you've converted to the cause (evangelism), gain a division of Crusaders. These are two Hero Mobile Infantry brigades and one Hero First-In Brigade. Each Brigade has the Sword of Light special.. You gain 10 prestige for each division of Crusaders you have. If a division of Crusaders is destroyed, the NPC will replace them in 3 years time. Each division is equipped with a dedicated heavy-cruiser mass Xantech assault ship. Tier 2: Hero units gain an additional character shield, returning to life by the grace of the Guardian. Additionally, you may declare a holy pilgrimage, (strong and polite but with ground units), gaining 2 prestige for each division assigned, and double for Crusaders, along with a respective bonus to diplomacy. You may build a temple complex dedicated to Sophia, which enhances her ability to (and the likelihood she will) intercede on your behalf. Temples cost $2000, and you may have one per territory. Tier 3: Gain Spiritualism Minor as a bonus ethos slot. If you are already spiritual major, instead gain a slot that may be any ethos. The Guardian's Gate is always above your world when you need it. You may send units through for random upgrade gacha. Each unit may only be sent through once. Sword of Light: Sophian ground weapon. Laser swords that are really good vs armor. Spiritualist Ascension Maybe you don't worship a literal space god, but your faith empowers you just the same. Except without the fancy laser swords or literal resurrection. On the plus side, you're really good at evangelizing people. Blessed are the Faithful For each tier gain a bonus to evangelism checks, as well as a bonus to rolls for gaining hero units. Tier 1: Crusaders! For each NPC you've converted to the cause (evangelism), gain one division of Crusaders. These are two Hero Mobile Infantry Brigades and one Hero First-In Brigade. You gain 10 prestige for each division of Crusaders you have. If a division of Crusaders is destroyed, the NPC will replace them in 3 year's time. Each division is equipped with a dedicated Heavy-Cruiser assault ship from your choice of Overtech Tier Two. Tier 2: Hero units gain an automatic saving throw vs death, which represents their identity being so ingrained in your state’s collective consciousness that others seamlessly assume the role of those martyred to the cause. Additionally, you may declare a holy pilgrimage (Strong and polite, but with ground units), gaining 2 prestige for every division assigned, and double for Crusaders, as well as a respective bonus to diplomacy. You may build a Grand Temple to your faith, which increases the likelihood that faithful the grid over will act to aid you. Temples cost $2000 and have a limit of one per Territory. Tier 3: Gain Spiritualism Minor as a bonus ethos slot. If you are already Spiritual Major, instead gain a slot that may be any ethos. Additionally, the strength of your faith is so strong that you gain the ability to evoke it in other nations. Once per two years, you may expend your minor ethos swap to give another nation Spiritual Minor in your faith as a slotless ethos (whether they want it or not). This extra ethos lasts for two years. If the target nation is already spiritual or materialist major, this ability has no effect, but if they have the respective minors, there are knock-on effects, and at the end of the two year time, there's a very solid chance that they swap into minor spiritual (your faith). Open Palm Ascension (Revised) Each level of Open Palm gives you an XTL, or 5 XTP (if you are already XTL5), as well as a +1 bonus to diplomacy (+3 with non-humans). At max level, thus, you have a +3 to diplomacy with humans, and +9 to diplomacy with non-humans. Tier 1: When rolling for Xantech (Archives or Derelicts), you roll an additional time (for an additional tech). In addition, you gain a bonus to Hypergrid exploration rolls. Tier 2: You learn the fundamentals of Hypergate construction, and may build a single pair. Hypergates have a maximum range of about a thousand LY, though this may be increased with XArchitecture. You may construct additional hypergates at a cost of $20,000 + 10% of income per pair. You may absorb allied NPCs that have Major Open Palm as long as you are Major Open Palm. Tier 3: Your nation gains an additional Ethos Slot, which may only be used for Open Palm. If you are already Open Palm major, it now takes one less slot and you may immediately choose another ethos to take. In addition you may absorb allied NPCs that have minor open palm, as long as you are Major Open Palm. Velan Ascension Tier 1: Velan naturally associate your ship’s IFF as ‘friendly’, will not attack you and may aid ships lost or crippled as they view you as ‘one of their own’. This represents a 1d8 save, on an 8, friendly velans help you out (this is a 7+ at Tier 2, and a 6+ at Tier 3). You may also build Hives, specialized Colonies populated primarily by Velans and Velan drones. Hives cost $10,000, but provide $1,500 in initial income and count as a Space Hulk Gantry. Hives may only be built around gas giants. Tier 2: Your velan ships and stations gain +50% stealth synergy, and you may 'hire' Velan drones, getting $5 per 1$ spent per fiscal year. A Certain Cunning now also provides +2 Tracking. You get the Velan Growth Pattern ability and unlock the Swimmers in the Void technology, which is automatically implemented upon completing tier 2. Tier 3: Gain a level of Diaspora OR Cynosural. This is an eighth ethos slot and if you are already Major Diaspora or Cynosural you may take another ethos. If you choose Diaspora, any velan hives automatically convert to Velan convoy ships. If you choose Cynosural, wild Velans will come to your aid in the event your hive(s) are attacked. Additionally, Velan Hulks can support a semi-random value of GDP and DI/GDI. Metatron Ascension Programmable matter unlocks the cosmos. The advances it enables are endless- the Marian's uploading is just one small potential option when working with such a fundamentally useful tool. For each level, you may operate one additional Smartmatter Farm (Max of 8). Any of your units that utilize this ascension's benefits no longer benefit from unshackling through other means, but instead receive +12.5% synergy bonus per farm for HP, FP, Crit damage, Stealth,and PD. You may construct ships with the Overtech Tier Two Smartmatter. The Benefactor Entanglement is compatible with this Ascension. Tier 1: Thanks to advanced coding and understanding of the fundamental nature of Metatron, your Smartmatter cannot be hacked or otherwise subverted except in exceptional circumstances. It is immune to broadcasts of subversion codes of all types (Sleep, Scrap, Rogue, etc), and twice as effective at resisting physical subversion (from codes or ascension/KoS). Your Smartmatter Farms no longer require seeds to function. Tier 2: You may reconfigure Smartmatter modules in half the time, and your small passive protection modules grant an additional +5% HP, and +1 Regen. Your ships benefit from both Hardening and Hull Reconfiguration. In addition, you may attempt to subvert unsafed Smartmatter units via proximity broadcast, or standard safed units via deconstructor ordinance or direct physical contact. You may spend $10 to gain a single use point of DI, up to a maximum of half your permanent DI value in a given year. Units built entirely with this DI have their build times halved. Single-use DI acquired in this way is non-transferrable and expires at the end of the fiscal year. Tier 3: You gain a bonus ethos slot which may only be used for either Spiritual or Materialist. If you are already Spiritual or Materialist Major, you may immediately select a different minor ethos, or upgrade a minor to a major. In addition, you may attempt to subvert standard safed Smartmatter units via proximity broadcast, and may attempt to subvert non-standard safed Smartmatter units via deconstructor ordinance or direct physical contact. Entanglements Entanglements are similar to investments with one important caveat; entanglements make all other entanglements more expensive. Every tier of entanglement doubles the cost of all other entanglements of that tier, cumulative for every additional entanglement. Purchasing a given tier of Entanglement costs 10% of your income, thus the second type (ie: Kandar, MJ12, Bennie) of entanglement at a given level will cost 20%, the third will cost 40%, etc. Only the level being purchased (eg level 2) matters. Low observance entanglements only double the cost for every two such entanglements obtained In addition, all entanglements have a 30% surcharge to unlock them. Alternatively, you may perform (or have performed) tasks and automatically have one or more entanglements unlocked. Note that unlocking an entanglement does not modify the cost in any way, is it effectively an invitation as opposed to a membership. Prestige may be used to purchase entanglement levels as normal, though the prestige cost also doubles for every additional entanglement of a given level. They are costed, base, as investments (20 Prestige) Entanglement unlocks may not be purchased via prestige. Entanglements have the same ‘levelling’ restrictions as Investments, in that you’re limited to purchasing one tier with $$$ and one with Prestige per Entanglement per year. No entanglement can cost more than 100% of your income minus social spending. You can also request a special mission or requirement that may reduce the prestige and income costs of an entanglement, at GM discretion. Example: The state of Slackersville has 3 entanglements at level 1. They cost 10%, 20% and 40% to purchase respectively. However, so long as Slackersville does not purchase multiple entanglements at higher levels, it will continue to only pay 10% per level as it improves Entanglement #1. If it chooses to improve Entanglement #2 at a later date, it will then pay 20% per level. Entanglement #3 would cost 40%, etc. Observance is how much 'entanglement' there is an entanglement. Low observance generally means that so long as you don't directly work against their interests or otherwise screw up royally, you can do as you please. Basically, just a step above an investment. As mentioned above, low observance entanglements only double the cost for every two such entanglements obtained Medium observance entanglements may have an opinion on your actions and generally want you favor their goals. This is less explicit than high observance, but should include compatible ethos. Conversely, a high observance means that your entanglement will pay close attention to your actions and your fate will be strongly intertwined with theirs. High Observance entanglements must approve any other entanglement you obtain. They also require a favor to be performed for them annually. This could involve supporting an ally, performing a mission, or another task. Speak to a GM if you need advice on a suitable favor. Entanglements can be 'untangled', lowering your tier by 1 one yearly. While you do not get any funds back for this and you can expect that your entanglement will probably blacklist you in the future, this is a safe and non-confrontational way of extracting yourself from any future dealings. You may also opt to do a clean break; this immediately sets your entanglement to 0, but may have consequences. Finally, NPCs may not have entanglements. The exception are NPCs built on player state templates. Entanglements that you join generally apply to your buddy states in terms of granting abilities and unlocking units. Alliance Bloc Entanglements track their costs separately from other entanglements. This means they do not count against the cost of other, non-alliance entanglements, and do not count when determining the cost of non-alliance entanglements. You may also take entanglements in multiple alliance blocs should you be eligible to do so, however there are commensurate risks with pledging allegiance to multiple alliances. Human-Daedalian Mutual Appreciation Society Observance: Low - Maintain proper decorum and respect in diplomacy, like a proper Daedalian. 1) Workshop of the Arm - You're such an incorrigible despot, what with all the shootings and jails and suchlike. Now, how many battleships would you like? - You may purchase Daedalian hardware and your DI growth cap is increased by +5%. 2) The Greatest Game - It's nothing personal old chap, we just want to change the color on the map some - Once per year you may declare a Colonial Scuffle over a non-core system. 3) Jezrails - Oh these things are just so vexing, wouldn't you know. - All your fixed defenses increase their base damage by 25%. 4) Maxim Rounds - Haven't you figured out how to put terminal guidance packages in your railgun shells yet? Oh the humanatee! - Your kinetic weapons may attack for 50% damage at Medium range. 5) Stiff Upper Lip - Pip pip! It's just a flesh wound! - All your ships gain the benefit of a bonus L protection module. HP on system defenses increased 10%. Warlords of Kandar Observance: Low - Aid the Kandar when battle is called, give no aid to the servants of Tiamat. 1) The Blade of Justice - You may construct Starspears. 2) March to the Sound of the Guns - You may deploy and warp to Cyno (Tachyon) Beacons and get a reroll on Alcubierre misjumps. 3) Thunderbolt Load - All your aerospace units gain one additional multirole upgrade which generally takes the form of an extremely large mecha-backpack. Buster Machines receive a L Omnipod instead. 4) Gardener's Pilgrimage - The Gardener wishes to speak to you. You'd best heed the call. 5) Aim for the Top! - You may construct Buster Machines. A Buster Machine costs 5 Prestige, 50 DI and $1000; every consecutive Buster Machine purchased during the same fiscal years doubles in price compared to the previous one. Varkon Great Houses Observance: Low - Fight well, and with honor. It does not matter with who. 1) Good Fight - Pilgrims of War: Hire Varkon Mercenaries interested in good fight. Not interested in slaughter or bad death. $1 gets $4 worth of Varkon cruisers. 2) Proud Fight - Worthy Opponents: Gain prestige whenever you defeat a superior force in combat. 3) Better Fight - Particle Diffusion System: 10% of your FP may only be rolled against the heaviest weight combatant in combat. 4) Stronger Fight - Shatterwarp Protocol: As a tactical option, you may have gravity engines inflict their elusive value in damage to each enemy ship in close range as autodamage once per round instead of gaining the normal benefit of that elusive. 5) Best Fight - Lord of Hellfire: You gain the right to establish a Varkon Great House. Hyper-Patrollin’ Observance: Low - Maintain your hyper patrol commitment and don’t make more trouble for patrol on the hypergrid. 1) Gate Bounce - All your ships with FTL drives may make in-system jumps to a gate or hypergate without fail. If used to cross a system, this locks your transit speed to 3 days, though this prohibits a ship from doing any serious patrolling. You may also fit STL ships with Bounce Drives (1S), which give them this ability. Bounce drive modules may be installed externally on STL craft. This module is lost if the ship in question suffers more than 25% hull damage. 2) Ready Reserves - You may allocate your ships on an annual basis to the Hyper Patrol Ready Reserve; this effectively gives them the ‘fly the flag’ ability with respect to any gate-connected system that the Hyper-Patrol would reasonably be visiting. Less regularly visited systems would have higher thresholds. 3) Calling all Craft! - You may drop a Recall Beacon which lets any FTL-fitted ship make a Recall Jump to it within one month of the beacon being dropped. This has a success rate of 100% from a system 1 gate away, 50% from 2 gates away and 25% from 3 gates away. A failed jump may inflict damage to a ship’s FTL core. The ships in question must be QEC entangled to the beacon beforehand, and ships on day-to-day missions are not assumed to have a recall beacon set up. 4) The Sky Militia - You may recruit militia craft to bolster your forces for battles on the (hyper)grid; they are TL0 non-FTL craft but for every $ spent, you get $10 worth of craft for the duration of the fiscal year. They may be human, sondrak, fueglan, caiveh or even daedalian. 5) White Stars - You can construct White Stars, a highly optimized middleweight combatant ship. Embracing the Bond Observance: Moderate - The Bond demands loyalty and spiritual devotion to Sophia, and cooperation in their grand crusades. 1) The True Faith - you get a saving throw against religious conversion and 2% bonus income as corruption is reduced. 2) Protecting the Faithful - All defenses have a +50% HP bonus, applied as a resource. 3) Children's Crusade - Garrison brigades have the firepower of normal infantry, Infantry brigades have the firepower of Mechanized Infantry, and all infantry has an effectively instant build time during war 4) Purge Evil - All bombardment modules have double effect and you may target evildoers for purging, destroying $5 in Income per bombardment point per week (until the planet or territory has no more GDP) 5) The Church Protects - You may tithe $ to the Bond; for the year you gain the services of 5x this tithe in crusaders. If it a defensive war, you gain double this amount. Crusaders are NPC troops and will not follow orders they consider invalid. (they are controlled by the GMs) Taloid Throne Observance: Moderate - The Taloids will not work with those blinded by prejudice against mechanical life like the OPF. 1) Iron Giants - You may construct Warmechs. 2) Mechlab - Refitting costs are halved and all mechanized units gain 25% effectiveness. 3) Omnipods - One L module slot on warships becomes modular and may be swapped as per normal rules. Additionally, you may construct ships with as many modular pods (L -> 2S modular) as desired. All ground units gain 25% effectiveness 4) Kill the Meat, Save the Metal - You may perform after-battle salvage, getting 25% of DI and $ (50% on ground engagements) of all losses back from a winning fight. 5) No Guts, No Galaxy - You have somehow secured a claim to the Iridium Throne of the First Lord. Now claim it. Concord of Sovereign States Entanglement (CSS) Observance: Moderate - Diplomacy, PR, these are things that matter to lesser states. Be who you were born to be, but always remember to stick together. 1. Mad World: Your ground troops may elect (pre-mission) to gain a bonus to all combat stats. If they do so, they take a significant penalty to Public Relations. 2. No One Knew Me: Gain prestige whenever you shoulder your way into someone else's plot. 3. Look Right Through Me: You may deploy decoy ships (reverse Q ships), which cost 10% of the $$ cost of the units they're meant to duplicate per fiscal year deployed. Duplicate ships will generally pass long range inspection (outside combat range), but have no combat ability. 4. Going Nowhere: Your stations gain a gravity well upgrade that impedes FTL ability of foreign vessels, but still permits your own ships to traverse the field. 5. Worn out places, worm out (of losing) faces: You may hot-swap any 2 minor or 1 major ethoses with those of another CSS player or buddy state once every two years. Using this ability negates any temporarily increased social spending caused by events or player actions (your own, or others), and can be used to reopen diplomacy with NPCs. This uses up both states’ ‘change a minor ethos once every two years’ uses. A Bright Concord, a Brighter Future Observance: Moderate - Be your best selves- and don't get caught being anything else. Contribute to grid stability, advocate peace, and act in support of civilization. Even if that means colouring outside the lines sometimes. 1) Articles of the Federation - When building units, members of the Bright Concord may choose to replace any one Doctrine they have with a Doctrine another member possesses. 2) Wizard's First Rule - Gain prestige whenever you expose someone else's shady shit, especially if it involves war crimes, or selling people out to a the latest Hostis Humani Generis. 3) Words of Radiance - Roll twice on Diplomacy and Culture Attacks. 4) A Million Open Doors - Your starbases also function as gates with double range. You may upgrade your existing gates to starbases, with existing cost discounted from the price. 5) A Conjuring of Light - Your ships may always jump to Echidna (at least within 15 hexes, 25 hexes for fold craft). Benefactor Backchannels Observance: High - Admiral Darlan demands loyalty and commitment to his plans for the destiny of humanity. 1) Initiation - Henceforth you must walk alone, for the future coming towards humanity is a bleak one indeed. - You gain +1D4 espionage defense and may request the use of Goetias or other Benefactor assets. 2) Preliminary Invocation - That which has long slept will rise again - You may use improved Deconstructor Ordnance which also has a chance to assimilate the target. 3) The Book of Abramelin - The weak call them demon. The strong call them guardian angels. - You may remove all limiters from your onboard metatron AIs, giving an additional 25% effectiveness to HP, FP, Stealth and +2 to PD, Tracking, and Elusive. 4) Solomon the King - Welcome to the end of history. - Your smatter farms no longer need seeds to continue operating. 5) Lesser Key of Solomon - In my name alone the demons are bound to my will. - Your smart matter weapons are immune to subversion and dangerous code attacks. Your metatron AIs grant an additional 25% effectiveness to HP, FP, Stealth and +2 to PD, Tracking, and Elusive. Majestic External Working Group (MJ12) Observance: High • Do not work with enemies of humanity either internal or external, and be ready to defeat them. • Remain focused on the future of humanity and its allies. 1) Dulce Files - Your fold drives gain the ability to jump to any visited hypergate. Stellar Lighthouses may be constructed for $5000, and act as jump destinations like hypergates. 2) Camelot Report - You may construct Hoplites. 3) Schiaparelli Directive - Stealth effectiveness of cloaking devices mounted on Xan Field ships is doubled. (ie: the Cloak quadruples your stealth rating instead of doubling it).. 4) Sirius Protocol - Any Xan Field ship gains an additional +25% to relevant stats (HP, FP, Speed, PD), as well as +2 Jump range (if any). 5) Andromeda Accords - You gain a representative seat on the Majestic Steering Committee. Don't fuck it up, son. Golgothan Flag of Freedom Observance: Low - Golgotha has made strides in mending its image over the past decade, becoming merely unsavory as opposed to radioactive. So long as states are willing to treat Golgotha fairly, Golgotha will reciprocate. Golgothan Flag of Freedom does not double the cost of purchasing Golgothan Den of Thieves entanglement. 1) Cosmo Warrior Zero - You may hire Golgothan/Caiveh mercenaries; for every $1 spent you get $5 in warships or other armed forces for the fiscal year. 2) Arcadia of my Youth - You gain the effects of Minor Spiritualism (or upgrade to Major) if you are fighting the 'forces of tyranny'. If you already have major spiritualism, you gain a bonus to your martyrdom rolls. 3) Dog Star Radio - All your ships with FTL systems gain the ability to do an emergency warp to Sirius, where a shock cannon enforced no-fire-zone has been established by Sirius B. This has a 15 hex range (25 hexes for fold drives). 4) Cosmo Dragon Cannons - Your spinal weapons gain crit on an 18+. 5) Endless Odyssey - Your FTL drives double their base range. You count as major multilateral to any other state with the Golgothan Flag of Freedom entanglement. Liberty Commonwealth Observance: Medium • Live free or don't • Democracy is the right of all sentients • 'Murika 1) Regnat populus - You gain double prestige for actions taken against tyrants and/or when you spread democracy. Doing so is considered a 'just war' by your population. 2) Semper Fidelis - Orbital Specialists become "Rangers". They have the resilience of Infantry and do not have a penalty when defending. They may be deployed as Void Infantry for boarding / zero-G operations. These units gain the Brave trait. 3) Ad astra per aspera - You may construct Black Triangles. 4) Ense petit placidam sub libertate quietem - You gain Minor Hegemony as a bonus ethos. This may explicitly be taken alongside Multilateralism. 5) E Pluribus Unum - You gain a reroll defense against targeted social change or other memetic attacks. You additionally gain a casus belli against anyone who does so against you. Black Triangle* $300 & 100 DI Cruiser, Fold, Cloaked, Pursuit, Expeditionary, Show the Flag Jump: 5 Weight: 16 HP 110, Firepower 30, Crit D10 Speed: 2D10+5, Stealth 5, PD 4 Construction Time: 2 Years 3 Large, 2 Small The Aurigan Accord Observance: High • The Sanctity of the Free Mind is Paramount • Be True to your Humanity; do Nothing against the Nobility of Mankind • Me against my Brother, Me and my Brother against my Cousin, Me and my Cousin against the World • There are No Secrets inside The Accord • Render Help to those in Need; You Will be Known for your Deeds 1) Now we forge a new alliance to guard the tomb of space, and to find within its cold expanse the salvation of our race - You gain 25% of the prestige of other Aurigan Accord members, if this prestige is gained via active measures (no passive gain from colonization, for example). Furthermore, you gain double prestige if it was gained against abhuman or hostile alien powers/blocs - users of Xan memes, alien biotechnology, Eidolons, etc would apply. Finally, if an Aurigan Accord member loses prestige due to active measures (severely losing a battle, etc), you lose 25% of that prestige loss. 2) The Colossus of Auriga - You may construct Colossus-type warships. See below for details. 3) And they hurled themselves into the void of space with no fear - You may reroll exploration results and all ships or squadrons that have at least one ship with the SCIENCE trait may reroll their defense against Culture Attack. All void and drop troops gain an effective +1 national ground combat performance bonus. You gain +50% jump range when travelling towards a planned or in-progress battle. (random patrolling in the hope something turns up does not count) 4) Project ETAK - All your ships with SCIENCE gain +1 Tracking, +1 Elusive and the Flak Barrage trait against targets that can be reasonably considered 'psychic', this bonus is doubled for capital ships. (hyperglions count!) Large EW modules provide an additional +1 Elusive but penalize -1 Stealth. 5) Our children will see in the embers of dying stars the destiny of their race - At DEFCON 3, you get a bonus 25% DI. At DEFCON 2, this increases to +50%. At DEFCON 1, this again increases to +100%. Colossi Having concluded that despite their impressive size and armament, 'space hulks' were potentially highly prone to nonlinear and nonanticipable cataclysmic failures, Aurigan naval engineers instead looked towards the Bond Assault Carrier that fought during the Galacteon Crisis. While it would be a stretch of human starframe engineering, they saw it at something that could ultimately be matched without technical exotica. Several years of heavy design work saw the first Colossus complete. tldr: three capital ships (DN, MN or CVS) glued together. the long sought after mini-hulk. Vengeance of the Remnant Observance: High Reject the Violators, for they lie. Hold no pieties beyond your own strength. Steal the fire of the gods and use it to cast them down. Grant us revenge, or to hell with you! 1) Those Who Seek: Allows you to build Inquisitors, cybernetic special forces units that fight significantly above their own weight against Phagebeasts and other smart-matter terrors. 2) Answers for the Darkness: You may perform Deconstructor Ordnance attacks with L and M-range weapons, but lose the ability to subvert non-Metatron ships. 3) Theft of Flame: You may remove all limiters from your onboard metatron AIs, giving an additional 25% effectiveness to HP, FP, Stealth and +2 to PD, Tracking, and Elusive. Does not stack with the similar Benefactor Entanglement bonus. 4) Call of Carrion: Your convoys can perform extreme long-range jumps between any systems with significant smart matter contamination. This includes Sirius, New Gettysburg and Tau Ceti as well as some Hypergrid systems. This costs 10% of your fleet’s value and the GDP storage of any convoys. 5) Eating the Liver of Prometheus: Your smart matter weapons are immune to subversion and dangerous code attacks. Your metatron AIs grant an additional 25% effectiveness to HP, FP, Stealth and +2 to PD, Tracking, and Elusive. Does not stack with the similar Benefactor Entanglement bonus. Note: The Gryptid Observance represents supporting their long range operations across the Orion Arm. You may be tasked to assist the Remnant with logistical support bringing down Metatron/Galacteon/Tharngolst entities. You can also meet this entanglement commitment by hunting such entities yourself. Golgothan Den of Thieves Observance: High - Pirate's Code: Those who are willing to get the full fruits of Golgotha's allegiance with the Sword and tap into its network of pirates and privateers must follow the Pirate Code. Golgothan Den of Thieves does not double the cost of purchasing Golgothan Flag of Freedom entanglement. 1) Thick as Thieves - You gain +1D4 spy offense, your pirate invasion effects are doubled and get a DA equal to 5% of your GDP (at time of purchase) of loyal pirate operators. 2) Corsairs - you may construct the Corsair. See below for stats. Get +3% bonus income in fenced loot. 3) Blackguards - All your base-hull warships may be (re)fitted with the Blackguard module. Your Corsairs use the improve statlines in (brackets). Any stat-modifying effect from Human Investments (such as +3 stealth) is doubled. 4) Friends in High Places - You may passively collect information about (N)PCs and get a reroll on any attempts on strategic stealth or anything that can reasonably be construed as the fruits of data-collection (limits will apply). Your Corsairs gain the Info-Corruption ability. 5) Crime Syndicate of Humanity - You can purchase warships and weapons from the Golgothan Sword via Golgothan intermediaries. Your Corsairs gain the Shear Cannon ability. Crossroads Alliance Treaty Organization Observance: Medium - The CATO expects that member-states will keep their nose clean. 1) Prime Directive - If you are successful in stopping a rival from acting, you may collect any prestige they may have been due had the action been successful. 2) Set Lasers to Stun - You may capture instead of destroy up to 50% of all ground forces you defeat with your own ground forces. For every division so captured, you gain 1 prestige. This counts as a passive prestige gain. 3) Starbase 1 - All your Starbases gain the benefits of Heavy Orbital Fortification. Your cruisers all gain a bonus Gravity Plane module. 4) Transwarp - All your ships with FTL may perform recall warps to the Crossroads system. This has a 15 hex range. (25 Hexes for fold drives). A recall warp disables the ship's FTL drive for two weeks. 5) Section 31 - You gain a DA equal to 5% of your GDP (at time of purchase). League of Stars Observance: Medium - Let thine Will be the extent of the law, but do not meddle in the affairs of other League states or bring disrepute to the League as a whole. 1) The Corporate Sector - You do not pay any added upkeep for foreign equipment if it is manufactured by another League state. Additionally, you may share spare sortie weight with League states. 2) The New Order - You gain double prestige for aggressive intervention, conquest, etc. The Strong and Polite ability is twice as effective. If you do not have the Strong and Polite ability, you may use it at the base effectiveness. 3) Committee for the Preservation of the New Order - The Jackboot ability is twice as effective and all your infantry brigades benefits of 25% of a Military Police brigade.. If you do not have the Jackboot ability, you may use it at the base effectiveness. 4) Lightspeed Jump - Your capital ships may be fitted with a Microwarp Module (S). All ships roll twice for in-system jump accuracy. 5) The Tarkin Doctrine - You gain the ability to construct Monolith Stations. A New Demimonde Observance: Medium 1) All Alone in the Night - You gain double prestige for pushing out non-NDCA interests. Triple prestige if it a major bloc (RSO or LIS, others potentially to follow). 2) Cobra Bays - All your ships may carry a number of slotless drone squadrons and you may build Velan Drones if you did not already have the technology unlocked. The number depends on size - Escort 1, cruiser 2, capital 3, supercapital 4. This applies twice for fixed stations. These stack with those gained from Velan tech. 3) Hour of the Scampering - May conduct a Carnival, which functions mechanically as a Jubilee with twice effectiveness but requires a garrison of unusual units (aliens, monsters, hero units, Helixes/Eidolons, etc). Normal limits for Jubilees apply. If you lack the Jubilee ability, you may use it at base effectiveness. 4) The Babylon Project - Your Starbases have Jump 3 and gain 25% to HP, FP, PD, and increase their Crit Die by one level. Additionally, they gain 1 Large Omnipod.. 5) Get Out of Our Galaxy - You may issue a Call to Arms; for every $1, you get $4 in ships for the fiscal year. Additionally, all ships (PC and NPC) involved in the Liberation Army may reroll morale and tactics. TKK Res Publica Entanglements The Auxilia Observance: Low The TKK are working to improve relations with human powers, and they are willing to work human nations that are willing to give them a chance. Auxillia does not double the cost of purchasing Gilded Path Entanglements. 1 - You may hire TKK/Caiveh mercenaries; for every $1 spent you get $5 in warships or other armed forces for the fiscal year. These mercenaries will have access to all TKK and Caiveh technologies, and will reroll morale checks 2 - You may request to engage in conquest on behalf of the TKK. If approved, you may be given the aid of a Legion. Any such system is under your governance, but it must pay taxes to the Res Publica, and you may be issued orders on how to develop the system. 3 - Gain the effects of the Marches at Minor Cynosural / upgrade to Major Cynosural / triple strategic movement instead of doubling if already Major Cynosural within the TKK sphere of influence. (If you have any levels of the Gilded Path, your space and that of other TKK allies count as within the TKK sphere of influence) 4 - Allow purchase of servitors from TKK manufactoria, $10 each. If you can build servitors natively, this reduces the cost by $1 each. 5 - You may construction Legionary Expeditionary Bases, these function as a Expeditionary Starbase but are considerably tougher and can be moved. They take three months to deploy or pack up. The Gilded Path Observance: High For those seeking a place of power within the TKK, there is a narrow albeit gilded path. Intrigue is expected, but only within limits. The Gilded Path does not double the cost of purchasing the Auxillia Entanglements. 1 - Your nation may appeal disputes with the TKK or other Citizen powers to the Senate Judicial Forum. This opens the event to diplomatic rolls, and a victory earns prestige and will generally bring imperial pressure to your aid. Even if you lose, abiding by the decision grants prestige and favor 2 - You may now produce servitors natively, $9 per servitor. 3 - Panum et circasium - May increase social spending by 2% to increase all espionage defense by 1D4, effects of Lotus doubled. 4 - You may built Servitor Legionaries. These cost servitors and have perfect morale, and can replace any combat unit. 5 - Your nation now maneuvers through the upper reaches of the Senate itself and has influence with the Imperial Court of the Princeps onboard the Orcus. Hoplites: $200 & 50 DI. Fireteams equipped with the bleeding edge of recovered OPF tech and various other innovations humanity has brute-forced. Do not take any ‘cargo’ space, operate as an Elite special forces team, have combat stats of a Mechanized Infantry Division and the Synergy Buffs a Pathfinder Brigade provides. Obviously, as a fireteam of 4-5 guys, they can’t really take and hold ground, but they’ll fuck shit up good. Black Triangle* $300 & 100 DI Cruiser, Fold, Cloaked, Pursuit, Expeditionary, Show the Flag Jump: 5 Weight: 16 HP 110, Firepower 30, Crit D10 Speed: 2D10+5, Stealth 5, PD 4 Construction Time: 2 Years 3 Large, 2 Small Blackguard Module 1S Breaching Pod that also provides the benefits of an Engines module (Compatible with Gravity Engines)1 per ship. Corsair $2000 & 250 DI (every subsequent Corsair built in the same fiscal year doubles this sequentially) (if you have metamaterial printing or combined dilithium, this cost is reduced to $1600, $1400 if you have both) Regeneration (2), Flak Barrage, Grace Under Fire, Deflector 5, Large Target (3), Fold, Show the Flag, Emergency Warp, Expeditionary, Hero, Gravity Engines Jump: 4 Weight: 30, HP: 300 (500), FP: 120 (250) Crit: D24 Speed: 2D6 + 7, Stealth: 4, PD: 6 Construction: 3 years 4 Large, 1 Small • Compatible with Tier One of Xantech. Double all static (additive) benefits to FP, Crit Damage, Stealth, Speed and PD from modules. • Doubles national Tracking bonus (this stacks with DoT III). • Carries four squadrons and one division of troops (eight squadrons and three divisions with CDR), and has a slotless Blackguard module. Abilities Info-Corruption: You may attempt to hack an enemy unit as a roll of tracking vs elusive. For every success, and for each 25% of roll higher than your enemy, increase your Crit Range by 1 (so from 20 to 19 to 18 etc). You still roll vs enemy elusive for info-corruption when at close range. Shear Cannon: FP 65 beam spinal mount that ignores the Deflector trait. Vessels destroyed by Shear Cannons treat any levels of Unstoppable as one level lower. This is blackboxed Sword technology and cannot be replicated by Human scientists. Buster Machine Regeneration (3), Flak Barrage, Grace Under Fire (1), Deflector 5, Elusive (2), Pursuit, Hero, Hangar Queen (1), Smallcraft Weight: 5 HP: 500, FP: 100, Crit D24 Speed: 2d10+10, Stealth: 4, PD: 6 6 Large, 2 Small Construction Time: 1 Year • Counts as Xantech Tier 2 (ie: you can’t apply xfield bonuses to it) • Counts as a Capital Ship for determining module sizes from variable sized modules (ie: spinals, cloaks). • Double PD dice from modules. Monolith $4500, 900 DI, 3.5 years to construct. HP: 1600, Firepower 120 (180 Spinal), PD 36, Crit D30 Tracking 15, Regen 25 Unstoppable (1), Flak Barrage, Stand-off (3), Grace Under Fire (3), Guardian (15), Large Target (15), Deflector (10), Spinal (Monolith), Critical Vulnerability (0) * Spinal is treated as a Beam but may strike at all ranges. * Moves using Convoy rules, has built-in Gatepunch. * Every 10 spinal FP is treated as a level of 1 point of Orbital Support. * Does not have to occupy a partition to provide orbital support. * When assaulting hostile territory it may simultaneously bombard a whole partition simultaneously or strike 1 territory 4 times. * Can mount 2 upgrades. Can support 30 squadrons Golgotha Den of Thieves Tier V Purchase Options Reaching Rank V of Den of Thieves allows the direct purchase of Sword Hijacker drones, as well as the construction of an additional Corsair per interval of cost increase. Swordtech tends towards esoteric black boxed technology and is *largely* compatible with other overtechnology as a result. The only exceptions will be listed in their writeup. As an aside, virtually all Swordtech counts as 'weird shit' for the purposes of Hard Fields. The following unlocks may be purchased from Golgotha as part of Den of Thieves V. You keep these unlocks as long as you maintain good standing with Golgotha, but must re-purchase them if your standing drops. Each unlock allows the construction of specific upgrades or modules that may be mounted on your units. These upgrades require annual maintenance (covered by maintaining Den of Thieves rank V), and will fail in its absence. Sword Fighter Technology (Sword Fighter Technology may only be fixed upgrades, not modular slots) Graviton Negator ($1500) - Upgrade Enemy fighters deploying via Magnum Catapult to enter the current combat zone are delayed 1d4 rounds. Enemy fighters deployed vs Zero Shift or Crystal-Resonance drives are delayed 1 round. Crystal-Resonance Drives ($1500) - Upgrade Fighter equipped with Crystal-Resonance Drives may 'hitch a ride' on an existing fold or alcubierre tensor field, allowing them to remain 'deployed' during a jump. When fired via magnum catapult, fighters with crystal-resonance drives ignore gravity well based firing limitations. Hypercapacitor ($1500) - Upgrade + Tactical option This squadron may choose to skip the 'driven off' condition threshold in order to double all combat statistics for 1 round + 1 round for each Loiter upgrade. (So a fighter squadron that uses a hypercapacitor no longer has a -driven off/damaged/destroyed, just damaged/destroyed). Once a hypercapacitor is expended it cannot be used again that battle, and the squadron utilizing it loses the use of any levels of Loiter it has for the remainder of the combat. Sword Ground Tech Shroud Emitter Technology ($1500) - Specialization This ground forces specialization grants any division the equivalent of Stealth 5, modified by national stealth values as though it were a ship, if any. This stealth applies only for strategic movement. Phase Transition Armor ($1500) - Specialization Lets you penetrate City/Territory/World shields when landing troops or operatng planetside. Metric Incursion Specialists ($1500) - Specialization Allows you to reposition a division with this specialization once per combat, automatically winning the mobility roll. Sword Naval Technology Sword naval tech represents a fundamental paradigm shift in the operation of its chosen area, allowing superlative or paradigm-breaking performance, at the cost of an incompatibility with more standard technologies. Mechanically, a full swordtech ship could use xfields or OFields, but no xtechs, including T1 Xtechs. Singularity Core ($7500) S Module. Enables battleship Fold-alike, two FTL jump charges. May spend more than one charge at once to multiply jump interval. Ignores artificial gravity wells/FTL jamming. Not compatible with XEngineering techs. Spline-Drive ($5000) S Module. +25% speed, and gain a cumulative +2 to speed each round. Not compatible with XEngineering techs. (So +2/+4/+6, etc). This bonus speed is added after other modifers. Phase Shift Armor ($7500) L Module. Halve kinetic/C-range weapon damage. Allows ship to breach standard World Shields (like the physical ship, not its guns). Not compatible with XAegis techs and mounting ship may not hull reconfigure (ie: lose smatter hull reconfiguration option, if present). Additionally, if the mounting ship has nephilim armor, it’s damage reduction does not apply to beam/M range weapons while Phase Shift Armor is active (you can toggle it precombat). Abnormal Tensor Field ($7500) L Module. Provides +15% HP and enemy units auto-hit this vessel on an 18 instead of a 17. Limit of one AT Field per ship. Not compatible with Xelectronics techs and mounting ship may not be hardened (ie: lose smatter hull hardening option, if present). Vector Cannons ($5000) L Module. Not compatible with XArsenal Techs or deconstructor ordinance. Vector Cannons use 20% of your FP as beam FP, and ignore Elusive but not Stealth Elusive. Needle Beams ($5000) S Module. Not compatible with Xarsenal Techs or deconstructor ordinance. Ground bombardment, pinpoint accuracy. Can bombard through world shields for 10% damage.