- Gates are important, but losing one is more of an annoyance than a serious setback.
- Techbreeders are a genuine target that hurts, but some clans choose to do without these little beasties and get on fine with just the Hall.
- Territory. Territory is not that importtant, countless times I've found myself strolling over land that was once bitterly contested (contained a Hall of course) which now lies unoccupied. Territory is temporary and rarely the prize being contested.
- Fighters, breeders? Now we're scratchinng the bottom of the barrel. Thoroughly replaceable, expendable, disposable.
So really it's just Halls. The be all and end all of Tartarus. I say we expand a little.
Totems.
Totems are decorations. Yes they can mark territory, but since they mark the edge of a territory, it's quite easy to wander up to one and vandalise it. This happens quite a lot. All this achieves is frustrate the owner to the point that they no longer bother marking their borders. Totems are now basically short-sighted, fragile, unarmed sentries. I've only got two of the things kept for sentimental reasons.
Let's up their importance a bit. Instead of edge-markers requiring a series of totems to claim land, make them spot markers.
Totems claim all hexes within 10 hexes as territory for the clan (scan range remains the same).
- First come first served, the oldest tottem of two neighbouring clans gets the land.
- Totems of the same age get the closest hexes, any shared hexes (equidistant) remain unclaimed.
And make them a bit sturdier.
Totems are killed by a turns worth of total weapon power (No. guns * Wt) greater than its Age*5. Anything less just bounces off. This means established totems can't be removed by super-fast highly shielded pop-guns. Vandalism requires a significant breach of defenses.
And now the reason for the change:
Food.
(now there's something worth fighting a war over)
Harvest rates on neutral territory are 1, 1, 1 and 2 chambers for green, orange, purple and blue breeders respectively.
On home territory it becomes 1, 1, 2 and 3 chambers for green, orange, purple and blue breeders respectively.
(and the numbers double for Halls)
This will make clans more territorial. It'll enhance the need for genuine colonies to attack from. Losing a totem of established age (high shielding) will really annoy you.
Display
Up to God to sort this out. I'd go for the normal highlighted hexes used for borders, scan, range, etc. with an added "Clan name" next to the coords as you pass the pointer over the claimed hex. Also an option to view either all claimed land, or just the selected clan's claimed land.
Alliances
The supposed strength of alliances is what got me thinking about this. Despite the protestations of many, I still maintain that keeping an alliance together is extremely easy. It's easier to fall into an alliance than out of one. There's not too much diplomacy required, once the match is made the tension evaporates and you're happily married. Slight annoyances like jostling for biomass causing techbreeders to miss a meal, or the crowd around a gate, a spot of friendly fire here and there. Nothing that'll end in divorce. I think it's more likely a clan would leave the sphere entirely than depart from an alliance of friends. Hey, some alliances even survived the asteroid.
The territorial spot-marking/harvest rates rule would make alliances have to work a bit harder. Things are too cosy at the moment. Halls could still cluster, but biomass distribution will be cause of concern. Totems might need to be laid down simultaneously, and a totem loss would seriously disrupt things.
Example 1
A happy threesome. This trio is in a close packed arrangement. No hexes overlap, so the totems don't need to be laid down simultaneously. The Halls can cluster in the middle. The success of this little menage et trois is dependent on how the biomass in the area is distributed. Should be little added tension to this alliance.
Example 2
A whopping 6 clans centered on an inner moat. Obviously with an alliance this big the territory will extend quite a bit beyond this but here is the core. The Halls can cluster at the center. The totems need to be of the same age as there is significant overlap. While this set-up could work, it's likely that one or more of these clans would be seriously lacking in available biomass on his turf.
Example 3
And here's what happens if a totem from the orgy of 6 is destroyed. Suddenly the yellow clan is at a disadvantage. Respawning the totem doesn't help as the older totems get the land. The Alliance would need to work together to restore the Status Quo, destroying then replanting their totems. This will come at a cost of course as the new totems will have lost all their built up shielding.
Issues/Consequences
- a defeated clan will still be able to fflee his Hall and take refuge under the wing of a friendly alliance. But harvest rates will be affected and the clan will truely live as a refugee (yes I'm thinking of Mercenary)
- alliances become more sectionalised. Thhis inevitably leads to individual clans taking more responsibility for themselves. More a true alliance than a many-Halled-mega-clan.
- Halls can still cluster. This rule can be introduced without unfairly affecting established alliances (unlike the Enigma screw which would force Halls to move)
- Totems are replaceable, if you're aboutt to lose one you could spawn another (Totem quota permitting) and breeders will be unaffected, unless the territory gets swallowed up by neighboring totems of other clans.
- Prospecting. Biomass fields become impoortant. Rush out and claim them early. If it survives your Totem will have pretty decent shielding by the time you move in
- Territory. With 10 totems a clan can cllaim a total of 3300 hexes. That's 1.3% of the sphere, a fair chunk if you consider how many clans there are.
- I really don't know how much this wouldd affect the world of Tartarus, but it does give agressive clans a new real target to aim their guns at.
- Coding. The big question. How difficultt is it, and does God have the time?