Worlds Afire [nonmmc tbs]

[Biophysicist]

First time I've tried to write a design document in a rational manner that other people can follow. Please bear with me.

Worlds Afire is a planned turn-based strategy written in PHP (with, probably, some JavaScript as part of the UI). It's set in space. The map consists of numerous star systems (a two-player map will probably have around 30) conncected by "warp lines" - the only way to move your starships between stars. (It's worth noting that, absent certain special units, all ships move at the same rate.) Each star will have exactly one inhabitable planet to keep things simple.

There are two distinct races in Worlds Afire - The Humans and the Defilers. The Humans are, well, humans. They build colonies, with each colony supporting different buildings depending on where it is. (You can't put a Starport on a gas giant or a Refinery on a waterworld, for example.) All planets can have habitats for your colonists. All planets except gas giants can also have a Planetary Cannon and a Starport. (Gas giants can have special structures that can't go anywhere else: Warpgates (which can teleport orbiting ships to an allied Knossos-class vessel) and Repair Bays (though Starports can also repair ships).) Most planets can also have some sort of economic structure as well: Humans have five resources to manage, plus money. The Defilers are quite a different story. They're biological space ships made of zombies. They can Defile planets, which takes several turns. A planet that is 25% Defiled can be used for ship construction, and a planet that's 50% Defiled will begin Defiling nearby systems. (Nearby means directly linked by a warp line.) Enemy structures and Defiling can be removed by special units: The Human Knossos and the Defiler Conduit.

Ship combat works like this: Every ship has Laser, Missile, and Psionic attack stats (though the stat can be 0) and Shield, Point Defense, and Purity defense stats (Purity may be renamed). Each has a chance to block one type of attack: Shields block Lasers; Point Defenses block Missiles; Purity blocks Psionics. There's also an Armor stat that applies to all three forms of attack by reducing the damage taken by 1. (So armor is most effective against masses of smaller ships.) There are also special long-ranged weapons which work differently. Some ships also have unusual attacks, such as the Defiler Despair Acolyte (which does damage to multiple units at once).

That's the state of planning so far, unless I forgot something.

So... Any thoughts? Ship suggestions? Suggestions in general?

[a_bertrand]

Well the idea is not new but at the same time not bad. Now... How will you handle the multi player? or example you do X moves and then you need to wait until tomorrow? Or both players must be connected on the game at the same time? That's exactly the problem with most strategic web games... and where most actually make the things more or less interesting.

Beside that, you will need quiet some work like tech research trees, ship design / differences, etc etc...

Also, this kind of game MUST be graphically displayed so you need also a good user interface and good art if you want to succeed somehow.

Overall it seems a good project and I wish you good luck.

[Jordan Palmer]

Sounds very interesting...

I look forward to seeing your completed system :)