First Contact
When two races attempt communication, their communication types are compared on a matrix to get a modifier from -25 to +25. The higher translation skill of the two races involved is added to this number resulting in a total modifier from -50 to +50. When a communication attempt is underway, the roll to achieve successful communication is made during the minimum 5 day production/pop growth cycle. The results are as follows:
Less than 1. No progress.
1-50. Trivial progress. +1 added to all future attempts
51-70. Minimal progress. +2 added to all future attempts.
71-80 Minor progress. +3 added to all future attempts.
81-90 Moderate progress. +5 added to all future attempts.
91-99 Major progress. +10 added to all future attempts.
100+ Successful communication achieved
Note that there is no "Communication Impossible" type results in Aurora. Any two races can communicate if they try long enough.
Diplomatic Rules
Throughout these rules, a reference is made to Modified Xenophobia (MX). This is the Xenophobia Rating of another race modified by the Diplomacy Rating of the race making a diplomatic offer. In other words, the higher your diplomacy skill, the less of an effect another race?s Xenophobia will have on your chances of success. MX is calculated by multiplying the target race?s Xenophobia by (100 ? offering race diplomacy)/100.
For example. A race with Diplomacy 40 attempts to negotiate with a race with Xenophobia 70. The MX is equal to 70 * (100-40)/100 or 70 * 0.6, which is equal to 42.
Negotiation Modifier
When a race makes an offer that fails, it introduces some tension to future negotiations. This tension is reflected by an ongoing Negotiation Modifier. If an offer fails, the Negotiation Modifier is increased by the difference between the actual roll and the roll required for success. For example, if the Required Roll was 25 and instead a 60 was rolled, the current Negotiation Modifier is increased by 35. The Negotiation Modifier decreases by 1 for every day that passes but cannot fall below zero. Whenever an offer is made the existing negotiation modifier is deducted from the chance of success so it is not a good idea to immediately make new offers if the last one was not accepted.
This is designed to prevent repeated low chance offers in the hope of a lucky success. Negotiations can be a long and drawn out process and it would be wise to consider any offers carefully before making them.
Exclusion Agreement
This treaty stipulates that the two races will not approach within an agreed distance of any inhabited world without prior agreement. This is not an alliance but simply an agreement not to cause friction by moving too close to each other. The main point of contention is the agreed distance with more xenophobic races wanting a greater distance or perhaps even demanding that no alien ships even enter systems where that race has a population. Aurora handles this by setting an automatic treaty based on the higher of the two races' xenophobia (with diplomacy not affecting the result) then allowing either race to request a modification of the treaty reducing the exclusion distance.
The base distance is equal to the higher xenophobia squared / 10 with Xenophobia above 80 requiring the entire system. This means Xenophobia 10 would be a 10m km exclusion zone, Xenophobia 50 would be a 250m km exclusion zone and Xenophobia 80 would be a 640m km exclusion zone. If a smaller exclusion zone is requested, the requesting race uses the other's race's MX to find the band which would have a 50% chance of success.
For Example. If two races had Xenophobias of 40 and 70, the higher would be used for the default treaty creating an exclusion zone of 490m km. If Race A had a diplomacy skill of 60 and wanted a lower exclusion distance, it could find the band which the other race would have a 50% chance of agreeing to using the following calculation. MX = 0.4 x 70 (Race B Xenophobia) = 28. There is a 50% chance of agreeing a 78m (28x28/10) km exclusion zone. The chances of other distances from the current down to 78m and from 78m down to zero are interpolated.
The program handles all this and just allows the requesting race to set a distance. The program then specifies the chance of success. Exclusion zones are be shown on the system map if desired.
Political Treaty
There are a number of different political situations that can exists between two races and the situation can be changed by offering a treaty, declaring war or as the result of surrender terms
The possible political statuses are as follows with base chance of acceptance in parentheses:
1) Peaceful Relations: The default situation. No formal treaty is required except as an end to a war. Any espionage detected at this or any higher status triggers a Cold War (see below). Exclusion Agreements apply. (+50)
2) Non-intercourse: An agreement to avoid contact with each other. Entry of systems containing opposition population is classed as an act of war. Discovery of new systems that contain opposition populations is not classed as a violation if the ship or fleet making the discovery leaves the system immediately. (+100)
3) Non-Aggression Pact: This is an agreement not to attack each other. There is a political penalty for breaking the treaty. Exclusion Agreements apply. This status can also arise as the result of surrender terms. (+25)
4) Defensive Pact: This is an agreement to aid each other if attacked by a third party. There is a significant political penalty for breaking this treaty, either by denying aid or attacking the treaty partner. Exclusion Agreements apply in time of peace. (-10)
5) Military Alliance: An agreement to aid each other in time of war, regardless of who is the aggressor. There is a huge political penalty for breaking this treaty. (-50)
6) Cold War: Automatic Acceptance. Espionage is permitted without causing a treaty violation. Exclusion zones are ignored by both parties. Mining the same planets or other system bodies without permission is allowed (although it might trigger a war depending on how both races react). Any reported conflict will move the status to War or Limited War. Reported in this context means that knowledge of an attack reaches the high command of the race being attacked. In this status, ships may disappear without trace without triggering a greater conflict.
7) Limited War: Automatic acceptance. No conflict is permitted in systems that have a population of either race exceeding five million. No planetary bombardment is allowed at any time. If either of these stipulations is ignored, the status between the two races is changed to War.
8) War. Automatic acceptance. Races may attack each other anywhere at any time
9) Client State. Although nominally independent, the client state obeys the wishes of the stronger state. This is also a possible result of surrender terms. (-200)
Each treaty has a base chance of being accepted (as shown above). That base chance is modified by the following factors:
? The average Modified Xenophobia of the two races.
? The skill of the Diplomatic Team making the offer
? Any existing Negotiation Modifier
? The Political Trust Rating (see below)
The Political Trust Rating is a measure of the history between two races and how likely they are to trust the offer being made is genuine. Over time this rating will change based on the relations between the two races. Peaceful Relations or better will slowly increase trust, with better relations resulting in greater improvements. Non-intercourse, Cold War or War will decrease trust, with greater conflict resulting in greater loss of trust. Building up Political Trust is the only way to achieve such treaties as Defensive Pact or Military Alliance due to their negative base chance.
If a treaty is broken, it will have a negative impact on the Political Trust between the race breaking the treaty and all other races with which it has contact. Breaking a military alliance will have a much greater impact than breaking a non-aggression treaty. It is also possible that other races may declare treaties null and void if the political trust falls below a certain point.
The actual formulas involved are:
Xenophobia Modifier = 1 ? ((Race 1 MX + Race 2 MX) / 200)
Diplomatic Team Modifier = 1 + (Team Skill / 200)
Basic Accept Chance = Base Chance * Xenophobia Modifier * Diplomatic Team Modifier
Final Accept Chance = Basic Accept Chance - Negotiation Modifier + Political Trust Rating
Trading Posts
Setting up a trading post includes an agreement to allow unarmed freighters inside any existing exclusion zone. There are different levels of trading post with different populations and facilities permitted. The basic trading post is 50,000 population but no mining, industrial production or defences. This is just be a place where freighters can leave their cargos ready for exchange. Supply stockpiling is permitted.
The chance of establishing a trading post is 50% and it is affected by the following factors:
? The average Modified Xenophobia of the two races.
? The average Trade Rating of the two races.
? The skill of the Diplomatic Team making the offer
? The type of Trading Post
? Any existing Negotiation Modifier
The actual formulas involved are:
Xenophobia Mod = 1 ? ((Race 1 MX + Race 2 MX) / 200)
Trade Modifier = (Race 1 Trade Rating + Race 2 Trade Rating) / 200
Diplomatic Team Modifier = 1 + (Team Skill / 200)
Trading Post Modifier is based on the size of trading post (see below)
Basic Accept Chance = 50% * Xenophobia Mod * Trade Modifier * Diplomatic Team Modifier
Final Accept Chance = Basic Accept Chance - Negotiation Modifier - Trading Post Modifier
There are different types of trading post with modifiers to their chance of success.
? Trading post. Max population 50,000. No mining, industrial production or defences.
? Trading Enclave. Max population 500,000. Industry permitted but no shipyards, mines or defences. - 10% to final success chance
? Mining Outpost. Max Population 2m, Industry and Mines permitted but no Shipyards or defences. - 20% to final success chance
? Military Base. Max Population 10m. All types of installations permitted - 30% to final success chance.
? Shared Ownership. No maximum population. All installations permitted.
A new treaty must be accepted for each trading post to be established or for the size of an existing trading post to be increased.
Tech Exchange
This is possible once a trading post of any level has been created and may take place on any planet where the two races both have populations The basic chance of a tech trade being accepted is 50%. This is modified by 4 factors.
? The average Trade Rating of the two races.
? The ratio between the research costs of the offered and requested items
? The skill of the Trading Team making the offer
? Any existing negotiation modifier
The actual formulas involved are:
Trade Modifier = (Race 1 Trade Rating + Race 2 Trade Rating) / 200
RP Modifier = Offered Item RP / Requested Item RP
Trade Team Modifier = 1 + (Team Skill / 200)
Basic Accept Chance = 50% * Trade Modifier * RP Modifier * Trade Team Modifier
Final Accept Chance = Basic Accept Chance - Negotiation Modifier
Planetary Surrender Terms
If a player has a ship in orbit of a hostile planet, and that ship could bombard the planet, he can offer a variety of different terms to the planet with varying chance of success. In the following descriptions, the attacking race is the one with a ship in orbit and the defending race is the race on the planet.
The terms available are:
1) Mineral Tribute 20%. If the defending race accepts these terms, they are forced to allow a trading post (up to 50k pop) of the attacking race on their planet. In addition, twenty percent of the minerals they mine are automatically transferred to the attacking race population. Furthermore, if it is a colony it must succeed from its parent government and enter a non-aggression pact with the attacking race. Except for those conditions it becomes a fully independent state.
2) Mineral Tribute 30%. Exactly as above except the mineral tribute is 30%
3) Mineral Tribute 50%. If the defending race accepts these terms, they are forced to allow a Trading Enclave (Max Pop 500k. Factories Only. No SY/Mines/Defences) of the attacking race on their planet. In addition, fifty percent of the minerals they mine are automatically transferred to the attacking race population. Furthermore, if it is a colony it must succeed from its parent government and enter a non-aggression pact with the attacking race. Except for those conditions it becomes a fully independent state.
4) Mineral Tribute 80%. As 3) but with 80% of minerals transferred. This is a harsh set of terms as the defending population will have little left to manage its own economy, although if it is only a colony world of a larger empire and a peace treaty is eventually agreed, additional minerals could be shipped in from elsewhere.
5) Client Pop/State + 20% Industry. If the defending race accepts these terms, they are forced to allow a Military Base (Max Pop 10m. All installations permitted) of the attacking race on their planet. The population becomes a client of the attacking race. This means the population must succeed from any parent government and, although nominally independent, must enter a Military Pact with the attacking race and follow its instructions in the future. In addition, twenty percent (FRU) of all its industries (including mines, factories, shipyards, research labs, etc) are transferred to the attacking race population on the planet.
6) Client Pop/State + 30% Industry. As above except that 30% of all industries are transferred.
7) Client Pop/State + 50% Industry. If the defending race accepts these terms, they are forced to allow Shared Ownership (No restrictions on population and all installations permitted) of the attacking race on their planet. The population becomes a client of the attacking race with the same conditions as above.
8) Client Pop/State + 30% Industry. As 7) except that 80% of all industries are transferred, leaving the population in a hopeless position with regard to any chance of a future revolt.
9) Slave Race. If the defending race accepts these terms, they are forced to allow Shared Ownership (No restrictions on population and all installations permitted) of the attacking race on their planet. All Industry is transferred to the Attacking race population on their planet. The remaining population is used for forced labour (detailed elsewhere)
The chance of the defending race accepting these terms is based on the following factors.
Base Chance of Accepting the Terms:
Mineral Tribute 20% +40
Mineral Tribute 30% +20
Mineral Tribute 50% 0
Mineral Tribute 80% -30
Client Pop/State + 20% Industry -20
Client Pop/State + 30% Industry -30
Client Pop/State + 50% Industry -50
Client Pop/State + 80% Industry -80
Slave Race -100
Racial Characteristics:
50 - Average of Militancy and Determination
For example, a race with Militancy 68 and Determination 80 would have an average of 74. Subtracting this from 50 gives a Racial Characteristics Modifier of -24. This means that races with high Militancy and Determination will tend to keep resisting rather than accept harsh terms whereas less militant and determined races are far more likely to surrender and survive.
Ground Forces Modifier
If the attacking race has ground troops on the defenders planet, the total Attack Strength of the attacking race's divisions is compared to the total Defence Strength of the defending race's divisions. If the Attack Strength is higher, the Ground Force Modifier is equal to Attack/Defence x 10. For example, if Attack Strength is 105 and Defence Strength is 30 then Attack/Defence is 105/30 or 3.5, giving a Ground Forces Modifier of 35. The maximum Ground Forces Modifier is 100.
Bombardment Modifier
If a planet is bombarded from orbit, a record is kept of the effect of the bombardment and its impact of the discussion of future surrender terms. Every time a warhead explodes on the planet, the Bombardment Modifier for the Attacking Race with regard to that specific population is increased by double the percentage of the population killed. For example, a 5 point warhead lands on a population of 100m, killing 1 million people. The bombardment modifier is increased to 2. A second warhead of the same strength lands on what is now a population of 99m. The bombardment modifier is increased to 4.02. When a calculation of surrender terms is made, the Bombardment Modifier is rounded down to the nearest whole number. The maximum bombardment Modifier is 100, which would require killing almost half the population. For planets with larger populations, this would result in significant environmental damage.
Overall Example:
Assume the Chinese built some missile ships and managed to defeat the Gitanyow fleet and survive the planetary defences. With warships in orbit capable of bombarding the surface, they are in a position to demand the planet's surrender.
There is no ground force or bombardment modifier, which leaves the racial characteristics modifier. The Gitanyow have Militancy 59 and Determination 92, giving them a modifier of -25. This is calculated as 50 - (59+92)/2
If the Asian Alliance offered a Mineral Tribute 20% Treaty, which has a base chance to be accepted of 40, the chance of the Gitanyow accepting would be 40-25 = 15%. If the Chinese decided to bombard the planet to force the Gitanyow to accept harsher terms, they would need to use significant firepower. The Gitanyow have a population of 952 million. if the Chinese fired 100 strength-3 warheads, they would kill sixty million Gitanyow (6.3% of the population) and add a Bombardment Modifier of 13.02 (rounded down to 13). This would increase the chance of the Gitanyow accepting the 20% Mineral tribute to 28% and create an 8% chance of them accepting a 30% Mineral Tribute.
It would also add a Radiation Level and Dust Level of 300 to the Gitanyow homeworld. As per the environmental damage rules, this would reduce industrial output by 3%, reduce population growth by 0.75% and lower the surface temperature by 3 degrees.
A harsher bombardment would create more chance of better terms for the treaty but would further increase environmental damage. Instead, if the Asian Alliance halted their bombardment and launched a ground invasion and their attack strength reached three times the Gitanyow defence strength, they could try offering terms while the combat was still ongoing. Now the Asian Alliance has a Ground Force Modifier of 30. The overall chance for the Mineral Tribute 20% would be:
Base Chance 40 + Racial Modifier (-25) + Bombard Modifier (13) + Ground Forces Modifier (30) = 58%
The chance of getting terms for Mineral Tribute 50%, with a base chance of 0, would be 18%.
If the ground combat eventually resulted in the Gitanyow losing all of their ground forces, the Chinese would gain a Ground Forces Modifier of 100. Now the Mineral Tribute 20% has a chance of:
Base Chance 40 + Racial Modifier (-25) + Bombard Modifier (13) + Ground Forces Modifier (100) = 128%
Even the Client Pop/State + 50% Industry terms, which have a base chance of -50 would have a 38% chance of being accepted.
Once terms are accepted, all of the mechanics, such as ongoing transfer of minerals, instant transfer of industry, setting up the pop as an independent state, etc, are handled by the program.
Note: Only 20% of the normal Negotiation Modifier penalty for a failed offer is applied when Surrender Terms are rejected. This is to avoid unrealistic lengthy periods between offers of terms.
Steve
