- Joined
- Mar 7, 2022
- Messages
- 40
Territory Control is the means through which players, companies, and alliances may lay claim to portions of the game world of Starbase, and in which they may exert some level of passive and active control. While this may technically define what Territory Control is, there’s many ways that it can be implemented, and many ways that it can affect the game world. This article will examine all of that and how it can be used to reinforce ideas brought up in previous articles.
Determining the radius of Territory that can be claimed has a few different possibilities. One option is to add a module like “Governor’s Office” that can be crafted and placed on Stations. This module would require upkeep of some form, but it would grant the ability for the station owner to claim Territory. This could be scaled through either feeding in more resources to the module or placing more modules on the Station.
Another option is to base the radius off how many people are transiting through a Station / Station Cluster. I think that this has significant downsides though, as it can be gamed by people buying more alts and flying them around. It’s also vulnerable to sudden downturns on traffic, with station owners losing control over large sections of territory and being unable to fund their stations through taxes or other maluses.
The last option that I’ve hypothesized, which is also the one that I favor, is determining the radius through the development of the Stations claiming the territory. This development in turn would be determined by the amount of active modules on those Stations. This doesn’t necessarily mean working/processing modules, but the amount of modules that are powered on and ready for use. For example, a ship fabrication line might not be fabricating a ship at all times, but if those Crafters and Forges are powered on and ready to accept orders, they would count towards the development of the host Station. Through this manner, Territory Control is tied directly to maintenance costs and a tangible resource that can be targeted by enemies. If a Station is besieged, it can lose territory even if the defenders win, but only if the attackers manage to penetrate whatever defense the defenders mount and destroy station modules (more on this later).
The result of any of the above methods would be a sphere of Territory with a center located either on the host Station or the center of the Station Cluster claiming the Territory. This sphere would be perfectly smooth unless it abuts another sphere of claimed Territory, and it would offer a number of advantages to the player or group that manages to claim it. I don’t have a specific idea of the radius of this claimed Territory due to not being able to playtest just how large Stations and Station Clusters can get, but speculatively I would say that a radius of over 100km would be considered large.
Inside the safe zone, all the standard rules of station safe zones would apply. This creates a 100% safe area for players that cannot be violated by anything less than a full-scale Siege. Outside of the safe zone but inside the Territory radius, the rules of a safe zone would not apply but the Territory would grant advantages to both the Territory Controller and the travelling Endo, who may or may not be affiliated with the Territory Controller. The safe zone and the larger Territory sphere could be called Inner Sphere and Outer Sphere when considering the permissions and privileges granted.
Outer Sphere access cannot be restricted by an impenetrable wall like the Inner Sphere, but instead any Endo can travel through the Outer Sphere. All Endos approaching the Outer Sphere would get a warning that they’re about to enter the Territory of someone else, and they would get the entire claimed Territory added to Layer 5 of their personal maps (see Article 4). Afterwards, they would be able to share this data with their company and others. Endos can then choose to either press on without permission, and risk the ire of the Territory Controller, or turn back and avoid entering the Territory. An unpermitted Capital Ship cannot warp into even the Outer Sphere of Territory.
Inside a Territory, the Territory Controller can choose whether or not to charge taxes on Mining. This tax is automatically deducted from anyone who mines inside the Territory, permitted or not. The collected taxes are then automatically deposited in designated Inventory Modules, potentially all of the Inventory Modules, inside the Station(s) claiming the territory. Some overflow should be permitted, but after a certain level all extra taxes collected would be simply destroyed. This encourages Territory Controllers to continue expanding their infrastructure, converting it into ships, or selling the ore for credits instead of being able to hoard enormous wealth at no cost. Taxes can be set independently for Outer and Inner Spheres, and Territory Controllers could charge extra for being able to mine without risk in the Inner Sphere. However, unpermitted miners could still mine in the Outer Sphere. While taxes are collected on their efforts, their unpermitted mining also stacks a malus onto the radius of claimed Territory. This can be avoided by Territory Controllers granting everyone transit and mining access, but this has other potential downsides.
Besides tax collection, the Outer Sphere of a Territory could include bonuses to Sensors on ships operated by players with Sensor Access granted. Depending on the amount of Radar sensors mounted and active on the Station(s) claiming the Territory, approved ships could gain a buff to signatures located inside the Territory, or perhaps a reduction to background noise. These buffs would only apply to signatures located inside the Territory to prevent ships from ducking inside the Territory, scanning the surrounding area with their buffed sensors, and then exiting the Territory to mine those resources tax-free. Scaling these buffs according to the quantity of sensors on the Station(s) actively scanning the area is important because it means that the Territory is easier to find and contest. The reward is increased, but so is the risk.
Territory can also offer the Starbase equivalent of Roadside Assistance. When a permitted ship is inside a Territory, including the Outer Sphere, the ship operator can choose to emit a distress signal. This signal is different in that it does not act like a typical transponder and is only visible to people located on the Station(s) claiming the Territory, and possibly to other players in the Territory with the appropriate permissions. These players can then respond to the signal and either offer repair/tow assistance or repel the attacker. This way, Outer Spheres of Stations can offer some measure of protection even without a safe zone, even though this benefit is somewhat time-delayed unless the Territory is well-staffed. This Roadside Assistance Beacon could potentially also help with identifying an unpermitted aggressor, perhaps providing just a simple name of the aggressor, or maybe more details on ship design.
The size of a Station(s)’ Territory can also offer benefits in terms of the amount of Gas Adsorbers that can be mounted on the claiming station(s). While ‘ordinary’ Stations would have a cap on the amount of Gas Adsorbers that could be mounted to limit overharvesting an area, Territory could enhance this concept. By including the claimed Territory in the area calculations, Station(s) that claim territory could benefit from an improved collection area and thus more Gas Adsorbers. This benefit should perhaps be logarithmic or otherwise nonlinear, but it could be a powerful incentive to claim as much Territory as possible.
As previously mentioned, unpermitted players mining in the Outer Zone of a Territory will inflict a malus to the Territory Control exerted by the claimant. Whether this is simply shrinking the radius of the Territory Sphere, or wearing away control over the traversed region, it should prompt the Territory Controller to attempt to assert firm control over the entire Territory. To aid in this, the Territory Controller should be able to access an interface detailing the Station(s) claiming the territory, the size and location of the Territory on the map, what’s providing a bonus to Territory Control, and what’s providing a malus to Territory Control. Territory Controllers would not necessarily know when and who is violating their integrity from this interface, but they would know that they’re under some level of threat.
Territory Controllers can then use Sensors to scan for intruders and attempt to negotiate or destroy them. Determined intruders can travel armed and can attempt more aggressive, but riskier, actions. Intruders can destroy ships owned by permitted players inside the Territory to inflict Territory Control penalties. Another possible method is by flying inside the Outer Sphere and using some sort of device that draws power and/or emits sensor emissions to negatively impact Territory Control, but I’m hesitant to introduce something that is far too easy to use to game the system when the Territory Controllers are offline or otherwise occupied.
The goal overall is to make Territory Control dynamic and rewarding of effort. While Territory can never be reduced past the boundary of the Inner Sphere without a successful Siege, players have the opportunity to flex their muscles and engage in low-level combat. Even solo players can pilot a ship into the Outer Sphere, and solo Territory Controllers have the opportunity to use their sensors to try and catch these intruders. By opening up these gameplay loops, the player driven stories become richer and more varied, with ship designs, tactics, and more all adapting to many different scenarios.
The way this could be done is through measuring the “claim strength” of each Station(s)’ Territory Claim. The further away from the center of the Territory, the lower the claim strength gets, and at a certain point a patch of space will be close enough to the center of the other Territory that its claim strength will be higher. Increasing the amount of Territory claimed by whichever method is chosen in the Projecting Territory Control section would increase the claim strength that a given territory has over space in its Territory. While I think the Inner Sphere should be inviolable outside of a siege, this could create interesting warps and shifts in the Outer Spheres of two adjacent Territories. Territory Controllers can look at their maps and clearly see these indents and choose to take action. Whether it’s immediately launching a Siege, negotiating with the neighbor to merge the two Territories, or starting the lower-scale pushing actions described in the previous section, this sort of competitive control allows for more interactions.
After discovering Territory, Endos can trade with each other for the data or give the data to their companies and alliances. This helps open up the market for exploration data wider than just selling Navigation Chips. If you’re a company leader planning to expand operations to a new moon, it may be helpful having an employee explore the area or pay for the data from a third party. Then you know where to warp your Capital Ship, whether it’s an area without any claim or just outside of a claim that you would like to contest.
Territory Control can be immediately terminated if all Stations projecting the claim have been successfully besieged by one or more third parties. If all Station(s) go to one party, that party can directly inherit the Territory of the former controller. If the Station(s) are split between multiple parties, the Territory could either be dissolved or it could perhaps be split between the other parties. If multiple Stations are projecting the claim, it would take some time to siege them down, as only so many could be sieged at one time. To prevent large companies from filling their Territory with “pocket” stations that just act to slow down attackers, the amount of Stations that can be sieged per Territory could scale with the amount of Stations projecting the claim.
Projecting Territory Control
Projecting Territory Control / Claiming Territory is done through Stations. In the past, claiming territory was indicated to be tied strictly to Station Clusters, but I think that it should instead be tied to overall station development. After all, if a player or group spend the effort to create a gargantuan capital station that’s the crown jewel of development, it should be able to claim a sizeable chunk of territory on its own. Station clusters can still play a role in claiming Territory, but they shouldn’t be required. The amount of territory that can be claimed can be determined by the development of a Station or Station Cluster, perhaps with a modifier based on the number of Stations in a Station Cluster to encourage centralization if that’s desired.Determining the radius of Territory that can be claimed has a few different possibilities. One option is to add a module like “Governor’s Office” that can be crafted and placed on Stations. This module would require upkeep of some form, but it would grant the ability for the station owner to claim Territory. This could be scaled through either feeding in more resources to the module or placing more modules on the Station.
Another option is to base the radius off how many people are transiting through a Station / Station Cluster. I think that this has significant downsides though, as it can be gamed by people buying more alts and flying them around. It’s also vulnerable to sudden downturns on traffic, with station owners losing control over large sections of territory and being unable to fund their stations through taxes or other maluses.
The last option that I’ve hypothesized, which is also the one that I favor, is determining the radius through the development of the Stations claiming the territory. This development in turn would be determined by the amount of active modules on those Stations. This doesn’t necessarily mean working/processing modules, but the amount of modules that are powered on and ready for use. For example, a ship fabrication line might not be fabricating a ship at all times, but if those Crafters and Forges are powered on and ready to accept orders, they would count towards the development of the host Station. Through this manner, Territory Control is tied directly to maintenance costs and a tangible resource that can be targeted by enemies. If a Station is besieged, it can lose territory even if the defenders win, but only if the attackers manage to penetrate whatever defense the defenders mount and destroy station modules (more on this later).
The result of any of the above methods would be a sphere of Territory with a center located either on the host Station or the center of the Station Cluster claiming the Territory. This sphere would be perfectly smooth unless it abuts another sphere of claimed Territory, and it would offer a number of advantages to the player or group that manages to claim it. I don’t have a specific idea of the radius of this claimed Territory due to not being able to playtest just how large Stations and Station Clusters can get, but speculatively I would say that a radius of over 100km would be considered large.
What Territory Does
After discussing how to claim Territory, it’s only logical to discuss what this Territory does. Previous pieces of news from Frozenbyte indicated stations merging their safe zones and other benefits, and I think that the benefits from Territory Control should be more than just “Big Safe Zone.” Territory should be tied into an overall system of Risk vs Reward that I’ve tried to highlight through my recent articles on Sensors and Stations. Claiming Territory should still be tied to a larger safe zone, but the Territory would extend outside of the enlarged safe zone. Safe zone size could be calculated by summing the quantity and level of all shield generators in the Station / Station Cluster, with a modifier to account for the claimed territory. This modifier could be capped to prevent unusual situations like an enormous, maximum size Station with only a single Level 1 Shield Generator from projecting a vastly larger than normal shield alongside its Territory.Inside the safe zone, all the standard rules of station safe zones would apply. This creates a 100% safe area for players that cannot be violated by anything less than a full-scale Siege. Outside of the safe zone but inside the Territory radius, the rules of a safe zone would not apply but the Territory would grant advantages to both the Territory Controller and the travelling Endo, who may or may not be affiliated with the Territory Controller. The safe zone and the larger Territory sphere could be called Inner Sphere and Outer Sphere when considering the permissions and privileges granted.
Outer Sphere access cannot be restricted by an impenetrable wall like the Inner Sphere, but instead any Endo can travel through the Outer Sphere. All Endos approaching the Outer Sphere would get a warning that they’re about to enter the Territory of someone else, and they would get the entire claimed Territory added to Layer 5 of their personal maps (see Article 4). Afterwards, they would be able to share this data with their company and others. Endos can then choose to either press on without permission, and risk the ire of the Territory Controller, or turn back and avoid entering the Territory. An unpermitted Capital Ship cannot warp into even the Outer Sphere of Territory.
Inside a Territory, the Territory Controller can choose whether or not to charge taxes on Mining. This tax is automatically deducted from anyone who mines inside the Territory, permitted or not. The collected taxes are then automatically deposited in designated Inventory Modules, potentially all of the Inventory Modules, inside the Station(s) claiming the territory. Some overflow should be permitted, but after a certain level all extra taxes collected would be simply destroyed. This encourages Territory Controllers to continue expanding their infrastructure, converting it into ships, or selling the ore for credits instead of being able to hoard enormous wealth at no cost. Taxes can be set independently for Outer and Inner Spheres, and Territory Controllers could charge extra for being able to mine without risk in the Inner Sphere. However, unpermitted miners could still mine in the Outer Sphere. While taxes are collected on their efforts, their unpermitted mining also stacks a malus onto the radius of claimed Territory. This can be avoided by Territory Controllers granting everyone transit and mining access, but this has other potential downsides.
Besides tax collection, the Outer Sphere of a Territory could include bonuses to Sensors on ships operated by players with Sensor Access granted. Depending on the amount of Radar sensors mounted and active on the Station(s) claiming the Territory, approved ships could gain a buff to signatures located inside the Territory, or perhaps a reduction to background noise. These buffs would only apply to signatures located inside the Territory to prevent ships from ducking inside the Territory, scanning the surrounding area with their buffed sensors, and then exiting the Territory to mine those resources tax-free. Scaling these buffs according to the quantity of sensors on the Station(s) actively scanning the area is important because it means that the Territory is easier to find and contest. The reward is increased, but so is the risk.
Territory can also offer the Starbase equivalent of Roadside Assistance. When a permitted ship is inside a Territory, including the Outer Sphere, the ship operator can choose to emit a distress signal. This signal is different in that it does not act like a typical transponder and is only visible to people located on the Station(s) claiming the Territory, and possibly to other players in the Territory with the appropriate permissions. These players can then respond to the signal and either offer repair/tow assistance or repel the attacker. This way, Outer Spheres of Stations can offer some measure of protection even without a safe zone, even though this benefit is somewhat time-delayed unless the Territory is well-staffed. This Roadside Assistance Beacon could potentially also help with identifying an unpermitted aggressor, perhaps providing just a simple name of the aggressor, or maybe more details on ship design.
The size of a Station(s)’ Territory can also offer benefits in terms of the amount of Gas Adsorbers that can be mounted on the claiming station(s). While ‘ordinary’ Stations would have a cap on the amount of Gas Adsorbers that could be mounted to limit overharvesting an area, Territory could enhance this concept. By including the claimed Territory in the area calculations, Station(s) that claim territory could benefit from an improved collection area and thus more Gas Adsorbers. This benefit should perhaps be logarithmic or otherwise nonlinear, but it could be a powerful incentive to claim as much Territory as possible.
Holding Territory
Sieges are frequently discussed in conjunction with capturing Stations and claiming enemy Territory, but there should be ways short of a Siege to contest enemy Territory. Likewise, Territory Controllers should have counterplay options available besides attempting to wipe out Capital Ships and counter-sieging enemy Stations. This helps give wars more flavor and variety and allows for smaller scale and more personal conflicts that may not be as much of a “winner takes all” environment as a Siege.As previously mentioned, unpermitted players mining in the Outer Zone of a Territory will inflict a malus to the Territory Control exerted by the claimant. Whether this is simply shrinking the radius of the Territory Sphere, or wearing away control over the traversed region, it should prompt the Territory Controller to attempt to assert firm control over the entire Territory. To aid in this, the Territory Controller should be able to access an interface detailing the Station(s) claiming the territory, the size and location of the Territory on the map, what’s providing a bonus to Territory Control, and what’s providing a malus to Territory Control. Territory Controllers would not necessarily know when and who is violating their integrity from this interface, but they would know that they’re under some level of threat.
Territory Controllers can then use Sensors to scan for intruders and attempt to negotiate or destroy them. Determined intruders can travel armed and can attempt more aggressive, but riskier, actions. Intruders can destroy ships owned by permitted players inside the Territory to inflict Territory Control penalties. Another possible method is by flying inside the Outer Sphere and using some sort of device that draws power and/or emits sensor emissions to negatively impact Territory Control, but I’m hesitant to introduce something that is far too easy to use to game the system when the Territory Controllers are offline or otherwise occupied.
The goal overall is to make Territory Control dynamic and rewarding of effort. While Territory can never be reduced past the boundary of the Inner Sphere without a successful Siege, players have the opportunity to flex their muscles and engage in low-level combat. Even solo players can pilot a ship into the Outer Sphere, and solo Territory Controllers have the opportunity to use their sensors to try and catch these intruders. By opening up these gameplay loops, the player driven stories become richer and more varied, with ship designs, tactics, and more all adapting to many different scenarios.
When Two Territories Touch
In perfect isolation, Territories would form spheres. However, as a Massively Multiplayer Game, Starbase is unlikely to offer perfect isolation in most places. Therefore, it’s likely that Territories will come into contact with each other, or players will want to set up Stations near Territories. I think that players without appropriate permissions shouldn’t be able to set up their own Stations inside of a Territory, as that would directly steal Territory. However, it’s an interesting concept to permit establishing Stations just outside of a Territory, have the new Station claim its own Territory, and then have some interaction between the two competing claims.The way this could be done is through measuring the “claim strength” of each Station(s)’ Territory Claim. The further away from the center of the Territory, the lower the claim strength gets, and at a certain point a patch of space will be close enough to the center of the other Territory that its claim strength will be higher. Increasing the amount of Territory claimed by whichever method is chosen in the Projecting Territory Control section would increase the claim strength that a given territory has over space in its Territory. While I think the Inner Sphere should be inviolable outside of a siege, this could create interesting warps and shifts in the Outer Spheres of two adjacent Territories. Territory Controllers can look at their maps and clearly see these indents and choose to take action. Whether it’s immediately launching a Siege, negotiating with the neighbor to merge the two Territories, or starting the lower-scale pushing actions described in the previous section, this sort of competitive control allows for more interactions.
Territory on the Map
As described in Article 4, Territory would have its own overlay on player maps. When an Endo logs on for the first time, this overlay would be completely unpopulated. However, it should be possible to acquire Territory Control data either directly or through other Endos. If Bob flies close enough to Territory owned by The Best Corporation, he gets a pop-up warning him that he’s going to violate TBC’s territory, and his overlay gets populated with the size of the Territory and a description of the Territory Controller. This description could be the Controller’s name, the name of the Company, or the name of the Alliance staking the claim depending on who is the Territory Controller. Now, Bob can see the entire extent of the Territory and can plan to fly around it or intrude in any variety of ways.After discovering Territory, Endos can trade with each other for the data or give the data to their companies and alliances. This helps open up the market for exploration data wider than just selling Navigation Chips. If you’re a company leader planning to expand operations to a new moon, it may be helpful having an employee explore the area or pay for the data from a third party. Then you know where to warp your Capital Ship, whether it’s an area without any claim or just outside of a claim that you would like to contest.
Losing Territory
Territory Claims should not be for perpetuity but should require the occasional player input to maintain. This shouldn’t mean constant supervision or daily logins to keep the claim going, but other means should be used. If a Governor’s Office is used to claim territory or by tracking the active modules on the Station(s) making the claim, then a natural check on perpetual claims is maintenance costs. Over time, either the Governor’s Office or those modules will consume resources to keep going, and the act of making sure there’s enough resources would be sufficient to renew the claim. If Territory Control is based on the amount of traffic passing through, then no traffic will naturally erode the claim. Once a claim has degraded to its lowest possible state for some time, perhaps weeks or months, then it is abolished, and the Inner Sphere of the Territory is deleted. Afterwards, it returns to being an ordinary Station / Station Cluster with further effects possible if those Station(s) have not been maintained at all.Territory Control can be immediately terminated if all Stations projecting the claim have been successfully besieged by one or more third parties. If all Station(s) go to one party, that party can directly inherit the Territory of the former controller. If the Station(s) are split between multiple parties, the Territory could either be dissolved or it could perhaps be split between the other parties. If multiple Stations are projecting the claim, it would take some time to siege them down, as only so many could be sieged at one time. To prevent large companies from filling their Territory with “pocket” stations that just act to slow down attackers, the amount of Stations that can be sieged per Territory could scale with the amount of Stations projecting the claim.
Closing Thoughts
Territory offers the power of prestige and is a driver for large-scale social collaboration and competition. By making Territory dynamic and contestable, Frozenbyte offers up opportunities for everyone to make their mark on the world, no matter how small. Guerilla operations are something that solo players can do, or solo players can hire mercenaries to defend their territory or eliminate a competitor. Companies and Alliances can compete to paint the map with their sigil or color, with clashes all along the border. Solo operators can claim territory and open it up to any miners so that they can mine in relative peace, while the operator can use the taxes to fund construction of sensors and ships to enforce their claim. The more options that are available, the more stories can be written.