Implement Anastar League

[DaloLorn]

A pirate organization centered around subterfuge and corruption. Should probably take cues from Zann Consortium gameplay, using a parasitic "corruption" mechanic to obtain the bulk of their resources and influence. Other good sources of inspiration might be the Pirate and Yaki factions of X3, and the shameless plugs for unwritten contentDragonblood Syndicate and Gannic Brotherhood of Star Clusters.

Heavily reliant on stealth and subterfuge. Other empires must be vigilant in order to prevent the Anastar League from growing too powerful, lest they decide to step out of the shadows and claim the galaxy for themselves.

• Do not start with a planet. Instead, starts with a Shadowport - a large starship or converted space station serving as a hub of Anastar activity. Shadowports serve as semi-mobile Shipyards for the League, providing a limited amount of Labor and money even when Anastar influence is otherwise non-existent.
  • Shadowports have two modes: Packed and unpacked.
    • Packed Shadowports have limited sublight mobility and can use any FTL type they are equipped with. They lose all Labor (unless equipped with a Construction Bay for extra Labor) and money generation while packed.
    • Unpacked Shadowports cannot move or be moved in any way (much like Gates), but are able to construct orbitals and asteroid mines. (The usual zone of influence rules still apply: There must be a line of owned - or corrupted systems - between them and their destination, and Shadowports in interstellar space have no zone of influence.)
  • Shadowports can be sacrificed to colonize a planet.
• Anastar planets have significantly reduced loyalty. The bulk of the civilian population doesn't care for their criminal overlords, and are liable to quickly overthrow them should the opportunity arise.
• Anastar planets have limited population growth rates. This should discourage them from attempting to colonize planets on their own unless it is absolutely necessary.
• Receives a large portion of their resources by corrupting planets.
  • A special "Defiler" ship is used to corrupt the planet. Once corrupted, the planet can be assigned to an unpacked Shadowport.
  • A percentage of all civilian production (and gross income) is transferred to the Shadowport instead of the planet's owner. Only one Crime Syndicate can corrupt a planet at a time. (This provides a motive for Crime Syndicates to wage war against each other.)
  • A percentage of any Materials gained by the planet will be transferred to the League, too.
• Anastar Stealth Coating is much cheaper (virtually free) and harder to destroy. All Anastar League default designs are covered with Stealth Coating.
• The Anastar League is allied to the Dread Pirate, and can lend him their ships, losing control of those ships for a while in exchange for a cut of the loot they obtain and a hefty maintenance discount.
• Gains additional Special Funds whenever they get any. (For instance... you know, when they're out pirating.)
• Uses Special Funds to pay off any budget deficits. They can't be in debt until they've run out of Special Funds.
• Starts with the Boarding Party, Construction Bay, Stealth Coating, and Cloaking Device subsystems unlocked at the beginning of the game.
• All ship stats are reduced by 20% (similarly to the Khalerii). They do not receive discounts like the Khalerii, though.

[DaloLorn]

Defined the first revision of the pirate concept.

[DaloLorn]

Some simplifications/refinements to the Corruption mechanic:

• I'd originally intended to have a third territory type (core/corrupted/border, versus core/border). Corrupted systems were basically a sort of "hidden" core system, only recognizable as such to their owner (and maybe other Crime Syndicates to show where their competition is). However, this isn't particularly practical to implement, and on second thought, it doesn't actually have much gameplay or lore value.
  • Gameplay:
    • Shadowports can move, can (and should) be outfitted with Stealth Coating, and don't need to be in the same system as their corrupted planets in the first place, so they still get a decent measure of security by obscurity.
    • Other empires should know their system's been corrupted so they can take steps to remove corruption. (I'm currently leaning towards a construction that costs a bit of Influence. You can try to do it at any time, but it only has an effect if the planet is corrupted... and you don't know which planet in the system has been corrupted.)
  • Lore: A crime syndicate having this sort of influence over a star system would, at minimum, be an open secret.