Station Construction + Fleet Operations

I am posting up my notes on how the Meta Game builds new stations in the cluster.

Station Construction

The cluster grows and expands through station construction. The current design attempts to be as simple as possible. The basic idea is that some stations will spawn construction fleets, and those fleets will build new stations.

The design needs to work around some limitations. No stations can be added to the map by POG. POG code can destroy visible stations, and “undestroy� stations that have been destroyed. Construction fleets do not build new stations. Instead they “undestroy� stations that were already placed. This means that when a star system is designed, it must be made to accommodate future station growth by adding “destroyed� stations.

How fast the cluster grows is controlled by
1. How fast stations spawn construction fleets
2. How fast construction fleets build new stations.

8% percent growth can happen if every station replaces itself once in a year. If there is one construction fleet for every 12 stations, and those fleets build 1 station a month (each), then the cluster will grow at 8%. (Minus combat casualties of course).

Independent Factions

The Independent factions make up the citizens of the cluster. There is one Independent faction for each major cultural group in the Middle States. Independents are a loose collection of people and businesses. Each independent station and fleet is assumed to operate on its own. There is no Independent faction HQ. Independent factions are allowed to own and operate any of the commercial production stations (mines, processing plants, etc).

Independent factions are also special in that they own all of the Habitat stations. Habitat stations house the clusters population. It is the people in the habitats that have the massed wealth to start new stations and so most new construction is done by the independent factions. The design works like this:

Habitats->Station Repair Fleets->Production Stations

Habitats spawn Station Repair Fleets and those fleets can build new stations.

Repair fleets are fastest at repairing abandoned stations (stations empty from war or bankruptcy), but they can slowly build new stations if no abandoned stations are nearby.

Government Factions

Government factions are the national governments. They provide the navy ships and protect the Independents. Government factions build all the police and navy bases in the cluster. The design works like this:

Cluster Administration->Station Construction Fleet->Police Base, Navy Supply Depot

Mega Corporation Factions

Megacorporations are a commercial faction organized with a central HQ. They are so large, they often field security forces and do complex research.

Central HQ->Station Construction Fleet->Production Station, Security Station, Research Station.

Independent Criminal Factions

Independent criminals are much like the independent citizens, they are small scattered stations. They have no central HQ. Instead, the habitat stations of the Independent factions sometimes spawn pirate supply ships. The design works like this:

Habitat->Pirate Supply Fleet->Pirate Shipyard (cove)-> Pirate Raiding Fleet

This means that as long as there are people in the cluster, some will turn to criminal activity and try to build up a pirate presence. Police and government forces will always be needed. And player pirates will always have some company.

Major Criminal Factions

The major criminal factions are organized around a central HQ. This HQ spawns supply ships that build the pirate presence throughout the cluster. The design works like this:

Pirate Base->Pirate Supply Fleet->Pirate Shipyard (cove)->Pirate Raiding Fleet

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