LegacyWorlds Beta 6

Many types of objects in Legacy Worlds Beta 6 will have to travel the universe from one point to another. While this set obviously includes ships, many other elements such as probes, resource extractors or migrating populations will need to travel.

It is therefore necessary to write rules regarding the method used to travel from one location to another, and the distance it corresponds to. In order to do that, the different modes available have to be clearly defined, and the geography of the universe must be described more precisely than the vague definition we posted here earlier. Continue reading ‘Travel and distances (1/5) : basics’ »

Beta 5 doesn’t include any notion of time flow. Nothing is really recorded and past events only remain as a part of the memory of players. However only relying on memory isn’t sufficient if we want to build up a real history. And history is what makes a game alive. As such we are planning to introduce a “true” time flow in Beta 6 as well as an event recording system, which feeds its entries to players through the Intergalactic News Service.

However, this notion of time poses some problems. Considering real life time or server time as the LegacyWorlds time doesn’t make much sense, since the game is supposed to take place in a relatively distant future. However we can’t only rely on a fictional time indication: it is important to inform players about real-life time so that they can infer what to do and when. Therefore we intend to use a dual time system, using both the real-life, “server” time and a fictional LegacyWorlds time.

Continue reading ‘Intergalactic News Service’ »

In Beta 5 the only events which can occur in game are the direct consequences of some game actions performed either by yourself or other players. There is no surprise nor anything linked with the universe itself. Introducing alien factions controlled by the game itself is one way to improve the game dynamics. Another way is to introduce random events.

These events occur randomly in the course of the game and affect game parameters on a scale wide enough not to advantage or disadvantage too much particular players. The frequency at which random events occur will have to be precisely defined, however it will be devised so that everyone is affected by a random event every now and then in any case.

Continue reading ‘Random events’ »

Space-time drilling is a technology allowing an alliance to bypass the standard fleet movements rules by jumping to a layer directly without having to go through supergates (it doesn’t allow players to jump to a different protection level tho).

While this very powerful technology has quite a few inconvenients (it costs a lot and presents a variety of risks), it gives an alliance the ability to attack an alliance located on another layer without having to go through potentially dozens of supergates, which can be quite a lengthy process and could alert the target before it’s too late if the fleets are detected on their way.

Continue reading ‘Space-time drilling’ »

While Beta 5 universe is very simple to manage, with a grid of 6 planets systems or nebulae which expands when needed, it poses several problems.

It isn’t very realistic and we have always been attached to have a universe which would be as close to reality as possible or which could function in a logical way.

Indeed, having planets which are all equivalent to each other, having stellar systems which always have the same number of planets and are so regularly organised in the universe or having a universe which is only a plane and not a 3D structure isn’t realistic.

Moreover, travel times to go from one side to another are getting enormous when the universe gets bigger. For now it is still manageable since the player base remains small. But what if we manage to attract more players?

Therefore we definitively had to rethink the shape of the universe to have it solve these various issues.

Continue reading ‘A reshaped universe’ »