Sorry! Had to pause for houseguests. Now back to our regularly scheduled program.
Omega Prime wrote:So, if you use glory to buy units, do they appear in the closest location?
Nope! Units and Armies aren't Location-based at all. This plan is completely different than what you'd expect from a strategic positional game. I'll get into combat and defenses later on, but the only things tied to a specific Location are the fixed emplacements, the work force, and whatever resources are being produced there.
Developing LocationsNow that we've got our basic commodities in place, we can start having some fun.
Strategic play revolves around creating and fighting over
Locations. Locations are created as they are needed; your medieval empire might span vast deserts and dark jungles, but if you're not actively using them for their resources or using them as battlefields then they aren't part of the campaign. Locations enter the game as factions spend Glory to activate them and put them to use.
If you have a map, you can point out where the Locations are, but this isn't necessary for most campaigns - the Police Station could be a block away from City Hall, or it could be on the other side of town; the travel distance between them doesn't make any difference to the rioting proletariat attacking both places. The one exception is that Locations can be created
inside other Locations. If the Armory is created inside the Castle, then enemies can't attack the Armory without breaching the Castle defenses first.
The position and movement of a faction's Army isn't tracked between Locations. Apart from a few named Heroes, an Army isn't a specific force occupying a specific Location, but instead represents the strength and condition of the faction's military operating throughout all of its Locations.
The cost of creating a new Location is equal to the number of Locations the faction already controls. If a faction has three Locations (the Castle, the Stables, and the Forest) and wants to create two more (the Lumber Mill and the Clown Face Bologna Brothel), it spends three Glory for the first one, and four Glory for the second one (since it's now working with four Locations instead of three).
All Locations serve a purpose - usually Harvesting, Refining, and Processing
Resources for the campaign - and all Locations can be attacked. Your kingdom may have a hundred towns and a thousand landscapes, but if they're not worth the cost of purchasing and defending then they never become Locations.
When a faction creates a Location, the player writes the name and function of the Location on a Post-it Note or index card and places it on the table. If they want, they can draw a little picture on it. Whenever a player adds points of Glory or Sacrifice to that Location, they attach Glory and Sacrifice bricks in their faction's colors to the Location card. If the Location is ever destroyed, players tear up the card and set the pieces on fire.
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Harvesting Location makes one type of basic Resource available. Resources can be anything the players want to include in their fiction: a Forest produces Wood, an Asteroid Facility produces Transparent Green Ore, a Rainbow Mine produces Raw ABS, a Pastureland produces Horses, and a Police Station produces Recon. Each point of Glory added to a Harvesting Location adds one Worker and one inch of that Resource piled up at the Location for enemies to kidnap, steal, or destroy. Lost Workers remove one Glory from the Location and one inch from the defending faction's Stockpile, and can be moved to a kidnapping Faction's own Locations. Lost Resources remove inches from the faction Stockpile, and add inches to a stealing faction's own Stockpile, and become available for a stealing faction to use one time only.
Resources don't pile up over time; a faction with three Glory in a Forest will always have three inches of Wood available.
Resources are Harvested at Level 1. Level 1 building materials (like Wood) can be used to create units and defenses with Armor Level 1. Level 1 Creatures (like Horses) have stats equivalent to a minifig, a Horse, or another baseline Creature (once I add a section to Chapter 10 about baseline Creatures, that is). Other types of Resources (like Recon) have special uses and are discussed later; players are free to come up with their own special-purpose Resource types to tie into their house-ruled scenario requirements (e.g., Propaganda, Television Ratings, or Magic Sparkle penis Power).
Factions don't need to create Locations to Harvest basic (non-Specialist) minifigs and basic minifig weapons and equipment. These are treated as an unlimited Resource for all factions to exploit freely.
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Refining Location improves a basic Resource by one Resource Level. A Lumber Mill improves Wood, an Orbital Refining Station improves Transparent Green Ore, a Rainbow Forge improves ABS, a Royal Stable improves Horses, and a Spy Agency improves Recon. Each point of Glory added to a Refining Location adds one Worker to the Location, and one inch of that improved Resource for enemies to steal or destroy.
A Refining Location can only Refine as much of a Resource as is available. If a faction has five Glory in a Level 3 Doughnut Intensifier but only three inches of Level 2 Doughnuts to work with, then it only produces three inches of Level 3 Doughnuts. (Minifig Refining Locations, like an Experimental Hospital or a Driving School, always have a limitless supply of regular minifigs to draw from.)
A faction can keep adding Refining Locations to improve Resources to higher levels, up to whatever limits the players think makes sense. Under normal circumstances, for instance, a Resource like Wood would top out at Level 2 and Stone at Level 3, but a faction of Elves or Dwarves might be able to Refine them beyond their usual limits.
Improved Resources are better than Level 1 Resources. Improved building materials can create units and defenses with an Armor Level up to their Resource Level. Improved Creatures can take one positive Creation Mod for each level of improvement.
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Processing Location turns building material Resources into units and weapons. A Siege Camp produces Siege Weapons, an Airplane Factory produces Airplanes, an Artillery Foundry produces Artillery, and a Motorcycle Assembly Plant produces Motorcycles. Each point of Glory added to a Processing Location adds one Specialist (usually a Mechanik) and one inch of the units or weapons being produced to the Location, for enemies to kidnap, steal, or destroy.
Each point of Glory in a Processing Location lets the Army have one Unit Inch of that unit type. Processing Locations can only work with the Resources they have available. A Tank Factory with ten Glory worth of Mechaniks but only five inches of Steel available can only supply the Army with five Unit Inches' worth of Tanks.