Generating Random Worlds for FFG's Star Wars RPGs, Second Draft, Part Two

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World Generator, Second Draft (Cont'd)

This is a continuation of the World Generator as set forth in my previous post, Generating Random Worlds for FFG's Star Wars RPGs, Second Draft. If you haven't read that post, you should check it out for background information that supports the ideas posted below!

Limiting Colony Size

It's important that planetary elements limit the maximum colony size and add difficulty for players trying to settle that planet. While individual players would be unable to walk around the surface of the planet without sealed suits and air supplies, business costs (as set up in EotE: Far Horizons) don't include any additional costs based on the type of world you're settling.

Because the purpose behind the random world generation system is to create a system where players can colonize worlds, but have to make some difficult decisions about which planets to settle, it's important that there's a significant trade-off here. This makes a barren world less feasible to settle, but it could be worth it if it has significant resources - players may be willing to subsidize more difficult colonies if they provide something the players need.

Definitions, "Colony" and "Industry"

Before we go further - when I refer to a "colony" or to "industry," I'm referring to core upgrades for homesteads and for businesses as described in EotE: Far Horizons. For example, a Colony of size 1 is a basic homestead, a Colony of size 2 is a settlement with one Core Focus upgrade, etc. 

An Industry of size 1 is a basic business, then size 2 could be two businesses or one business with one Core Focus upgrade. Because Far Horizons limits Core Focus upgrades to four upgrades, one business can only be maximum Size 5 in total.

I refer to these as Colonies and Industry instead of homesteads and businesses because they should provide 10 or 100 times more income than they do in Far Horizons (due to the larger scale, so that players can hire NPCs or use the money to help fund crafting projects). Note that I'm not certain where exactly this number should be in terms of balance - so 10 to 100 is a rough guess.

Colony Size

By default, a planet can sustain a colony equal to half its size (rounded up). For a size 1 or 2 planet, players can only put down a basic colony; for a size 3 or 4 planet, players could upgrade their colony once. This is modified by the planet type as specified below.

On Gas Giants, the size is treated as one-tenth of the total size (this is because gas giants are huge, but it's hard to set up a good settlement on them - imagine Bespin, an isolated settlement among the clouds, where it wouldn't be possible to put a dense city like Theed).

Note that the modifiers below should be executed in the order they're listed (with the division occurring at the end).
  • Planet Has Threats Rolled in Atmosphere, Surface Water, or Wildlife ...-1 colony size per category of threat (but not per threat; e.g. two threats in Atmosphere only counts as -1) (to minimum 0)
  • Planet Has Advantages Rolled in Atmosphere, Surface Water, or Wildlife ...+1 colony size per category or advantage (but not per advantage; e.g. two advantages in Atmosphere only counts as +1)
  • Planet Has Despairs Rolled in Resources, Atmosphere, Surface Water, or Wildlife* ...-3 colony size per despair (to minimum 0)
    • *Note this does not factor into worlds settled by hostile aliens, since whether or not players can settle is entirely dependent on how those aliens are played by the GM.
  • Planet Has Triumph Rolled in Resources, Atmosphere, or Surface Water ...+2 colony size per triumph
  • Planet Has Success in Wildlife ...+2 colony size
  • Planet Has no Atmosphere ...divide maximum colony size by three (round down to minimum 0)
  • Planet Has no Surface Water ...divide maximum colony size by two (round down to minimum 0)

Business Size

A planet can sustain a number of businesses equal to ( X * 2 ) + 1, where X is the size of the colony on the planet. This means that all planets, even with no colonies, can support one level of basic industry, allowing players to put down (for example) a mine on a terrible, barren world that has valuable resources even if they can't settle there. But it also means that a verdant world with good resources is significantly more valuable, since the players can build up larger industrial presences there.

Example Planets

Planet B4

    • Size 3 (Low Gravity 1)
    • Comfortable Temperature
    • Bright in daytime, Dark 1 at night
    • Has atmosphere - Low Oxygen 2
    • Has surface water & plant life - Horrible Storms 1, Thick Foliage 3
    • Has other life - Domesticable Wildlife, Harmful Bacteria (not lethal)
    • Rough 1
Planet B4 has Size 3, which could allow it to support a Size 2 Colony before any modifiers. It has an atmosphere and surface water, so that number won't be divided at the end and we can just do addition and subtraction. It is affected by the following modifiers:
  • Advantage in Atmosphere: +1 (Total: 3)
  • Threat in Surface Water: -1 (Total: 2)
  • Threat in Wildlife: -1 (Total: 1)
  • Success in Wildlife: +2 (Total: 3)
So the planet can sustain a Size 3 Colony and therefore up to Size 7 Industry.

Planet B5

    • Size 4 (Normal Gravity)
    • Comfortable Temperature
    • Bright in daytime, Dark 1 at night
    • No atmosphere
    • 2 Basic Resources
Planet B5 has Size 4, which could allow it to support a Size 2 colony before any modifiers. It has no addition or subtraction modifiers, but it has no atmosphere, so the size is divided by three and rounded down to Size 0. As a result, this planet can only support Size 1 Industry (but the players may consider this worthwhile, since that would provide them with 3 Basic Resources).

Planet B6

    • Size 1 (Low Gravity 3)
    • Comfortable Temperature
    • Bright in daytime, Dark 1 at night
    • Has atmosphere - Perfect Atmosphere
    • No surface water or plant life
    • Rough 2
Planet B6 has Size 1, which would allow it to support a Size 1 Colony before any modifiers. It has an atmosphere, but no Surface Water, so the Colony size will be halved and rounded down at the end. It is affected by the following modifiers:
  • Triumph in Atmosphere: +2 (Total: 3)
  • No Surface Water: X / 2 (Total: 1.5, rounded to 1)
So the planet can sustain a Size 1 Colony and therefore up to Size 3 Industry.

Other Edits

A new option for Advantages or Threats during the initial Resources roll could be as follows:
  • Advantage: The planet has an interesting or valuable geological formation (like a geyser or a canyon) which could be the reason the planet has a Basic Resource or which could be valuable in other ways (like +1 Colony size, for a canyon that would allow for a colony protected from the elements).
  • Threat: The planet has a geological formation that could prove dangerous or cause trouble for the settlement, like an active volcano or sinkholes. This could cause static effects (like -1 max colony size) or could be used as a plot hook later on if the players decide to settle the world.

Conclusion

As always, this system is a work-in-progress and I'd love to hear any feedback you have - keep in mind that the goal here is to make it harder to colonize difficult worlds, and easier to colonize worlds with beneficial or more earthlike elements. Expanding on this, you could even include a method for players to terraform a world, allowing them to improve the colonization potential of less attractive planets or planets with wonderful resources but terrible conditions.

Thank you for reading!

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