The Blood Hound
Hey everyone!
I've been looking at the board's rules and map quite a bit over the last few months, for obvious reasons. And one of the things that dawned on me, is our use of the terms planets and hexes. While the rules specify which they refer to, the actual use of these two outside of IC settings, is very interchangeable. For instance, when a faction invades a hex with multiple planets, it doesn't matter which of the planets they go for – they will either win or lose the entire hex and its contents. So when minor factions go major, the rules state they choose a capital planet, but in reality, the entire hex becomes their capital, and receives the capital hex protection perks.
And here is where my suggestion comes in.
What if in addition to capital planet, factions applying to go Major could instead request capital hexes? As in, choose, either planet or hex, based on what fits their narrative better, though they do get the entire hex anyway if approved for Major (as they do at present).
This would mean that factions can use empty hexes as their home bases and hopefully, give a touch more depth potential to stories to accompany the map game. After all, no one outside of the faction really cares what the capital planet is – whether it's a place like Coruscant, brimming with life, or an asteroid that just happens to be a yellow dot on the map, it's all good as far as the current rules are concerned.
In terms of the site's blueprints, this doesn't even require any uphauls, since the groundwork for Majors with no capital planets already exists, in the form of the Vagrant Fleet mandate, though this suggestion is not about the mandate.
In terms of map game effects, this won't really affect anything. Factions going Major and factions that are already Major don't need to change a thing as they can still maintain their capital planets and enjoy the hex protections that come with it. However, this opens up more story opportunities, and also lets factions sprout on empty hexes without the need to have a planet added to the hex first.
I've been looking at the board's rules and map quite a bit over the last few months, for obvious reasons. And one of the things that dawned on me, is our use of the terms planets and hexes. While the rules specify which they refer to, the actual use of these two outside of IC settings, is very interchangeable. For instance, when a faction invades a hex with multiple planets, it doesn't matter which of the planets they go for – they will either win or lose the entire hex and its contents. So when minor factions go major, the rules state they choose a capital planet, but in reality, the entire hex becomes their capital, and receives the capital hex protection perks.
And here is where my suggestion comes in.
What if in addition to capital planet, factions applying to go Major could instead request capital hexes? As in, choose, either planet or hex, based on what fits their narrative better, though they do get the entire hex anyway if approved for Major (as they do at present).
This would mean that factions can use empty hexes as their home bases and hopefully, give a touch more depth potential to stories to accompany the map game. After all, no one outside of the faction really cares what the capital planet is – whether it's a place like Coruscant, brimming with life, or an asteroid that just happens to be a yellow dot on the map, it's all good as far as the current rules are concerned.
In terms of the site's blueprints, this doesn't even require any uphauls, since the groundwork for Majors with no capital planets already exists, in the form of the Vagrant Fleet mandate, though this suggestion is not about the mandate.
In terms of map game effects, this won't really affect anything. Factions going Major and factions that are already Major don't need to change a thing as they can still maintain their capital planets and enjoy the hex protections that come with it. However, this opens up more story opportunities, and also lets factions sprout on empty hexes without the need to have a planet added to the hex first.
