Hello all!
Well, we’re hard at work on Imperia Unity (IU). We’re already got 3 very early alpha builds out the door, and Pavlos has been instrumental in creating a realistic universe for your emperor and his annoying sidekicks to play in! I highlight some of his work below.
In Imperia XNA, star development was very basic; while the overall distribution was more or less accurate, the stellar generation process, especially with planets, was very random and had nothing to do with the actual star. This will be completely different in IU. Stars will be generated procedurally, and realistically, including size, age, stellar class, secondary stellar class, special traits, and more importantly, stars will have metallicity which will (along with other factors) generate a quantity of pmaterial that will determine both the type and amount of planets on a star. Stars can also now be binary or trinary, and have additional specials depending on that. Here are the different types of stars that will be in IU:
O-B blue giants
A (white green)
F (white)
G (yellow)
K (orange)
M (red dwarfs)
L (hot brown dwarfs, deuterium fusion)
T (cold brown dwarfs)
C (carbon stars)
SG (Sub-Giant, early red giants, red, orange or yellow)
RG (Red Giants)
D (Degenerate, or White Dwarfs)
Neutron (Neutron Star)
BH (Black Hole)
WR (Wolf Rayet)
SP (Special)
SP2 (Special 2)
And the specials (incomplete list)
variable
highly variable
material shedding, nebula
accretion disk
nova
strong solar winds
flares
As you can see, a much more complex and realistic galaxy to play with! Systems will still have from 0-6 planets, but the planets (and their distance from their star) will be realistically determined by a combination of planetary material, the type of star, the age, companions, and the size. Planets have been expanded from the prior 6 types to 16(!) Here they are:
0, no planet
1, asteroid belt
2, barren
3, greenhouse
4, desert
5, terran
6, ice
7, dwarf jovian
8, jovian
9, ice belt
10, lava
11, irradiated
12, super-earth
13, ocean
14, brown dwarf
15, organic
16, dust ring
17, city
Here’s an example of a probability table for a planet on the above table to be in one of 6 positions for a fun star, a neutron star:
spectral class 13, Neutron star
– spot 1: 0% chances of having a planet
– spot 2: 0% chances of having a planet
– spot 3: 5%+( Pmaterial x1)-(# of companions*10) chances of having a planet
1-90%: planet-type=2
91-100%: planet-type=6
– spot 4: 20%+( Pmaterial x2)-(# of companions*10) chances of having a planet
1-45%: planet-type=2
46-60%: planet-type=7
61-80%: planet-type=8
81-100%: planet-type=6
– spot 5: 30%+( Pmaterial x2)-(# of companions*10) chances of having a planet
1-30%: planet-type=2
31-50%: planet-type=7
51-65%: planet-type=8
66-100%: planet-type=6
– spot 6: 40%+( Pmaterial x2)-(# of companions*10) chances of having a planet
1-30%: planet-type=2
31-70%: planet-type=6
71-90%: planet-type=7
91-100%: planet-type=8
And here’s the table for a more common star, a yellow (G) star:
Spectral class 4, G
– spot 1: 50%+( Pmaterial x4)-(# of companions*15) chances of having a planet
1-10%: planet-type=1
11-60%: planet-type=2
61-75%: planet-type=4
76-85%: planet-type=3
86-90%: planet-type=10
91-95%: planet-type=11
96-100%: planet-type=7
– spot 2: 70%+( Pmaterial x2)-(# of companions*10) chances of having a planet
1-5%: planet-type=1
6-30%: planet-type=2
31-50%: planet-type=4
51-70%: planet-type=3
71-80%: planet-type=5
81-90%: planet-type=12
95-100%: planet-type=7
– spot 3: 65%+( Pmaterial x3)-(# of companions*10) chances of having a planet
1-10%: planet-type=2
11-20%: planet-type=3
21-30%: planet-type=4
31-60%: planet-type=5
61-70%: planet-type=12
71-80%: planet-type=13
81-90%: planet-type=7
91-97%: planet-type=8
98-100%: planet-type=6
– spot 4: 60%+( Pmaterial x3)-(# of companions*10) chances of having a planet
1-10%: planet-type=2
11-15%: planet-type=3
16-20%: planet-type=4
21-40%: planet-type=5
41-50%: planet-type=12
51-60%: planet-type=13
61-75%: planet-type=7
76-91%: planet-type=8
92-100%: planet-type=6
– spot 5: 50%+( Pmaterial x3)-(# of companions*5) chances of having a planet
1-10%: planet-type=2
11-15%: planet-type=5
16-20%: planet-type=12
21-50%: planet-type=7
51-80%: planet-type=8
81-95%: planet-type=6
96-100%: planet-type=14
– spot 6: 50%+( Pmaterial x3)-(# of companions*5) chances of having a planet
1-5%: planet-type=2
6-10%: planet-type=12
11-35%: planet-type=7
36-60%: planet-type=8
61-85%: planet-type=6
86-100%: planet-type=9
The more ‘fertile’ the star the better chances of a planet that is suitable for human life. This is stark contrast to the previous game, where it was more or less totally random. This will make surveying systems more of a calculated gamble if you know your astronomy!
More to come…