THE YOUNG KINGDOMS
DESIGNER NOTES
The Young Kingdoms is a New Galaxy on RegenesisGalaxies.com that will feature V-Technology. Here, Young Kingdoms will explore strange, distant regions for the first time. These are empires that are still in their youth, a far cry from the seasoned and well established empires of the Alpha and Omega Sectors. They will forge their own alliances in time, betray one another, and go to war savagely against bitter enemies. The Young Kingdoms will include a plethora of New Empires, some minor, some major, and some in-between. Over the course of the Young Kingdoms Timeline, some of these Empires will die off or be eliminated. Others will thrive and fortify themselves.
The Young Kingdoms will draw from All Existing Technology, including Alpha, Omega, Magellanic, Simulator, Lost Empires, Stellar Shadows, and More. The Beginning Empires will closely mirror Alpha and Omega Empires. But over time, strange and wondrous New Empires will be introduced that bear little to no resemblance to any published empire.
One of the primary defining features of the Young Kingdoms is Limited Ship Classes (at least in the Beginning). All of the Young Kingdoms will have no ship larger than a Heavy Cruiser. The Heavy Cruiser will be seen as a type of Dreadnought and utilized as such. Light Cruisers and Destroyers will make up the bulk of each empire’s fleets. This can also tie into the use of V-Technology, using some kind of technobabble to explain that constructing V-Ships from scratch resulted in strict limitations to ship size. In the latter part of the Young Kingdoms Timeline, Ship Classes larger than a Heavy Cruiser may be introduced.
Balance is an essential yet difficult area for the Young Kingdoms. Given the varying nature of V-Technology, it will be nearly impossible to Balance Weapons vs Weapons, Devices vs Devices, Phasers vs Phasers, Ships vs Ships, or even Empires vs Empires. In all likelihood, the best way to achieve Balance in the Young Kingdoms is probably with Fleet Capability vs Fleet Capability. But since the Young Kingdom empires vary in size (minor, major, etc.), their fleets will also vary in size. Still, I will do the best I can to strive for as much Balance as I can achieve with each Young Kingdom empire. It is also possible that Balance can be attained by thoroughly playtesting each Scenario and making sure each side has a nearly equal chance to succeed in terms of the Victory Conditions.
All in all, the Young Kingdoms presents an exciting prospect. This New Galaxy is a fresh, unexplored region, with eager, brash Young Kingdoms striving to create a name and legacy for themselves. They are the pioneers, the risk takers, the ones leading the charge. They are hungry. Some will be ultimately be destroyed by their recklessness. Others will not. The use of V-Technology throughout the Young Kingdoms with their limited Ship Classes provides tactical possibilities unheard of in the Early Years, General War, X-Technology, or X2 Technology. V-Technology represents countless different directions that Existing Technology could have taken, but didn’t historically. It will be a wonder to explore all of these avenues full of new technology and tactics.
