STARDUEL
DESIGNER NOTES
Starduel is inspired by an old game from the early days. What I thought would be a relatively simple and easy New Galaxy to create turned out to more difficult and complex than I previously thought.
Starduel imagines a dystopian galaxy where there are no empires, no governments, and no unified organization watching over everything. Captains and their (skeleton) crew have to fend for themselves…scavenging for resources and parts, trading, fulfilling odd jobs, investigating rumors, exploring uncharted territories, and defending themselves against others in the same position. Way Stations (abandoned Base Stations and very rarely abandoned Starbases) provide temporary relief in-between destinations and also serve as a place where Starduels (a deadly competition between combatants with rewards for those who are victorious) are regularly conducted.
The Goals for Starduel are:
1) A Ship Construction System unlike any other previously created. Instead of using BPV, the Ship Construction System will use Construction Credits (CC’s).
2) Personalized Starships so that each starship is unique as opposed to every starship of a given class being identical.
3) Constant Improvements and Upgrades to Personalized Starships via Construction Credits gained through Starduels and Scenarios (odd jobs, investigation, exploration, etc.)
4) Tactics implemented during Starduels and Scenario Combat.
5) Balance maintained via Construction Credits and the Ship Construction System
Although there are no empires, governments, or a single, unified organization in Starduel, there are Factions and Powerful Individuals with a lot of influence. it is these Factions and Powerful Individuals that drive the Scenarios in Starduel.
The Galaxy that is Starduel is one that used to have many empires, fleets, and governments. They have all crumbled and decayed over the centuries. The remnants of all these things still influence what is modern day Starduel.
Starduels will typically contain some sort of “artificial obstacles, barriers, or terrain” to challenge the competitors even more. This must make sense in terms of the scale of open space.
The Orions, Repair Chart, and Partial X-Refits point the way and provide inspiration for Starduel’s Ship Construction System. They are too limited to use as is, but it is the ideas behind them that are essential.
BPV has such a specific meaning in Star Fleet Battles and it is attached to so many things that the best thing to do is to discard its use in Starduel and come up with my own unit of measurement. This became Construction Credits.
The Ship Construction System starts with a Base Hull which can accommodate a certain number of Systems and Shields. The Base Hulls will range from Frigates to Heavy Cruisers (anything larger should be reserved for special scenarios only). Note that while improvements can be made to the existing Base Hull you are using, it is also common to upgrade your vessel to another Base Hull entirely.
The issues with Starduel begin with Balance. Players will obviously want the most powerful weapons on their ships. So there needs to be restrictions based on type and quantity. For example, a Plasma-R might be super rare (and difficult to obtain) while Drones might be commonplace. Firing Arcs, Shields, Systems, Command Boxes, Shuttles, Repair, and more can be upgraded and changed using the Ship Construction System. The key to Balance is Limitation.
Interestingly, all this thought leads back to the Alpha Sector. It explains why things are the way they are, why you cannot do certain things, why starships are designed a certain way, and why each empire has technology that only they can use. While Starduel is a different entity altogether, the reasoning shines a spotlight on the Alpha Sector and its origins.
There is room to make Omega and Magellanic Tech available in the future, after the Base Ship Construction System has had all of its wrinkles ironed out. But it will take a careful, discerning eye, because much of it could be Unbalancing.
So how to make a single Starduel between two ships Balanced? Construction Credits should be equal, of course. But what if one ship has slightly more Construction Credits (from a recent victory, for example) than the opposing starship? The Alpha Sector has Commanders Options, but will Starduel implement something similar? Is there a different, better, or simpler way to achieve Balance? And even if the Construction Credits are the same, are the two starships truly “equal?”
One of the driving questions behind Starduel is: How can I personalize my starship to make it different from existing starships of the same class? This requires Customization and Upgrades (not a generalized all-encompassing Refit). Unique, personalized Starships is part of the essence of Starduel.
I also want a way for the crew to improve as they achieve more and more success, but I don’t want to go the route of Legendary Crews from the Alpha Sector. Instead, I imagine something much more incremental with different advancement paths and abilities.
As you can see, Starduel requires a lot more thought, effort, and design. Once I finalize the First Draft of the Starship Construction System, some base ships can be constructed. Then two base ships of equal Construction Credits can be flown againt each other to verify they are Balanced. After that, Improvements can be made to some of the base ships and then tested again, to see if the battle is still Balanced even with the additional Construction Credits. Once all that is done, Scenarios, Factions, and Powerful Individuals can be detailed, along with some of the most popular Way Stations. The Base Starship Construction System can be greatly expanded to include many more things. A long road, but one that I think will be worth it in the end.
