March Upon Sol

You have been called home.

The most ancient histories declare that humanity has been spacefaring for twenty-eight millennia, reaching the innermost folds and furthest reaches of the galaxy. They have been traders, conquerors, guides and slaves. Since a precipitous fall ten thousand years ago, no united human polity has existed. All imaginable governments have been tried, all evolutionary paths pursued. The human species is one with untold children. To some races, man is a reviled parasite, a despoiler, a slaver, to others a beloved friend and sworn ally. As many races have been shepherded to enlightenment and prosperity as were sent to oblivion through conquest and genocide.

That is the galaxy you left behind, still smouldering in this longest of nights.

The perilous journey towards a forgotten star, the long-dreamed of Urheimat of Mankind, has come to an end. Now the galaxy writhes in warp storms, and you are marooned in boneyards of humanity's rise to prominence. The system is strange, crowded with the detritus of thirty-six thousand years of history, aliens, technobarbarians and stranger things still hidden amid the ruins. The voice that called you to Sol has grown only stronger still, radiating out from the ruined third planet of the system.

The prize awaits.

March Upon Sol

March Upon Sol is a nation game that uses modified Nexus rules for nation creation.

The players take the roles of spacefaring fleets that have returned to a long-forgotten Sol, in a galaxy where FTL travel has become dangerous and unreliable.

Game Themes

• Technobarbarians: Lots
• Space Magic: Some and Dangerous
• Deep Lore/Metaplot
• Imperialism
• Madness: Max

Setting Details

Sol: What Was and Shall Be

Sol

The star burns brightly, yet undimmed. The ruins of various attempts to farm antimatter or weaponize solar light glitter in the heliosphere, slowly disintegrated by heat, radiation and the passage of time. The solar atmosphere brims with the sweet, sorrowful tones of whalesong.

Sol-1

Ancient Names

• E-NK
• Naboo
• Elmes
• Mrcvrivs
• Budha

Sol-1 was terraformed some time ago, but these efforts have been undone by a lack of maintenance and the solar shade that makes it livable is in a one-thousand year decaying orbit that will eventually end the experiment of life here. The planet is presently in a state of sustained desertfication, and is covered by long strip-mining channels. The locals are landlocked by vast orbital debris and likely fighting over diminishing water resources.

Sol-2

Ancient Names

• I-NNA
• Ishter
• Afrodite
• Vinvs
• Sukra

Sol-2 was successfully terraformed, but the various artificial ecosystems appear to have gone into overdrive. The borders between exotic engineered biomes are literal warzones, and there are signs this evolution is beginning to outpace human ability to adapt to respond to it. Technic ruins here are lavish and well-maintained, but besides a few very prominent cities civilization as a whole appears to be unsophisticated and a mix of hunter-gatherers and scavengers. Orbital debris are light and navigable.

Sol-3

Ancient Names

• Ur
• Land
• Gaya
• Terameter
• Prithvi

Sol-3 is currently in a long period of recovery after a nuclear winter, with competing introduced biomes and ecological devastation so severe it's impossible to tell what the planet's original biosphere was like. Vast technic ruins dot the surface, with entire continental cities in ruins stretching miles above and beneath the surface. Signs of warfare are continuous, with extremely well-armed locals. Orbital debris are severe but can be breached carefully.

Sol-3's moon is dotted in the ruins of massive cities, some of which appear to be occupied.

The signal came from here.

Sol-4

Ancient Names

• G-LANE
• Nergal
• Ars
• MⱯRS
• Mangala

A minimally terraformed world, cold, rocky and unpleasant, but covered in vast industrial works. The atmosphere is breathable and provides tolerable pressure but is mostly composed of industrial pollution. Appears to be in a continuous state of warfare between various polities. Orbital debris are severe, but the locals appear to have the capability to clear them themselves and are actively harvesting them for war materiel.

The Belt

A variety of polities thrive out here, surviving through the processing of the asteroid belts, comet capture as well as trade between the inner and outer system.

Sol-5

Ancient Names

• N-LLL
• Marduk
• Zos
• Dispater
• Brhaspati

The system's largest gas giant is a tempestuous ball of hard radiation, but its orbits are resource-rich and show generations of attempts to harvest fuel from the atmosphere. The moons are almost all inhabited by a variety of human and alien polities.

Sol-6

Ancient Names

• N-NRTA
• Korone
• Cistvrn
• Sani

The beautiful ringed gas giant is home to more sustainable fuel mining operations. The moons are all inhabited to one degree or another.

Sol-7

Ancient Names

• Ur-Novo
• Caelvs
• Mrtyu

Several potent alien polities have settled around Sol-7 for unknown purposes, scavenging the vast shipyards and fuel works built here. The moons are heavily settled and many of them have been terraformed to host alien ecologies.

Sol-8

Ancient Names

• Neptvn
• Poseidal
• Varuna

The cold, icy gas giant at the edge of the system is isolated by distance and shows little to no sign of habitation, though an abundance of technic ruins dot the orbits.

The Outer Leviathan

HAZARD WARNING

Scholars debate whether there was ever ninth planet in Sol, believed to have been named Hades, King Yama or JOKER if such histories were true. No sign of that planet exists now, after twenty-eight thousand years. In its place is the Leviathan, a segmented serpentine creature neither living nor dead, composed of stone and chitin and endless fields of churning, bubbling viscera, sustained by an unknown source of power- a biomechanical terror beyond comprehension. On an irregular orbit at the outer edge of the system, it occupies the path the lost ninth planet is believed to have one followed. Nose to tail it is around 140000 KM-long (nearly half a light second), and 6000 KM in diameter, writhing in legions of skittering horrors birthed from the dark crevices of its world-body.

The Leviathan is disinterested in anything beyond continuing its steady orbit, and the organisms it hosts lack the means to trouble the rest of the solar system.

So far, no expeditions have returned from the Outer Leviathan.

Nation Creation

Nation creation is slightly more complex than regular Nexus due to the smaller scope and need to break up statlines into more discrete units. Do not fret, it's all neatly laid out in a step by step guide.

Step 1: Basic Information and Traits

Players are asked to fill out basic information providing the answers to basic questions like who their state is, where they came from, what kind of government they have, etc.

Additionally every player begins with 2 Trait Points to spend on Positive Traits. Additional Trait Points may be acquired by taking on Negative Traits, to a maximum of 2. Players can take as many Neutral Traits as they like, but the total number of traits (Positive, Negative or Neutral) cannot exceed 8.

Basic Information

• Faction Name: The name of your group.
• Type: Are you a pirate band, an expeditionary group sent by a far-flung polity, the last exiles of dying race?
• Emergence Point: Where did your fleet leave FTL? It can be any location on the system atlas, except for Sol-3 for unknown reasons. Note this is also where reinforcements will arrive.

Positive Traits

• Adept Tech/Magic: Gain +2 to an Aptitude or Path of Magic. Related Unique Techs are also slightly stronger.
• Chosen One: Your group is led by/are the custodians of a paranormally gifted human being who led you to Sol, heeding the call to gather from Sol-3. This individual has plot armor and is a powerful exemplar of your strengths and weaknesses. The rest of your faction can be aliens, but the individual in question must be human.
• Far Traders: Your path to Sol led you across the galaxy, allowing you to build better maps of both the stars and galactic history. Once per budget turn, discover a 'secret' in your archives (i.e.: the GM will answer a lore question).
• Fleet of Fog: Relying on advanced mental models, you can build and crew ships without local recruits or reinforcements. Your ships also have the advantage of being hardy and limping away from most fights that aren't a decisive loss.
• Gene Army: Thanks to the vats and/or robot assembly bays, you can build ground units without access to local recruits or reinforcements.
• Hetaroi: Your leader's bodyguard unit are truly exceptional special forces, providing a layer of plot armor against assassinations and a tool for special missions.
• Kataphractoi: You have a select group of powerful warrior post-humans who represent the tip of the sphere in terms of leadership, boarding actions and ground combat. You may build Superelites.
• Macrofabricators: Starting Year 2, your newbuild ships build instantly when ordered. You still only benefit from that production cycle once per year, as normal.
• Mr Magoo Diplomacy: Your agents have a habit of blundering into adventures and getting kidnapped. Useful source of war justification.
• Mothership Cryo-Trays: You can freely raise ground and fleet assets without local recruits. On the other hand, losing your flagship would absolutely cripple morale.
• Navigators: Freely assign your starting forces between any location on the solar atlas. Furthermore, your future reinforcements can arrive at any location you have eyes on, not just your initial emergence point.
• Recall Point: You retain limited FTL capability even with the disruptions to travel, and are able to jump back to the last system on your trip to Sol. An empty red dwarf system with a small debris field, it provides a safe place to keep assets and for reinforcements to arrive.
• Space Hulk: Your flagship absorbs destroyed ships, like a gyre collecting floatsam. Provided you are able to linger on the battlefield, absorb 25% of all fleet casualties as free FP added to your ship. Combat damage has a tendency to shear these additions off, however.
• The Mighty: Through augmentation, superior genetics, occult enhancement or by your alien natures, your species is beyond standard humans in several useful ways. Provide a writeup of the ways your people are superior to human beings as though it were a Unique Tech, with a specific scope or set of adaptations in mind. This can be repurchased a second time for a second effect, and so on.
• Worm-kin: The Outer Leviathan does not see you as enemy, allowing you to safely navigate using it as an emergence point. The sentients it hosts may regard you differently, however.
• Warrior Cult: Your culture believes in the transformative power of war. When you win major engagements, turn 10% of your naval FP casualties (except for Supply Ships) and 25% of your ground FP casualties into new build units of a superior type.

Neutral Traits

• Bussard Scoops: Your supply ships do not produce supply and your ships don't need any to function. On the other hand, every vessel in your fleet is much more fragile due to the large vulnerable tanks full of volatile gasses.
• Gros Michaelship: Your flagship is larger and better-engineered than usual. You may trade 2 points of escorts for 1 extra point of mothership, and 'store' half its total mass in Support Ship FP.
• Honorable: You command and crew very admirably have exceptionally rigorous ethics, but perhaps fail to grasp the situation in the Urheimat. You can trust everyone you meet without any consequences, I promise.
• Internationalism: You have an ideological axis (political economy, economic system or religion) that you have to perpetuate. Groups with a pre-existing affinity towards that ideology make natural allies, but you have trouble doing anything diplomatically besides proselytizing and bloc-building.
• Realpolitik: You have an ideological axis (political economy, economic system or religion) that you see yourself as the natural gatekeeper of. Diplomacy with fellow travellers is more difficult, but your people tend to not mind (or are unable to express annoyance with) treaties with ideological enemies.

Negative Traits

• Blood Vendetta: Anyone who kills even a single one of your units, steals a claim or manages to tarnish your reputation becomes an enemy for life. Blood must be paid with blood.
• Brannigan's Wake: Military intel reports will always lie, suggesting the enemy is much weaker than it really is. If you cooperate with other players, this penalty affects them so long as you work together.
• Creeping Paranoia: You will occasionally receive false intel reports of various threats.
• Doomed Homeland: In 5-10 years your reinforcements will be cut off completely. If you didn't take Reinforcements, the threat instead arrives for you in the Urheimat.
• Heart of Darkness: Units may occasionally Go Native. This is caused by units either being defeated without being destroyed or achieving a too-overwhelming victory. Your captains are much more vulnerable to having space madness whispered into their ears by spies.
• Intolerant: You cannot meaningfully cooperate with factions that do not share 50% or more of your exact Traits and intangible rankings (Advancement, Magic, etc). For NPCs, this is abstracted by the GM.
• Inept Tech/Magic: Choose one Aptitude or Path of Magic. Your starting cap in it is 0. Furthermore, the GM will design a unique tech representing your particular weaknesses in that field.
• Just Miners: None of your initial ships are armed beyond point-defense, and the technobarbarians will not respect you until you start earning some serious victories. If you have to fight a war, you'll have a lot of work to do.
• Lonesome Road: You never developed FTL, and arrived via slower-than-light relativistic ship, so-called 'lighthuggers'. Reinforcements always arrive via the outer system and may pass through the path of the Outer Leviathan.
• Mobile Pleasure Palace: Your ships are extra spacious and luxurious at the cost of combat effectiveness. The Fleet Points assigned to Structural allocation are increased by 10% (to 60% default).
• Nanofab DRM: Your supply ships cannot construct ships. You will have to capture or build infrastructure, or rely on reinforcements.
• On Strange Shores: The journey to Sol had few detours and you are displaced in time from the other arrivals. Start without translation protocols, a star chart of Sol or any 'common sense' regarding the Urheimat. Other players attempting to remedy your issues must commit considerable resources to do so.
• Trevelyan's Tax Ledger: Any territory you take control of will seem to be exceptionally productive. This is because of corner-cutting, onerous tariffs and abuses by your magistrates. Rebellions will be constant and natural disasters will be especially catastrophic.
• Scattering: Your emergence location is random and a percentage of your initial force will be sent to a second location. Worse, so is the emergence location of any potential reinforcements.
• Sneering Imperialists: Open source intel reports will always lie, suggesting the enemy's territory is inefficient, impoverished and mismanaged. If you cooperate with other players, this penalty affects them so long as you work together. Your diplomacy is also penalized since you have no respect for others.
• Warpburned: FTL, psychic phenomenon and other effects are anathema to you. You may still develop the relevant competencies but do so at your own peril.

Step 2: Rankings

Simply assign your points to each of the categories until you run out. That'll give you the basis around which to write up the details of your faction. You have 35 points to build your faction.

Expedition Size

Rank 0 (0 Points): They only sent you. One ship of up to 18 Fleet Points.

Rank 1 (1 Point): A small expeditionary force. One flagship of up to 18 Fleet Points, and additional 100 Fleet Points in escorts.

Rank 2 (2 Points): A decent navy. One flagship of up to 20 Fleet Points, and an additional 250 Fleet Points in escorts.

Rank 3 (3 Points): A grand armada. One flagship of up to 30 Fleet Points, and an additional 450 Fleet Points in escorts.

Rank 4 (4 Points): A migrant fleet. One flagship of up to 40 Fleet Points, and an additional 700 Fleet Points in escorts.

Rank 5 (5 Points): A wagon train to the stars. One flagship of up to 200 Fleet Points, and an additional 1000 Fleet Points in escorts.

Ranks over 5 cost 1 Point each and add 50 FP to the flagship and 200 to the escort pool.

Expedition Support

Support skiffs, mobile spacedocks and bulk fuel transports. 1 FP of supply ship can support 4 FP of ships for a whole year. Alternatively, 5 FP in support ships provides 1 construction point. Supply must be assigned one way or the other and the assignment must be made at the start of the year.

Rank 0 (0 Points): 0 Fleet Points of supply ships. Ouch.

Rank 1 (2 Points): 100 Fleet Points of supply ships, which can perform 20 point of construction or supply 400 points of ships for a year with a fuel source.

Rank 2 (4 Points): 200 Fleet Points of supply ships, which can perform 40 point of construction or supply 800 points of ships for a year with a fuel source.

Rank 3 (6 Points): 350 Fleet Points of supply ships, which can perform 70 point of construction or supply 1400 points of ships for a year with a fuel source.

Rank 4 (8 Points): 500 Fleet Points of supply ships, which can perform 100 points of construction or supply 2000 points of ships for a year with a fuel source.

Rank 5 (10 Points): 700 Fleet Points of supply ships, which can perform 140 points of construction or supply 2800 points of ships for a year with a fuel source.

Rank 6 (12 Points): 1000 Fleet Points of supply ships, which can perform 200 points of construction or supply 4000 points of ships for a year with a fuel source.

Ranks over 5 cost 2 Points each and add 100 FP of supply ships.

Expeditionary Troops

Marines and specialty troops. Each comes with their own sturdy transports which can't really fight but won't immediately evaporate in combat. Every 2 Fleet Points in Expeditionary Troops translates to a full supported company of regular units or fewer numbers of elites and armor.

Rank 0 (0 Points): You have an away team available for the odd misadventure on a planet but nothing more. 2 Fleet Points in Auxiliaries, or 1 company.

Rank 1 (1 Points): You have a few brigades of marines. 20 Fleet Points in marines and their landing craft, or 10 companies.

Rank 2 (3 Points): You brought a legion. 200 Fleet Points in troops and their landing craft, or 100 companies.

Rank 3 (5 Points): You brought five legions. 1000 Fleet Points in troops and their landing craft, or 500 companies.

Ranks over 3 cost 5 Points each and add 1000 Fleet Points in troops.

Reinforcements

Reinforcements use the sum of the initial Expeditionary Fleet and Troops, but not Support Units.

Rank 0 (0 Points): You're it. Good luck.

Rank 1 (1 Points): Reinforcements are trickling in over time. You'll get 5% of your initial expedition or 10 Fleet Points every time the warp lanes clear up, whichever is bigger.

Rank 2 (3 Points): The homeland takes this operation very seriously. You'll get 10% of your initial expedition or 40 Fleet Points every time the warp lanes clear up, whichever is bigger.

Command

Rank 0 (0 Points): Your ships operate more or less independently, as do any potential conquests.

Rank 1 (1 Points): You can set 1 Command Objective per Turn.

Rank 2 (3 Points): You can set 2 Command Objectives per Turn.

Rank 3 (6 Points): You can set 3 Command Objectives per Turn.

Rank 4 (12 Points): You can set 4 Command Objectives per Turn.

Logistics

Rank 0 (0 Points): No infrastructure except for what you conquer.

Rank 1 (1 Points): You can set 1 Logistics Task per Turn.

Rank 2 (3 Points): You can set 2 Logistics Tasks per Turn.

Rank 3 (6 Points): You can set 3 Logistics Tasks per Turn.

Rank 4 (12 Points): You can set 4 Logistics Tasks per Turn.

Diplomacy

Rank 0 (0 Points): No diplomacy except for threats and what people send your way.

Rank 1 (1 Points): You can set 1 Diplomatic Mission per Turn.

Rank 2 (3 Points): You can set 2 Diplomatic Missions per Turn.

Rank 3 (6 Points): You can set 3 Diplomatic Missions per Turn.

Rank 4 (12 Points): You can set 4 Diplomatic Missions per Turn.

General Advancement

General Advancement represents broad-base mastery of mass and energy, and general performance. Units built with only General Advancement will typically be 'vanilla humantech' designs, with railguns, lasers, missiles, solid armor and kinetic or laser-based PDW to intercept projectiles. Every point of General Advancement also grants 5 points of Aptitudes (see Derived Stats).

Rank 0 (0 Points): Kardashev Type 0 civilization, primitive technology just barely capable of interplanetary flight.

Rank 1 (1 Points): Kardashev Type I civilization, the basic level of technology over much of the Milky Way.

Rank 2 (3 Points): Kardashev Type I+ civilization, planetary mastery of mass and energy with the ability to travel faster than light.

Rank 3 (6 Points): Kardashev Type II civilization, the height enjoyed for much of human civilization. Planets were transformed into glittering city-worlds and terraformed into paradises, whole stars were harnessed to power the demands of human enterprise.

Rank 4 (9 Points): Kardashev Type II+ civilization, the peak of human civilization before the Long Night and the Age of Strife. Humanity had begun to transform planets into vast engines of industry and computation, bent space-time to small but useful ends and had laid the foundations of megastructures which now seem impossible.

Divergent Advancement

Divergent Advancement represents a departure from purely numerical superiority to more specific qualitative ones, combining emergent technologies like nanomachinery, exotic biology, psychic crystals or paranormal but not particularly miraculous capabilities. As opposed to the Magic trait, 'mystical' divergent advancements are highly repeatable and mass-produced. Each point of Divergent Advancement provides 5 points that can be allocated towards Aptitudes, which stacks with General Advancement but also restricts interoperability. States with Divergent Advancement can only service, repair or reuse equipment produced by states within 1 deviation of their Rank (i.e.: a DA3 state can repair eq. DA2 or DA4 equipment).

Rank 0 (0 Points): No deviations from the historical galactic norm.

Rank 1 (1 Points): Some sideways developments from the standard paradigm, nanoswarms or bio-engineered organisms as tools, or exotic materials to bypass certain engineering constraints.

Rank 2 (2 Points): Exotic particle physics, ontological weaponry (bullets inscribed with killing curses), bio-engineered organisms acting as battlefield actors or vehicles, resurrection via mind-engram consciousness transfer.

Rank 3 (4 Points): Ubiquitous biotech, outright incorporation of stable esoterica into industry (gatling guns made of so-called 'magic wands' fixed on a rotary mount, runic energy shields), extradimensional energy sources and entities (so-called daemons).

Rank 4 (8 Points): Battleship hulls made of the remains of undying worm-gods, acausal weaponry (guns that invert the target's entropy and cause them to disintegrate in agony as their particles drift backwards in time towards the Big Bang), outright resurrection of an 'essential' self without concern for continuity of consciousness.

Tech Theory

Rank 0 (0 Points): You do not understand your own tech base, you can only reproduce what you already have. Reinforcements have to be copies of your initial designs. If the last example of something you have is destroyed, it becomes Lostech.

Rank 1 (1 Points): You have a good understanding of your own tech base, and are never at risk of permanently losing access to it. Your reinforcements and new builds can be of any design you are capable of.

Rank 2 (3 Points): Where others have forgotten secrets in the Long Night, you continue to learn. Gain a point of Aptitude every year you make a promising find. Particularly dramatic discoveries may result in 2.

Rank 3 (6 Points): The enemy is using ion cannons, (beat) we are now capable of deploying ion cannons. You can copy units that you recover intact, and restore salvaged examples and conduct research (via Logistics Tasks) to turn them into Unique Techs to exceed your General/Divergent Advancement rating.

Tech Praxis

Rank 0 (0 Points): You do not understand technology that isn't native to your tech base. You can't use salvage or teach NPCs how to use your designs.

Rank 1 (2 Points): You can reliably use and maintain recovered artifacts and purchased goods, as normal. You can teach NPCs within 1 Rank of your Divergent Advancement how to use sold equipment.

Rank 2 (4 Points): As above, but increase the limit to 2 Ranks. Furthermore, you can conduct Logistics Tasks to permanently raise the General Advancement, Divergent Advancements, Unique Technology or Aptitudes of NPCs 1 step closer to your own rating, if higher.

Rank 3 (6 Points): Your understanding of alien technology is such that you can improve upon foreign designs and contribute know-how. When you refit foreign units, they are treated as having the best-of either faction's Aptitudes (theirs or yours) and any unique techs you want to share. Once per production cycle you can designate such a unit being a Masterwork, providing +10% free FP to spend on BODS allocations and a character shield.

Unique Technology

Provides unique advantages in excess of what is provided by General/Divergent Advancements. These can be situational bonuses to a specific action (ECM that specifically jams long-range targeting and inhibit radio transmissions) or systems that provide somewhat intangible benefits (psychic-controlled attack drones).

Rank 0 (0 Points): Nothing special beyond what's implied by your Advancement ranks.

Rank 1 (1 Point): 1 unique tech.

Rank 2 (2 Points): 2 unique techs.

Rank 3 (3 Points): 3 unique techs.

Rank 4 (5 Points): 4 unique techs.

Every Rank over 4 costs 2 Points and grants 1 extra Unique Tech.

Magic

Every point of Magic also provides 5 points of to assign in Magic Paths, which represent specific highly specific disciplines that you have reliable access to.

Rank 0 (0 Points): No magic rests at your call.

Rank 1 (1 Point): This is fairly small-time stuff like Jedi Mind tricks and similar cantrips, or the presence of just a (literal) handful of more talented individuals. Some of it may even be ‘scientific’; cyberpunk mind-reading, memetic engineering or the like. 10% of your ground units can be Mages or related combination units.

Rank 2 (2 Points): More powerful and more systemic paranormal powers are present in your nation. You may have a psy-corp or other telepathic group. 25% of your ground units can be Mages or related combination units.

Rank 3 (4 Points): Your force is accompanied by a powerful organization of sorcerers capable of wielding supernatural power above and beyond what is normal. 50% of your ground units can be Mages or related combination units.

Rank 4 (6 Points): The people of your nation have evolved or somehow manifest nearly ubiquitous ‘magic’, and may even use it on a large scale, capable of attacking starships and turning the course of entire battles. 100% of your ground units can be Mages or related combination units.

Occult Lore

Rank 0 (0 Points): Your powers may be great, but lack context. You know nothing of the paranormal other than your own capabilities.

Rank 1 (1 Points): You have accumulated some occult lore. At this stage you can broadly identify differences between the origins and sources of occult power, and with some effort conduct appropriate countermeasures.

Rank 2 (2 Points): Your library is well-stocked and smells of rich mahogany. If you ever suffer a magical effect, you always identify it in hindsight and get some hints as to countermeasures. You can tech NPCs within 1 Rank of your Magic rating how to perform rituals and powers of the same sort as yours, and borrow theirs as well.

Rank 3 (4 Points): You leave the matters of the occult to top men. As above, but increase the limit to 2 Ranks. Furthermore, you can conduct Diplomatic Missions to permanently raise the Divergent Advancements, Magic or Paths of NPCs 1 step closer to your own rating, if higher.

Step 3: Derived Attributes

Aptitudes

Aptitudes is the improvement your state has over the generally-accepted galactic baseline. (or, in some cases, inferiority relative to said!) While having more aptitudes does tend to correlate with being more 'advanced', aptitudes also represent habits, doctrines, lessons learned and the result of iterative design improvement as opposed to simply scientific advances. A nation with no aptitudes in a field may not actually be intrinsically bad at them, merely that they do (for example) do not normally fit large radar arrays to their battleships or high-angle dogfight missiles to their interceptors.

Aptitude is broken into various functional fields such as armor, propulsion, etc. Nations start with 0 aptitude levels in all fields and may spend Aptitude Points to increase these. Higher ranks have diminishing returns with every 2 ranks doubles the cost (so Rank 3-4 costs 2 points, Rank 5-6 costs 4 points, and so on). Stealth, Sensors, Control, Production and Mobility instead double every 4.

Aptitudes are coded using BODS from the ship design system to show dependencies, representing the various elements of unit design.

• Basic: Intrinsic, universal design elements such as engines, superstructure, life support, etc.
• Offensive
• Defensive
• Systems: Quality of life systems, sophisticated electronics, etc.

Melee Weaponry (O)

Melee Weaponry is a broad collection of ways to inflict harm up close. These range from the classic (laser) sword to hand grenades, shotguns and iron palm strikes on the level of individuals. On vehicles it more commonly takes the form of weapons optimized for extremely short ranges as opposed to literally touching distances, such as carronades, low-velocity demolition rockets, kinetic lances, high-intensity but rapidly dispersing cutting beams and the like. In aircraft, smaller caliber machineguns can also be considered melee, as they have ample magazines and shorter ranges. Melee aptitude can also be assumed to come with training in brutal, close-quarters fighting, such as urban or jungle battles. Finally, melee aptitude improves the ability to survive in up-close fights.

Every assigned rank improves the effectiveness of Melee Weaponry allocation by 50%.

Weaponry (O)

Weaponry is the general, all-purpose Make Things Explode Satisfyingly aptitude. Conventionally it covers 'guns' - kinetic or energy - ranging from lasguns to kinetic macrobatteries. Rockets and missiles sometimes fall under this category, but larger and more deadly ones are more typically better represented by Exotic Weaponry (see below).

Every assigned rank improves the effectiveness of Weaponry allocation by 50%.

Exotic Weaponry (O)

Exotic Weaponry are weapons that inseparably combine the virtue of devastating power with limited uses. While this may not be literally only two or three missiles on a ship, in practical terms they have sharply limited shots. They also tend to sidestep (eg: top attack) or simply ignore (eg: shield-piercing) more conventional forms of defenses, but are more vulnerable to disruption from other sources such as ECM. Exotic weapons have the most breadth when it comes to missiles, ranging from thermobaric RPGs to shipkiller missiles. Some forms of powerful energy weaponry (either self-destructive or requiring large capacitors/E-caps that cannot be meaningfully replenished during combat) would also apply, as does the common plasma torpedo, one of the most popular small-ship weapons. Even things like a selection of exotic munitions to slam into your tank cannon could count. All this said, it is also important to know that exotic weapons scale less significantly than other, more conventional weapons; a destroyer can fire a plasma torpedo just as powerful as a battleship, though the latter will have several backup plasma chambers so it can fire several more times. As exotic weapons are rather broader and more varied than convention pew-pew guns, it helps to show some specificity in what they are. (eg 'Plasma torpedoes' or 'Swarmer missiles' - different effects might apply!)

Every assigned rank improves the effectiveness of Exotic Weaponry allocation by 50%.

Armor (D)

Armor is the use of passive protection methods to improve survivability; this includes both actual physical armor to resist damaging penetration and clever design coupled with redundancy and internal subdivision to mitigate the damage done to internal systems and thus combat effectiveness. Due to the sheer mass of fitting significant armor along with the design compromises it forces – after all you want to poke as few holes as possible in your protective scheme – it is typical for armor to be concentrated on the most important sections or arcs of a unit, leaving other parts more lightly protected.

Every assigned rank improves the effectiveness of Armor allocation by 50%.

Shields (D)

Shields are the middle tier of defenses, wrapping the valuable object – be it a soldier or a superbattleship – in a boundary field of force. Shields work to dissipate energy strikes and decelerate physical projectiles, deflecting them away from actually striking the enemy’s target. Most shields are reactive of varying complexity and quality, pulling power from large capacitor banks to automatically reinforce themselves as they are penetrated. In many cases shields can also be angled, dynamically adjusting their angles to provide reinforced protection against likely impact vectors. By their nature shields are less effective at providing complete protection against weapon fire than armor, but shields can be used to protect external fittings like sensors and fire control.

Every assigned rank improves the effectiveness of Shields allocation by 50%.

ECM (D)

ECM is the third and final tier of defense, covering all forms of active defense ranging from various sophisticated jamming systems to decoys and chaff to short-range hard-kill systems. These all share the protective method of attempting to keep enemy fire from ever impacting. While not getting hit is the best way of surviving, ECM does nothing to protect a unit if it does get hit and generally needs some time/distance to function most effectively – not to mention warning. ECM is particularly effective against exotic weapons and essentially irrelevant in melee, and due to its disruptive effects is one of the better ways of protecting against strategic magic.

Every assigned rank improves the effectiveness of ECM allocation by 50%.

Sensors (S)

Sensors are the various technologies used to find and track things, often hostile things. While this has obvious application, sensors are also quite helpful in fire control, especially at long-range. Tactically, Sensors lower the target numbers of Weaponry and Exotic Weapons and ignore ECM and environmental penalties. Strategically, Sensors provide various insights when exploring and surveying and negate the strategic effect of Stealth at a 2-1 ratio if the player issues orders to picket or perform long-range scans in the direction of an observed fleet.

Control (S)

Control is mostly your technical abilities in the various alphabet abilities; C3ISR etc etc. It covers both command and communication; essentially getting your orders where they need to in a timely manner. It does not necessarily make your troops more disciplined or more likely to follow orders, though a better OODA loop probably does mean your leaders will be giving a few less wrong orders. Tactically, every point of command provides a reroll to an unlucky dice. Strategically, it provides a hedge against orders being ignored or misunderstood by commanders and adds to espionage defence.

Stealth (S)

Stealth represents both doctrinal and technical dedication to avoiding detection. This ranges from techniques like burst communications and an emphasis on passive sensors to technologies like low probability of interceptor radars and radar-absorbing materials. Stealth's primary benefit is strategic, where it allows a certain amount of public movement to be concealed (this must be clarified in private orders), allowing 10% of the FP value assigned to be obscured or hidden (ships still require some amount of system mass assigned to Stealth to benefit). At Rank 10, people generally know what you're up to but never what you send to do it.

Mobility (B)

Mobility represents the efficiency and performance of your propulsion systems, and doctrinal emphasis on agility and rapid deployment in ground combat. Mobility has two effects: tactically, it provides a single Maneuver per rank per engagement, so factions with 0 Mobility must simply accept fights at whatever range and tempo the opponent sets. Second, it divides all strategic distances by (rating +1), so a 2-week burn from Earth to Jupiter takes 1 week at Mobility 1, 5 days at Maneuver 2, etc.

Production (B)

Production represents efficiencies in unit production, interoperability of parts and economies of scale. Unlike the other Aptitudes, Production is straightforward. Every tier improves the output of Construction from any source (Supply Ships, built infrastructure, captured and converted shipyards, etc) by 10%.

Paths

Humanity has delved into the paranormal since before the dawn of spaceflight, practising theurgy and drawing on the names of long-forgotten gods to perform miracles, practising fortune telling, mind-reading and other minor feats. It was only well into mankind's first age of space colonization that these phenomenon became a verifiable scientific fact. Most forms of 'magic' draw on lower or higher planes, using sheer force of will to compel these alien energies to service the caster's will. With the warp storms disrupting FTL travel, the incidence of such individuals and their power has been steadily increasing, as have other forms of willworking such as sorcerous rituals, which turn the collective unconscious of the attendees into an ontological circuitboard to direct these arcane energies to the sorcerer's ends, and reality-defying artifice (so-called 'mad science').

Paths are the most common patterns for these practices, evoking specific behaviours. Each can furthermore be defined into Generalist and Specialist, the latter representing a thematic or elemental focus. Specialized Paths gain a +1 Rank or +33% effective Rank, whichever is higher.

The function of Magic Paths is further detailed in the magic section.

Life

The Path of Life is the primordial magic of humanity. For as long as humans have existed, there has been injury and disease and with that the prayers and herbal remedies of priests to cure it, the charms of wise women for good births and offerings to the gods for good harvests and fat cattle. While the technological god of industrialized agriculture and scientific medicine replaced these practices, they returned in force every time the light of civilization faded even a little.

To follow this Path is to control the stuff of life, healing injuries, commanding plagues and warping flesh with equal leisure.

Example Specialties

• Specific Organism
• Disease
• Transformation
• Mutation
• Healing

Example Combinations

• Mind: Second Wind
• Force: Superhuman Strength
• Matter: Create/Slay Cyborgs

Force

The Path of Force is the second-oldest magic. Warfare came about sometime after humanity separated from a single survivor band into many tribes and clades, their differences seemingly irreconcilable. For the tip of the spear to pierce flesh, the arrow to fly true, for lightning to strike dry August fields and steal away the enemy's harvest with fire, prayers onto gods of war and storms were often uttered. These miracles were eventually surpassed by the cannon, but the Long Night has seen the birth of new breeds of willworker who can surpass the greatest weapons with only their killing words.

Example Specialties

• Specific Force
• Destruction
• Protection
• Enhancement

Example Combinations

• Life: Bio-Lightning
• Matter: Create Exotic High-Energy Matter
• Space: Implosion

Mind

The Path of the Mind was developed as humans created more sophisticated societies. Language, images and stories became means to control and guide myriad human wills towards various purposes. Eras where individuality has been the dominant spirit in social organization have become rarer since mastery of the mind has been realized. Only the essential 'soul' remains unconquered by this discipline, should it truly exist.

Example Specialties

• Specific Organism
• Emotion
• Memory
• Control
• Insanity

Example Combinations

• Force: Telekinesis
• Life: Addiction
• Matter: Create Intelligent Constructs

Matter

The Path of Matter sprang into being as human civilization grew to truly staggering heights and people began to view the artifice around them with near-religious awe. Around that time, the ancient practice of alchemy became commonplace, as mystics attempted to transform common lead and other metals into noble substances such as gold. Now with the era of technological miracles long-passed, sorcerers aspire to recreate greater things than mere gold.

Example Specialties

• Specific Object or Material
• Constructs
• Reinforcement
• Reconstruction
• Transmutation

Example Combinations

• Life: Stone to Flesh/Flesh to Stone
• Space: Bag of Holding
• Force: (Magic) Missile

Space

The Path of Space was born when humans realized the terrifying vastness of the world they were born to. As civilization spread beyond a single city, and cities themselves became vast and divided by class, desire and yearning formed in the hearts of those first practitioners of the Path. Such innocent love is not the only conduit for the Path however, as the jealous gaze of paranormal stalkers and the covetous hoarding of sorcerers concealing their richest in long-forgotten pocket realms have fuelled equally great achievements.

Hate too drives innovation, for there is no greater yearning than the warrior who wishes his aim were only slightly more true the moment before he dies in battle.

Example Specialties

• Teleportation
• Scrying
• Propulsion
• Distortion
• Pocket Dimensions

Example Combinations

• Force: Affect Time
• Life: Enlarge/Shrink Life
• Matter: Enlarge/Shrink Object

Unique Technologies

Unique technologies are highly personal, situational bonuses that add flavor to the state. Each one is vetted by the GM but either adds a single use of a special action per single engagement, qualitative upgrades to ground or space units, a useful strategic action that can be used now and then or the equivalent to a +3 to a single Aptitude in a specific circumstance.

Example Unique Techs

• Anti-Beam Armor: Increased protection vs energy weapons only.
• Teleportation Packs: Ground units can teleport to the planetary surface without being contested by orbital defences.
• Psychic Bits: Energy-based Exotic Weaponry that has more ammo and all-range attack but can be destroyed by point-defense.
• Lightsabers: +3 Melee Weaponry for Mage/Superelite combo units only.

Step 4: Unit Design

Naval Units

From the smallest corvettes to the largest dreadnoughts, all ships in March Upon Sol are designed via the allocation system and BODS, which stands for 'Basic, Offensive, Defensive and Systems' as also described in the Aptitudes section, representing the four possible allocations for ship mass. When designing naval units, the size of the craft is based on their FP, with more FP equalling larger ships. 50% of the ship's FP is pre-assigned to structural and critical elements like reactors, engines, life support, point-defence screens and cargo space (the B in BODS) and the remaining FP can be divided between offence, defence and systems (the ODS). The effectiveness of these assignments corresponds to Aptitude ratings, as described in each section (i.e.: 10 points of Weaponry with 4 Weaponry Aptitude is equal to 20 points of basetech Weaponry), rounding up in the case of fractions. Certain allocations have special rules described in their own writeups.

Ships up to size 10 are bought in small groups called squadrons, which consist of four warships. Some of these warships may carry their own small (Size 0) vessels along with them, either because they're carriers or some form of omniship with its own fighter compliment.

Construction is done yearly, and unused construction points can be carried forward into subsequent years. A faction builds at its full construction up to its fleet support rating. Once it exceeds this rating, it's construction drops to 50% of normal. Once support is exceeded by more than double, all construction stops as all logistics shifts towards just barely keeping the lights on. Note that having more fleet than you can support is not recommended as it also causes spare parts shortages and a degradation of combat effectiveness.

Your starting fleet works just the same as ships built in game, but you have a number of points equal to your space fleet rating.

Construction Table

Fighters and fighter bombers, carrier launched aircraft. Cost: 0, if included in larger ships; Independent squadrons: 1

FTL capable single ships, Calions and large strategic bombers. Cost: 2

Very small combat starships: missile boats, torpedo boats or E-boats Cost: 4

Miniature multi-purpose combat starship: Corvettes or cutters Cost: 6

Small escorts: Modern Frigate. Cost: 8

Large escorts: Modern destroyers, Age of Sail Frigates Cost: 10

Medium Fleet Ship: a standard cruiser, a monitor Cost: 12

Heavy Fleet Ship: small ship of the line, heavy cruiser Cost: 14

Small Capital ship: Battle Cruiser/Fleet Carrier Cost: 16

Capital Ship: Battleship Cost: 18

Large Capital Ship: Super Carrier, Very large battleship Cost: 20

Very Large Capital Ship: Super dreadnought, Juggernaut Cost: 30

Mobile Base: Mother Carriers, City Ships Cost: 40

Battle Moons, Fortress Iserlohn. Cost: 200+

Allocation Types

Basic

• Structure: By default, 50% of the total FP cost of a ship must be pre-allocated to this type. This represents all of the essentials to make a ship space-worthy. If you start taking hits to Structure, people start dying and the engines go dark, very fast.
• Redundancy: Extra assignments to Redundancy give a ship extra resiliency. Not extra useful in combat, but can mean the difference between life and death when an anomaly pops and melts the bridge.
• Nacelles/Secondary Drives: Every 10% (or 1 FP, if the design is Size 14 or less) of FP assigned to Secondary Drives provides an additional Maneuver per engagement, and adds to the transit time reduction from the Mobility aptitude.

Offence

• Melee Weaponry: This represents everything from short-ranged laser bores, short-ranged batteries, to things like damaging plasma fields, ramming prows and boarding pods. Works best at Short range.
• Weaponry: Your bread and butter, consisting of any weapon that can engage at most ranges for the length of the battle.
• Exotic Weaponry: Highly damaging, limited-use weapons with additional nasty effects like shield-piercing, armor-piercing, radar disruption or setting off nuclear payloads in the ammo stores. Comes in two varieties:
  • Arrays: Fire once per engagement with the full force of your EW allocation. The Exotic Weapons aptitude bonus can either add extra shots per engagement (2 shots at EW2, 3 at EW4, etc) or extra damage (+50% per rank), choose one.
  • Batteries: Fire once per EW allocation, almost always hits harder than regular Weaponry. The Exotic Weapons aptitude bonus can either add extra shots per engagement (x2 shots at EW2, x3 at EW4, etc) or extra damage (+50% per rank), choose one.

Defence

• Armor: Absorbs hits before any other component is damaged.
• Shields: Provides damage mitigation before Armor and Structure are affected.
• ECM: Negates hits outright before damage mitigation and ablative HLs are burned through. Also provides some magical protection.

Systems

• Sensors: Provides a general bonus to surveys, science and other non-combat actions. Supports up to 10 points of Offensive allocation, reducing target numbers in combat and negating some ECM. Friendly ships in formation can picket for one another.
• Control: Allows the ship in question to benefit from the faction's Command (the Ranking) and Control (the Aptitude) benefits. By designating a flagship for a given group of naval units with Control allocation, it also allows for coordinated maneuvers, focused fire, screening and picketing. Extra Control allocation prevents your admiral from being sniped, sending the whole force into disarray.
• Stealth: Allows the ship to benefit from the faction's Stealth benefits. Minimum of 10% (or 1 FP, if the design is Size 14 or less) for full function.

Special Rules

Overengineering

Ships may be built with FP in excess of their apparent size. Basic FP must still be allocated as normal, but half of this surcharge is treated as Redundancy rather than Structure. For example a corvette overbuilt to 8 FP has 3 Structure and 1 Redundancy instead of 4 Structure. The cost for overengineering increases 100% every double of the apparent FP base, so a Corvette with 3 times the 'stuff' in it would cost a total of 4 times the Construction, 4x overengineering would cost 6 times, and so on.

Marine Ships

By default, Expeditionary Troops fly around in their own transports. Players may attach ground unit FP to warships and make them into landing ships, battle barges and the like. While this has the advantage of protecting vulnerable ground troops in transit, it prevents the ship from doing anything else but support and coordinate the ground force. If seperated from their mothership, marine units of this type suffer serious maluses in performance.

Aerospace Craft

Fighter craft have a single BODS assignment on them to represent their specialization. Melee, Weaponry, Exotic Weaponry and Stealth are self-evident, while Armor, Redundency and Shields produce heavy fighters that hold up in combat but are only armed with point-defence. ECM, Sensors and Command make for EWACs planes. Finally, Additional Drives produces particular fast, fragile craft like interceptors. Aerospace units can be Overengineered as normal naval units.

Example Ships

Magmotor-class Corvette [Standard Corvette]: A hardy ship suited to this little dark age.

Size: 6

Cost: 6

3 Structure

1 Weaponry

2 Armor

Verizon-class Battleship [Overbuilt Heavy Battleship]: Mythic vessels from a by-gone era, when man first began to unearth the tombs of long-extinct races.

Size: 60 [Base 20]

Cost: 80

20 Structure

10 Redundancy

11 Weaponry [Dainslef Railgun]

3 Exotic Battery [Silencer Missile, 6 shots, does not break Stealth]

1 Exotic Array [Ragnarok Siege Railgun, 1 shot, ignores Armor]

2 Armor

3 Shields

1 ECM

3 Command

3 Sensors

3 Stealth

Cormorant-class Strike Cruiser [Marine Cruiser]: A vessel designed by a disgraced shipbuilder, the ship is various described as 'rotund', 'stately' and having too few bathrooms.

Size: 16

Cost: 16 +6

8 Structure

2 Additional Drive

2 Weaponry [Plasma Macrobatteries]

2 Armor

2 Command

2 Sensors

3 Marines Squads [Superelites]

Ground Units

Ground units in March Upon Sol are relatively easy to design and come in 5 standard varieties. 2 troop FP provides one military unit, chosen from one of the options below.

Regulars

Size: ~Battalion

Ordinary men and women with mass produced equipment and enough training to be competent. Good for holding ground and necessary for taking it, at some costs.

Veterans:

Size: ~Company

The backbone of an army, consisting of experienced troops and specialists. Your do-anything types.

Elites

Size: ~Platoon

Special forces and recon troops, armed with the best equipment. Your go-anywhere types.

Armor

Size: ~Varies

Practically speaking armor can consist of anything from well-organized columns of MBTs to armored hover SPGs to battlemechs or 20-meter tall plasma spitting bugs, even cyborg tyrannosaurs with shoulder-mounted plasma chainguns. Good at breaking lines and defending clear, open terrain.

Mages

Size: ~Varies

Psi-corps erasure squads, mystical martial artists or sorcerous cabals leading throngs of pleading thrall-mages or even singular elite mages of exceptional power. In addition to being able to one-person death squads, they also allow for the use of big-M magic in engagements and provide options in non-combat scenarios.

Special Units

Superelites [Requires Kataphractoi]

Size: ~Squad

These superhumans are rarely trained, but made, often raised from birth or put through such tortuous processes as all hints of their previous selves are erased. Armed with the very finest gear possible (often to the detriment of the rank and file), these posthuman (or alien) warriors are unparalleled in their ferocity, resilience and determination but must be used as the tip of the spear as part of a larger campaign.

Aerospace

Size: ~Flight

Air units can supplement ground engagements. See naval rules for aerospace design.

Combination Units

While simple ground units provide plenty of utility to the aspiring commander, thirty-six thousand years of doctrinal evolution has yielded all manner of designs over the years, from sophisticated mechanized infantry to mutant war psychics led by a telepathic commander, or even combined aerospace warmechs capable of functionning equally well in space as on land. Combination units combine any two or more units desired into a single template. The cost scales additively after the first combination however, so 3-unit combinations cost 4 times the FP, and 4-unit combinations cost 7 times as much, and so on.

Example Combination Units:

• Terminators: [Superelites + Armor], Cost: 4FP
• Airmechs: [Armor + Aerospace (Additional Drives)]: Cost 2 +1FP
• Sorcerer Lord: [Superelites + Mages], Cost: 4FP
• Mobile Infantry: [Veterans + Aerospace (Armor)]: Cost 2 +1FP
• Necromancer: [Mage + Regulars]: Cost: 4FP