From SEWiki

Contents 1 Overview 2 System Types 2.1 Stars 2.2 Planets 2.3 Asteroid Fields 2.4 Nebulae 3 Technology 3.1 Power/Weapon Technologies 3.2 Ship/Base/Unit Hulls 4 Races and Racial Traits

Overview

The 21st Century Mod is a mod for Space Empires V which is in the planning stage, being designed by Ed Kolis. Instead of starting in the year 2400 and exploring dozens of star systems across the galaxy, you will start in the year 2001 and explore dozens of planetary systems in a handful of star systems.

System Types

There will be several types of systems in the 21st Century Mod:

Stars

Stars in the 21st Century Mod will occupy much of an entire system, much like red giants did in SE4. They will have special abilities, however: they will obscure sight and cause heavy damage (or be impassable) to ships entering their atmospheres.

Planets

Planets will be much larger than in stock SE5; they will occupy multiple sectors much like stock stars, ringworlds, and sphereworlds. If possible, the individual outer sectors of planets will be individually colonizable so that several nations can reside on the same planet, while the inner sectors will be passable only to extremely high-tech core drilling vehicles which can either mine the core, dump waste there, or destroy the planet. Planet systems may also have moons orbiting them, much as planets orbit stars in stock. Planets and moons may also provide some level of sight obscuration, with planets providing more than moons and moons providing more than asteroids, on the theory (borrowed from Stars! and real-world astronomy) that it is hard to detect something small (like a ship) when something large (like a planet) is nearby.

Asteroid Fields

Asteroid fields will basically be collections of asteroids floating in space; each asteroid will occupy one sector, obscure sight, and possibly be colonizable.

Nebulae

Nebulae will occupy entire systems, much as in stock. However, be careful as there might be other things lurking there besides enemy ships... watch out for planets and asteroids hidden there!

Technology

Technology in the 21st Century Mod will be based on real technology and near-future science fiction. Don't expect to find phased polaron beams, star destroyers, or other exotic devices. There may be warp point generators, but they will most likely be short-ranged.

Power/Weapon Technologies

Weapon and power/propulsion technology will be based on the same tech tree, but the weapon technology will tend to require less research, as it is usually easier to make something go boom than it is to get useful power out of it. (So you might start the game with nuclear weapons, but only chemical based drive systems. But further research into nuclear physics will unlock nuclear drives.) There are currently a number of planned power/weapon techs:

• Power Harnessing (4000 RP) - Provides engines and allows advanced weaponry (other than simple bombs and explosive warheads) when combined with other power techs. More advanced power techs require higher levels of Power Harnessing just to "get started" with anything but explosives. Also provides supply storage on its own.
• Kinetic Power (2000 RP) - Wind and hydroelectric power. Provides a cheap if space-inefficient source of radioactives for starting empires. No weapons, or perhaps simple ballistic cannons. No engines.
• Chemical Power (4000 RP) - Power from chemical reactions. Almost as cheap as kinetic power, but costs mainly organics and is more space-efficient at producting rads for an empire. Provides chemical explosive bombs, chemical explosive missiles, explosive shell cannons, rubidium lasers, etc. with appropriate weapon chassis techs. Provides rocket engines.
• Solar Power (8000 RP) - Power from sunlight. Cheap but inefficient source of radioactives; also provides solar panels. With power harnessing, you can get solar sails. Perhaps even a solar powered laser (cheap, minimal supply usage, but weak damage/kT) if you research beams enough...
• Nuclear Power (16000 RP) - Power from nuclear and thermonuclear reactions. Moderate cost; costs mainly rads and is moderately efficient. Provides thermonuclear bombs, nuclear strike missiles, nuclear shell cannons, neutron pumped lasers, nuclear engines.
• Quantum Power (32000 RP) - Power from the strong and weak nuclear forces. High cost; lots of rads; efficient. Provides quark-gluon plasma bombs, quantum torpedoes, quark blasters, quantum engines.
• Antimatter Power (64000 RP) - Power from matter/antimatter annihilation. Really high cost; lots of all resources; very efficient. Provides antimatter bombs, antimatter torpedoes, antimatter globule cannons, anti-proton beams, antimatter engines.
• Gravitic Power (128000 RP) - Power from gravity itself. Really, REALLY high cost; lots and LOTS of all resources; very VERY efficient. Provides neutronium bombs, graviton torpedoes, singularity cannons, shredder beams, tractor beams, repulsor beams, and the Graviton Wake and Antigrav Sled, which provide bonus movement irrespective of mass (non-QNP) to spaceborne units and troops respectively.

Ship/Base/Unit Hulls

As for starship hulls, you will start the game with only the ability to build simple unmanned long-ranged space probes and short-ranged manned shuttles. Of course, as technology advances, you will gain additional hulls. By researching Space Militarization in conjunction with Spacecraft Construction, you will gain military hulls; if you choose to research only Spacecraft Construction you will be limited to civilian hulls such as probes, shuttles, and freighters, which will not be suited for combat. (They could be converted freighters which carry fighter bays though, so watch out!)

Spaceborne Hull Table

Name	Vehicle Type	Stock .X Model	Spacecraft Construction	Space Militarization	Size (tons)	Notes
Probe	Civ. Small Craft	Drone	1	0	10	Unmanned remote controlled space probe. Requires no crew, only a computer core. Can be carried by larger ships.
Satellite	Civ. Satellite	Satellite	1	0	30	Unmanned orbital satellite. Can be carried by larger ships. Requires no crew, only a computer core. No weapons.
Defense Satellite	Mil. Satellite	Satellite	1	1	30	Unmanned orbital satellite. Requires no crew, only a computer core. Can be carried by larger ships.
Shuttle	Civ. Small Craft	Fighter	2	0	20	Space shuttle. Earliest manned space vessel. No weapons.
Fighter	Mil. Small Craft	Fighter	2	2	20	Space fighter. Can be carried by larger ships.
Space Station	Civ. Base	Satellite	2	0	50	A cobbled together space station. Earliest manned base. No weapons.
Defense Platform	Mil. Base	Satellite	2	0	50	Simple defensive installation.
Courier	Civ. Ship	Frigate	3	0	30	Cannot carry weapons.
Frigate	Mil. Ship	Frigate	3	3	30	Basic military vessel.
Transport	Civ. Ship	Destroyer	4	0	50	Cannot carry weapons.
Destroyer	Mil. Ship	Destroyer	4	4	50	Standard military vessel.
Space Outpost	Civ. Base	Space Station	4	0	130	Larger space station. No weapons.
Space Fortress	Mil. Base	Space Station	4	4	130	Defensive installation.
Freighter	Civ. Ship	Cruiser	5	0	80	Cannot carry weapons.
Cruiser	Mil. Ship	Cruiser	5	5	80	Heavy military vessel.
Barge	Civ. Ship	Battleship	6	0	130	Cannot carry weapons.
Battleship	Mil. Ship	Battleship	6	6	130	Standard military vessel.
Space Arcology	Civ. Base	Starbase	6	0	340	Huge space station. No weapons.
Star Base	Mil. Base	Starbase	6	6	340	Heavy defensive installation.

TODO - ground hulls

Races and Racial Traits

Of course the 21st Century Mod will have humans and aliens, but most likely each race will have several empires available. For instance, the Terrans might have Americans, Europeans, Russians, and Chinese empires, among others. To start with there will probably be three races, one for each planet type, and each with a distinct atmosphere, for balance purposes. So of course all Terran empires would breathe oxygen, all Cue empires (let's call them the CueCappa, CueShocka, CuePhong, and AmonCue) might breathe methane, and all Sithrak empires (let's call them the Overlords, Shadowpriests, Warmasters, and Outcasts) might breathe hydrogen. Each empire will have its own distinct personality as inflected by its race, and there's no rule against interracial alliances - nothing will stop the Americans from allying with the CueShocka while the Pan-Sithrak Stellar Axis bombard the CueShocka worlds with secret Chinese and Russian support and the Europeans and other Cue sit back and enjoy the fireworks!