Design Document
Pyrates: Lords of the Strings
There is a mystical force in the world, called mana - or magic to some. This force is strongly attracted to pieces of a special kind of string. These strings, when connected to mana, generate a force capable of repelling almost anything. But, when you use a string to connect to a different source of mana, and then cross it with another string, you can disrupt it's shield in a small area.
Pirates learned to harness this string to control mana, and build giant shield generators to protect their lands. Capitols are built on islands, and have large generators that harness mana.
When you start a game, you must lay out your territories. Done by "drawing" with the string in straight lines around an area - but you only get a small amount of string. It is a good strategy to build multiple, smaller territories, as you maintain the same benefits of a single larger territory, except that you won't lose everything if you lose one territory. The problem being this strategy can cost many times the amount of string - of which there is but a limited supply. Also note, you cannot draw territories that are too close to each other.
Resources in the game are thus: Mana (generated by the capitols of territories), gold, crew and string (generated on islands, requiring you to use some of your ships to collect them). String is created from the silky fibers of the manachan plant, named after the mana it channels.
All ships, except for maybe the super class Flying Dutchman ships, require gold and crew to build. To cross territorial borders they need to be connected to a capitol with string. Be careful not to give too much or too little string to your ships - as it is a very limited resource. The possible Flying Dutchman class is actually connected to the mana in a small way like the larger installations in the capitols. These ships do not require string to be attached to a capitol to cross lines of string - but they do siphon some of the amounts of mana generated by the capitol they were created in - thus a large group of them could destroy your shield defenses.
For movement, there is no grid, instead each ship has a set amount of space they can move each turn. When it comes to a unit's turn to move, a circle is drawn around the ship - illustrating how far it can move. You must click inside this to move. (if we finish soon we can add calculations for clicking outside of the circle and going there over a number of turns.)
Resource ships are the same as any other kind of ship - except that you have assigned them the important task of gathering resources from islands. These ships act autonomously, they figure out which resource is most needed in your empire, then find the best one they can reach in the territory they are in. You can set the percentages you want of each resource.
ie: gold 10%, crew 20%, string 70% -- depending on what you want to focus on for the moment.
They then sail to the source, wait a turn, and return home laden with riches. Once the resources are returned, they are available to the entire empire for use, but ships will not gather resources across territory lines - so don't give them string! [ed: not sure what this should mean or if it is currently part of the plan]
For fighting, there is a long range, medium range and close/boarding range. The ranges all have an effect on damage, thus simulating accuracy. The closer you are, the easier it is to do damage. Especially against fast ships, which have a defense bonus that is more effective at longer ranges. At boarding range you put aside the, eh, niceties of cannon, and attempt to board the ship using the strength of your crew against the enemy's crew.
When you attack with your cannons, you can select one of 3 types of cannonball. Each one is designed to damage a particular attribute the most, depending on what the attacker wants to do to the enemy ship.
- Regular ball - 75% hull damage, 25% crew damage, 5% crew damage
- Chain - 30% hull, 30% crew, 40% speed
- Grapeshot - 25% hull, 70% crew, 5% speed
So basically, each amount is how much of the damage caused by the attack goes to each area of weakness. It is not possible to use grapeshot at long range due to spread. If you successfully kill all enemy crew, and you have enough crew left for both ships, and the enemy ship has not sustained too much damage to the hull itself, you may take control of the enemy vessel.
There are several kinds of ships: Juggernaut - a slow heavy ship that can take a pounding. Junk - a fast light ship. Frigate - a mid-range fighting ship. Merchant - a fast, lightly armed ship that can carry 50% more resources. Flying Dutchman - already explained above ^. Powerful, expensive, and limited.
As you gain more string you can use it to purchase new territories. If two of your territories are touching they will be merged together - so be careful [ed: if the code for this is ever finished!].
Destroy an enemy capitol and you take control of that territory. Simple. Be the last one to have a territory left!