Dev Diary: Close Encounters Features

Commanders,

Welcome to our first dev diary! As development of Close Encounters enters full testing phase, I wanted to take the opportunity to spin off a dev diary series about all of the CE modules. Our first: Ship Experience!

How does Ship Experience work? When built, all Combat Groups start at Green experience. At the start of every Economic phase thereafter, Green Groups are promoted to Skilled.

During combat, after a Group has finished firing, an experience roll occurs for each ship that Group destroyed. To level up, the target for each roll is 2x the destroyed ship's hull size (or less). If the destroyed ship was of a larger hull size, add a +1 to the target. So, a Scout that destroys another Scout will level up on a roll of a 2 or less. If promoted, the effects are immediate. A Group may only level up once per combat.

During combat, Ship Experience applies a number of benefits (or negatives) depending on the shooter and the targets' Experience levels that stack.

• Shooter has a higher Experience level than the target: +1 Attack Strength
• Shooter is 2 or more Experience levels lower than the target: -1 Attack Strength
• Shooter is 3 or more Experience levels lower than the target: the shooter cannot fire at the target (unless all remaining targets are 3 or more Experience levels higher than the shooter)

Additionally:

• Elite and Legendary Groups pay half maintenance rounded down (this stacks with Empire Advantages and Alien Technologies)
• Legendary Groups have +1 Hull Size for combat purposes

The Ship Experience module also comes with a new technology: Military Academies. All players start without a level in this tech.

• Military Academies 1: All Combat Groups start as Skilled
• Military Academies 2: All Ship Experience Roll targets get a +1

Ghost381, a close friend, dedicated Space Imperia tester, and resident Mine Laying Chief, talks about why Ship XP is his favorite system in CE:

"I LOVE the ship experience module. In fact, it might be my favorite module in all of Close Encounters for the sole reason that it's such a small system that has sweeping effects on the game.

Why do I love ship experience so much? Without adding any new ships to the game it drastically changes your strategic headspace. Throwing a single scout into a stack of enemy troops to reveal what your opponent has is a cheap way to get information but now has to be weighed against the possibility of giving away a free promotion, even if it's a small chance. Outdated ships are usually just ignored or used as harassment but if they're veterans? Maybe now you play a little safer with them, building your fleet around getting them to Elite or Legendary and becoming even stronger than your new ships! With no new pieces it makes you think a whole lot more about the combats you take and how you use your early game units."

Personally, I love Ship Experience because it rewards maintaining large Combat Groups. The entire group receives the experience benefits immediately. Groups of different Experience levels may be combined, however, the combined group becomes the lower experience level.

That's it for the first dev diary! If you haven't already, head over to the Close Encounters page and give it a wishlist!

Brett