Second Sphere Planet Rules

Planetside Overview

A planet is an immense thing. The Earth has half a billion square kilometers of surface area, of which 150 million km2 is land, the remainder water. Even with seven billion people on it, there are immense portions of land with essentially no inhabitants. The worlds that humanity has colonised are no different, save they have far less people. Population centers surround spaceheads and prime real estate, with most of the planet functionally uninhabited.

Climate

With so many worlds to choose from, humanity was able to select those that were at least somewhat habitable. In general, the climate of an inhabitable world falls into one of the following three broad types:

Icebox

Icebox worlds are those suffering through a (permanent?) ice age, with only a relatively narrow comfortable strip along the equator and vast ice caps covering much of the northern and southern hemispheres. Inhabited icebox worlds are somewhat common in the sphere, as mankind has various ways of warming them to a more amenable climate.

Temperate

Geologically, the Earth is the prototypical temperate planet, even though it in fact in an intraglacial between have more of an icebox climate. Temperate worlds are habitable from more or less the equator to the poles; though some (such as Earth) have small polar icecaps. No artificial climate remediation is needed for humans to prosper on these worlds.

Hothouse

Hothouse worlds receieve sufficient solar radiation that their equatorial regions are functionally uninhabitable, with the polar regions being the only comfortable parts. Terranova from Heavy Gear is a good example, with a vast equatorial desert seperating the lush north and south poles. The polar positioning of any civilization complicates orbital launch somewhat, and as of 2195, no world considered hothouse featured an orbital elevator - a structure that can only be built at the equator. Short of a megaproject like a solar shade, there is little terraforming options for a hothouse world, though artificially sequestring CO2 and other greenhouse gases can at least reduce the temperature a degree or two.

In addition to these three broad types, a few more unusual climates or variations are known.

Tidally Locked

Any habitable worlds that orbits a Class M star must orbit very close indeed, well within the relative orbit of Mercury. At this distance a world will, over geological time, lose its spin and become tidally locked to its primary. One hemisphere will be in in perpetual sunlight, the other perpetual night. While atmospheric circulation can keep the world from dessicating on the lightside and freezing solid on the darkside, it nonetheless has strong effects on both climate and habitation. Most notably, without posthuman gravity-modification techniques an orbital elevator is impossible, as is any form of geosynchronous satellite.

Districts

Districts are geographic demarcations for planets, gridding them out into 250x250 km blocks that encompassese one dominant terrain type. Of course an area of 62,500 km2 is nothing next to a planet; it would take 160 Districts to ring the Earth. By contrast, it would only take four Districts to cover the entire United Kingdom. With populations measured in the tens of millions, colony worlds are far more like the latter than the former. As already stated, colony worlds are tiny islands of habitation amidst oceans of nothing.

To represent this, Districts do not need to be contiguous, though non-contiguous Districts do need to have the number of intervening uninhabited Districts listed. Intervening Districts are assumed to have rail routes, highways, etc, like the Trans-Siberian railway.

There are four main types of Districts, each of which has one or more subtypes which may have different effects. As each District is fairly large, there is always room for regional variations; a very rugged mountain district may still have various terraced farms and cities.

Clear

Clear Districts are verging on featureless; the infamous Iraqi desert, ocean surfaces, giant parking lot world and the like. Few Districts are actually classed as Clear, as this is anomously featureless terrain.

Open

Most habitable 'outdoors' that features mixtures of open and wooded areas, typically with minor topographic shifts - or the offworld equivalent.

Fields: Cultivated fields for food production. Over large expanses these tend to be grains such as wheat or rice.

Grasslands: Wild lands such as the African Serengeti, but it could also represent areas of terraforming plants not used as food crops.

Rugged

This is substantially more difficult for armored units and generally represents fully wooded areas and hills.

Forest: Trees or xenological equivalents are common on most planets and in the 22nd century the imperative to cut down everything in sight for pulp or building materiel has meant that much less territory has been cleared.

Rocky: Broken rocky terrain can be extremely difficult for vehicles to move through while giving infantry substantive cover. It's usually indicative of drier and/or colder climates.

Very Rugged

This is truly rugged and painful territory, such as the triple canopied rainforests of Kanon or the wooded mountains of British Columbia. Movement is slow and mechanized units are generally limited to roads only.

Jungle: The Dark Heart of Haraway. Hot, wet and slow to pass through. Rarely the result of imported Terran life, due to the time it takes for proper jungle to grow.

Mountains: High peaks, high valleys, lots of high-ness in general. Landslides can be a continual concern.

Ground Sites

Sites are specific geographically constrained entities. Broadly speaking, a city is a Site, but in practice they represent things 'of interest'; Dust mines, terraforming generators, presidential bunkers, etc. They are of strategic value and often form the linchpins of groundside operations.

Sites must be assigned to a given District (and it is entirely acceptable to have more than one per District), though it is not imperative to do so until ground actions looms. Each Site has its own effect which are assumed to be part of a nation's overall stats; they do not add to the stats gained via History Paths. Sites exist to provide character and detail to your world.

Atmosphere Processor

Works tirelessly to adjust the atmospheric density and composition of a planet to better suit human needs. Excess power and general economic benefits counts as 25 Wealth. Also provides a great place to hatch xenomorphs.

Minehead

All that iron ore has gotta come from somewhere. Capturing these can adversely affect the economy of the enemy; re-opening them can provide a tidy boost. Counts as 25 PIP.

Chip Fab

Chip fabs are expensive but vital in the age of electronics. They count as 25 CIP.

Fabricator

Deployed into self-contained factories, Fabricators are detailed more fully in Economics. However, the count as a Site, and all Fabricators must be placed as Sites, be it in space or on the ground.

Dust Mine

Precursor dust comes from a giant hole in the ground. Counts as 25 Delta Dust. All Delta Dust production must be accounted for as coming from Dust Mines or other dust-producing Sites.

Presidential Bunker

Where the government goes to hide during wartime. Capturing this generally means that victory will come swiftly, and looting its artwork and gold-plated toilets can net the invaders a tidy sum of cash.

Military HQ

The Space Pentagon! Everyone's gotta have an HQ somewhere, which acts as the bureaucratic center of the armed forces. While during wartime these can be dispersed, this has its own issues. An HQ counts as 1 doctrine

Space Overview

Space Sites

Soletta

Orbital mirrors, beaming heat, light and power down to the surface as part of a long-term terraforming effort. Excess power and general economic benefits counts as 25 Wealth.

Asteroid Mine

It is far easier to extract from the centralised resources of a large asteroid than to chase across space in search of tiny ones, so orbital mining is typically performed at a number of large sites. Asteroid mines count as 25 PIP.

Shipyards

Orbital shipyards are the most effective way of building large spacecraft. Counts as 25 PIP. Capturing these can also potentially net someone the (war)ships being built there.

Comet Fort

The Oort Cloud is incomprehensibly vast and remote, and a favoured hiding place for secret outposts and caches of materiel. Finding one of these without the object ID or orbital data would be almost impossible. They count as 25 Logistics.

Elevator Counterweight

Space elevators are tethered to stations in geosynchronous orbit. The trade and traffic that goes through such a terminus counts for 25 wealth.

Null Factory

Some components are so sensitive during construction that even the pull of planetary gravity is enough to impair work. For these, it is more economical to build in space. Null Factories count as 25 CIP.

Dust Factory

The posthumans build scattered delta dust fabrication plants and 'normal' humanity has struggled (and even partially succeeded) at making their own versions. Counts as 25 Delta Dust. All Delta Dust production must be accounted for as coming from Dust Factories or other dust-producing Sites.

Posthuman Oracle

Some of the massive blocks of posthuman computronium abandoned across the Sphere are not dead or silent, but active and willing to respond to stimulus. Using them to run simulations and calculations enables them to count for 25 wealth or CIP, but sometimes they produce a more unusual result, especially if plied with the correct codes.

Instances

'Instances' (for lack of a better term at the moment) are sites that can be discovered and provide short-term benefits, such as an injection of wealth or a plethora of delta dust. The following list some of the more common or well-known examples.

Posthuman Ruin

Posthuman Ruins can be raided for dust or, in more primitive regions, for larger components suited for use in electronics. They typically are full of delta dust or electronics/software usable for CIP, while some may even have Theta dust.

Posthuman Spire

The infamous constructs of the posthumans. Unlike ruins, spires are active and unlike oracles, they do not accept outside communications. If raided (a daunting proposition) they will provide all manner of goodies such as Theta or Omega dust.

Precursor Ruin

The inconceivable Precursors left many relics in space, every one long since dead and crumbled. If violated by presumptuous children, delta dust can be laboriously extracted from their structure and enigmatic systems.

Mineral Cache

Velan drones will slowly accumulate refined ores and alloys, sequestering them in dead comets or other sources of volatiles. If they can be found and stolen, the rare metals can provide a nice boost to the industrial sector, providing PIP and sometimes Wealth.

Drone Hatchery

Zomg baby drones are so cute! An excellent source of Drexlers.

Drone Hive

Drones nest in asteroids, converted by velan nanomachines into bulbous fractals winged by solar collectors. Cracking these open can reveal a motherlode of drexlers and drone organs, or even more exotic prizes like royal jelly or a nesting Queen.

Hybridised Station

Human structures overtaken by velan alife are sometimes rediscovered partly intact, not consumed but fused with alien components. If the drone presence is exterminated these structures offer valuable resources and insights into velan and posthuman technology.