Units, Environment, Movement, Weapons - City States of Aquaria

So, I have been pretty busy since I first got the idea, and started sketching out particulars, for the "City States of Aquaria" game.  Here is a rundown of my progress.  I even got some materials to make playtest counters and a map, but then things got REALLY busy in my real life, so it is creeping along.

Environment - The environment of the game is a science fiction setting - the battles that take place between various techno-feudal city states on a water planet.  These city states have large domed underwater cities, with underwater industry, robo-farming, manufacturing and resource extraction.  High speed movement between these domed cities is by tube train, and there are all manner of craft designed to navigate the depths below, surface, and atmosphere above the shallow seas of the world.  Man has even adapted to living and moving around underwater pretty easily.

Klaus Bürgle: City under the Sea*

In wargaming terms, this means that the action will take place on a hex map showing the sub-aqua terrain.  In the game, within a hex, units can be at 5 different heights.  Ocean floor, low ocean, mid ocean, high ocean, and Surface.  Underwater topography (hills, plateaus) will be in one of three different levels, sort of like the "wedding cake" hills of table top miniature gaming, or of the older BattleTech maps.  Each level (low, mid, high) will correspond to one of the ocean levels.

Units will be able to move about in the water, although some units will be tied to either the bottom, or the surface.

Movement - Each type of unit will have a basic movement allowance.  This is, generally speaking, expended to move through the hexes on the map.  Units that can change levels on their own (i.e. - not those tied to the ocean floor, or to the surface) can also expend points of their movement allowance to change levels.  In general, a movement point is spent to move one hex, or to change one level.  The moving unit must move laterally (on it's own level) one hex, before changing levels, and must make a lateral move between each level change.  The exception to this is that if the unit ONLY wants to change levels, then it can expend it's entire movement allowance to go up or down 1 level, while remaining in the same hex.

Units - As mentioned in the earlier post the types of units are basically four categories.  Those are:

1. Floor Units, which move around mainly on the ocean floor.  This includes Infantry, Armor, and Artillery.
2. Ocean Craft, which includes different sized man-made submersible craft, up to and including massive multi-weapon system craft.  Units include Aqua-Jets (small two man fighters), Stingrays, Aqua-Cruisers, Leviathans and Leviathan-Hunters.
3. Biologicals, which includes various animal types that have been modified for combat, and are controlled and directed by a human telepath.  These include the semi-intelligent sea mammals of Aquaria, the Cetas, Orcas, and Megas.  Also, the enormous monsters from the depths, the Behemoth, the Kraken, and the Gargantua.
4. Surface Units, which include large surface units, and a variety of atmospheric fast movers.  Units include Surface Control Ships, Attack Hovers, and Assault Hovers.

Weapons - Most of the Ocean Craft (except for the Aqua-Jets and the Stingrays) mount multiple weapons, the choice of which (depending on the scenario) will be up to the player to choose.  Most weapons will have a chance to destroy just about any unit from one shot (if it is successful), but the larger monstrous biologicals (Behemoth, Kraken, and Gargantua), as well as the larger ocean craft (Leviathans and Leviathan Hunters) have a much harder time of being destroyed from a single hit (although it is possible, just very rare).  Instead, hits against them destroy capabilities (weapon mounts).

I have basic stats on almost all of these units, and I'll try to get it posted for next week's Wargaming Wednesdays, here at Gaming with Chuck.

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This is some inspirational video.  There is so much cool stuff going on in this video, I just gotta watch it over and over.  The "bad guy" underwater city, at about 15 minutes in is very inspirational.  Also, Hydronic Rockets? Awesome!

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* Painted 1964 by German futurist Klaus Bürgle for "Das Neue Universum". This and other paintings by Bürgle can be seen on www.retro-futurismus.de