The universe of The World Beyond was currently comprised of six galaxies, one for each year of the game’s existence. Travel between galaxies exclusively used the npc space tunnels. Even the Builders, an organization of players dedicated to space tunnel building still hadn’t succeeded in connecting any galaxies despite being one of the oldest organizations.
The goal of every strategist was the same, to create and maintain their own empire. Survival of the fittest at its finest. In broad sense, there were three types of players: peaceful, passive, and active.
Peaceful players avoided conflict, focusing entirely on their empire or only fighting npcs. Passive players would only attack if the opportunity presented itself. Active players always looked to create opportunities.
If Ra had to be honest with herself, she was probably a peaceful player. However, she liked to think that she was an active player, just that she relied on different things to reach the same point.
The meta boosts that most players selected when they started the game revolved around income, fleet, or technology.
The game had two non-convertible currencies, Asters and Imperials. Asters were used for personal purchases, Imperials for empire purchases. Originally the plan was to have a single currency system, but balancing turned out to be a complete nightmare.
Imperials could be gained through development or battle. Buildings and trade routes each provided income passive income. The trademark of active players was that they were always hunting for opportunities to sack and conquer. Preferably sacking bases to loot a portion of the owner’s treasury and maintaining garrisons there to tax the base income.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
The reason why Ra was so delighted by her starting position was because she had never fully solved the issue of how she should start the game.
In her research, Ra divided her possible starting scenarios into three categories: starting near lots of other players, starting near a few other players, and starting near no other players.
If she started near a lot of other players, then she would have to go military. Having a powerful fleet would allow her to get ahead by preying on her fellow players. However, going on the offensive would inevitably leave her weak to other players that went military since in the early game, nobody would be able to mount a sizable offense while maintaining a strong defense.
This was the catch 22 that Ra never figured out. The only way to be certain of maintaining a steady development required a strong defense. But if she build a strong defense, that would mean giving up the opportunity to attack which would mean falling behind the players in technology and income. Specifically, those who reaped the benefits of using their fleet offensively and those who didn’t but much of a fleet but weren’t attacked.
The catch 22 only got worse as the number of players went down. If everyone went military, then any fighting would leave the combatants weak. If some of them went military, then whoever gained the most from their aggression would become the ultimate victor.
But Ra wouldn’t have to deal with any of that. Instead she somehow managed to pull the less risk, less reward scenario. Less reward since even though she got the chance to develop in peace, those who managed to conquer their portions of the galaxy would have more money than her.
Thus Ra’s building plan was exceedingly straightforward and simple, be as greedy as possible. The first buildings she would be constructing would improve only two aspects of her empire, construction speed and income.
It certainly made Mordred happy.