Yes, space empire 4x turn based again :)

Today we will look at it from another angle, the REBELS!

You play as the emperor of a galaxy (no other races/empires, etc). The galaxy is made of 100 planets. A planet can:

- belong to the empire

- be neutral

- be uncolonized (can have secret rebel bases)

- and a apecial case, separatist planet (planet which belonged to the empire but decided to leave)

And there are the evil rebels :) Having bases somewhere on the outskirts and plotting to get rid of our beloved emperor and dismantle the whole empire.

Question: How to implement it?

At first I was thinking of a planet becoming a rebel planet, but... the player (emperor) could just send the superior imperial fleet and crush the lone rebel planet. So, maybe an approach where rebels are just some sort of faction and they get funding from all disgruntled planets and then assemble fleets to fight the empire? Or something along these lines?

One thought that comes to mind is that yes, the emperor can indeed simply crush rebel planets--but that doing so increases the discontent in the empire, increasing support for and thus furthering the rebel cause. As a result, falling on all rebellious planets with the hammer of the emperor may work in the short term, and it may be possible to mitigate the effects of doing so once or twice (likely at a cost--perhaps reducing taxes helps, or spending money on humanitarian aid or propaganda), but used as a general strategy it results in more planets rebelling.

One thought that comes to mind is that yes, the emperor can indeed simply crush rebel planets--but that doing so increases the discontent in the empire, increasing support for and thus furthering the rebel cause. As a result, falling on all rebellious planets with the hammer of the emperor may work in the short term, and it may be possible to mitigate the effects of doing so once or twice (likely at a cost--perhaps reducing taxes helps, or spending money on humanitarian aid or propaganda), but used as a general strategy it results in more planets rebelling.

Yeah, that too... But I wanted to have some actual combat with rebels. Sure, sure, diplomacy and propaganda is important and everything, but really, crushing rebels by brute force is sooo fun :D Isn't it? :D

I was thinking like use propaganda and diplomacy to reduce the support to rebels the planets provide (having an option to just bombard the planet as a warning, with the repercussions you decribed). But in addition there are some rebels you just crush (without talking).

Well if you have different political factions then you could have a rebel rating for each. Your intellectual rebel rating would decrease your research output and increase the chances that their experiments might have nasty outcomes.

If rebel rating gets high enough the faction might attempt to declare independence and separate the instantly get troops and ships based on how powerful they are in the government. Each turn a separatist faction is running rampant with your forces unable to defeat them would increase the revolt risk of all other factions as those factions see how week you are as a leader.

My question is more about the rebel mechanic after they are formed. Let's say there is "level 10 rebel support empire wide" (whatever it means and whatever caused it :D) and now rebels will take action.

How it works? Does some "rebel base" pop up in a random uncolonized/neutral planet? How about the rebel fleet? How, when, where it's formed? How the rebel's fleet/s act? What is their goal (to take over the imperial capital, to take over any imperial planets, to liberate planets with sufficient rebel sentiment?)

Well in EU4 rebels all have a goal, which they enforce by claiming territory and being left undefeated for long enough.

So if the martin independence rebels rise up on mars they have the goal of an independent mars. If they capture mars and hold it for 25 turns then mars gains independence.

Likewise there might be a military coup whose goal is force the government to accept military rule. They get 75% of your fleet and they force your you to accept military rule if they seize enough core worlds.

Depending on the rebel group they might start with a base or just a military force. As long as they control a planet or base they can build more.

Does some "rebel base" pop up in a random uncolonized/neutral planet?

I want to play as a rebel. Your emperor sounds kind of terrible and oppressive.

This may not be what you are looking for, but what about if the rebellion level (or whatever you are calling this) has a direct impact on the productivity and morale of planets? Rebels who build a base get blown up. Real rebels use guerilla tactics and put drains on supply lines, infrastructure, and communications. I'll bring up the D-word again: In Dune (the book) there were all sorts of smugglers siphoning off the spice supply. That is pretty damn rebellious in my opinion -- stealing from the empire. Make it hurt in the emporer's pocket, not just on the battlefield.

Hmmm, I thought like this:

- rebels are abstract (a progress bar/variable), there are no rebel planets, once the progress bar fills up the rebelion starts and various rebel fleets spawn in various places

- rebels progress depends on various variables (like how opressive the Emperor is), but the most important one is the ratio of independent Terran planets to Imperial Terran panets (if there is a lot of independent colonies disgrutled people will just emigrate there without starting any rebelion, but if there are not so much of these then... no choice, kill the Emperor it's the only option :))

- there are rebel bases spawning (hidden) if the player discovers them and eradicate (before rebelion starts) the strength/progress of rebels will decrease

I want to play as a rebel. Your emperor sounds kind of terrible and oppressive.

Yeah, sure. We will see what you will say when the aliens come and eat all your children and plant eggs/larvas in your wives and mistresses that would eat them from insides. We will see then how your separatistic anti-strong-empire belives hold up :D

Long live the Emperor! The defender of the human race! Hail! :D