Colonizing systems are how you grow your empire and generate income. Planets are a bit too fine detail for this game engine, so we rely on system stats for our highest level of control. If you need to justify this, just assume there is only one inhabitable planet per system.
Systems are connected by jump routes (Class 1, 2, or 3) and contain a variety of resources. Unless you're relying on source material, you can randomly generate each system as it is discovered.
Stats
Population - number of inhabitants in the system
Production - amount of industry in the system
Capacity - the amount of population a system can support
Lode - amount of raw resources in the system
Morale - the current morale of the system
Maximum Morale - the maximum morale allowed by the system
Base Morale - a percent that can be modified by certain conditions. This is multiplied by maximum morale to determine current morale.
For shorthand purposes, the morale of a system is listed in a line called Morale Status. It is written as Current Morale (Max Morale) Base Morale. For example, if a sytem had a Current Morale of 4, a Max Morale of 8, and Base Morale of 50%, it would be written like this: 4 (8) 50%
Capacity a number between 1 and 12. Lode is anywhere from 1 to 6.
Some systems have special qualities that can modify the base numbers. Examples include:
Rich in Minerals (Lode +1)
Good Climate (Max Morale +1)
etc.
Income
Income is generated by multiplying the Lode by the Production Capacity. Production Capacity is the amount of industry used by the population. Basically, the amount of industry that is used is limited by the population of a system.
For example, if a system had a Pop of 3 and a Production of 5, only 3 Production would be utilized.
Morale
The Current Morale of a system limits the amount of population that can be utilized for production. It is wise to keep your morale high, though some technologies remove this limit. For example, if the Morale Status of a system is 4 (8) 50% the Population that could be used for determining Producation Capacity would be capped at 4. This would make no difference if the Population was under 4.
Modifiers to Base Morale - some of these are long-term, others would only last a turn. Examples:
- System distance from homeworld, -10% per jump
- Outbreaks and Raids (Random Events, variable)
- losing a battle within X systems, -X%
- Winning a battle within X systems, +X%
- Presence of enemy fleet withing system, -20%
- Presence of friendly fleet within system, +10%
- Orbital Bombardment, -X%
- Sabotage and Terrorism, -X%
- form of govn't, -/+X%
etc.
Max Morale can also be modified. This is usually done by building assets. For example, each level invested in a Religious Sanctuary on the system increases Max Morale by 1.