Infrastructure Orders - Audit World Those currently involved in developing worlds will have seen progress on orders over the past few months as these are as much a tool for the GM because they are useful in determining results. Currently there are four orders in various states of readiness. All currently have the suffix Infrastructure though at some point, probably after they become live, the order editor will be upgraded to include a section specifically for infrastructure orders. I can see more infrastructure orders appearing as this section of the game develops in time. Infrastructure - Audit World Infrastructure - Audit Base Infrastructure - Give Item Infrastructure - Civilian Claims Infrastructure - Establish Government Initially this article was going to describe all orders but it started to spiral out of control and has pushed back the deadline twice already as each day seems to bring new points that need coding into the orders. As such it has been decided to deal with each other individually over the next few issues. Details of Infrastructure such as stages and techs can be found in the Library>Rules>Pubmeet>Infrastructure. This section will soon be moved to the rules as infrastructure is activated. Audit World is best one to start with as it allows players to look at the worlds in the game as it stands and start to formulate plans as the other orders become active.

Conversion from Phoenix
At the point of conversion from Beyond the Stellar Empire (BSE) to Phoenix, more than a decade ago, some rather basic values were calculated for the world based on populations generated by removing colonists from colonies and applying a factor set by the GM at the time of conversion. These produced reasonable values for trade and merchandising based on the size of colonies present in the game at the time. In a few cases though we had to make affiliations viable at the point of conversion based on their troops and overheads as these were viable affiliations under BSE mechanics. This required anything from minor tweaking to jackhammers taken to merchandising on some worlds just to get stellar incomes required. As a consequence some worlds simply defy the infrastructure mechanics as presented, though this has rarely been an issue as merchandising and trade values have been effectively static.

Things however have come a long way in the intervening years. The increase in cargo capacity of ships, the production bases of affiliations and the increase in ships moving around largely due to the change from pay per ship turn to free turns has allowed for material to be built and shifted the length and breadth of the Peripheries with relative ease. It took HQ around five years to reach 1 million colonists, the first class 10 colony in BSE and this colony was in the same star system as the source of colonists. By comparison, the Mohache moved around a million civilians from Yank to Solo in a week.

Audit World
The model for infrastructure as now defined in the rules is very close to the one used when developing Corewards which in itself was codified to not be far from the otherwise empirical method that defined the conversion from BSE to Phoenix.

The audit world order calculates the merchandising and trade for the world based on the current population rating (which has already been set through a GM tool) and any techs that have been integrated into the infrastructure either as part of the development of Corewards or player actions elsewhere in the Peripheries. Slight changes in the development of infrastructure between the creation of Corewards and the writing of the infrastructure rules means that a few worlds in Corewards are slightly out, through for the most part agree.
Code:

    Determine grassroots infrastructure values for Relinkis in Fonnud.
    Sentient Population: 11742000 
    World flagged as stage 3
    Current technology integrated into world infrastructure:
          Basic Colonisation Support
          Industry
          Transport
          Advanced Colonisation Support
          Infrastructure Development
    Merchandising   Calculated     Actual
    Global Max:     150            150
    Global Drop:    3              3
    Local Max:      450            450
    Local Drop:     31             31
    Drop Step:      10             10
    Trade:          120565         137420
    Trade Mult:     1.2            1.2

    Determine grass roots infrastructure values for Ladder in Starling.
    Sentient Population: 489000 
    World flagged as stage 1
    Current technology integrated into world infrastructure:
          Basic Colonisation Support
    Merchandising   Calculated     Actual
    Global Max:     63             90
    Global Drop:    3              3
    Local Max:      228            270
    Local Drop:     35             26
    Drop Step:      10             10
    Trade:          17835          15640
    Trade Mult:     2              1.932

    Determine grassroots infrastructure values for Ladder in Starling.
    Sentient Population: 789000 
    World flagged as stage 1
    Current technology integrated into world infrastructure:
          Basic Colonisation Support
          Industry
          Transport
          Agriculture
    Merchandising   Calculated     Actual
    Global Max:     81             90
    Global Drop:    3              3
    Local Max:      288            270
    Local Drop:     32             26
    Drop Step:      10             10
    Trade:          22335          15640
    Trade Mult:     2.15           1.932

Unique and Non-standard Techs As well as unique cultural modifiers, it is possible to develop unique and non-standard techs. These work in exactly the same manner as standard techs, for example, Industry, granting +0.1 trade multiplier and -2 local drop, but can only be researched and integrated under special circumstances as discovered through roleplay and special actions. It will be rare that more than 1 can be applied to a single world in a region of space while others may be unique in the game universe. Examples of unique to the Peripheries run along the lines of The Detinus House of Lords (should they build it), while limited to a few worlds may be The best Garden World in the Periphery. Normally these sorts of things are set to Stage 5 - Established Worlds, though lesser ones may be applicable to Stage 4, such as Capital World, where multiple worlds in the system are colonised. A few however may only be applicable to the low stages, becoming obsolete as the population grows. An example might include domed environment, significantly reducing the local drop for a Stage 1 - Initial Colonisation world but incapable of covering a Stage 2 - Colony. The purpose of these techs is to allow players to customise a world to some degree. Note that some of these techs may come with running costs and failure to meet them will result in a stellar default or other penalty. Example may be Trade Partner granting an uplift in weekly trade though failure to completely account for all trade on a weekly basis will result in no carry over and a stellar fee equal to the shortfall. Many of these techs will be tied to affiliations and subject to system claims to prevent abuse.