Tyrona: Shattered Planet

Tyronan Tactics

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 12:28:31 -0400

[This post is more gameplay-oriented, though some worldbuilding details may sneak in. You have been warned.]

The five factions of Tyrona not only rely on different tech levels, but also different tactics. Here are the general playstyles for each:

Cheelia - With a focus on nuclear fuel cells, Cheelian tech can last for a very, VERY long time. Their powered armor frames can amplify the pilot’s physical strength by a hundred or more, and their weaponry leans towards plasma bolts and salvos of micro-missiles. Their frames are more lightweight than Jaemont’s, so they prefer a bit more range, using their superior artillery to soften up their foes before closing in for the finisher.

Jaemont - Steam-powered steel is Jaemont’s weapon of choice, and their ammunition relies on good, old-fashioned gunpowder to do the job. Their frames are slower but more armored, meaning they can soak up a bit of punishment while they close in to do some real damage. Jaemont’s artillery isn’t as precise as Cheelia’s, so they prefer to get into direct-fire and close-quarters range as quickly as possible.

Phytos - Bestial combat is Phytos’ specialty. They have almost no artillery or direct-fire weapons, using only that which they salvage from Cheelian and Jaemont frames foolish enough to enter their territory. Phytans tend to enhance the natural weaponry of their beasts, often reworking salvaged armor plates to fit or enhancing claws and fangs with metal. These upgrades make for vicious close-quarters combat. But although Phytans typically fight in groups of four to eight, they tend to act autonomously and don’t really have any way to communicate effectively in battle unless they’re relatively close to each other.

The Swarm - The pirates in the mist take what they can get. Literally. Swarm battlegroups have been known to use Phytan warbeasts, Cheelian frames, and Jaemont aircraft in the same fight; the enemy often doesn’t know who they’re fighting until after it’s all over. The Swarm prefers hit-and-run tactics, moving in fast to overwhelm the defenders before they can go on full alert. The Swarm will also prefer to disable enemy units rather than outright destroying them; they can always haul any salvaged machines back to base and repair them to add to their numbers.

Burrund - Everyone jokes about Burrund and their neutrality, but most people don’t realize the true reason they can stay neutral. Burrund has managed to combine the strengths and technologies from the other factions into their own, making for the most well-rounded and balanced army on Tyrona. If Burrund has one advantage, it’s their information network. All Burrund frames are linked into the network at all times, and specialized interceptor drones packed with sensors and comm arrays are ready to launch at the first sign of trouble. These drones can relay the location of enemy units anywhere on the battlefield, allowing the actual combat units to zero in on their targets much more easily.

Five Things To Know About Tyrona

Sun, 01 Apr 2012 23:58:18 -0400

Here are a few key truths about Tyrona and what makes it different from other worlds in the Multiverse:

1. The world is shattered, but not destroyed. Thanks to the quick actions of the secret coalition of geomancers, the planet remains stable, if fragmented. Naturally, each nation launches assassination attempts on each other’s geomancers on a regular basis, hoping to destabilize enemy continents. What they don’t stop to think about is the repercussions of such an action…

2. The oceans have become a massive cloudbank reaching from the upper reaches of the atmosphere almost all the way down to the core. Most people tend to call it “The Fog of War”, since it’s the main thing preventing most long-range communications from working. Undercover intelligence and the like must be handled by couriers, making transfers of sensitive information even more hazardous. Tourists are occasionally used for such transactions, and encoded verbal messages are standard operating procedure. It’s much easier for a courier, either official or conscripted, to maintain plausible deniability if he doesn’t know what the message means in the first place.

3. The as-yet-unmentioned fourth continent, Burrund, is the economic center of the world. All trade, both intercontinental and interplanar, passes through Burrund. Officially neutral territory, this continent is paradoxically the smallest and the most important piece of intact land left on Tyrona. It’s also the most well-armed, considering the fact that it has to police not only its own citizens, but visitors from the other three continents. No open conflict has ever occurred within Burrund’s borders, but they know that there’s a first time for everything, and they intend to make sure the first time is also the last.

4. Zeppelins are the primary form of intercontinental travel, and highly reliant on the weather; the cloud seas have frequent “rift storms” that would demolish any aircraft that passed through them. Every army, even Cheelia, uses zeppelins for cargo and even as dropships. Dropships will typically skim the edge of the continental shelf below the range of most sensors, drop off their contingents of troops and weaponry, and glide back into the cloud sea before local defense forces are able to shoot them down. While other aircraft are capable of making it through the cloud sea, it’s unanimously regarded as a Very Bad Idea to attempt such a feat.

5. While both Burrund and The Swarm have access to tech from all three remaining factions, their tactics are almost diametrically opposite. The Swarm prefers hit-and-run tactics, focusing on speed and offense. Burrund, on the other hand, is a brick wall; they stand firm with a coordinated defensive stance and let the enemy come to them before unleashing a world of hurt on anyone foolish enough to attack.

Fog of War

Fri, 30 Mar 2012 01:37:49 -0400

No one really knows what caused Tyrona to fracture. Cheelia claims that their enemies conspired to shatter the tectonic plates by combining Phytos’ geomancy and Jaemont’s steam power. Jaemont blames Cheelia’s nuclear weapons program. Phytos would prefer to be left alone at this point, though given their rich natural resources, that’s unlikely to happen anytime soon.

All anyone really knows is that the sea is no more. As the continents cracked apart, the oceans fell away, then boiled as they threatened to drench the planet’s molten core.

It was this event that replaced the seas with seemingly endless billows of cloud. No method of detection, no matter how modern, has been able to breach the “fog of war” isolating the continents from each other.

It was the boiling of the oceans, too, that saved the continents from a worse fate. At the first sign of global tectonic disturbance, the geomancers from each continent met in secret. It was there they formed a truce, unknown to their own governments. They would work together to secure the continents should the unthinkable happen… which it did. Their willingness to lay aside the long-forgotten grudges saved everyone. While they keep the land masses in check, their fellow citizens on the surface continue a war whose root cause has been long forgotten. Even when the world rests on the brink of obliteration, they fight for every scrap of territory and resources they can claim.

Cheelia has long since been the technological leader of Tyrona. They are the ones who developed robotic frames, the plans of which were quickly stolen by Jaemont intelligence operatives for their own use. Cheelian scientists developed near-human-level artificial intelligence. Cheelian scientists harnessed nuclear power. No other faction on Tyrona can claim such superiority. Jaemont and Phytos, however, would point to the downtrodden civilian population and question the worth of such technological advances if not for the good of the people. But for Cheelia, victory is for the good of the people. It is victory that brings in resources for the war effort, and it is victory that will improve the morale (and thus the lives) of the people.

Jaemont, on the other hand, would prefer steam-powered freedom to nuclear-powered tyranny. For them, the war is about liberty. The occasional land grab in Phytos is an unfortunate necessity; were it not for Phytos’ rich natural resources, Jaemont would be more than happy to leave the nature-dwellers at peace.

Phytos, meanwhile, would prefer to be left alone. They believe that men are to be stewards of the land, not users of it. With Cheelia and Jaemont both vying for territory on their continent, the Phytans have taken to the skies themselves, riding on the backs of beasts to take the fight back to those who would despoil their lands.

Meanwhile, those left on the fragments of land lost in the mists, islands aloft with no connection to the mainlands, fight for survival. They take what they can get, when and where they can get it. To feed their families, they have become pirates. They come out of nowhere, overwhelm a ship by sheer numbers, and take their prize home to their islands in the mist. They are The Swarm, and they don’t give a damn about the war. For them, it’s more personal than for any military grunt the mainlands can throw at them.

This is Tyrona. This is the Shattered Planet.