Crisis Events

Every round the Council has to deal with a Crisis, these come in 4 forms, Minor, Moderate, Major, and Severe. The first round begins with a random Minor Crisis. At the End of the Auction Phase, the next’s round Crisis Severity is determined, by rolling a die and adding it to the upcoming round’s number.

1d6+Round Number
3-5 Minor
6-8 Moderate
9-11 Major
12+ Severe

Once severity is determined 4 Crisis Events are picked of the selected severity and posted in the Looming Crisis Phase, they represent the storms on the horizon and one of those will be selected as the next round’s Crisis, by die roll at the start of that round.

Crisis Selection
1 – Crisis 1
2 – Crisis 2
3 – Crisis 3
4 – Crisis 4
5 – Pro tempore*
6 – CHOAM Directorship*
*These are perks, see Voting Section, each round the player’s with the first and second most votes at the end of the Auction Phase receive the ability to pick 1 of the 4 Crisis Events and assign it to the 5 and 6 slot, if they don’t submit a selection by then that number simply generates a reroll.

Most Crises come fairly generic, and include a brief description of the Crisis and the Crisis Auctions. Every Round has numerous auctions and some are determined by the Crisis, these terms of discussed elsewhere in detail but as a reminder:

Electors – Electors come in 3 types, weak, average (avg), and strong.
Weak – Possesses 1d3+2 votes and no militia
Average – Possesses 1d6+3 votes and 1 militia
Strong – Possesses 1d6+4 votes, 1d3 militia, and roll on the Elector trait chart.
“Random Elector” would be selected as 1-2 Weak, 3-5 Avg, 6 Strong

RSA – Random Standard Asset
RLG – Random Luxury Good
Planet – Random Planet, 1-2 Poor, 3-5 Avg, 6 Rich
Temporary Factions – Those that aren’t Aye or Nay are described as No Preference or Lean Aye/Nay. ‘No pref’ vote nay on 1-2, Abstain 3-4, aye 5-6. Lean Aye vote nay 1, abstain 2, aye 3-6, and Lean Nay vote nay 1-4, abstain 5, aye 6. There’s a random number for each Temp Faction that is decided when the Crisis is picked.

Example Crisis
Crisis: Minor
Description: After an outbreak of unrest on their world, a group of minor houses asked the Landsdraad to send in troops to help suppress riots, the Landsdraad agreed and the Emperor sent in some of the Sardaukar. The riots were put down rather over-enthusiastically resulting in hundreds of thousands of deaths, and the minor houses are now asking for reparations for this excessive violence.
Aye: Each player pays 400 MS
Nay: Increased unrest, all Planetary Income is down 25%, Weapons factories up 100%
Temp Factions - Aye: 3d6, Nay: 4d6, Lean Nay: 2d6
Assets – 2 RSA, 1 weak elector, 1 avg elector, 1 RLG, 1 planet, 1 hero

What does this translate as? Flavor will often be adjusted and expanded, but the Landsdraad is basically voting on whether or not to send aid to a world where the Emperor suppressed riots by sending in his crack legions who proceeded to mow down anyone who even looked like they might be contemplating civil unrest. If they pay the money, all is well, if not, lots of worlds will see unrest and it will translate as lost income on planets, including the player’s Homeworlds, reducing planet-based income by 25%, but no effect on other assets, except Weapons Factories, as both governments and people are buying up weapons on account of the increased unrest.

Looking at the Temporary Factions it appears most don’t favor reparations, but player’s won’t know how many people show up to vote until the Crisis is selected, when the 4 Crises are listed they appear as random numbers, and even when the Crisis is unveiled for the round, the Leaners don’t pick which way they vote till the end of the round. We also see some assets coming up, nothing too special or suprising and the Auctions for each round spew out additional items based on player count.

How should one vote on this? As a minor crisis it can only appear fairly early in the game, round 4 at the latest, so most players will own their Homeworld and maybe another planet. To lose more on reparations, at 400 MS, than a player receives from planetary income would require Planetary income of less than 1600 MS, as 25% of 1600 MS is 400 MS. Most players with only one average or poor Homeworld have no reason to vote Aye for this, as they will lose a little income, but anyone who own a rich Homeworld, or an extra planet, have a strong reason to vote for it, unless they own a weapons factory.

Example Crisis
Crisis: Minor
Description: A very rich source of gems have been located, but they are under an ancient and honored monument, the minor houses of the world have offered bribes to the Landsdraad if they can lift the ban to mine the location, but flooding the market with gems will lower Gem Mine Output.
Aye: Each player receives 250 MS, Gem Mine Income drops by 50%
Nay: No Effect
Temp Factions - Aye: 4d6, Nay: 2d6, Lean Nay: 2d6
Assets – 3 Gem Mines, 3 weak elector, 1 RLG, 2 planet, 1 hero
So here we a case where the average Gem Mine produces 600 MS a round, losing half that income would be 300 MS, a bit more than a player earns by voting Aye. Players who own no Gem Mines would want to vote Aye, players who own 1 would lean to Nay but it is a very small loss of income, if someone owns more than 1 Gem Mine they should favor Nay. Note that 3 Gem Mines go up for bid this round, the Crisis has caused a lot of people to sell gem Mines.

These were both minor crises, very little is lost or gained compared to total wealth. Let’s look at a moderate crisis

Example Crisis
Crisis: Moderate
Description: A senior CHOAM Director has been accused of embezzlement on a massive scale. As a member of a Great House, he has demanded his right to be tried by the Landsdraad itself. The evidence is quite compelling, but his accountants say otherwise. Is he guilty?
Aye: Each player receives 1200 MS, but CHOAM Stock generates 50% less Revenue that round
Nay: No Effect
Temp Factions - Aye: 4d6, Nay: 4d6, Lean Nay: 2d6+5
Assets – 6 Stock offers (1d6+4 shares each), 2 weak elector, 2 avg electors, 3 RSA, 2 planet, 1 hero

So players are basically being asked to pretend the guy isn’t guilty and send him back to work. Note that Moderate Crises can occur anywhere between round 2-7, since they occur on a Severity of 6-8 and that is determined by 1d6+Round. A player who has 24 CHOAM shares breaks even on this, which means anyone with less does well, most players start with around 10 shares, which would be 700 MS gain for a yes. So if this comes up early in the game most players will benefit, say round 2-3, but later, round 6-7, many players would own more than 24 shares and as one can see the Temp Factions don’t favor it. CHOAM Stock tends to be the biggest source of revenue in the game, compared to any other single asset.

Let’s take a look at one Severe Crisis, without its Temp Fractions or Assets.

Example Crisis
Crisis: Severe
Description: Civil War! Hundreds of minor houses and factions are rebelling, many are declaring independence outright and many of the Great Houses are openly speaking of disbanding the Landsdraad and letting the Empire dissolve into a hundred separate kingdoms. A Vote is being called to decide exactly that, will you vote against this measure and continue your bid to become the Chancellor, approving a huge increase in spending to put down these uprisings? Or will you go your own way as a new, independent Warlord?
Aye: The Game Ends, see results
Nay: Income is decreased this round by 20% for everything but Weapons Factories
Temp Factions and Assets omitted from this example
Results: The Victory Pot is redistributed: Votes (10), Military (15), Planets (15), Assets (10), Income (10), Stock (5), and Wealth (10). Weapons Factories count double for Assets.


This last example is an example of how the game can end, and reshuffle the Pot, taking 5% each from Votes and Stock and putting it into Military and Planets instead. Votes are still somewhat valuable since many of the electors you’ve bought might swear fealty to your new regime, stock is much less valuable, but having lots of troops and planets is a big plus.

Lists of Crises
These crises are in their most generic form, the mod adds flavor as appropriate. Crises are selected to be Looming Crises randomly from the current list at the time those 4 are selected.

Note: At this time only minor and moderate Crises will be listed, as a Major Crisis can’t occur until at least round 3, and the moderator would rather tailor those once the game has been played for a couple rounds. In addition both the minor and moderate lists will be added to,

Minor Crises
Description: A very rich source of gems have been located, but they are under an ancient and honored monument, the minor houses of the world have offered bribes to the Landsdraad if they can lift the ban to mine the location, but flooding the market with gems will lower Gem Mine Output.
Aye: Each player receives 250 MS, Gem Mine Income drops by 50% that round
Nay: No Effect
Temp Factions - Aye: 4d6, Nay: 2d6, Lean Nay: 2d6
Assets – 3 Gem Mines, 3 weak elector, 1 RLG, 2 planet, 1 hero

Description: After an outbreak of unrest on their world, a group of minor houses asked the Landsdraad to send in troops to help suppress riots, the Landsdraad agreed and the Emperor sent in some of the Sardaukar. The riots were put down rather over-enthusiastically resulting in hundreds of thousands of deaths, and the minor houses are now asking for reparations for this excessive violence.
Aye: Each player pays 400 MS
Nay: Increased unrest, all Planetary Income is down 25%, Weapons factories up 100%
Temp Factions - Aye: 3d6, Nay: 4d6, Lean Nay: 2d6
Assets – 2 RSA, 1 weak elector, 1 avg elector, 1 RLG, 1 planet, 1 hero

Description: Crop Sabotage
Aye: Each player receives 250 MS, Agri Fief income drops by 50% that round
Nay: No Effect
Temp Factions - Aye: 3d6, Nay: 3d6, Lean Nay: 2d6
Assets – 3 Agri fiefs, 2 weak elector, 1 avg elector, 1 RSA, 1 planet, 1 hero

Description: Ore Rich Asteroid Belt
Aye: Each player receives 250 MS, Ore Mine income drops by 50% that round
Nay: No Effect
Temp Factions - Aye: 3d6, Nay: 3d6, Lean Nay: 2d6
Assets – 3 Ore Mines, 1 weak elector, 1 avg elector, 1 RSA, 2 planet

Description: Short Term Tariff
Aye: Each player receives 250 MS, Manufacturing Facilitiy income drops by 50% that round
Nay: No Effect
Temp Factions - Aye: 3d6, Nay: 3d6, Lean Nay: 2d6
Assets – 3 M.Fac, 1 weak elector, 2 Stock (1d6+4), 1 avg elector, 1 RSA, 1 planet, 1 hero

Description: Weapons Boom
Aye: Each player loses 500 MS and receives 1 unit of militia they may place at any location they own, besides their Homeworld.Weapons Factories do not generate upgrade tokens this turn, but instead generate an additional 600 MS (1000 MS total)
Nay: No Effect
Temp Factions - Aye: 3d6, Nay: 3d6, Lean Nay: 2d6
Assets – 2 Weapons Factory, 2 Stock (1d6+4), 2 weak elector, 1 avg elector, 3 RSA, 2 planet