Upkeep

Upkeep is a mechanism that go along with the planet production cap.

While the production cap prevent a planet from stock piling spaceships by reducing the number of spaceships, upkeep prevent a player from sending spaceships around to avoid the production cap.

Rules

It ranges from -CAP to + CAP where CAP is the production cap of the planet

Effects

When upkeep is positive, planet production (if currently active) is fully stopped

Upkeep always decrease over time, but decrease even more in these condition:

• if the spaceship population = CAP, then upkeep is decreased by production
• if the spaceship population > CAP, then upkeep is also decreased, this time by prodution + decrease
• if the spaceship population < CAP, then upkeep only decrease if it is positive and would then decrase by production/2

Sending Spaceships generate upkeep

Upkeep increase whenever you send spaceships and the resulting number of spaceship on the planet becomes or remains less than CAP

When a fleet arrive the upkeep is refunded the more shorter the distance was

Examples

CAP = 400,000, currentSpaceships = 600,000, upkeep = -100,000

a) I send 150,000 spaceships

currentSpaceships becomes 450,000

upkeep is not increased (because no spaceships will be produced (> CAP))

currentSpaceships continue to decrease as it over CAP and so upkeep also decrease (but for the example we assume all is instant)

b) I then send 200,000 spaceships

currentNumSpaceships becomes 250,000 (now under CAP)

upkeep is now increased, because the planet will now create spaceships, it increase by CAP - 250,000 = 150,000, so upkeep becomes 50,000

Now currentSpaceships increase as we are < CAP, but because of upkeep is now positive the production is halfed. upkeep will thus decrease