COMMON TRAITS SYSTEM

STELLAR EMPIRES 2

COMMON TRAITS
The traits system, as most of you know, is the consistent core of my Engines whether they be for single individuals, war parties or entire nations. Like most however this is a Nation based RP and so the traits will reflect this. Due to the variety of nation types the traits will, more or less, be more or less more generic than ever before! At least not too much like those available only to specific nation types. When there are ones that are similar to those found in specific nation types one can consider the nation types to be 4 times as good as the common version found here.

NATIONAL TRAITS

Implausibly Efficient Government: Through trial and error the red tape has not only been cut but has been found to be redundant and counterproductive. When it comes to cutting the red tape your nation has none to cut! Fair Dinkum: Your nation is seen as a relatively straight player, and you are, you honour your deals and deal fairly with other nations. Who Cares about Uzbekistan: Your polity is simply not on the galactic radar and thus avoids a lot of the Bad Shit that can go down. . . (Can only be taken by Pacifist, Hunter, Environmentalist, Isolationist and Spymaster nations. And only Small Nations.) Party Please: Your diplomats are just so good-natured or know so many skeleton-filled closets that they can get into strategically useful alliances much easier than others. Of course, then you need to live up to what you signed . . . Manipulative: Political scheming is in the blood. Once you can deal with other nations you can begin playing with their politics, assuming youre cunning enough and theyre receptive enough. Colonial Spirit: Your people are restless for the great beyond and are excellent at colonisation, you expand nearly half again as quickly as anyone else. Mechanics at Heart: Your nation doesnt tolerate anything in less than perfect condition. Conversations can often be along the lines of 'time for the monthly check... looks good... looks good... hey what's this brown ticking package?' Passive Aggressive: Only a fool shows his hand instantly. But not us, we conceal our vicious power playing behind a submissive peaceful attitude diplomatically. Let our enemies make the first move. Let our allies move to protect what they perceive as a peaceful people. In the end well show them all. For the People: Every action taken is for the people, for good or ill, as such the people tend to largely support the nation without reservation. After all, is it not working for them on all levels? However most such nations are tied in bureaucratic bullshit. I-GUN: Inter-Galactic United Nations your empire is a conglomerate of your species nations pre-space flight that never unified into a single world government. But this gives you more diplomatic credibility and trustworthiness amongst the galactic community. Rule of All: The rule of all is a political foundation where all the people get a say in the running of the nation. The forums are abuzz and artificial intelligences (or equivalent) draw together most common ideas into a unified collection. Pyramid Rule: The nation is run like a pyramid scheme, at the top is a single body who commands a number of people who in turn command a number of people below them and so on down the chain.

POPULATION TRAITS
Loyalty: A populace that through some reason or another is loyal to its government, through fear or "cookie day" it doesn't matter, these people are loyal. Heroic Age: Your people see themselves as Spartan Heroes, not Persian Generals. Shame the Spartans made poor civilians . . . Flag-Wavers: It doesn't matter what you do, you'll always win the elections. You must choose something particularly dear to your population that they wave flags about. Stupidly Brave: Nobody would think of calling your people cowards. Not One Step Back!: You hold your ground no matter what, militarily OR politically. Clannish/Family Groups: Your people are divided into clans or other forms of familial groupings. While this can lead to genetic degradation if there is no breeding out of the Clan it lends towards more tightly bound units of people who work together with flawless efficiency. Crimeless: Your nation has abolished crime in its entirety, whether by simply making everything legal, some form of mental conditioning or other reasons. There is no crime, as such should there be any it would be noticed immediately as suspicious goings-on. "Ultra-hygienic": Your people don't suffer from natural diseases as they have refrained from contact with one another for whatever reasons. Whether they breed by using science clinics to 'do the deed' or its just a remote-controlled sperm-cell implant. The downside, your people aren't very social and exposure can lead to disease. Population Controls: Your population is controlled both in number and even in purpose. Your government conducts a practice known as social engineering to control the population. As such undesired elements are greatly reduced. Organised Chaos: Your society is so bizarre that most cannot comprehend what they are seeing when exposed to it. This makes any attempt to infiltrate it or target it much more difficult if there is anything other than the intent to simply kill them all. Manifest Destiny: The people have a future and it is glorious. Of course there is the little issues like other species who think that they have a right to their own destinies, but a little killing never hurt anybody that mattered anyway. We Act as One: The people are not simply loyal. They are YOURS when a threat to the nation is felt on the outside the people unite as rarely seen before to act with a singular will and purpose against that thread.

STAR NAVY TRAITS

Capital Warship Obsession: Your nation has a fascination with large warships. Your ratio of large capital ships are significantly higher than any nations who does not possess this trait. Relativity is a Bitch: Your nation prefers fast ships over heavily armed, and yet lumbering, warships. As such 10% of their weapons capacity is sacrificed for a significant increase in engine power. Hit and Fade strikes are your favourite. (Cannot take with Ironclad) Isaac Newton Hates You: You think energy weapons are fine, missiles are all well and good, graviton weapons are ok. But none of them compare to the deadliest son of a bitch in space. Isaac motherfucking Newton. After all, your antimatter bomb may go up big. But so does two tons of tungsten going at .5 lightspeed. (Projectile Weapons cost half. Cannot take with Who Needs to Reload, Use the Force or Macross Missile Massacre) Who needs to reload?: Projectile weapons, missiles they are nice enough I suppose. But what do they all have in common? Thats right. Ammo requirements. Energy weapons, while often not as powerful pound for pound just dont need bulky amounts of ammunition to enter combat with. All you need is your reactors and a decent sensor suite. (Energy Weapons cost half. Cannot take with Isaac Newton Hates You, Use the Force or Macross Missile Massacre) Macross Missile Massacre: On the count of three fuck them up Mr Nyder. Guns are ok, energy weapons are fine. But who gives a shit how many guns they have if they cant survive to get close enough to use them. Of course, the frequent need to reload is a good opportunity to get in some shore leave! (Missile and Torpedo weapons cost half. Cannot take with Who Needs to Reload, Isaac Newton Hates You or Use the Force!) Use the Force: What? Expose our ships to enemy fire? Fuck that shit, launch all fighters, maybe they have an exhaust port we can fuck up or something. Your nation has a hardon for strike craft and would rather never leave home without them.(Strike Craft and Carriers cost half. Cannot take with Macross Missile Massacre, Who Needs to Reload or Isaac Newton Hates You.) Hangar Queens: Your fighters are incredibly advanced. They possess the best technologies you could possibly pack into a beast their size making them 4x as good as any other nations fighters (if they dont have this trait) with one problem. They spend at least twice as much time in their hangars being serviced due to their complexity. Ironclad: You favour armour over speed. You sacrifice 10% of your weapons spaces in favour of considerably thicker armour than is the norm. This is cumulative with any nation traits regarding armour. (Cannot take with Relativity is a Bitch) A gift from the Stars: Nothing says we hate you and hope your cat dies more than an Orbital Bombardment. And you guys LOVE Orbital Bombardment. To the point you have rebuilt your medium weapon batteries to deliver firepower from orbit on top of Heavies! When in doubt FIRE EVERYTHING!: You dont just rock up and fire off a few broadsides. Your ships have been built in such a way that when you arrive you can comfortably, and literally fire EVERYTHING at anyone who decides to be in front of you. This gives you unparalleled first strike capabilities. Fleet Unity Protocols: The fleet is a unified whole in combat with skilled and powerful fleet coordination there are few things that can work as well together as a whole compared to your fleets. RAMMING SPEED: There are few plans as expected as simply RAMMING the enemy when things look grim. Its not easy to score hits, but when you do, fuck it that will hurt.

GROUND-WAR TRAITS
Note: You may only select a single Elite trait. Elite Infantry Formations: Your Infantry has little if any equals. At least from other infantry. They are extremely well trained, and while no special forces they can definitely hold their own. Elite Armoured Divisions: Your tank regiments and divisions are extremely well trained. Other tank regiments are horribly exposed against your tank-hunters. Elite Artillery Regiments: Your Artillery are masters of the trade and can hit anything they have the inclination to do so, at least as well as their weapons will allow. Elite Mobile Infantry: Your Mobile Infantry are an extremely skilled high mobility force. They can get where theyre needed in record time and fight like hell itself. Elite Special Forces: Your Spec-ops are disturbingly skilled. Few if any can match them on their terms. More importantly they can often be out of the engagement area before you can turn the fight to your own terms of engagement. Elite Air Forces: Your atmospheric pilots are skilled and are likely all aces. Theyll do what you need them to and when. Combined Arms is key: Your forces are at their best when working with one another on every level. Provided you have some troops of all categories present at a battle your chances of success get a significant bonus. If the opponent has this as well they negate each other. (Cannot take with Guerilla Tactics) Strategic Response: You HATE losing. To the point that if you think you are youre quite likely to call orbital fire support or maybe a nuclear missile or ten in order to level the playing field (Not to mention the engagement area.) Guerilla Tactics: Your people dont fight as a combined arms force. It makes you too easy to locate, whether in a Jungle, an Urban Jungle or a tunnel network diverse far-spread lines of skill troops is your key to victory. When the enemy commits against what they thought was a stronghold, that, that is when you strike. (Cannot take with Combined Arms) Occupationists: Your nation has a history of invading and successful occupations of its neighbours. Thus they are hard to draw out of somewhere they have chosen to emplace themselves. Sweep-Scorch: The tactic is simple. When an enemy is suspected to be dug in deep, you blast it... deep. This is very poor for keeping an area though. Orbital Support: The ground forces are trained to work with orbital support when it is available calling in weaker strikes from the weaker guns of their orbiting allies. Of course if the enemy intercepts the transmission they can just support with a not so weak strike on the transmission source.

TECHNICAL TRAITS
On The Run!: Most people don't strap engines to factories and cram them into carriers. Most people. Flash: Your stuff just has that extra polish that makes it look cooler than everyone else's inferiorlooking, blockily-functional equipment. Ghost in the Machine: People are a hindrance, so you use machinery as much as possible. Nazi Superscience: A role for every machine and a machine for every role. Better Than Your {Keyword}: Don't apply this too broadly or I'll smack you, otherwise it's exactly what it implies. Hangerize!: Fighters are cool (or just an overly important part of your doctrines) so you stick them in everything you can. This provides strike/superiority ability in addition to the usual utility-craft hangars. (EVERY Ship Class gains 2 Light Carrier Spaces and 1 Medium Carrier Space) Accelerated Repairs: Whether by massive modularity or simple natural awareness things are repaired far faster than might be expected of the technicians and engineers. Redundancy: Your nation has been working on making everything with multiple redundancy. When it is broken it is possible that it isnt really broken and can be brought online by other means. Synchronicity: Co-ordination is key, and very few understand it better than you. When push comes to shove you can really get the shoving working for you. And all timed perfectly too. Mechs Ahoy!: Your nation likes Mechs. They have supplanted tanks and many starfighters are Mechs as well. Slaved Ships: The nation can get ships smaller than Cruisers to be slaved to a master-ship that will enable those craft to run without crew whatsoever. However they obviously cannot be rearmed or repaired without returning to fleet bases. Stellar Fuel: These ships have a limited ability to regain some power in emergencies sufficient to run their engines and FTL drives as well as all life support systems for a limited time.

PSYCHIC TRAITS
Empathic Mind: Your psychics can sense the moods of others and even feel them in turn unwillingly. This can give you an edge in negotiations as your psychics can sense the moods of the other party. Tele-Empath: Your psychics can project emotions and feelings into the minds of others this can be a powerful weapon if used correctly. Projective Mind: One-way telepathy. When discovered is often used to create telepathic commanders who command their troops with the uninterceptable power of psychic control. Its a pity that any stronger Psychics can just take that control away from you. Predictive Omniscience: Its not as powerful as it sounds. These individuals do not actually see into the future but can interpret a set of most likely events based upon what their occipital cortex is receiving psychically. The effectively allows them to avoid bullets. Provided the persons aim was good and weapon accurate. And Shotguns are a Predictive Omniscients bane. Mind Tracker: Where many people hunt the trail left behind by someone the mind-tracker follows the mental imprints on the environment left behind by a sentients interaction with it. However doing so IS time consuming. Telecommunications: No, not phones. Networked telepaths communicating over incredible distances. They can provide nearly real-time instantaneous communication across an entire nation. Mental Shock: The psychic is trained for combat, but not well, at best all they can do is stun an enemy. Rapture: These psychics can send an individual into a psychically induced comatose state during which their mind will be quite thoroughly occupied. However it only lasts as long as the psychic is concentrating. This is a useful tool for capturing individuals. Chains of the Mind: The psychic entangles a person in mental bindings of their own creations, fears made manifest. However people of strong will can easily fight past the effects and kill the poor bastard responsible. Telekinesis: A technique for levitating and moving physical objects mentally. Though this is not the strongest it can allow a single skilled Telekine to control a ship on his own if forced to. (By manipulating the bridge controls telekinetically.) Masking Minds: The psychic has a limited ability to conceal himself from the inattentive as something not worth noticing. It doesnt work if the Psychic does anything overt however. Subtle Touch: The Psychics are more subtle with their powers than other psychics might be leaving them to be more likely to go unnoticed by people when using their gifts.

ECONOMIC TRAITS
Trade Cartels: Trade within your nation is controlled by the Cartels. There is little to no independent trade, though there is probably a thriving black market. Abundant Trade Goods: You may choose one extra primary economic product. You do not have to select a Deficit for this item as is otherwise normal. Abundant Trade Ships: You believe in keeping a safe number of trade ships available at all times. Currency Exchange: You have decided to ensure the compatibility of your markets with alien markets you forged a Currency exchange for the easy conducting of business. Interstellar Stock Market: Every Solar System of your Empire has its own microcosm of a Stock Market, controlling one Point Defender Gun: All your transports are fitted with a light gun with which to defend themselves against pirate attacks. Its not perfect and wont help against any considerable pirate efforts. But its better than nothing. The Pirate Lanes: Your traders have big balls. They realise that they can get small and profitable cargoes through the Pirate Lanes very quickly and generally tax free if the Pirates dont get them. Sprint Traders: (Cannot be taken with Bulk Traders) These traders sacrifice some of their cargo capacity for greater engines to get them faster. Bulk Traders: (Cannot be taken with Sprint Traders) These traders sacrifice their engines for larger cargo bays. There is little they cannot carry. Of course they couldnt outrun an Insectoid with six broken legs, but thats hardly the point. Lax Restrictions: How does one solve a problem with illicit goods? Simply. They simply decide to change what is classified as illicit. Bargaining Chip: The traders are good at getting the best deals possible. Of course they can annoy those who have fixed market prices with their persistent haggling. Borrowed Money: You need a little money to make money, but that doesnt mean that money needs to be yours to start with! Just... be careful, loan sharks arent nice people.

RESOURCE TRAITS
Metals Tritanium II: Tritanium III Duranium: Quintanium: Neutrinium: Adamantium: Unrefined Ores: Refined Lesser Metals: Precious Metals: Conductive Metals: Deuterium: Plutonium: Other Items: Antimatter: Shimmersheer: Rare Alcohols: Exotic Transports: Personal Ships: Exotic Pets: Alien Entertainment: Cybernetics: Advanced Polymers: Carbon Nanotubes: Chemicals: Civilian Vehicles: Precious Stones: Focussing Lens: Hardwoods: Starship Hulls: Commercial Satellites: Industrial Gasses: Plastics: High Grade Plastics: Combustibles: Artificial Fibres:

Foodstuffs Grain: Fruits: Vegetables: Domesticated Meat: Game Meat: Spices: Seafoods: Exotic Foods: Low Grade Alcohol: Medium Grade Alcohol: High Grade Alcohol: Other Drinks: Caffeinated Drinks:

Contraband Items: Dreamy White: Glitterstim: Party-Mix: Performance Enhancers: Spice: Small Arms: Slaves: Military Vehicles: Dangerous Chemicals: Illicit Alcohols: Biologicals: Dangerous Animals: Illegal Psychics: Starship Grade Weapons: C.I.T Chambers: Bioweapons: Pleasure Slaves: Illegal Test Subjects:

Equipment: Farming Machinery: Mining Vehicles: Industrial Machinery: Automated Robotics: Asteroid Mining Tools: Medical Equipment: Civil Engineering Machinery: Fusion Reactors: Electronics: Refining Equipment: Chemical Processors: Particle Accelerators: Recycling Equipment:

FLAWS
(Each Fault, Weakness or Flaw allows you to take one more trait in any category EXCEPT for resource or Historical. No more than four may be chosen.) Honourable to a fault: Your strategies will never rely on surprise or deception, your ships are painted bright shiny silver and your admirals will always give a speech to the enemy before battle. Creaky Military: The military is under-budgeted, under-equipped and underfed. Kind of like the Russian fleet circa 1995. You simply don't have much in the way of a military. This flaw hits hard enough to provide two (2) bonus traits. Soylent Green Is People!: You have a giant elephant-sized skeleton in your closet. (You must describe this big nasty secret. Though only your nation knows it and even the best spies would have difficulty finding it.) Government Red Tape: This request cannot be processed at this time. Please take a number. Cult Of {Keyword}: All Hail Xenu! Hilariously Fail: Someone - a lot of someones - doesn't have much going on upstairs. Unfortunately they're disproportionately represented in your government and military. Public Outcry: Your people have deep and strong opinions on some issues you'd really rather they didn't. Wimpy: Maybe they're a low-gravity race or just didn't drink milk when growing up. No matter the cause, your people are short, skinny and weak. This is a bigger disadvantage than it sounds, as your fighter pilots will not be able to handle nearly as many Gs and your ships will likewise be relatively sluggish. Paranoia!: In a universe full of planet-destroying aliens, a healthy dose of paranoia is only natural. It might make diplomacy difficult but at least they won't sneak up on you! Trade Dependent: Exactly what it says. A good example is a Mars-like world that must import significant food to feed its populace. Dangerous Cults: These cults arent just your weirdo cults that do strange things. These are cults that actively enjoy concepts like bringing your government down, terrorism. Psychic Nulls: Your people have no psychics amongst the population, and more over no protection against psychic abilities. (Cannot be taken if ANY Psychic traits were taken. Provides 2 Trait Points.) Limited Psy: Your psychic population is more limited than is normal. Moreover they simply cannot maintain the range that others can, and their communication if they possess the capacity is slower as well. GLaDoS: Remember that time where I said we were going to murder you, and you were like No Way! That was great. Your scientists insist on continually using unreliable dangerous A.I programs. Ones that have a habit of going insane and killing everybody involved. And no matter how many edicts you pass they continue to use them anyway. Famine: You may not pick any foodstuff resources and must pick six foodstuff resource deficits. Resource Shortage: You may not pick any resource traits at all and must pick a minimum of twenty resource deficits. (This trait hits hard enough to grant three common traits) Cowardly: Your people make very poor soldiers. While they are as capable as any other the fact remains at their core lies a lilly-livered, chicken-hearted, yellow-bellied coward. So long as your troops maintain a significant advantage youre fine. But the moment things even start evening out your guys would really like to head for the hills! Self Destructive: When boredom sets in it is a bad time, your people are fractured and dont much care for one another and only a threat to them all keeps them unified for any length of time. And even then only for so long before they get together for another little civil war or uprising. Shitty Worksmanship: Your designs and your work, well just about everything, is inferior to everyone elses. Your internet is slow, your sewage backs up, your phone lines are riddled with static and even your pants are a little longer on the left than the right. Your people are as good as can be, just very lazy on design and implementation. Delectable: Your species, while no Bovine, still taste really good. Want some Popplers?

RESOURCE DEFICITS
Metals Tritanium II: Tritanium III Duranium: Quintanium: Neutrinium: Adamantium: Unrefined Ores: Refined Lesser Metals: Precious Metals: Conductive Metals: Deuterium: Plutonium: Cybernetics: Advanced Polymers: Carbon Nanotubes: Chemicals: Civilian Vehicles: Precious Stones: Focussing Lens: Hardwoods: Starship Hulls: Commercial Satellites: Industrial Gasses: Plastics: High Grade Plastics: Combustibles: Artificial Fibres:

Foodstuffs Grain: Fruits: Vegetables: Domesticated Meat: Game Meat: Spices: Seafoods: Exotic Foods: Low Grade Alcohol: Medium Grade Alcohol: High Grade Alcohol: Other Drinks: Caffeinated Drinks:

Contraband Items: Dreamy White: Glitterstim: Party-Mix: Performance Enhancers: Spice: Small Arms: Slaves: Military Vehicles: Dangerous Chemicals: Illicit Alcohols: Biologicals: Dangerous Animals: Illegal Psychics: Starship Grade Weapons: C.I.T Chambers: Bioweapons: Pleasure Slaves: Illegal Test Subjects:

Equipment: Farming Machinery: Mining Vehicles: Industrial Machinery: Automated Robotics: Asteroid Mining Tools: Medical Equipment: Civil Engineering Machinery: Fusion Reactors: Electronics: Refining Equipment: Chemical Processors: Particle Accelerators: Recycling Equipment:

Other Items: Antimatter: Shimmersheer: Rare Alcohols: Exotic Transports: Personal Ships: Exotic Pets: Alien Entertainment: