Decay

This section has details missing or obscure mechanics that need clarification by Haxus. Description: There are things about decay that I don't know. Haxus you may have to help with this. Item decay? Solar system decay? Sector decay? And of course check what I wrote. ^^; If you know the answer, please edit this page or state it on the talk page!

Everything in the universe decays over time if it is not visited or used. Commodities dropped on the ground will decay, unless placed as static items. Spacecraft slowly decay when they are without a captain or officer. Officers abandon their command if not hailed monthly. Cities decay when they become deserted. Even whole solar systems can decay and revert back to their original state.

City Decay

Cities don't decay with out a reason, most commonly it is due to morale issues.

When a city's morale is negative the population slowly leaves.

When the population of a city is one or zero, the city is deserted. The buildings and roads of deserted cities crumble away, a few at every city report. After no more buildings or roads remain, the town square itself crumbles away, leaving no trace that it ever existed on the world.

City Abandonment

Days	Penalty
7 - 13	0
14 - 20	-1
21 - 27	-2
28 - 34	-3
35 - 41	-4
42 - 48	-5
49 - 55	-6
56 - 62	-7
63 - 69	-8
70 - 76	-9

Abandonment is the primary force for city decay. Cities must be visited by an avatar to prevent abandonment. A morale penalty begins to grow 7 days after the last visit by an avatar who is online, starting at zero and increasing by one every 7 days. At first, the morale penalty is not significant. In time, the morale penalty outweighs all positive morale factors. This inevitably causes the population to dwindle to nothing.

Some cities have immunity to abandonment:

• Non-capital cities are immune to the abandonment morale penalty while they have a sector capital city.
• Sector capital cities are immune to the abandonment morale penalty while the empire has an empire capital city.
• The empire capital city does not count as a sector capital city, but a city can be both at the same time.

For the purpose of preventing abandonment, city visitation can be satisfied in two ways:

• A non-empire avatar passes through the city's solar system. All cities in a solar system are visited by the presence of an avatar who is online, regardless of political stance.
• An empire avatar is online. All cities in the empire capital city's solar system are visited when an avatar of its empire is online (at logon, avatar switch, and hourly).

Abandonment Math

It is possible to calculate the number of days a city can be abandoned before it starts to decay.

MoraleMod = Total of all morale modifiers, including possible abandonment penalty.
APenalty = Current morale penalty from abandonment, if not present it is 0.
ADays = Number of days abandoned, if not present it can be between 0 and 6.
AbandonmentInterval = 7

DaysLeft = ((MoraleMod + 1) * AbandonmentInterval) - (ADays % AbandonmentInterval)
DaysMax = ((MoraleMod - APenalty + 1) * AbandonmentInterval)

As used in HazeronAdviser.

Here is a simple table to show the maximum number of days, depending on morale modifiers. Add together the morale modifiers (excluding abandonment penalties) and follow the table.

Morale Modifier Total	-1	0	+1	+2	+3	+4	+5	+6	+5	+8
Maximum Days Abandoned	?*	14**	21	28	35	42	49	56	63	70
* If morale is negative, the city will will revolt once city neglect set it. ** Morale is also 0 when the city has no population.

Spacecraft Decay

Environmental Decay

Spacecraft slowly decay in the form of environmental damage when left abandoned in unsuitable environments.

If a spacecraft is inside an atmosphere it will very slowly take damage from the environment. This includes worlds with no atmosphere density, such as moons.

A spacecraft in space without power will be unable to withstand the cold void of space, slowly taking damage until the hull fails.

To prevent environmental decay:

• Have a NPC officer or an avatar on the spacecraft's roster and have it landed on a road slab
• Park the spacecraft in orbit and make sure it has fuel to maintain its power plant
• Store the spacecraft in a hangar

Hailed by Command

All spacecraft need to be hailed once every 4 weeks or the ship will be lost to mutiny. Which ends with the officer ordering the spacecraft to self-destruct.

Since last hailed by command

Days	Ship log message
0 - 6	The crew has high spirits. Every day seems filled with anticipation.
7 - 13	More than a week has passed since we were last hailed by command. The crew is quiet, intent on their work as they attend to their duties.
14 - 20	More than two weeks have passed since we last heard from command. There have been some tense confrontations between the crew members.
21 - 27	More than three weeks have passed since we lost contact with command. Some of the crew have become surly and insubordinate. Fighting among them is a daily occurance.

Officer Homesickness

If all cities on an officer's homeworld is lost, either to decay or captured by an enemy empire, the officer will commit suicide.

When committing suicide, the officer will self-destruct the spacecraft on which he is stationed, unless there is another officer or captain on the spacecraft's roster.

Commander-less Officer

If there is no avatar in charge of the homewold of an officer, it will commit suicide.

The spacecraft the officer was stationed on will not be harmed.

Item Decay

Items dropped on the ground will decay slowly, taking ??? durability damage every ???.