Terms Used
Commission
Commissions are credits paid to, or paid by, a player each month based on the ships possessed. A player receives commissions from their subordinates, and pays commission to their superior.
Credit
The unit of finance in Tiny Empires 3000.
Fleet
The ships owned by a player. There are two totals involved: personal ships owned by the player, and total ships owned by that player and all of their direct and indirect subordinates. Some game functions, notably rank, reference total ships; others, such as colonies, reference personal ships.
Guild Dues
These are deducted during every December turn. Dues are a percentage of the commissions earned during the year now concluding. The percentage increases as a player rises in rank. If there are not enough credits to pay dues, a ship will be sold to cover the balance due.
Every even year in January a payment is made for number of direct subordinates and number of colonists owned.
A Guildleader can choose to pay dues for their whole guild for three consecutive years (five years in guilds which have assembled 10,000 ships in their reserve fleet).
Subordinate
The persons immediately below a player in the guild hierarchy. Commissions are received from one's subordinates. Also, a player with subordinates receives bonus credits every other year in January.
To be able to get a subordinate, you can't be more than 3 ranks above. For a new player (pilot), you need at least 5 ships to get him/her as subordinate. To change superior, the superior needs at least 10 ships (Courier). Subordinates will be lost when a superior has a rank that is over 5 above his/her subordinate. The subordinate will be without superior until he/she "hooks up" with someone else.
This was relaxed in 2010. A Mogul may recruit a Pilot and a Director may recruit a Trade Baron.
Superior
The person immediately above a player in the guild hierarchy. Commissions are paid to one's superior.
A player can give ships to others who are 1 rank above or (at most) 3 levels below. An exception is giving to a Runner with less than 5 ships: trying to give ships will lead to the message that the player is "too inexperienced" and transferring ships won't work.
Allies
As soon as someone is Broker, there is the possibility to ally with a maximum of 4 allies. They cannot be a direct superior/subordinate. They also have to be Broker or a higher rank, but as soon as you have allies, you won´t lose them when you drop rank below Broker. Forming an alliance goes about the same as getting a new superior: you stand close to the person you want to ally with. As soon as the offer for an alliance comes, you request an alliance (beware: if the person you want to ally with is higher in rank, you first have to reject the offer to switch superior!). The request is sent to the other player, who can accept the alliance the next turn (or not, but then you can save yourself the trouble).
As soon as the alliance is formed, you can open a Comm Port (go to alliance tab and check the option). You get several options:
- build a Space Dock (you only have to do that once);
- transfer colonists to your ally;
- send a gift to your ally.
- break the alliance
Building Space Docks with all 4 of your allies gives you a bonus of 100 credits/ship (total, not 4 x 100). Another advantage, apart from the possibility to send colonists, is that your ally can investigate a sabotage, when that has hit you. There is not a 100% guarantee that it will catch the saboteur, but when more of your allies investigate, the chances are fair that you get your ships back.
Gifts cost about half the prize of a ship and appear to have no in-game function other than making the recipient feel appreciated even if all six gifts are sent. The choices of gifts (as at April 2011) is:
- An antique plasma rifle
- A book about ... (the subject varies - colonists, navigation, nothing, space and astrophysics have been noted)
- A heart-shaped pendant
- The finest synthetic champagne
- A real living flower
- An 8x10 glossy of you (which is still described as 'of you' when it is received)
Breaking an alliance is expensive and although a new alliance can be made right after there is an online minimum time limit before a new space dock can be built. When an alliance is broken both parties have to wait for this time limit to expire before they can rebuild space docks.
Fleet efficiency
Upgrades to your fleet, that improve your income in credits per ship. See Upgrades for more information about the upgrades you can obtain. As far as we know now, it looks like every 6 personal ships unlock a new upgrade, starting at 3 ships.
Latest info shows that the fleet efficiency can be:
- 2,500 by upgrades
- 300 for colonies (100 for each, to a maximum of 300)
- 200 for finishing research of any kind
- 100 for establishing four (4) spacedocks with your allies
- 200 for purchasing both a Bureaucratic Entente and a Bureaucratic Coup from the Bureaucrat
- 100 (can happen twice) through an option at the Mysterious Vessel "Black Diamond" (100 credits/ship forever)
That makes a total of 3,300 without the last, which is a "bonus" that can't be influenced by doing something (except, of course, paying the Mysterious Vessel!) for a maximum known of 3,500.