NOTE: This guide applies to the full version of Subscape, and covers mechanics not included in the Subscape Beta.
Summary
In Subscape, the player’s primary objective is to maximize $TAHO earnings.
They pursue this by becoming a Citizen of a Realm, where the majority of play is conducted. As a Citizen, the player completes their Realm’s Quests to earn XP, participates in Realm governance, and engages in offensive/defensive encounters with other Realms.
But the Island’s laws are those of the march and players always retain the opportunity to exit, return to their default Nomad position, and join another Realm.
For additional background, see Subscape Mechanism Design.
Overview
A Nomad’s first important choice is which Realm to join. When they decide, they choose how much $TAHO they want to Stake. The longer they Stake for, the more $veTAHO (vote escrowed TAHO) they’ll receive.
Realms have different Quests. The more $veTAHO a Citizen has with a Realm, and the more Quests they complete, the more Experience Points (XP) they receive. At the end of a Season, all their XP is redeemable for their share of their Realm’s $TAHO Emissions.
As the Season progresses, a diligent Citizen keeps tabs on the actions of their Guardians. If the Guardians propose a harmful change, Citizens can Veto. If a particular Guardian is misbehaving, the Citizens can vote to Impeach them.
When Sieges occur, Citizens burn $TAHO to increase their Realm’s chances of success. A Citizen’s share of the $TAHO burned in the war effort is proportional to their reward for securing Siege objectives.
If the Realm is no longer a good fit, the Citizen should consider searching for a new home. At any time of their choosing, the Citizen may defect back to being a Realm-less Nomad and search for another Realm to join.
Realm Selection
No Realm is going to be a perfect fit, so a prudent Nomad weighs the mechanical and social benefits before selecting a Realm.
Mechanically, players are incentivized to become Citizens wherever their play style will earn them the most XP and the most $TAHO emissions. Higher Level Realms (Cities and especially Metropolises), receive more $TAHO Emissions, but those Realms will be more populated, and internal competition for the Emissions is likely to be fierce. A finite amount of XP is awarded every week. The more Citizens there are competing for XP through Quests, the less each Citizen will receive on average.
Additionally, different Realms offer different Quests. A Realm that rewards a Citizen for things they are interested in is a great fit.
Socially, different Realms have different vibes. Finding a Realm populated by Citizens one enjoys being around goes a long way.
Realm Commitment
The longer a Citizen chooses to commit to Staking in a Realm, the more voting power they wield. Further, they’ll receive more XP for completing the same Quests.
A Citizen can commit for up to 12 weeks, and as the end of their commitment draws near, their voting power and XP benefits decrease. At any time, a Citizen can renew their commitment back to the 12-week maximum.
Longer commitments are great for earning XP and raising a Realm’s Level, but the Citizen’s $TAHO becomes illiquid. Further, the Citizen risks their Realm getting Sieged while they’re unable to leave. Finally, the less unstaked $TAHO is available, the harder it is to conduct a siege.
Earning XP
Completing Quests earns Citizens XP. The more $TAHO a Citizen Stakes in a Realm, and the longer they Stake for, the more XP they will earn.
A Realm’s Guarda has 1M XP that they can distribute each week. The more other Citizens are completing Quests, the more those Citizens are Staked, and the longer they’re Staked for, the harder it is to earn XP.
At the end of a Season, a Citizen can redeem their XP for $TAHO based on their Realm’s Level. In the interim, XP is tradable (but Realm- specific). Citizens may find it beneficial to trade their XP for $TAHO directly. This allows them to speculate on their Realm’s ending Level (10,000 XP is worth a different amount of $TAHO in an Outpost compared to a Metropolis), increase their Stake, power a Siege, or cash out early.
Citizen Oversight
Citizens exercise active oversight over their Realm’s Guardians and governance. A Realm’s Guardians’ chief responsibility is to transparently, honestly, and accurately distribute XP. Citizens should require that their Guardians publish and explain their Quests.A wise Citizen’s motto is “Don’t Trust; Verify!”.
Whether Quests have been completed should be derived from open source code that produces consistent results. The Guardians should publish this code, and publish the result of running this code. Citizens should verify that when they run the same code, they get that same result.
Citizens exercise oversight over their Guardians’ effectiveness, activity, and performance.
If a Guardian is idle, ineffective, or actively sabotaging the Realm, Citizens can Impeach them. Citizens should vote to remove bad Guardians from the Realm and then elect better ones.
Finally, The Council of Guardians votes to make broader game-level changes. If a Citizen believes these changes would harm the game, they may veto these changes.
Sieges
At any point during a Season, the Guarda of a Realm can attempt to Siege another Realm. If a Citizen’s Realm wins the Siege, that Realm can freely level up (Outpost –> City → Metropolis), and its Citizens receive more emissions. If a Realm loses a Siege, it downlevels and all Citizens receive fewer emissions.
Once the attacker has chosen a day for the Siege, both Realms have 24 hours to burn $TAHO. Sieges proceed through three objectives, which each side attempts to independently secure. Success at these objectives is resolved randomly based on $TAHO burned relative to the other Realm:
Burned <= 1x Opposition: 50%
1x < Burned <= 1.5x Opposition: 60%
1.5x < Burned <= 2x Opposition: 70%
2x < Burned <= 3x Opposition: 80%
3x < Burned <= 4x Opposition: 90%
4x < Burned: 100%
If the attackers secure at least as many objectives as their opposition, the opposition’s Realm is reduced to a Frontier, where it receives no $TAHO emissions. Regardless of outcome, for each objective a Realm secures, their Guarda may pick one of the following options:
- Capture: Steal 10% of the other Realm’s XP.
- Pillage: Steal 5% of the other Realm’s end-of-season emissions.
- Raze: Delete all XP earned in the other Realm.
- Guard: Prevent a Capture result.
- Fortify: Prevent a Pillage result.
- Quench: Prevent a Raze result.
Citizen’s choices here are impactful. While the Guarda has the final say about Sieging a Realm, they cannot conduct a Siege without their Citizen’s funding. Working together with Guardians is key.
Astute Citizens weigh the direct cost of burning $TAHO against the potential cost of the other Realm securing objectives, the potential damage to their Realm, the potential for their Realm to progress, and the potential to claim a share of the rewards from securing objectives.
Determining how much $TAHO to burn for the Siege is complex at both the Realm level and the individual level. The more all Citizens collectively burn, the higher the chance that the Siege is successful, but burning excess $TAHO is not in a Realm’s or Citizen’s best interest. Moreover, all Citizens of the Realm are impacted by their Realm’s total burn, even ones that do not burn any $TAHO or who are opposed to Siege effort.
The more an individual Citizen burns, the larger share of the XP and Emissions they receive from successful Capture and Pillage objectives.
Subterfuge
There are many reasons players may want to engage in subterfuge. Other Realms are incentivized to Siege a Citizen’s Realm for its resources; other Realms may have great ideas for strong Realm management.
A clever Citizen participates in the communities of other Realms to gather information about their plans, learn when they’re vulnerable to attack, and gain insight about what Siege objectives they’re interested in.
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