Some more ideas for units, upgrades, and technologies for the Europa Strategy game I came up with. You can tell I like tooltip descriptions as a means of lore building.

Dingbot Horde (Heterodyne): Capable of detonating itself in order to inflict massive damage on all units in a region. Four inches of fiery death.

Don’t Make Me Come Over There (Empire): Everyone knows the presence of Castle Wulfenbach means the Baron is coming. Castle Wulfenbach now suppress rebellions in whichever region it is currently in.

Since Time Immemorial (Fifty Families): The various Fifty Families have often ruled their lands for generations, over that time they have become a part of the territory as the landscape and people. Territories held by the Fifty Families for a certain length of time gain a bonus to resistance against invasion.

Mindless Revenant (Other): Instead of taking direct control, slaver wasps can create units of mindless revenants in a region. Unlike normal revenants, mindless revenants cannot be controlled and will rampage across the map mindless until stopped.

Treaty Diplomacy (Heterodyne): Phrases such as “abject submission,” “utter destruction,” and “Or else,” help clarify treaties and remove ambiguities.

Tribute State (Heterodyne): Instead of conquering a defeated region, the Heterodynes can instead install a local government which pays fealty to Mechanisburg in return for its continued existence. Tribute states cannot be directly controlled, but contribute a portion of all their production, capacities, and support to the Heterodynes.

Vespiary Squad (Empire): These elite units are trained specifically to destroy the Other’s hive engines and the wasps they spawn, and receive a special bonus when fighting against all insectoid opponents.

Wasp Eaters (Empire): The development of the wasp eaters allows vespiary squads to detect the presence of revenant infiltrators within the region they are stationed in.

Bogz for dinner! (Heterodyne): Expansion of the Jager’s dietary preferences allows them to more effectively live off the land, reducing the upkeep of all Jagermonster units. It also provides them with an added bonus against insectioid monsters.

Doom Weapon, Operation Marigold (Fifty Families): This last ditch plan involves the assassination of everyone of importance in Europa. Everyone. When activated every region with a smoke knight stationed in it will suffer a complete assassination of all personnel vital to the running of the region. (This includes territories belonging to the Fifty Families as well.) This will impose a massive penalty on all aspects of the effected region’s production and support. It will also cost all the Smoke Knights employed in the operation.

Deadly Queens (Other): Improvements to the hive engines result in them also spawning a deadly Slaver Wasp Queen in addition to their contingent of warrior wasps.

Yellow Codex (Fifty Families): New training techniques for the smoke knights both improves their ability to succeed in espionage, but also provides a bonus against espionage in all regions you control.

Set ‘em on Low (Empire): By dialing down the power, many deadly weapons employed by the empire can be put to effective civilian use in everything from road construction, to fire fighting, to communications. This allows military units stationed in a region to assist in construction as if they were a civilian construction unit.

Another form of robbery (Heterodyne): When at peace, Mechanisburg draws in a steady stream of tourists who provide an income directly proportional to the Heterodyne’s reputation.

Consciousness Transfer (Other): The application of consciousness transfer allows the other to transmit an units veterancy and specialization bonuses to another unit. This is useful when trying to upgrade units or radically retool your army.

The Beast (Heterodyne): Unleash the Beast of the Rails! This ravenous locomotive will devour the the infrastructure, resources, and towns of the region it is currently stationed in. However if the beast should run out of resources in the region it is currently in, it will automatically move to a nearby region and begin devouring the resources there, irregardless of who owns it.

Personal Smoke Knights (Fifty Families): By providing each major noble child with their own personal smoke knight swore to their protection, it becomes increasingly difficult to effect assassinations in regions controlled by the Fifty Families.

Papal Approval (1 out of 7) (Fifty Families): The Pope of Belfast now supports you, and with them, the Corbite Monks are forced to provide nominal support. The Fifty Families can now expand Corbite railways in regions they own and use them to transport troops.

The Airship City (Empire): Castle Wulfenbach is now a city unto itself, capable of supplying most of its own needs itself. All units stationed on Castle Wulfenbach now take no upkeep.

The Castle is Watching (Heterodyne): Castle Heterodyne’s awareness now stretches across the entire length of Mechanisburg. Mechanisburg gains additional defense against espionage and infiltration.

Europa Strategy Game

Basically I was thinking and suddenly my mind came across the idea for a grand strategy game set in the Girl Genius Universe. The basic idea would be something like Europa Universalis. Basically, become the one to finally unite Europa and bring peace at last. (Through war, bloodshed, assassination, marriage and mind control)

There are four factions: The Fifty Families, The Empire, The Heterodynes, and The Other.

THE EMPIRE:

The Empire would be kind of like the “balanced” faction. In keeping with the wide-spread and cosmopolitan nature of the Empire, it has access to a wide variety of troops for any situation drawn from all corners of Europa. It also would have access to a grab-bag of upgrades drawn from all the sparks that have been captured by The Empire and now technically serve it.

Castle Wulfenbach: The Empire’s capital is a gigantic airship which can be moved across the map to wherever it is needed the most, providing home-territory bonuses to whichever region it is currently in. It also makes it extremely hard to seize the Empire’s capital.

The Right Monster for the Job: The Empire is open to all who are willing to serve it. The Empire has a chance of absorbing defeated monsters, clanks, and soldiers into their forces as a new unit.

Black Item Number IX: The defeat of Petrus Teufel and the Black Mist Raiders has resulted in the Empire seizing the raiders stockpiles of chemical weapons. Normally actually using them would be out of the question, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

Doom Weapon, Take Five Bomb: when used on the map it renders a region completely unusable by all sides for a set length of time.

THE FIFTY FAMILIES:

The Fifty Families would work on the whole, noble knights and deadly court kind of image. Their own inter-family warfare have made them very good and espionage and intrigue. Not to mention as the preexisting government of Europa, they have an easier time solidifying control over conquered regions.

The Storm King!: A true heir to the Storm King has arisen! A New Age is upon us! Rejoice! News that the Lightning Throne has been claimed sends a new wave of hope through Europa. Newly acquired territories will have no unrest, and receive a brief bonus.

Smoke Knights: Extremely deadly spies and assassins, Smoke Knights can infiltrate enemy territories to spy, with no chance of detection. They can also have a much higher chance of sabotaging infrastructure and assassinating officials.

Knights of the Hunt: A unit capable of shifting between two forms, wolf and human. In human form they look no different from normal solider units. (But transform upon engaging in combat.) In wolf form they have increased attack and defense as wells as increased speed. (Allowing the Fifty Families to bait enemies into battles they only think they can win.)

The Muses: A series of nine legendary clanks which must be found and repaired individually. While they cannot fight, each Muse provides a specific bonus to whichever territory they are stationed in as well as a general boost to happiness and morale in the region.

THE HETERODYNES:

Proud heirs to a long legacy of terror, chaos, and murder, the Heterodynes represent one of the longest and most feared Spark lineages in Europa. Their proud tradition as raiders and brigands allow the Heterodynes to devastate their enemies’s infrastructure while simultaneously filling their own coffers. While their sparky traditions give them a leg up in quickly researching their extensive tech tree. However, their terrifying reputation and focus on Mechanisburg means that the Heterodynes have difficulty expanding and holding territories.

The Jagermonsters: the elite solider-monsters of the Heterodynes, the Jagermonsters are tough nuts to crack. With high defense and the ability to regenerate their health under any circumstance, a unit of Jagermonster can very quickly become a thorn in your enemy’s side. However their need to protect the secrets of their biology means that Jagers cannot be healed by medics and must instead rely on the Heterodyne paying personal attention to them.

The Defenses of Mechanisburg: The Heterodyne capital starts the game with significant defensive upgrades already constructed, along with the potential to upgrade those defenses to nearly 4X that of other factions. However, this focus on the defense of Mechanisburg means that the Heterodynes cannot construct or improve defenses in other territories they control.

A Town of Minions: Nothing excites the people of Mechanisburg like a spark at work. This enthusiasm, coupled with an innate ability to understand sparkwork within the population of Mechanisburg, allows any science and sparkwork facilities constructed in Mechanisburg to receive a double production bonus.

Doom Weapon, The Toaster: It can toast an entire town.

THE OTHER:

A terrifying and mysterious figure, the Other caused massive upheaval and Chaos in Europa which has only now begun to subside. However, the Other is not out of the picture yet, and with its army of Geisterdamen, along with its hive engines and slaver wasps, the Other is capable of rapid recovery from seemingly crippling defeats.

Slaver Wasps: Slaver wasps are a one-use unit that allows the Other to infiltrate enemy solider units and cities. Once a unit or city has been successfully targeted by a slaver wasp, revenants will begin undermining the target and if successful will pass control of it over to the Other.

Hive Engines: Once activated, a hive engine will spawn several armies of warrior wasps in the region in which it was activated. Unactivated hive engines can also be smuggled into enemy territories in order to launch devastating surprise attacks.

Mind Copying: The Other’s technology allows them to copy their mind into another unfortunate host, essentially duplicating the Other and allowing them to work in multiple places at once. (As well as providing a backup in case something should happen to the others.) This procedure is not without risks as the Other will be unable to act while they are copying their mind, and there is a chance that the procedure may not work at all, and if a copy is the Other is used, there’s a chance the procedure will kill them as well.

Geisterdamen: These other-worldly ladies are fanatically devoted to the Other and are unable to be converted or swayed by another faction. They also have the ability to infiltrate cites, allowing for hive-engines or slaver wasps to be smuggled in.