The Veiled Atlas: A Cycle of Falls
A turn-based 4X of rival governments contesting the dim Atlas through economy, war and an Influence-weighted Council. At the edge of sensor range, the Shadow does not lose - it only rises.
The Reach turns in a cycle of falls.
There have been ages of dark before, Falls that buried the worlds, and there will be Falls to come.
The last is generations gone. From its wreckage the worlds recovered, and new powers rose to reach for what was lost.
One of those powers is yours. Choose your banner and lead it.
Take up a banner
The Veiled Atlas is a turn-based 4X. Rival governments: Tyranny, Theocracy, Democracy - pursue the last working Council seat. Choose a faction, then lead it through a turning of the cycle.
A lean economy, deep choices
Energy, Materials, Population, Influence. No tech-tree to grind through, no twenty-resource sprawl to memorize. Build a Mine, a Farm, a Factory, a Shipyard; queue a Cruiser; vote at the Council; hold the worlds you take.
Combat in orbit and on the ground
Space combat is tactical hex on a battle scene - energy and missile weapons, line-of-sight, falloff, hex-grid obstacles, per-unit initiative. Ground combat decides who keeps the planet: Infantry can capture a Capitol; Armor, Artillery, and Gunship roles trade in a rock-paper-scissors triangle. Transports embark troops; orbital supremacy decides who can land; Orbital Stations gate that landing for the side that built one. Bombard the worlds you cannot take.
The Council
The Council convenes. Each faction commits Influence behind a candidate - itself, or a rival's rival. The committed Influence is spent; the highest weight wins the seat. Diplomacy is decisive moments, not a spreadsheet. Win the Council and get more power, conquer the worlds, or outlast what watches at the edge of the chart.
The Shadow
A presence at sensor range. Flavor pings from the opening. A late-game crisis that does not surrender, only recedes. Some games end in conquest, some in a Council vote, some in the slow rise of a Shadow no one defeats - only outlasts.
Witness another turning of the wheel
Each campaign is one cycle. The Atlas is veiled because we have lost worlds before, and we will lose them again. Stand, don't win.
