CoHo Whitepaper

A strategy and trade-based cosmic multi-player game, built on the QWOYN Network By: W. Moglia, D. Pittman, S. Lott

Abstract

Cosmic Horizon is a P&E (play-and-earn) strategy, trade and conquest MMRPG developed by Qwoyn Studios and powered by the Cosmos SDK. Cosmic Horizon (CoHo) combines the power and engaging gameplay enabled by modern game engines with user-empowering enhancements and functionalities made possible by a blockchain-based architecture. True player-owned, sovereign assets; dynamic economies; community governance; and gamification of ecocredit retirement are just a few unique features made possible by this new approach to blockchain gaming.

Cosmic Horizon draws some inspiration from classic adventure and strategy games of the 1990s, but utilizes a modern game engine and blockchain infrastructure to provide a modern and dynamic gaming experience that aligns with the sensibilities of traditional gamers, while requiring little if any experience in blockchain.

Cosmic Horizon places players in an unexplored galaxy, filled with planets, ships, trading outposts, and space stations to discover (and potentially conquer). To prosper, players earn funds by buying and selling commodities, acquiring and upgrading their ships, and developing planets and other fortifications. Players may choose to form syndicates and alliances to pursue galactic hegemony collectively or grow and build as lone privateers. Ultimately players will develop their own unique strategies and styles of play in the open universe of Cosmic Horizon.

1 Introduction

1.1 The Cosmic Horizon

On the other side of the Cosmos, in a corner of the Agaricalis system, lived an advanced race of humanoids known as the Muscarians (or Muskies) After picking up a curious signal detected from their home planet, the Muscarian population launched a mission to investigate. They were successful in their endeavor and the source of the strange signal was uncovered: an artificial wormhole, created by an alien race of avid explorers known as the Vedic.

Traveling through the wormhole, Vedic emissaries made contact with the Muscarians and introduced them to cyrillium, a power source with the potential to provide a great leap forward to Muscarian space travel. Within a few years, they managed to develop a number of ships capable of traversing their galaxy in record time, and the Vedic ceased supplying this resource to the Muscarians and instead invited them to use their wormhole to access the Calvatian Galaxy where cyrillium is plentiful.

With good money to be made moving cyrillium, those with the resources headed through the wormhole in private ships to take part in the lucrative trade. Population issues on the Muscarian home world drove other colonists to transport ships, eager to start a new life on an H-Class Planet in the Calvatian Galaxy.

In the massive Calvatian Galaxy the Muscarians were not alone. In addition to the Vedic, a number of Kalin and Tar’ri ships also traversed this new space, collecting cyrillium and transporting it back to their respective homeworlds, located in the same galaxy from which the Vedic hailed.

Initial contact led to a robust technology exchange with the Vedic and lucrative trading between the Muscarians and Tar’ri, though the Kalin’s eagerness for a fight led to occasional skirmishes.

Tensions escalated when a Kalin ship discovered and passed through the wormhole into the Agaricalis system. The Muscarian Central Authority sounded the alarm and decided in short order to take action. A plan was hatched to destroy the only other wormhole in the Calvatian Galaxy and fortify Muscarian control of the wormhole connecting Agricalis to Calvatia.

Though the Kalin’s ships were superior militarily, the destruction of the original wormhole cut Kalin forces off from reinforcements. Thus, the Muscarian Central Authorities presumed they could outmatch any future Kalin threat with their superior numbers.

The Vedic were naturally aghast and urged all parties to cease hostilities before further damage was done, but cooler heads did not prevail.

The Kalin reacted swiftly to the Muscarian aggression. As the token Kalin forces were now stranded in the Calvatian space, they elected not to invade the Muscarian sector in retaliation but instead endeavored to destroy the Muscarian wormhole, cutting their new enemies’ home world off from cyrillium deliveries as well. The hope was that in time, with both races cut off from reinforcements, the Kalin would achieve military dominance in the Calvatian space.

Their plan went forward in the form of a Kalin partisan piloting a captured Tar’ri freighter overloaded with a volatile combination of raw and refined cyrillium, as well as sufficient Rache Devices to catalyze an explosion. This living bomb was able to sneak into the wormhole and detonate—destroying the Muscartian connection to their home.

The stranded Muscarian and Kalin populations initially engaged in a series of military engagements, but after a few decades of bloodshed and conflict, tensions began to cool and a cease-fire was established.

The years of conflict weakened the struggling Muscarian Central Authority’s ability to police Calvatian space and a laissez-faire, market-driven approach to enforcing galactic harmony was adopted. Only a select number of protected sectors remained under the control of the Central Authority, patrolled by Muscarian Sector Harmony Enforcers. Individual complaints were (and continue to be) managed by privately funded Justice Centers.

Ever in pursuit of greater wealth, and unbothered by their newfound isolation, the Tar’ri took advantage of the Kalin/Muskie conflict to establish trading routes and outposts, while growing their personal domains and enterprises. The Vedic similarly established planets and settled into their quiet confinement, their long term ambitions in the sector nebulous.

Meanwhile the ceasefire did little for Kalin solidarity and their once unified factions splintered. The Kalin reverted to old fractious ways: they formed clans, which traded with Tar’ri, collaborated with Vedic and tolerated (and even colluded with) Muskies in their dogged pursuit to establish dynasties in their new Calvatian home.

Today all races coexist in the quadrant together, with an expected mixture of conflict and alliance between groups. Stranded in this strange new world, you set out in the vast Calvatian Galaxy to carve out a piece for yourself, develop and protect it for future generations—and reign destruction on your enemies, striking fear in the hearts of any who stand in the way of your path to establishing a new era of cosmic harmony.

1.2 Gameplay Introduction

Players of Cosmic Horizon begin at a Star Mall, where they can import or purchase and equip a ship with the in-game currency, $COHO. Once equipped with a ship, players may begin exploring the vast and uncharted reaches of the galaxy. As players travel to new sectors, their ship's navigational computer will log their path and so gradually construct a cosmic map. This exploration is an important aspect of gameplay, for it is through exploration that players will discover profitable outposts (i.e. commodity dealers) to trade with, and strategically significant sectors to secure and defend.

If players encounter an outpost, they may dock with it to see what commodities it is buying or selling, and elect to purchase (or sell) goods. Outposts will value commodities differently based on their own unique supply and demand, offering an opportunity for the strategic buying and selling of goods. By arbitraging commodities between ports, players can earn a profit, which can be utilized in-game or withdrawn from the game and turned into $QWOYN tokens. The process of buying and selling commodities between ports is referred to as celestial arbitrage.

If a player discovers a planet, they may claim and develop it. Planets are developed by collecting colonists from a seed planet and depositing them on the planet one wishes to develop. With sufficient colonists and commodities, planets become eligible for further stages of development and related upgrades. Commodities or cyrillium produced by a player-owned planet can be sold to outposts for profit. Upgraded planets play a significant strategic role, as they can be fortified with shields and atmospheric defenses.

If the player has a compatible ship, they can purchase a Planet Generating Device (PGD) from the general store to create a new planet.

Players will also encounter other players during the course of their journey and are free to attack, ignore or collaborate with them. Collaboration occurs informally or formally, the latter is accomplished by forming a syndicate. By forming a syndicate, multiple players can collectively hold and manage planets, funds, commodities and strategic defenses in common.

The ultimate goal of the game is twofold: To earn funds and conquer the galaxy. The player earns funds by trading in cyrillium or commodities, attacking other players and various other ancillary revenue-generating strategies. The player conquers the galaxy by utilizing the wealth they accrue to purchase better ships, upgrade planets, and generally to develop an arsenal with which one can enforce and maintain a presence in the game and attempt to dominate the Calvatian galaxy. Greater resources allow players to control greater and greater areas of space (which in turn open new opportunities for commerce).

1.3 Celestial Arbitrage

One of the primary objectives for players in Cosmic Horizon is to engage in the profitable trade of commodities between various outposts, in a process we have dubbed celestial arbitrage. Outposts throughout the galaxy buy or sell diverse commodities. Supply and demand generally guides commodity pricing, but buying power is also limited by an outpost's treasury. In order to enable outposts and players ongoing successful trading opportunities, and dynamic gameplay, two mechanisms exist to support the treasuries of outposts (and by extension, the in-game Cosmic Horizon economy).

The two mechanisms, or economics catalysts are (a) in-game economy (IGE) bootstrapping pool and (b) a dedicated portion of the chain’s inflationary rewards. More on these mechanisms can be found in Section 4.

2 Benefits of Blockchain

Cosmic Horizon aims to bridge the gap between traditional and blockchain gaming. It creates an immersive, multiplayer experience with robust asset sovereignty and community governance made possible by its blockchain backbone.

Cosmos SDK will be used as the starting point for our blockchain, supplemented by a variety of custom modules. The underlying technology will be enhanced with the use of Go modules, such as Cosmos SDK Groups Module, which allows nested governance within the chain and provides more robust gameplay. The ecocredit module native to Regen Network’s blockchain will also be utilized within the stack. This will allow the Cosmic Horizon game to have a real-world impact by providing players with the opportunity to contribute to positive ecological outcomes during their adventure.

Additionally, utilizing blockchain technology, players of Cosmic Horizon will be able to trade acquired in-game $COHO for $QWOYN, Qwoyn Studio’s native coin.

Qwoyn Studios will continue to adopt partnerships with new and current projects as the need arises and adopt technology provided by other application specific blockchains which provide and specialize in tools advantageous to the development and success of Cosmic Horizon.

3 Gameplay

3.1 Universe

The universe of Cosmic Horizon is an expansive medley of interconnected sectors making up the Calvatian galaxy.

3.1.1 Map

The layout of the galaxy and its constellations of interconnected sectors is best imagined if we use a familiar map as a starting point. For this example we will use the classic game of Risk™.

In Cosmic Horizon, each country would represent one sector. If we simplify this map into a series of points (or sectors), one can begin to see a theoretical representation of a very small corner of the Cosmic Horizon universe.

Each dot in the map represents one sector, and each sector is accessible only from a connected sector. The above example represents an isolated corner of the galaxy, accessible from a single entry/exit point.

The universal map of the game is therefore a large, randomized collection of sectors. The importance of exploration cannot be understated. Through exploration players can uncover strategically positioned sectors, outposts to trade with, enemy territory to avoid (or invade), and make other exciting discoveries along their journey.

3.2 Sectors

The Cosmic Horizon in-game universe is a constellation of thousands of sectors, which form the game map. Players travel from one sector to another, burning fuel and slowly building a map of their explored galaxy. Inside each sector a player might find empty space, other players, hazards, outposts, planets, a Star Mall or other points of interest.

3.2.1 Sector Dynamics

3.2.1.1 Standard Sectors

Typical sectors allow the player to move from one sector to another. A single sector may have up to twelve adjacent sectors.

Example A: The player is in sector 220, they have the option to travel to any of the adjacent sectors (in this case, sectors 86 and 316). Assuming the player travels from sector 220 to sector 86, they will then have the option to navigate to sectors 100, 316 or 220.

3.2.1.2 Special sectors (one-way aka “drop offs”)

Some uncommon sectors allow passage through them in a single direction. The player can travel from sector A to B, but once arriving in sector B they will see that sector A is no longer adjacent and the trip back might be a circuitous one. These “one-way” sectors one can imagine as being “cliffs,” or “drop offs.” Nothing will warn players of a sector being a drop off, but the information will be recorded to their personal maps.

In the figure above, if the player finds themselves in sector 300, they can move to sector 350, but cannot travel back to sector 300 directly. In order to return to sector 300 they would need to travel from 350 → 402 → 450 → 300.

3.2.1.3 Choke points to isolated sectors

A choke point is a single sector that one must pass through in order to reach the sector(s) on the other side. Discovering sectors behind choke-points is of great strategic value, as the player minimizes the resources necessary to protect whatever planets or other items they might have in the sectors beyond the choke point. By fortifying a single choke point, the player can maximize their defensive expenditures.

In the figure above, sector 600 is a choke point between the greater cluster and the rest of the in-game universe.

3.2.1.4 Protected sectors

Some sectors of the galaxy are protected by the Sector Harmony Enforcement Division of the remaining Muscarian Central Authorities in the galaxy. They serve as a “safe space” for players who travel through them. Players may not attack (or be attacked) in these sectors.

Low level players with minimal offensive weapons capabilities can leave ships unattended in protected spaces. However, more advanced players may not leave their ships unattended in protected sectors.

Examples of protected space:

• Sectors containing and adjacent to seed planets

• Sectors containing a Star Mall

3.2.1.5 Harmony Enforced Routes

High traffic routes include sectors located directly between seed planets and a Star Mall, and between Star Malls. These routes are protected from deploying drones or mines. Any mines or drones deployed in these sectors will be destroyed by the Sector Harmony Enforcers.

3.2.2 Sector contents

A sector may be completely empty or contain any number of items or objects:

• Outpost

• Planet(s)

• Derelict ship(s)

• NPC(s)

• Drone(s) (rogue, adversarial or friendly)

• Debris (i.e. hazard)

• Other players (ships, DodgePods, cloaked ships, etc.)

• Space buoy(s)

• Mines (tracking or halberd)

• Empty space

3.3 Locations

3.3.1 Outposts

Outposts are scattered throughout the galaxy and exist as trading outposts, buying or selling different types of commodities: unrefined cyrillium, food commodities, and tech commodities (ships, parts and other equipment).

One of the first ways a player might earn funds is by locating outposts and engaging in celestial arbitrage.

3.3.1.1 Refueling stations

Many outposts also deal in refined cyrillium and thus serve a dual role as both a trading outpost and refueling station. Once refined, cyrillium serves as fuel to power engines, shields and weapons. Refined cyrillium refueling stations can also be found in Star Malls.

3.3.3 Planets

At genesis planets are scattered throughout the galaxy, available for players to discover and claim. Alternatively, players may create a planet by using a Planet Generating Device (PGD).

Planets are an integral element in the game and serve a multitude of purposes. By introducing eager colonists, the player can claim the valuable resources or commodities that their colonists extract from or produce on the planet. Colonists also construct fully fueled tactical drones. By upgrading and militarizing planets, players can use the powerful planetary defenses to fortify and defend sectors.

If a planet is uninhabited, it can simply be claimed by any player that lands and lays claim to it. If a planet is inhabited, but undefended, players may need to win the loyalty of the inhabitants with either a monetary or military inducement. Militarized planets must be subdued by force before they can be claimed.

3.3.3.1 Planet Types

There are eight planetary types to discover or create in the galaxy.

Planet Class	Planet Type
Class H	Goldilocks planet (GLP / hospitable)
Class D	Desert Planet
Class O	Ocean Planet
Class A	Alpine Planet
Class F	Frozen planet
Class V	Volcanic Planet
Class G	Gaseous Planet
Class S	Colonist Seed Planet

Each planet, when colonized, will produce different commodities and/or drones at different rates. For example, if a Class H and Class D planet were equally colonized, the Class H would produce a higher daily yield in food commodities whereas the desert planet would produce a higher daily yield in cyrillium.

3.3.3.2 Planet Colonization and upgrades

When a player discovers a planet they wish to colonize, they should visit one of the seed planets in the game.

Class S planets (or seed planets), play an integral role in planet colonization. They are inhabited by a growing population of restless colonists, eager to start a new life on a developing planet. The Cosmic Horizon universe (i.e. the Calvatian galaxy) contains more than one seed planet.

To colonize a planet, the player lands on a Class S planet and collects a load of colonists. The capacity of colonists the player can carry is limited to the number of cargo holds on their ship. After collecting a load of colonists, the player navigates to the planet they wish to develop and deposits them. Colonists on a new planet will begin producing commodities and other resources immediately and will slowly increase in number.

Each planet has an ideal population level. When a planet is at this population level, resource and commodity production occurs at its maximum rate. Population management of planets should not be overlooked, for if the population grows beyond this point, production will decline. Furthermore, colonists need certain commodities to prosper and will increase or decrease in population depending on available resources.

3.3.3.3 Planetary Upgrades

Once a planet contains a sufficient number of colonists and adequate commodities, it can be upgraded. There are eight stages of planetary development.

Level 0 - Undeveloped

Most planets discovered will be level zero, either uninhabited or containing a small population with no industrial development. Such planets can be easily claimed with little to no resistance from the population.

Level 1 - Metropolis

After a planet reaches a sufficient population it can be upgraded to Level 1, whereby a Metropolis is constructed. A metropolis in itself is little more than a city with infrastructure for further upgrade. This is a sensitive stage for a developing planet.

Level 2 - Militarization

Upgrading a planet to Level 2 allows for fortifications to be deployed and adds a combat tractor beam to the planet, allowing any tactical drones in the planet's inventory to be activated. Using the militarization menu, the player can set drones to different defensive postures and reaction levels.

Level 3 - Atmospheric Defenses

Atmospheric Defenses can be constructed on the planet. They consist of large plasma cannons which fire on unfriendly ships when they attempt to pass through the planet’s atmosphere (i.e. land on the planet). Similar to ships' weapons systems, they have their own power banks which must be charged. The player can adjust how much energy is expended with each shot from the plasma cannons. This upgrade also enables players to turn planetary cyrillium into refined, weapons-grade cyrillium.

Level 4 - Planetary-based Sector Defenses

Planetary sector defenses (PSDs) are an upgrade to Atmospheric Defenses. PSDs extend the range of the plasma cannons, so that they can fire at unfriendly ships if they pass through the same sector that the planet is located in. PSDs can be set to different intensity levels. They deliver less damage per unit of energy expended when compared to Atmospheric Defenses (due to the greater distance involved).

Level 5 - Planetary Shield System

A planetary shield generator adds a protective energy shield around the planet, which must be defeated by invading players before they are able to land. Planetary shield systems store and use energy similar to how a ship’s shield generator functions, but on a larger scale (i.e. they draw from the planetary reserve of refined cyrillium).

Level 6 - Advanced Atmospheric Tractor Beam

An advanced atmospheric tractor beam (AATB) can be constructed on a planet. When engaged the AATB will grab and hold ships that pass through the sector where the planet is located.

Level 7 - Planetary Warp

A planetary warp drive is the final upgrade that can be added to a planet. This allows an entire planet to be moved from one sector to another. Great care should be taken when moving planets, warping them into an uncharted sector can result in the planet colliding with another object yielding very destructive results.

3.3.3.4 Discovering Planets

Random planets are scattered throughout the galaxy. When discovered, they are in one of various states. Though most planets are uninhabited, some may have a token population or, rarely, already feature some upgrades.

Players are free to develop discovered planets, but depending on their location, they may be difficult to defend.

3.3.3.5 Creating Planets

With a Planetary Generating Device (PGD) a player can create a new planet. This is especially useful for placing planets in strategically valuable sectors. The type of planet that a PGD creates is randomized. If the player does not create the type of planet they were hoping for, the planet can be terraformed.

The terraforming process involves purchasing real-world carbon credits and retiring them. For more on terraforming, see section 5, Ecology.

3.3.5 StarMalls

Star Malls are an important strategic and social hub in the Cosmic Horizon universe. The layout of a Star Mall may vary, but each may feature one or more of the following areas:

3.3.5.1 Ship Dealer

As the name implies, this is where players can come to purchase new ships. Different ship dealers may have different ships on offer. If a player has captured a ship, this is also where a player can officially claim it, by registering it in their own name.

3.3.5.2 Ship repair and salvage yard

Ship salvage yard is where a player can sell captured or damaged ships, as well as sell discovered artifacts or derelict ships left behind by an as yet unidentified alien race.

3.3.5.3 StarMall Garage

Players can potentially tow one ship with another, but not more than one at a time. Additionally, towing ships increases fuel consumption. Ship storage allows a player to store additional ships securely, as opposed to parking them adrift in space, where they might potentially be captured. It should be noted that a ship can be parked in space with a cloaking device, but this does not always guarantee its safety.

3.3.5.6 Refueling Stations

Refueling stations exist throughout the galaxy, in the form of special outposts. Every Star Mall is also equipped with these facilities.

3.3.5.7 General Store

The general store sells a number of items and accessories to enhance gameplay and ship performance.

• Planet Generating Devices: Fired by ships capable of carrying them to generate new planets. Life from lifelessness.

• Space Buoys Buoys are simple cosmic sign posts. Players can leave a custom message on the buoys for passing ships to inspect. They can also be utilized to triangulate a cross-cosmos jump, for ships equipped with Jump Drives (see below, Jump Drives).

• Rache Devices (aka Rachels) Developed by Prof. Rache, these devices are set to detonate when the player's ship is destroyed. The explosive blast is meant to send a message to the attacker or, if the attacker was sufficiently weakened during the conflict, might potentially destroy their ship as well.

• Halberd mines can be deployed in space and feature a proximity trigger. When other ships enter a sector where halberd mines have been deployed, they detonate.

• Barnacle mines latch onto passing ships, allowing the player who deployed them to see the whereabouts of the tracked ship. Tracking mines can be removed at a Star Mall.

• Cloaking Devices (available on certain ships) As the name implies, these allow the player to cloak their ship, rendering it mostly invisible. This makes parking a ship in open space significantly safer. It is not infallible however. Cloaked ships might be detected by some scanners, if the user has a careful eye and knows what to look for. Ships cannot move or engage in combat while cloaked.

• Cloaking Power Cells Each use of the cloaking device burns a power cell.

• Exploratory Probes These are probes that a player can send off toward a distant sector, which send back a report of the sectors they pass through. Probes have no defenses and self-destruct if they encounter obstacles. That said, with a little luck, a probe is occasionally able to slip through a fortified sector.

• Planetary Scanner (limited to certain ships): Planetary scanners allow the user to get an understanding of the planets in a sector without landing on them, such as planetary development and military readiness.

• Disruptor Torpedoes: Some ships may be equipped with disruptor torpedoes. Firing them into an adjacent sector temporarily disables mines, cloaking devices and planetary cannons.

• Sector Scanner: Sector scanners give the player an idea of what lies in their adjacent sectors. The scanners are rudimentary however, and require some care to interpret their readouts correctly. For experienced players, they are possibly more comprehensive than advanced sector scanners.

• Advanced Sector Scanner: Advanced sector scanners similarly give the player a view on what lies in adjacent sectors, however the readout is much more user friendly. Advanced sector scanners are more expensive than standard scanners.

• Jump Drive: Certain ships are capable of being equipped with a jump drive. This allows the player to jump from one side of the galaxy to another, provided that the player has placed buoys or drones in the sector they intend to jump to. Players should take caution when using jump drives. Miscalculations can destroy ships.

• Drone Pack: Drones are available with three different power levels and can be deployed in offensive, defensive or toll mode. Most ships can only carry one drone at a time.

3.3.5.8 (aka Star Mall Cantina)

Every Star Mall needs a wretched hive for the inhabitants of the galaxy to whet their whistle. The cantina is the spot for that and more. What secrets might be hidden in this dark and seedy corner of the galaxy?

3.3.5.9 Justice Center

The Harmony Enforcers lack sufficient resources to respond to the unremitting conflicts happening across the galaxy. Instead, the invisible hand of the free market can dole out slaps of justice.

In the Justice Center players can place a bounty on another player or a reward for the destruction of a specific ship.

If any player successfully kills a wanted player or destroys a ship with a bounty, they can visit the justice center to collect the reward.

3.4 Commodities

There are three primary commodities in the game: unrefined cyrillium crystals, food commodities, and tech commodities. All three can be traded (arbitraged) between different outposts to earn $COHO.

3.4.1 Cyrillium crystals (i.e. fuel)

Cyrillium crystals, once refined, serve as fuel for all ship engines and are used to charge a ship's weapons and shielding systems. Many auxiliary ship functions, as well as planetary weapons and defensive systems, also consume cyrillium.

3.4.2 Food Commodities

Food commodities (colloquially Chow Comms) are a common and universally needed resource traded at outposts throughout the galaxy. They are more costly than cyrillium (and therefore yield higher profit margins when traded) but not as expensive or lucrative for trading as Tech Commodities.

3.4.3 Tech Commodities

Technological Commodities are potentially the most lucrative to arbitrage, and generally have the highest upfront cost. Like cyrillium and food commodities, it is also required for various stages of planetary development.

3.4.4 In-Game Currency: $COHO

The in-game currency is the bank token $COHO. $COHO is used to purchase commodities, ships, ship upgrades, special items and to complete most other transactions in the game. Commodities sold to outposts are paid for in $COHO. $COHO can be brought into or out of the game by converting $QWOYN into $COHO or $COHO into $QWOYN via the custom liquidity pool module.

3.5 Ships

Cosmic Horizon players will have a number of ships to select from at the Star Mall ship dealer. The specifications of each ship are configured so that certain ships are tuned for certain tasks. A beginner player will seek to upgrade to a ship that performs in all areas adequately, whereas more advanced players will likely elect to own multiple ships and switch between them when performing different tasks or roles.

Each ship has some universal properties i.e. each has an engine system with its own power banks, a combat tractor beam and a weapons system which shares its power banks with a nominal shielding system. With the exception of DodgePods, every ship is capable of carrying goods in its storage holds.

Some ships have unique properties, i.e. the ability to carry or use special items that other ships cannot be equipped with. For example, not all ships can carry halberd mines or PGDs.

3.6 Player Actions

3.6.1 Traversing Space

The ship’s computer offers the player a number of options when navigating through the galaxy.

Navigation

A player can quickly navigate to adjacent sectors with a simple click. Alternatively, they can plot a course to a distant sector and the ship's navigation computer will calculate a path to the sector in question. Different route options will be displayed if available.

Dock / Orbit

If an outpost is in the sector, the player has the option to dock or orbit and engage in commerce. If there is a Star Mall in the sector, the player can land on the Star Mall and explore what it has to offer.

Landing Sequence

If one or more planets are in a sector, the player can orbit or land on the planet to access planetary controls.

Scan

With a scanner, which will need to be acquired in game, a player can get an idea of what hazards may exist in adjacent sectors. Different scanners will have a greater range and offer more or less user-friendly visualizations of the contents of scanned sectors.

Deploy Drones

If a player has acquired drones, they may deploy them in the current sector and set them to the desired mode. Drones may be used immediately for defense or offense. They may also be left behind in a toll mode, which allows them to collect tolls for the player.

Offensive drones will immediately attack any non-aligned player that enters the sector where they are deployed. If the drones destroy a ship, the ejected DodgePod will always successfully escape. If a DodgePod enters another sector with offensive drones however, it may be destroyed.

Defensive drones do not immediately attack players that enter the sector, but rather block the player who entered the sector from passing through to other adjacent sectors. The player can retreat from the sector they came from or attack the defensive drones. Once destroyed, the player can then continue on their journey.

Toll drones act similarly to defensive drones, but the player that encounters them has the option to pay a toll. If the toll is paid, the player is allowed to pass through the sector for a set amount of time. After the time has elapsed, the player will be required to pay the toll again.

Buoy Deployment

If a player has purchased space buoys, they can deploy them here. Buoys are simple space sign posts. The player can leave a custom message on the buoys for passing ships to inspect. Additionally, buoys keep a log (“buoy report”) of the ships that pass by which the player can review.

Tow Beam

Ships with towing beams are capable of towing other ships. Towing other ships will increase fuel consumption, depending on the size of the ship being towed.

Teleporter

A player can use their ship’s transporter to send their avatar from one ship to another, provided the other ship belongs to them or is disabled.

Eject Cargo

If for some reason the player’s cargo holds are fully occupied and there is no opportunity to sell or unload them, the player may elect to eject their cargo into space. This might occur if, for example, a ship is low on fuel and the player is far from an outpost purchasing whatever goods they have on hand.

Combat

Engage another ship in combat. For details, see 3.6.4, Combat.

3.6.2 Trading

Trading of commodities is a common method of generating $COHO in the game. When a player encounters an outpost, even without docking, they will see an outpost’s buy and sell orders for the three commodity types.

If the player chooses to dock, they can then examine the price of goods available for purchase. The price of a commodity at a given outpost will depend on the supply of goods in its inventory. If an outpost has little or none of a commodity on hand, they will pay a higher price for it. Conversely, if an outpost has a great deal of a commodity, it will pay a lower price. Each outpost has its own supply of $COHO on-hand, which can affect the outpost's ability to purchase goods.

If the player is a genesis NFT avatar, they will have discounts on certain goods or items, depending on the details of their avatar.

3.6.3 Upgrading ships

Ships come with set weapon and storage minimum values that can be upgraded within the limits of their ship’s specifications. Different ships will come with different initial settings and different upgrade limits. Below is a hypothetical ship, its starting limits and its maximum upgrade limits.

Generic Example Ship	Weapons System Energy	Storage holds
Initial Max.	75	10
Upgraded Max.	250	30

The generic example ship described above, when purchased new, comes equipped with a maximum weapons energy capacity of 75 and a maximum storage hold capacity of 10.

By upgrading the weapons system or cargo holds, the maximum energy capacity for the weapons system can be boosted to 250, thereby increasing the maximum single attack power, and by extension the ship's ability to absorb damage.

In the example above, the generic ship comes standard with a minimum of 10 holds, but it can be upgraded to carry 20 additional holds (for a maximum cargo hold capacity of 30).

Every ship has a shield generator, but it draws its power from the weapons system. When a ship absorbs a hit from another player, or is damaged in any other way, the shield system automatically draws (and thereby depletes) power from the weapons system.

The weapons system of a ship has a maximum charge level. In the example ship above, the weapons system is initially capable of being charged with 75 units of refined cyrillium.

The player might choose to attack with only 1 unit of power to nudge another player or destroy a buoy, or they may turn the energy level to maximum and deplete their entire weapons system in a single shot (if the object being attacked has sufficient defenses to absorb such an attack).

Ignoring attack and defense ratios for the sake of simplicity, it should be noted that if a hypothetical Player A attacks Player B with their weapons set to an energy level of 75, and Player B’s weapons/shield systems had only 10 units of energy, Player A will only expend the equivalent amount of energy in the attack (i.e. roughly 10 units of energy will be consumed and roughly 65 will remain in the power bank of Player A’s weapons system). If a weak player fires all of their energy reserves at a stronger player, they will be left defenseless and vulnerable to capture.

3.6.4 Combat

Combat may occur between players whenever two non-aligned players encounter one another. Using available stores of weapons and shields, players may attack, defend and counterattack, or flee to a nearby sector.

Attack sequence:

When one player decides to attack another player, they must first engage their combat tractor beam (CTB) and select the object in the sector they wish to attack. Once the beam has been locked onto the target, the other player will be alerted and can open a communication channel, attempt to flee or power up their weapons to fire on their attacker.

Every ship has a delay between establishing a combat tractor beam lock and their weapons being sufficiently charged to fire. The delay between weapons lock and firing, between volleys, will vary from ship to ship. In the case of a second volley, the delay is also affected by the amount of energy expended in the volley.

Once the lock has been established and the weapons systems are ready, the player selects how much energy they would like to expend in the attack, and fires. Having fired, the player waits for their weapons system to recharge, during this time the other player may return fire or attempt to flee.

At any time during the engagement either player has the option to break off the attack (i.e. call for a truce), continue firing on their opponent, or attempt to flee to an adjacent sector.

Multiple ships can engage a single ship in combat. In that case, the chaos created by the multi-ship attack will increase the odds for the player under assault to successfully flee from the battle.

If multiple ships attack a single target and destroy it, all are affected by the damage delivered if the destroyed ship is equipped with Rache devices.

3.6.4.1 Attack and Defense Ratios

Each ship has its own unique attack and defense ratios, which affect how much damage one ship does against another during combat. These ratios may also vary depending on the situation the player finds themselves in. For example, some ships might have advantageous odds when attacking a specific type of ship or in a specific type of military engagement (e.g. planetary assault vs. space combat) or when defending themselves against specific types of attacks (e.g. planetary cannons vs. mines vs. standard combat vs. multi-ship engagement).

This is best illustrated with examples. In the scenarios below, we will examine potential combat scenarios between two ships. The first is a “Battleship” with an attack ratio of 2:1, a defense ratio of 1:1, and a weapon/shield energy level of 100. The second is a “Runabout” ship with an attack ratio of 1:1, a defense ratio of 2:1, and a weapon/shield energy level of 40. In each of the scenarios described below, the ships are starting the altercation with weapons systems fully charged.

	Attack Ratio	Defense Ratio	Weapon Level
Battleship	2:1	1:1	100
Runabout	1:1	2:1	40

Scenario A:

If the runabout attacks the battleship with weapons set to maximum, the result would be that the battleship would lose approximately 40 units of weapon energy, leaving 60 remaining units of energy. The runabout would be left defenseless.

Scenario B:

The battleship (attack ratio 2:1) attacks the runabout (defense ratio 2:1) with weapons set to 20%. The battleship therefore expends 20 units of energy in the attack, with 2:1 attack odds. The runabout, however, has a 2:1 defensive odds, and thus the attack/defense ratio would be 1:1. The battleship would inflict approximately 20 units of damage, leaving the runabout with 20 units of power in its weapons system.

Scenario C:

The Battleship attacks the runabout with weapons set to 60% power, exceeding the defensive capabilities of the runabout. The runabout would be disabled or destroyed.

3.6.4.2 Weapons and Shield system power

A player has three potential sources (and by extension storage locations) for cyrillium/power on their ship: The power banks of their weapons system, the power banks of their engine, and their cargo holds. Power banks store refined cyrillium and as such have a greater storage capacity than the ships cargo holds, which can only contain unrefined cyrillium.

When a player attacks, it drains the power banks of their weapons system. When a weapon system power is fully depleted, the player must visit an outpost to refuel. Cyrillium from the engines cannot be rerouted to the weapons system, but will be diverted to support the ships shields if under attack.

When defending (i.e. when a player is under attack) the shielding system absorbs incoming weapons fire, but does so by automatically pulling energy first from the weapons system until they are depleted, and then from the engine power. When the shields of a ship are drained, it is in extreme danger of being disabled/captured or destroyed.

3.6.4.3 DodgePods

Every ship has a DodgePod, and if the ship the player is piloting is sufficiently damaged or destroyed (for any reason) the player will eject automatically in a DodgePod. DodgePods have no attack or defensive capabilities.

3.6.4.4 Capturing Vessels

If a player can force an adversary to abandon their ship in combat, the victorious player can capture the abandoned ship. Any ship with towing capability can tow any other ship, though travel while towing will consume more cyrillium than regular travel.

Captured ships must be towed to a Star Mall to be registered in the victorious player's name. Until a ship is registered, it can be claimed by anyone in possession of the ship. This means ships abandoned in space can be claimed by any player, without necessarily “winning” the ship through combat.

3.6.5 Alliances

Players can form alliances with other individual players, which can be canceled at any time. Alliances are a simple mechanism to keep one player’s drones from attacking people they have alliances with. Halberd mines can similarly be configured to ignore members of your alliance. Because alliances can be exited at any time, one should use caution with whom they form an alliance. Alliances cannot be formed between an individual player and a syndicate. But a syndicate may make an alliance with another syndicate.

3.6.6 Syndicates

Syndicates allow small groups of players to form a unique alliance and create and utilize commonly owned property such as ships or planets.

A syndicate can form a strategic alliance with a limited number of other syndicates. Syndicate-to-syndicate alliances do not allow for shared planets or items between the two organizations, and instead act as “non-aggression pacts,” so that members of aligned syndicates are not attacked inadvertently by the drones, mines or fortifications of the other.

3.6.7 Syndicate Governance

Our tech stack allows syndicates to have their own governance models and charters. When a syndicate is formed the founding members may choose to create a charter which outlines the rules and regulations of their syndicate. The use of the Cosmos SDK groups module will allow syndicates to become self-governed entities and will be allowed to establish how members of the syndicate interact with one another, enforce rules, penalties, share/distribute resources and more.

4 Cosmic Horizon Economics

Cosmic Horizon economics are structured to be robust and dynamic—utilizing a combination of staking rewards, an innovative in-game economy (IGE) bootstrapping pool, as well as blockchain inflationary rewards. Cosmic Horizon operates on a play-and-earn (P&E) model, whereby players will strategize, trade, colonize and battle to control strategic sectors of the cosmos–and earn rewards along the way in the form of $COHO tokens.

4.1 CoHo In-Game-Economy (IGE) Bootstrapping Pool

An exciting component of Cosmic Horizon’s tokenomics is its IGE Bootstrapping Pool, which is leveraged to balance and support in-game economics and outpost trading mechanics.

From the genesis mint a set amount of tokens will be set aside to initially fund the treasury of the various outposts across the galaxy.

The IGE bootstrapping pool of QWOYN tokens will be permanently locked and staked. The resulting staking rewards from this pool will be distributed to a smart contract, which in turn provides an ancillary funding mechanism for outpost treasuries to enhance the gaming experience.

4.2 Inflationary rewards support in-game economy

In addition to the IGE bootstrapping pool, a portion of the QWOYN inflationary rewards will be dedicated to supplementing the treasury of outposts across the Cosmic Horizon universe.

4.3 Private Qwoyn/CoHo LP ensures token stability

$COHO tokens are not intended to leave the Cosmic Horizon game environment, but can be exchanged for $QWOYN, which will be available on one or more DEXs. To manage price fluctuations between $COHO and $QWOYN, a private liquidity pool (LP) will be established with sufficient liquidity inflows or outflows should have at most a miniscule impact on the exchange rate between $QWOYN and $COHO tokens.

In the event of dramatic fluctuations in $QWOYN exchange rates, community governance can be utilized to adjust this LP and shield the in-game economics from changes in the Cosmos marketplace.

5 Ecology

As a promise to planetary regeneration in the real world, Cosmic Horizon’s terraforming mechanism will enable players spend Regen Network’s NCT token to terraform in-game planets.

As players discover planets they will note that different planet types yield commodities at different rates (see Planet Types, 3.3.3.1). Because of this variation, it may be strategically advantageous to have specific combinations of different planet types arranged in their fortified sectors of space.

By taking advantage of this terraforming option players will be able to change the class of a planet to one that has a more strategic output to meet in-game needs. In turn, Qwoyn Studios will trade player provided NCT tokens for the ecocredits they represent, and retire them on behalf of our gaming community.

6 Technology

Cosmic Horizon is an independent, application-specific blockchain built on the Cosmos SDK. This software development kit is being utilized as the starting point for the blockchain, including but not limited to, the basic modules contained within it. The underlying technology is then bolstered with various Go modules, such as Cosmos SDK Groups Module, which allows nested governance within the chain and provides more robust gameplay. Additionally, custom modules have been developed to enable a wide array of Cosmic Horizon-specific game mechanics. As described above, the ecocredits module from Regen Network will also be utilized within the stack. This will allow the Cosmic Horizon game to have a real-world impact by providing players with the opportunity to contribute to positive ecological outcomes during their adventure.

The in-game experience will include dynamic gameplay and immersive 3D environments powered by Unreal Engine. The Star Mall and other planet experiences are meant to simulate a community-based approach where players may interact with each other on a more personal level by voice chatting, making alliances and selling items to one another in real-time.