[PvK]

We were saying we'd do a small quadrant, or medium if we get to eight players ( I think we have seven now ). In Proportions, size has far less effect on the amount of resources and research available, but you have enough to start building and maintaining a fleet from the beginning, just from a homeworld. However, in the interest of getting players interacting sooner, a small or medium quadrant probably makes sense.

The rate of expansion and development, and the number of production decisions per turn, is much much lower in Proportions, because you can hardly ever build an entire facility in one turn. However you can build small ships and fly them around. :-) Although, in 1.5 there are even more marked differences involving trade-offs of ship size and engine efficiency. And, with the work I'm finishing up now, troops may become actually important and useful.

As for events, that's why I suggested we didn't do catastrophic, because they really can be catastrophic.

High still includes rebellions, terrible plagues, and warp point closure, but I think the only total wipe-out one would be rebellion on a homeworld <g>. Although, even that, the player might be able to recover from via re-capture - it'd be interesting to see.

I actually really like how major events can cause the need for major reaction in Proportions (exodus via a swarm of starliners, for instance), although some of the catastrophic ones could really plough someone's game, so that's why I suggested High.

PvK