[dmm]

Originally posted by Batman:
There isn't really much to stop this happening in a regular game ...

Of course you could do _some_ of these things just as a regular player. But no way could you set the whole thing up merely on trust, as a regular player with the same victory conditions as everyone else, unless you are playing against a bunch of morons.

One of the things that this role-playing idea would accomplish is to make Organics and Radioactives more important without modding the game. Currently, a 120% Organics planet is no big deal. Most of us would use it for research, intel, etc. Maybe put one farm on it. But if you have the TF player trying to collect Organics and using it as currency, then you've altered the game a lot (without modding anything). That 120% Organics planet is now much more valuable than a 10%-10%-10% planet, because you can use the organics to buy tech, info, ships, units, other resources, resupply and/or repair of your ships, etc. (depending on the TF rules and setup that everyone has agreed to).

The key is that the TF doesn't want to take over the galaxy. At least, not politically. In fact, in one scenario, they are trying to leave. You could easily have a game in which the TF leaves part way through (so they "win") and then the remaining players slog it out for control of the galaxy. (Although they might well ask themselves why the TF was so intent on getting out! )