The Chaos Game

[Ed Kolis]

I had an idea for a PBW game... actually, it wouldn't work well on PBW but it would be suited to PBEM... What if the rules of the game changed as the game progressed? Say every 10 turns, the game master makes a few changes to the data files and distributes them to the players... on turn 10 he might make spaceyards twice as expensive... or give all engines above ion twice the normal bonus movement... or make DU cannons armor piercing... might be fun, eh?

[oleg]

IIRC, it was attempted before. The idea was that laws of physics can change with time or Galaxy can suddenly move through some sort of time-space anomaly Don't remember how well did it go.

[raynor]

Sounds interesting. If you start it up, I'll play. If I lose, then, I'll just blame it on the weird rules instead of my lack of ability.

[Suicide Junkie]

In the one I suggested a while ago, the changes would usually affect the maximum tech levels for things, and broad laws of physics.

So if a wave of "low tech" sweeps through, then shields will stop working and any weapon above some arbitrary level will fizzle out.
If it gets really bad, then warring ships may be reduced to ramming each other for a year

The occasional wave of QNP/normal/inverted QNP would be interesting too Even one where speed is independent of engines!
"Um, sir? Our scientists report that the latest quantum storm has resulted in larger ships having less momentum! Our escorts are dead in the water!"

The ability modifications should be fairly general changes, such as "all beam weapons do 2x damage", "All supply usage is squared", "All missiles have infinite range" and so on.

This sort of game would still work well if hosted by PBW, just with the game master processing turns manually.

[ May 11, 2003, 16:16: Message edited by: Suicide Junkie ]

[Ed Kolis]

Speed independent of engines... that sounds fun...

"Sir, it seems that our ships' propulsion is no longer being generated by the engines... but instead by the WEAPONS!"

What would the point of hosting it on PBW be if I were to run the turns manually anyway? (To set it up that way I'd set it to "no automatic turns", right?)

[geoschmo]

Originally posted by Ed Kolis:
What would the point of hosting it on PBW be if I were to run the turns manually anyway? (To set it up that way I'd set it to "no automatic turns", right?)

Well, it's kind of nice for the players to know their turns got submitted, and they can tell who is holding up the turns. They can get the turn anytime they want, in case they didn't get the email, or if they deleted it accidentally.

For the game owner it's conveient to not have to keep track of all the game files and every .plr file coming in one or two at a time. When all are in you can just get a single download with all the files together.

Geoschmo

[Ed Kolis]

OK, since there's been a fairly rapid show of interest, I'll go set this one up... of course as GM I won't be playing... "Let's see, I think I'll make missiles more powerful now {equips fleets with lots and lots of missiles}"

So, go and look for "Infinite Chaos"... also I'll change the title of this thread to attract more players

edit: on second thought I won't change the title, then you guys might not be able to find the thread

As usual, game settings are just off the top of my head so if anyone wants to change anything, let me know!

[ May 12, 2003, 03:06: Message edited by: Ed Kolis ]

[Suicide Junkie]

Also, there should be some predictability to the rule changes. If Phased shield 5's stopped working Last turn, and Phased shield 4's stopped working this turn, then phased shield 3's should probably stop working soon after.

Rather than arbitrary and random changes, it should be like a rising tide of changes

[Ed Kolis]

Well, I kind of like the unpredictability... hey, it might not be fair (especially with the Chaotic Region quadrant! ) but we're just going to have fun!