SE4 by Committee

[Suicide Junkie]

That is a possibility, if there are enough players, but I would prefer one "Shrapnel" empire.

For one, the turns will go faster (by committee will slow it down enough already), and two, it will be a community event bringing everyone together.

PS:
Thinking about the Mortal players thing:
If players want to join in after the game has started, that shouldn't be a problem. There should be a delay before they are allowed to start voting, so we can keep the results straight. Having new players begin voting at the end of the turn when their avatars are constructed would be a reasonable point.

Re: Avatars.
Ministers and Senators could be represented by 1KT weapon platforms, while Generals have the option of being represented by a Troop.

The platform markers can be captured and recovered, while the troop markers could be made with Heroic stats and abilities.

Players who are killed would spend a minimum of one turn out of action while their new avatars are constructed, and if there is a lot of death going on, of the players who were killed on the same turn, those that had seniority before they were killed should be given first rebirth.

[ December 17, 2002, 17:20: Message edited by: Suicide Junkie ]

[Matryx]

I like the idea
I can see myself flying the front line formation of the suicide contact squad
Except I probably will get voted out quickly for my *wonderful* combat skills (or lack of)

[Suicide Junkie]

IRC comments:

Krsqk How much participation are we expecting? One person/planet is quite a few people.
SJ Well many planets wouldn't have any minister, and would fall to the next minister to make a case for them... eg: construction, economic, etc.
Krsqk Would/could it end up more like a system-wide governor?
SJ Whoever gives the best reason that they are the primary minister for the issue at hand, gets the 25% block.
SJ Yeah, system governors would be good too.
Krsqk Oh, so now we're politicking for influence, eh?
SJ Well, if the vote is on building a dreadnought at Geo's Backwater Resort Planet, for example, Geo would have a solid case for getting the Block. Otherwise it would probably fall to the construction minister.
Krsqk But the general of the fleet receiving the dreadnought could push for construction at another planet where he has friends at the shipyard.
SJ Sure... He would try to organize a veto, and support Geo's bid for the block if Geo was going to vote no.
SJ Then a new site would have to be decided on.

Some ideas on Minister jobs:
- Individual planets: small ones seem popular with RPers and those with little time to be in the spotlight. Manages ships in orbit.
- System lords: Rules all planets in a system that have no individual ministers. Manages ships making intra-system journeys.
- Political: One overall, or possibly one Minister for each race as an Ambassador.
- Finance: Watches over the budget and expenditures.
- Defense: Manages the overall inter-system distribution of warships.
- Economic: Manages resource generation, and general facility construction.
- Transportation: Manages the overall non-military shipping and travel arrangements.
- Science: Manages research projects.
- R&D: Designs ships.
- Covert Ops: Manages intel once researched.
- Construction: Decides locations to build at, and negotiates with local ministers.
- Naming Minister: Renames planets, ships, Design Classes.

[ December 17, 2002, 19:32: Message edited by: Suicide Junkie ]

[Dead Meat]

Sweet I like the idea SJ. Sign me up (Minister).

[Suicide Junkie]

As for the game setup:
- 3 planet start, to get things rolling.
- Low tech start.
- vast galaxy
- suggestions?

Signups:
#1: Geo. (Local Planetary Minister or General)
#2: Arckon. (R&D Minister)
#3: Matryx (General)
#4: Dead meat (Misc Minister (1st = Defense, 2nd = Construction))

Anyone want to be more specific?
Also, those who chose "Generic Senator", please speak up, so I can add you too.

Geo: Do you want to start as a homeworld minister, and then move to another planet or retire and get a new General character once there are some ships built?
Arkcon: Any particular minister you want? You've got dibs on non-planet ministers.
Matryx: What heroic traits would you like for General Matryx?
Dead Meat: What are your first choices for minister positions?

NOTE:
Generals can be considered "Minister of Tactical Combat"
An experience system for generals will be applied:
Something along the lines of:
+10% experience per ground combat.
+2X/Y experience per space combat. Where X = # of enemy ships, and Y = # of friendly ships.
+20 Starting Experience.

Each 2 experience points could be spent to boost one trait on your general by +1.
- Hitpoints (Starts at 1)
- Shields (Starts at 1/2 kt worth of current tech)
- Weapon damage, (Starts at 1/2kt worth of current tech)
- Leadership(Combat sensors/ECM, starts at zero)

Each General will be a 1KT Troop with a unique component, that will be modified as you gain experience.

[ December 17, 2002, 19:58: Message edited by: Suicide Junkie ]

[PvK]

Sounds like a good idea. The P&N mod might be a good idea. SJ could play a pirate race and a nomad race, and the mod has some small civilian ships in it and other colorful and interesting additions. OTOH, it might reduce the widespread appeal - probably worth another poll question.

As for the units for players - I'm not sure why they'd be entirely necessary - SJ could just track character positions on paper, which would probably be easier and more flexible.

How is character movement going to be carried out? If we want to travel from place to place, will we need to somehow get an in-game ship to move from planet A to planet B? If so, we'll probably want a lot of little transports... which would be neat, and probably best with a mod to add tiny cheap ones, although again it might be more sane to just have SJ track it on paper.

It would be more interesting if at least some of the opposition was potentially human. There could be a few adversary players, and/or SJ, and then just one committee empire.

PvK

[PvK]

I would suggest running a fairly large number of turns before starting the committee play, instead of a 3-planet start.

I'd also suggest a High research cost. I've played games before as a fleet commander, leaving the rest of my empire to the AI ministers, and with research faster than slow, the fleets tend to become obsolete as quickly as they are able to carry out missions and get refuelled.

PvK