Trillion Credit Squadron - Test Game

[clair_rand]

Hiya.

I'm currently looking at trying to setup a TCS game to play via email, with full comminications lags if i can work out a way of getting ym head round it.

I'm thinking of a smallish subsector and maybe around TL 12, some mods will be in place to limit the maximum hull sizes (mostly finacial) but the actual ground rules would be upto the players.

I intend to 'run' the game with the idea of it being played blind by the players with all comms moving through an email account on my machine.

my objective is to determine the mechanics of running such a game via email and to allow me to develop what i would like to be a computer moderated back end.

to keep things simple ship build will be either book 2 or book 5, up to the players which. all designs to be submitted prior to deployment to allow combat stats to be worked out. I'll post the combat system i intend to use once i've finalised it.

To summarise.. this will be a work in progress.. ideally with two factions, each with several players to allow the simulation of communication lags.

drop me a line if ya interested in playing, any ideas on what would be good to have *in* such a system can either come to me or be stuck here.

Oh yes please put the word traveller in ya emails so i can filter em from the rubbish

Claire Rand
clair.rand@ntlworld.com

 

[mike wightman]

Sounds interesting.

email on its way

 

[mike wightman]

As for rules and variants there have been several ideas that have come up e.g. altering the HG2 damage tables slightly, re-interprting some of the damage results in line with HG1 or MT; making nuclear missiles more effective; making meson screens more effective; allowing more "small" spinal mounts as secondary weapons on large ships; giving the drive systems on large and very large ships more "hits required" to damage them; allowing fighters to attack as squadrons and giving them a visual range to hit bonus; extending the HG2 range bands...
and probably a couple of others I've missed

 

[clair_rand]

was thinking more about the mechanics of the game than actual ship design changes, well at least at the mo. the economics will be biased in favour of smaller craft anyway. but 'realistic' designs will be allowed, i.e. as many power plants as you wish to buy etc.

combats going to be a bit simplistic, essentially each ship gets a combat rating or two (attack & defense) for intact, damaged, criplled etc then its a case of adding up and allocating damage.

Players get some say in what units get put up front etc. but the idea is not to have to fight the actual battles out (though the OBs will be avaialbe if people want to, be interesting to see how the system i've worked out actually works).

And no how the factors are calculated isn't getting posted just yet, other wise designs are built around that not common sense.

how detailed the combat gets depends on the players really, if sending out the OBs and letting people slug it out works i'm all for it, but i can see the pace of things getting too slow by doing that, thinking almost fo real timimg it. i.e. one week passes for each week of real time, thus one round a week

 

[flykiller]

combats going to be a bit simplistic, essentially each ship gets a combat rating or two (attack & defense) for intact, damaged, criplled etc then its a case of adding up and allocating damage ... And no how the factors are calculated isn't getting posted just yet, other wise designs are built around that not common sense.

well ...

that does put a spin on things. what may seem common-sense to one person may seem bizzare to another. the purpose of game rules is to create the environment in which everyone agrees to function, and they only meet this purpose if they're published. designing a ship to fit the rules of the game is natural. designing a ship in ignorance of the rules under which it will function is guesswork, and disappointing if, after having spent many hours designing and building a fleet, one guesses wrong.

 

[clair_rand]

disgining in ignorance of the rules, well to a degree yes. the actual designs will be upto the players, as will the system. i was planning on going for either book 2 or book 5, but could use MT.

the idea is not to say that item 'x' adds 'y' to your combat score and find a ship that has huge amounts of 'x' and sod all else.

The factors are based around the costs of the various items of equipment, but what may count well for combat may count poorly for the ability to absorb damage.

In short i'm not about the re-write the book and not tell anyone, nor will the rules on how the factors are calculated be changed once the game starts, so its a level starfield for all.

Given that so far i've had a single earthling interestied in playing i may just write up the thing as i see it and post it somewhere for everyone to see, and take ideas from that.

 

[leighton]

Claire,

I would be interested - e-mail on its way.

Leighton

 

[The Oz]

I would be interested, but I would like to know a little more about it before I commit what will be a fair amount of my time to design and run a fleet.

What I would like to see in such a game would be a combat system that emphasized the differences between missiles and beam weapons. I'd like a combat system something like a cross between DARK NEBULA and HIGH GUARD. Missile combat would be slow and wear ships/squadrons down without many kills (reflecting how it's harder to get critical hits in HG with missiles; instead you scrub off weapons and fuel), beam combat is much more deadly since it's spinal mounts that really count here. So an admiral looking for a decisive combat would close the range to use beams, but a cautious admiral would try to hold the range long, to attrit his enemy with missiles.

I could develop this idea further, if you'd like.

 

[Border Reiver]

I'll be up for it. Consider e-mail sent

 

[clair_rand]

i tend to consider missiles as more of a way of tying up enemy weapons than casuing actual damage. as anyone whos played kzinti in star fleet battles knows well. ok i'll finalise that part of the system and publish it all before i start it.

Email addy's noted however.. big question though:
would people rather have the communications lags in or out, in requires way more players, out allows the game to have wider scope with fewer players, since one person can control each faction on their own, or in small teams or whatever then.

 

[Border Reiver]

Keep the comms lags in and keep on recruiting.

 

[The Oz]

I would prefer to keep the comm lags in the game.

 

[OIT]

My interest is also piqued, although I would prefer a smaller scale (smaller ships and/or squadrons) than typical TCS.

E-mail to follow.

 

[clair_rand]

ok so far there are four people with a definate interest, the scale of the campign im thinking of is a single subsector, a 'power' starting with a single system, or maybe with a single colony.

Comms lags have been requested by everyone, and as such will be in. the combat system is the subject of an article i'm putting together, essentially though a play will see the factors for a craft *before* construction starts.

Ideally i want a few players for each side, say three or four to allow for a range of strike operations, and not tie each power to a single force.

As for the ecomonics, well with the comms lags in there is a need for couriers, so theres some cash gone, and witha single shipyard smaller craft should be the norm.

Currently working on the assumption of book 5 craft, basically cus they can be designed reasonably fast.

Once i have a decent number of players the game should be able to start, failing that i'll scale things back a bit to allow a smaller number of players, probably by dropping the density of the subsector

 

[jappel]

Claire,

I'm not interested in playing right now, but I ran a PBEM, limited-intelligence, comm-lagged game of Fifth Frontier War earlier this year. The scale's a bit different, but I'd be happy to share what I learned from running the game with you. PM me here if you're interested!

John

 

[clair_rand]

jappel, yes i'm way interested..

current status.. a hand ful of people have registered an interest, not really enough to run this with comms lags as frankly i want to. and i'm due to be off line for a few months shortly, so i'm going to gte the full rule set written up.

I reckon a big turn off is not knowing 'exactly' whats going to happen in situation 'x', for the record the game 'engine' is based on federation & empire for combat and TCS cannon for pretty much everything else