Human Republic Playtest Thread

User avatar
Charles Lewis
Rear Admiral
Rear Admiral
Posts: 937
Joined: Thu Oct 04, 2007 3:58 am
Location: Des Moines, IA
Contact:

Re: Human Republic Playtest Thread

Post by Charles Lewis »

The Free Trade Alliance believes strongly that Archer should be developed to widen our overall commercial strength and to provide a new market for our manufacturers here at home. We feel strongly that it would be a waste of resources to develop Archer as some sort of new manufacturing center, only to compete with established business and industries here at home.

Secondly, those pirates must be dealt with immediately. Remember, for every 1 pirate you see, there are 1,000 more hiding behind that asteroid.
'Fear God and dread nought'
Coat of Arms motto of Baron Fisher, of Kilverstone
User avatar
Tyrel Lohr
Vice Admiral
Vice Admiral
Posts: 1466
Joined: Thu Oct 04, 2007 3:48 am
Location: Lusk, WY
Contact:

Re: Human Republic Playtest Thread

Post by Tyrel Lohr »

The Republic Budget Office has the following information to offer to the members of the senate in relation to recent debates on the floor:
  • The colonization of Archer will cost the Republic 70 EP (10 x 7 Carrying Capacity), but this colony will start at our empire's tech level at the time of colonization. Right now that means the colony would start as a 0 Census, 3 Morale colony at TL 1. We will soon have 10 population points available that we can use to purchase 1 Census at a colony, so Archer would be brought up to 1 Census fairly quickly, at which point investment in the colony's infrastructure can begin.
  • Food production at Archer will end up being an issue long term, as the system is Biosphere poor and will barely be able to feed itself even with full Agriculture infrastructure improvements. Improving Agriculture in Terra Nova is a good long-term solution, though many still hope that one of the systems adjacent to Terra Nova will have higher Biosphere values so that we can use it as a food production point.
  • At full Agriculture utilization we will produce 18 AP per turn and consume 6 AP per turn. This level of production would be sufficient to double our current population growth rate, allowing us to establish 1 Census in a system every 5 turns versus the current 10 turns. Alternatively, we can increase a colony's Census to 2 every 10 turns.
  • We currently have a ~9% chance per turn of eliminating the pirates in Terra Nova. For 20 EP we are assured to eliminate their presence. It appears that both the Industrialist and Free Trade Alliance parties are both in favor of such a measure.
  • We wish to confirm that construction of fixed defenses outside of Terra Nova is possible, but it requires that trade links exists in both systems so that our work crews have a way of getting from one system to the other. The cost of a base built remotely is increased by +25% per jump between the source and destination systems, so one of our Protector defense bases would cost 13 EP instead of 10 TP if built in a nearby system.
(OOC: Interesting ideas all around, and I am enjoying the start of the political discussions! The Republic had a bit of slow start because of its sub-standard starting system and lower population/infrastructure totals, but next year we should really start ramping up)
[i]"Touch not the pylons, for they are the messengers!"[/i]
User avatar
virtutis.umbra
The Critic
The Critic
Posts: 207
Joined: Fri Jul 29, 2011 1:50 am
Contact:

Re: Human Republic Playtest Thread

Post by virtutis.umbra »

The Senator from Cascadia wrote:The Technocratic Party gets another vote, if the polls haven't closed yet. *Grins*
[Edit: Thanks very much for posting a full-on turn sequence and setup overview for 2E. I've got a really clear idea now of how things are going to work, and I'm excited to see some changes I really like. I'll be curious to know more about the effects of tech level increases on colonies, and what sorts of special research projects are available.

... for that matter, since I'm just now ramping up my first 1E game, a sense of the cadence of play and an example to show players is helpful even if it is the new edition.]
-Patrick
crit·ic /ˈkritik : Someone who knows the way but can't drive the car. -- Kenneth Tynan
mavikfelna
Lieutenant
Lieutenant
Posts: 30
Joined: Tue Feb 09, 2010 10:13 pm
Location: SLC, UT, USA
Contact:

Re: Human Republic Playtest Thread

Post by mavikfelna »

Seeing as the Technocratic Party is a threat to both industrial and mercantile interests I would propose that the Industrial Party and Mercantile Party for a coalition government at this time.

We both agree that piracy is an important issue to address immediately and that Archer needs minimal colonization as soon as feasible. To that end, I would be willing to support the Mercantile Party's desire to open a trade link in Archer as soon as is advisable.

--Mav
User avatar
Tyrel Lohr
Vice Admiral
Vice Admiral
Posts: 1466
Joined: Thu Oct 04, 2007 3:48 am
Location: Lusk, WY
Contact:

Re: Human Republic Playtest Thread

Post by Tyrel Lohr »

virtutis.umbra wrote:The Technocratic Party gets another vote, if the polls haven't closed yet. *Grins*
We now have a tie! It looks like the two power blocs (Industrialist & Technocratic) need to start courting the third parties to secure their support to form a coalition government. The Industrialists are already approaching the Free Trade Alliance (Merchant) party for their support, but the Military party is still a wild card that could tip the balance of power. Or one minor party might side with each and we would have a real governmental stalemate, at which point the government will only be able to do what everyone agrees on :) Chaos, but still manageable (by holding a vote for a distilled list of priorities and letting the chips fall where they may).
virtutis.umbra wrote:[Edit: Thanks very much for posting a full-on turn sequence and setup overview for 2E. I've got a really clear idea now of how things are going to work, and I'm excited to see some changes I really like. I'll be curious to know more about the effects of tech level increases on colonies, and what sorts of special research projects are available.
You're welcome. The game setup rules are one element of the rules that have received quite a bit of previous testing, at least insofar as the "Manifest Destiny" one-planet start is concerned. I have rules for generating larger empires, but still have to update them to make sure they reflect the current version of the campaign rules.

The colony tech level rules have been kept very simple in the base rules. A colony can only build or repair a unit whose own tech level is less than or equal to its own. For example, a TL 5 colony could build a TL 3 starship, but it can't repair a TL 6 ground unit. The higher tech unit would have to either be taken back to a colony that is advanced enough to repair it *or* the empire would need a unit with the Repair special ability that would allow it to repair the unit in the field. Repair is used for space combat units, Medical is used for ground combat units -- so there is now an actual use for hospital ships in a campaign setting, as they are used to heal/repair your ground forces.
virtutis.umbra wrote:... for that matter, since I'm just now ramping up my first 1E game, a sense of the cadence of play and an example to show players is helpful even if it is the new edition.]
The major change in the flow from 1E to 2E is that the Economic Phase occurs at the beginning of the turn in 1E and at the end in 2E. I have waffled on keeping it the same as 1E in 2E, but it makes more logical sense for each new campaign turn to start with the Turn Orders Phase and move on from there.

Another difference between the two editions is that the Supply Phase is placed towards the end of the turn in 2E whereas I think it is sandwiched between Movement and Combat in 1E, which never really made any sense, IMO. That's part of why I changed it :)
[i]"Touch not the pylons, for they are the messengers!"[/i]
User avatar
Tyrel Lohr
Vice Admiral
Vice Admiral
Posts: 1466
Joined: Thu Oct 04, 2007 3:48 am
Location: Lusk, WY
Contact:

Re: Human Republic Playtest Thread

Post by Tyrel Lohr »

Year 1, Turn 9
Now that we've achieved TL 1, it is time to put it to work for us. We can't start building units at TL 1 at Terra Nova until after we have upgraded its infrastructure to the new level of technology. We do that with the colony tech level upgrade that I mentioned in the last update. That's going to cost us 60 EP, or pretty much all of our current budget. We do have 11 EP left over after that purchase, and I think I am going to spend it on more tech points just so that we'll have them.

Turn Orders: Purchases: Colony Tech Upgrade @ Terra Nova (60 EP), 11 tech points (11 EP)

We also have a brand new Pandora scout carrier to assign. We are going to create Scout Force 5 and put the new ship in it. If this was a more involved campaign I would give all of these ships names, but right now we are just playtesting and having fun, so I'm not going to worry about naming these ships.

Reorganization Phase:
The turn order calling for the Pandora to be moved into Scout Force 5 is resolved in this phase. The ship will be exploring later this turn, so it is all ready to go!

Movement Phase: No exploration successes, but Scout Force 4 did roll high enough to get a +1 bonus to its future rolls. Scout Force 2 has arrived back in Terra Nova after its stint out of supply. It has 2 damage, so we're going to have to spend some money to get the ship fixed up and ready to head back out.

Piracy Phase: Rolled a '4'. No piracy in either system, but it was close. Without our military forces in Terra Nova we would have had a Piracy increase. That's part of the reason I am leaning towards prototyping a new, larger TL 1 starbase as soon as the upgrade is complete and we have some extra cash to fund the project.

Morale Phase: Rolled a '8', no effect.

Agriculture Phase: +1 PP.

Construction Phase: Our sixth Pandora completes construction this turn and will be available for orders next turn.

Tech Phase: We have 16 TP now, and our tech advancement cost is still 60.

Supply Phase: The Pandora in Scout Force 1 has been out of supply for 4 turns now, so that means it has accrued 4 damage. This is enough damage to cripple the ship, which halves its combat factors, including its Basing. The ship can no longer base the Gladiator flight that's onboard, so the Gladiator is destroyed.

Economic Phase:
71 EP (starting) + 36 EP (colony) + 3 EP (commerce) - 71 (purchases) - 3 (maintenance) = 39 EP

Economic Pool: 39
Population Pool: 9
Tech Pool: 16
Intel Pool: 10

Year 1, Turn 10
Because the tech level at Terra Nova has increased, we can design and build more advanced units. We're going to start prototyping a new starbase design that should provide us with a solid defense at our star systems should be run into any nasty aliens. We're going to start prototyping this new base this turn:

Clark-class - Starbase - 5 DV, 4 AS, 3 PD, 4 CR, 4 BC
Tech Level: 1 Construction Cost: 18 Maintenance Cost: 1 Command Cost: 2

This starbase was designed to be cheap enough for us to build in adjacent systems using the remote base construction rules, and using just enough mass units that its maintenance cost will remain at 1. Admittedly it doesn't have the best stats, but it will act as a great command element for our home system skywatches.

Along with this starbase construction project we also need to repair the damaged Pandora in Scout Force 2. However, I have it recorded here that it has a +2 bonus to its exploration rolls, so I think I am going to just leave the ship in the field to explore so we don't lose the bonus. The Gladiator onboard that Pandora will be moved to Scout Force 5, however, so that should Scout Force 2 find itself out of supply again it won't end up losing its flight like Scout Force 1 did.

I also just realized that our Irises are just sitting there not doing anything. I will leave it up to next year's government to decide what to do with them. It might be worthwhile to just mothball them at Terra Nova until they are actually needed. It won't save much money (1 EP per year), but every bit helps.

Turn Orders: 1 Clark starbase prototype (18 EP), 1 Gladiator from Scout Force 2 moves to Scout Force 5.

Reorganization Phase: The Gladiator moves from Scout Force 2 to Scout Force 5.

Movement Phase: Scout Force 2 rolled a +1 bonus to its future rolls. This brings its total accrued exploration bonus to +3. There is a very good chance that this exploration force will explore another of Terra Nova's unexplored lanes on an upcoming turn.

Scout Force 1 has arrived back at Terra Nova. It is crippled, so it will cost 7 EP and take 2 turns to repair when the time comes. Sigh.

Piracy Phase: Rolled a '4' this turn. We're still lucky that we don't have negative modifiers in either of our explored systems because otherwise we would be seeing more pirate activity. If you haven't guessed, building extra sector capitals is a good idea once you have enough star systems on the map; since you roll for each capital system and just use the closest roll for each system, you can help to keep one bad roll from screwing over your entire empire.

Morale Phase: Rolled a '5'. No Effect.

Agriculture Phase: +1 PP. We now have 10 PP, enough to purchase 1 Census at a new colony.

Construction Phase: Our Clark-class base begins prototyping. It has to pass a prototype check before it can actually begin construction. We have to roll 11+ on a 2D6 to successfully complete prototyping. However, unlike exploration, we always get a cumulative +1 modifier to our rolls after each failed roll. Our prototype roll this turn was '6', which is a failure. Next turn we will roll 2D6+1 and aim for 11+. If we fail again, the next roll will be 2D6+2 and so on and so forth until we succeed. Actual construction begins on the turn after we pass our prototyping roll. Our completion time on a Clark is 18 / 5 = 3.6 = 4 turns.

Besides the time commitment and uncertainty inherent in prototyping, the other downside of prototyping new units is that you have to pay maintenance on the unit throughout the process. A string of unlucky rules can easily drive the actual cost of a prototype through the roof.

Economic Phase: 39 EP (starting) + 36 EP (colony) + 3 EP (commerce) - 18 (purchases) - 3 (maintenance) = 57 EP

Economic Pool: 57
Population Pool: 10
Tech Pool: 16
Intel Pool: 10

Year 1 - End of Year Report
The Human Republic is doing all right for itself, all things considered. Our income is fairly average, but at least it's growing. The trade link in Terra Nova has increased our income by 30 EP a turn even allowing for the low-level pirate activity in the system. Using an intel mission to remove that pirate threat is probably going to be high on the agenda for next year from the looks of things, which is good as we don't want Terra Nova to be overrun by pirates. That point of Piracy is giving us piracy and morale check penalties right now that we really could do without.

Our military strength is woefully inadequate, and it is a good thing that we didn't find any hostile aliens in Archer. Of course, any alien threats that would have been native to Archer would have been so poor and underdeveloped so as to not really be that much of a threat to us (poor, poor Archer).

Exploration continues, but at an abysmal pace. We have five scout forces out in the field exploring, and luckily (thanks to the next exploration rules) we haven't actually lost a scout yet. We probably won't lose one unless we press our luck and roll badly on a peril roll. In 2E the most likely cause for the loss of an exploration force is going to be exploring in systems beyond your sphere of influence where you can't automatically resupply your ships every turn. That is something we haven't had to deal with in this game yet since all of our scouts are still close enough to Terra Nova to be automatically resupplied every turn.

Tech growth has been slow. I could have plowed everything into tech this year to get us to TL 2, but I didn't want to game the system too bad for the early advances, and I wasn't sure we would be given the luxury of time to tech up in peace before we stumbled across another empire. Our tech advancement cost is going to increase by 10 TP once Archer is colonized, and then by another 10 TP after Archer's Census is increased to 1. Players may wish to consider this when prioritizing the Archer colonization mission; if you want a cheap tech advance first, you'll need to do the tech investment before you colonize that system.
[i]"Touch not the pylons, for they are the messengers!"[/i]
User avatar
murtalianconfederacy
Captain
Captain
Posts: 363
Joined: Sat Oct 06, 2007 9:17 am
Location: Aboard the MCS Bavoralkin

Re: Human Republic Playtest Thread

Post by murtalianconfederacy »

Seeing as I was the first to pick the largest competing block, I would like to reach out to the Military Party and the Merchant Party. While some of our aims might not be entirely compatible, I believe that we must work together. By improving our defences we can eliminate piracy, and by improving the effectiveness of our military with improved technologies we can achieve those goals.

On the colonisation of Archer, I would certainly be agreeable to such a move should the other parties wish for it. It's not exactly the best world, but it would at least be another system that humanity can call home.

(my internet access is defined in terms of limitations, so I might not be able to act as quickly as I'd like, but basically I'll be towing the party line, but leaning towards the Military Party as well)
Not every laser dot has a loaded gun at the end of it
User avatar
Charles Lewis
Rear Admiral
Rear Admiral
Posts: 937
Joined: Thu Oct 04, 2007 3:58 am
Location: Des Moines, IA
Contact:

Re: Human Republic Playtest Thread

Post by Charles Lewis »

The Free Trade Alliance does not necessarily believe that more guns will stop piracy. Ships and fighters take time to build and we have a problem right now. The intelligence services believe they have a plan that will silence this threat and wouldn't leave us with long term costs. I believe this plan should be put into action as soon as possible.

Strong commercial growth will ensure sufficient resources for all.
'Fear God and dread nought'
Coat of Arms motto of Baron Fisher, of Kilverstone
User avatar
virtutis.umbra
The Critic
The Critic
Posts: 207
Joined: Fri Jul 29, 2011 1:50 am
Contact:

Re: Human Republic Playtest Thread

Post by virtutis.umbra »

I wish to speak in support of the policy points made by my senior Technocratic Party representative, the good Senator from Murtalia. I believe the Military Party will be in accord with us on the importance of continued technological advancement; look at the state of our space fleet presently! We've been toiling away for more than a year to push out new vessels to scout out new worlds, but half the time their sensors and defensive systems are woefully insufficient for the job. We've wasted resources on building fighters that were then immediately "lost in action" because they had to be scuttled to free up crew just to bring our Pandora-class carriers and their brave crews home alive. And this without a single combat engagement of any kind!

This is not the way to explore the galaxy.

If (when!) we encounter a hostile lifeform out there, we'll need the best ships and the strongest position we can manage, and that can only come from advancing our knowledge and improving our forces. Furthermore, more advanced and durable starships, to say nothing of the option of developing better gravimetric and electromagnetic scanning systems ("scout modules") would greatly increase our ability to keep ships successfully in the field exploring the jump lanes. If our goal is to expand into the wider universe, all resources should be applied to this end. Economic prosperity, trade, agricultural products - all will flow back to us as dividends of exploration and defensive investments, which at the moment are limited in efficiency by our lack of technological progress.

Colonizing Archer, frankly, seems like a waste of time and resources at this point, unless it's going to be used as a research base and/or shipyard. It just stretches our infrastructure, which could easily end up slowing technological progress and divert funds from maintenance and modernization of our forces and infrastructure. For the same cost as opening up a questionably-useful world, we could leapfrog ahead in our weapons, sensors and drive technology, and improve our ability to seek out truly viable new colonies (with better economic and agricultural returns, I might add).
[OOC: What' I'm responding to specifically here is this:]
Tyrel Lohr wrote:Our tech advancement cost is going to increase by 10 TP once Archer is colonized, and then by another 10 TP after Archer's Census is increased to 1. Players may wish to consider this when prioritizing the Archer colonization mission; if you want a cheap tech advance first, you'll need to do the tech investment before you colonize that system.

I hope the reasonable minds of the Military Party will agree with us that defense and modernization is paramount. To that end I propose we plan a new prototype scout vessel that forgoes armaments and fighter-basing capacity for higher durability and advanced electronics packages; if we are to be explorers, let us build a proper exploratory vessel. If, through focused research efforts, we can quickly advance our sensors technology to greatly increase the effectiveness of such a design in mapping out the jump lanes, then let us do so before we begin prototyping.

It sounds like the Intelligence Bureau has a foolproof plan for dealing with the pirate problem, which would doubtless be faster and more effective than hurling what naval resources we have into the Oort Cloud looking for trouble. I say let's go with the counterinsurgency plan.
-Patrick
crit·ic /ˈkritik : Someone who knows the way but can't drive the car. -- Kenneth Tynan
User avatar
mwaschak
Rear Admiral
Rear Admiral
Posts: 854
Joined: Thu Oct 04, 2007 3:43 am
Location: The data mines of VBAM
Contact:

Re: Human Republic Playtest Thread

Post by mwaschak »

The Military Party is very much in line with the Technocratic Party. We need to shore up our defenses, make sure that whatever dangers we find do not return home, and it is through technology that the Military Party can be see its goals realized. So the Military Party puts its support behind the Technocratic Party for the moment as our short term goals are compatible.

Esteemed friends, we need to remain strong, and we must remain ready.
User avatar
Tyrel Lohr
Vice Admiral
Vice Admiral
Posts: 1466
Joined: Thu Oct 04, 2007 3:48 am
Location: Lusk, WY
Contact:

Re: Human Republic Playtest Thread

Post by Tyrel Lohr »

It looks like we are evenly deadlocked with 2 Industrialist + 1 Free Trade Alliance vs. 2 Technocratic + 1 Military. Barring any last minute tie breakers coming in from people that might just be joining the thread (doubtful, but it might happen), it looks like what we might have to do is have each individual build a short list of five goals with one being the highest importance and five the lowest. I'll then combine the lists to set our agenda and see what happens.

I'm out of town tomorrow, but we'll see what's happened by Sunday and then I'll start on Year 2.
[i]"Touch not the pylons, for they are the messengers!"[/i]
Gareth_Perkins
Captain
Captain
Posts: 242
Joined: Wed Oct 10, 2007 11:39 am
Location: Exeter; UK

Re: Human Republic Playtest Thread

Post by Gareth_Perkins »

Aha - I just got the RSS Feed about this play-test (I'd missed it up until now, and the forums had been so quiet that I'd stopped checking in regularly),

I'm not really up to date with current events (I'm reading as fast as I can!), but if it helps breaking the deadlock I think throwing my lot in with the Free Trade Alliances goals makes the most sense, for now that is...

Relying on the intelligence services to protect our nation, whilst looking into ways of improving our scouting and exploration forces makes the most sense.
Gareth Lazelle
User avatar
murtalianconfederacy
Captain
Captain
Posts: 363
Joined: Sat Oct 06, 2007 9:17 am
Location: Aboard the MCS Bavoralkin

Re: Human Republic Playtest Thread

Post by murtalianconfederacy »

@Gareth: its Tyrel who's running the campaign--he always runs into massively superior hostile aliens in his campaigns! We need advanced defences, damnit! :P

(j/k Tyrel :D)
Not every laser dot has a loaded gun at the end of it
Gareth_Perkins
Captain
Captain
Posts: 242
Joined: Wed Oct 10, 2007 11:39 am
Location: Exeter; UK

Re: Human Republic Playtest Thread

Post by Gareth_Perkins »

If they're always massively superior, then advanced defences won't save us - our only hope will be a combination of diplomacy and underhand intel operations to stop their government moving against us.

But if they're massively superior and benevolent, then finding them might help to kick-start our expansion.
Gareth Lazelle
User avatar
murtalianconfederacy
Captain
Captain
Posts: 363
Joined: Sat Oct 06, 2007 9:17 am
Location: Aboard the MCS Bavoralkin

Re: Human Republic Playtest Thread

Post by murtalianconfederacy »

Which having advanced technologies and better vessels would help us to do...:)
Not every laser dot has a loaded gun at the end of it
Locked