Should there be an Intel mission for Discover Race Powers?

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Boneless
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Should there be an Intel mission for Discover Race Powers?

Post by Boneless »

I'm CMing a game, and it seems like race powers aren't something that should just be revealed upon hitting normal relations. Some are even cooler if not revealed. You don't know if your treaty request was rejected because they don't like you or because their race power forced them to.

And should Social traits be easier to discover than Military traits? "My god, look at all the children!" vs "You know, I bet their ships can be out of supply for a turn with no penalty."
zyffyr
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Post by zyffyr »

All of that is dependent on the type of campaign you are running.

If you are representing your settings equivalent of WWII, the traits should be pretty well known.

On the other hand, in an exploration campaign some different traits may or may not be readily apparent. Diminutive/Gigantic races should be identifiable very quickly, assuming there are no other traits that would cause direct contact to be unlikely. Xenophobic? That should be known really fast. Incomprehensible Language? That is first contact knowledge. Fast gestation? That might take a while to become apparent.

Most of the various military mods you are probably not going to pick up on w/o actually seeing them in action.

Then there is the factor of player expectations - do they want traits to be hidden?
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Tyrel Lohr
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Post by Tyrel Lohr »

It is a difficult question, deciding which traits should or should not be known by all players. Like Zyffyr pointed out, empires that have been in contact with one another for a long period of time will already know their opponents' strengths and weaknesses. But powers that have just made contact with one another probably won't be able to glean much information about the other empire or their species. Physical traits should be obvious, but the Social traits are a mixed bag.

A quick rule of thumb might be to have an empire learn an opponent's Social trait when he sees it in action, such as when it modifies a die roll that the player would have knowledge of. For combat traits, this would be when the player's empire encounters their forces in battle and witnesses the trait's effects. For diplomacy traits, they would encounter them in the first instance where that Social trait directly impacted a die roll with their power.

This leaves a few traits that a player may not run into naturally, which would lave you tying them to either a successful Intel mission (example: Espionage: Tech would uncover that the other power has Expert Scientists) or having a set percentage chance each campaign turn that the two power would exchange information on their Social traits.

-Tyrel
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Boneless
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Post by Boneless »

You're a Zoq-Fot-Pik! Totally just occurred to me. Thought you looked familiar. Um... this isn't a real reply to the conversation. Please carry on.

Best game ev-ar.
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Tyrel Lohr
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Post by Tyrel Lohr »

Boneless wrote:You're a Zoq-Fot-Pik! Totally just occurred to me. Thought you looked familiar. Um... this isn't a real reply to the conversation. Please carry on.

Best game ev-ar.
I always loved the Zoq-Fot-Pik, so I pretty much use this guy as my avatar anywhere that I post. I loved talking to these guys and hated it in any game of SC2 when I couldn't get the plot resolved before the Kor-Ah annihilated them. I hated flying the Stinger (Pkunk Fury all the way!), but I still like the Zoq-Fot-Pik the best out of all of the species you encounter in that game. :)

Since we are derailing the thread anyway, it reminds me of one solo crossover campaign that I played where the Kor-Ah were randomly rolled and they were running around killing everyone. They eliminated the Miradorn (minor Star Trek race) and were moving up to take out the Trilarians (Master of Orion II). Luckily, the Trilarians were able to get the Wookiees (Star Wars, obviously) to intercede on their behalf, and their allied fleet was successful in defeating the Kor-Ah.

I think that was also the game where the Slylandro were encountered living in a gas giant located between Wookiee and Cardassian space, but it wasn't in a strategically important location, and the Wookiees and Cardassians were too busy fighting over Orion, throne world of the Ancients (with a RAW of 10!).

That was a pretty good campaign :)

-Tyrel
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murtalianconfederacy
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Post by murtalianconfederacy »

Yeah, I liked it. Interesting to see the Pak'Ma'Ra bigger than the Dilgar though...
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