A question of scale

[gstano]

I've been working with the 2E promotional material, but felt this was a better question here.

I have been working to put together a VBAM campaign for a setting I developed while playing with Babylon 5 Wars. The setting has several eras and available scenarios. Some of the earlier scenarios are fairly small and cover only a few star systems. These are really best played at the Commodore's level. However, another scenario involving the same powers are clearly better geared towards a Captain's campaign due to the size.

An interesting side effect is that a fully designed Commodore system may have more overall capabilities than the same system using the Captain's designs (which I have simply used the most valuable planet from the Commodore design). Has anyone worked to reconcile the same campaign setting, but with two scales?

One idea I have had is to spread the stats from a Captain's system across all of the planets in the Commodore system. I don't like that feel as that requires a lot of investment for little return. Going in the opposite direction I can lump all of the Commodore system stats into one Captain's level planet. This works for small Commodore systems, but breaks down if the Commodore system has numerous planets. A third option is to just not worry about it, but part of me would like to try and keep things consistent.

I am curious if others have already blazed this trail before and would enjoy hearing your thoughts.

[Charles Lewis]

I've never tried to reconcile the two. Commodore will result in greater resources but that is at least partially offset by having more locations to defend.

Personally, I just felt that was reward for working with the extra detail (and the extra time involved to do so).

[gstano]

Ha ha ha. That is a good way to look at it.

It would be nice to try and reconcile the two, but that may be too much of a hassle for the benefit received. I can kick around a few ideas.

Thanks for your thoughts!

[gstano]

This is a follow-up to my initial question. In the setting I am working on, I have not liked the feel of a Captain's level map as the setting has a lot of slugging it out across an entire star system. This naturally led me to look at the Commodore creation, but that grew too cumbersome quickly. I've been looking for a way to find a middle ground.

Here is the idea and I start with the Captain-level of detail. First, each star system is connected by an interstellar jump lane. Also, each star system has at least one planet of interest. However, here is where there is some added detail. Each star system may have multiple planets. When this occurs a mini interplanetary route is made for each system. This would look like a map with multiple star systems, only for planets in a single system. I would not use the inner, middle, outer designations nor would the 4.4.4 System Map Generation rules be used.

Now, one of the planets in the system would be the location where the interstellar jump lane arrives. In this setting this would be where the jump gate would be located and there is no penalty for jumping to this planet in the system. Technically, if you have your own jump drive you do not need the jump gate, as you are using the beacon to "home in". However, in this setting, hyperspace is more forgiving and you can make a "direct jump" to any planet in the system, although you will suffer a surprise penalty to indicate that the defenders may be able to react to your actions. Besides these direct jumps, units may enter the system through the jump gate planet and then move via the intraplanetary lanes (i.e. 13.1.1). Also, each star system, even if it has one planet, has a generic "outskirts" to represent coming into a hard to patrol region of the system. It allows the attacker to more easily assemble, but it also gives the defender time to gather their forces. Lastly, there is no penalty for jumping out of the system, wherever you are. The caveat is that you need your own jump engine or you need to control the jump gate. Here is a sample image.



My long-winded question is this. Does this mechanic keep things a little more simple than a Commodore level map or does it have a minimal effect based on the community's experience? How many star systems would be too many for this level of detail? From my understanding of the rules and trying to put this together, this gives the unique feel of fighting for each star system planet by planet, by essentially linking two "levels" of a Captains style map. A Commodore style game should probably not exceed more than 5 systems and I am hoping that this variation could handle more, but maybe not as many as a Captain's game.

Thanks for any of your input!

[Charles Lewis]

I'm intrigued. Add's a cat and mouse element as an invasion force would need to guard the door against out-system reinforcements.

[gstano]

Thanks Charles. I like how this sets up a longer fight for a star system. As you noted, the attacker has to watch out for the defender coming through the front door as well as being able to trap either side if they loose their jump ships. Additionally, the defender has choices as to where to set up the jump gate. If it is at an unimportant dwarf planet, the valuable worlds are harder to reach via a direct jump by an attacker, but become harder to reinforce during an attack. If you put it at the core planet, it is easier for everyone to reach.

In a book keeping sense, I think this will play out closer to what a large scale Captain's map would look like. (At least that is the hope!)