Rising Tide is a classic solo exploration campaign using 2E/Galaxy with some house rules, set 500 years after hyperspace suddenly stopped working, when it suddenly began to work again. One system that survived the Long Night wants to reunify the galaxy under her own banner, as is their divine right granted by their god, Holy Mother Terra. Obviously, anyone still living on Terra when they figure out where it is doesn't deserve the Holy Planet after letting the universe get messed up in the first place - they must be minions of the devil!
Fortunately, someone is more than happy to take the burden of galactic leadership from Terra (if it still exists). All Hail the God-Emperor of the Samarthian Greater Protectorate.
I've also completely revised my tech/unit guidelines since the conversation in Galaxy, and they're now much simpler. I had a logic circle I had to cut out, but it was well worth the effort
The Bureau of Domestic Tranquility is pleased to announce that since our system's warp points reactivated in January--Praise Holy Mother Terra!--our valiant volunteer explorer corps aboard the blessed Ishaan-class light cruisers have had a revelation! Mother Terra guided them to enlightenment, and they can now activate one of the eight Warp Points in our system. Soon they will pass through this warp point to explore and discover what lies on the other side.
The Emperor of Samarth (Protector of the People, Embodiment of Holy Mother Terra, etc.) has boldly predicted that, if it be the will of Terra, the system on the other side of that warp point will be another colony that has survived the Long Night as we have, and will embrace the will of Terra by joining under His banner.
In unrelated news, the Will of the Emperor have announced a major breakthrough in the study of pre-fall battle armor technology and tactics, enabling the formation of a new style of heavy infantry units to be named the Spear of the Emperor. Research continues, however, to develop a unit capable of providing battlefield support to Spear units. Should our lost brethren among the stars reject Holy Mother Terra's will by refusing to submit to our peaceful demands, they will surely learn that Terra comes not only in peace, but also with the sword of judgment.
That is all. We now return you to your regularly scheduled program, Tiny Tots in the Sand, the hit new reality TV show starring children of famed, fallen warriors from the Blood in the Sand. See how much they enjoy the lifetime Living Package: Upgrade (Medium - Clothing, Housing) families receive when a loved one falls in the red sand! For more information on how *you* can volunteer for gladiator training, please dial...
I added a modified rule due to setting flavor. Basically, whenever a normal system is encountered, a roll is made to see whether the system has traces of the former Terran Hegemony, from prior to the fall of warp points and the subsequent 500-year Long Night.
Amusingly, the first system is a minor colony with excellent traits - and it had a Derelict! It's just a DD (era 6) so it isn't too unbalancing, but it shows our "prantagonist" player empire that the single advanced ship they had... wasn't all that advanced. (Still far more advanced than the TE-1 ships they can make themselves, but definitely obsolete in the Terran Hegemony!)
Obviously, the Emperor doesn't want news of it to get out, since their whole culture is built on the notion that they're the inheritors of Holy Mother Terra's manifest destiny to rule the galaxy, and that probably isn't true if the one god-ship they've had this whole time was several tech eras behind the simple destroyer they just found...
---- System Exploration
Because the setting material suggests the galaxy was fully colonized by both many alien races and humanity, And many of these systems collapsed during the Long Night, an updated System Anomaly table and rules are required. On exploring a new system, roll on the system traits table as normal, following the normal rules for using the stellar anomaly table. However, if the system doesn’t have a stellar anomaly by the standard rules and ends up being a normal planet, then the player rolls on the following System Anomaly Table to determine whether an unusual find exists, and which type. Splinter colonies, NPEs, derelicts, and ruins are far more common in the Rising Tide campaign than in a typical game.
System Anomalies Table (2d10)
Roll System Anomaly
2-4 Derelict
5-6 Abandoned Colony
7-15 Nothing Special
16-18 Splinter Colony
19-20 Ruins
This approach to anomalies could be a worthwhile change, as then the chance of having an anomaly would be discrete from the special traits table. The only issue would be balancing if a system would really have one or not, and balancing the chances of certain anomalies occurring based on the bell curve results.
It will be interesting to see if Splinter Colony ends up being too common for you in this game, and if that ends up unbalancing things. It does make more sense given your setting, however!
[i]"Touch not the pylons, for they are the messengers!"[/i]
Thanks! I'll definitely share my thoughts on the rule variants both from both a normal game viewpoint and regarding the theme of this campaign, so you can cherry pick ideas that worked out if you like them enough. EDIT: I might also end up changing the order or number range of different system items if I don't like the results, or if I find one ends up being too common.
The next few months went smoothly. Explorer Fleet discovers how to access the second Samarth warp point right away with a bit of luck, but the system they discover is only Minor (Minor Colony). Although it has a Fair Environment and will be able to support many colonists, its low resource value makes it doubtful it will ever be colonized unless Samarth and Daksh both become overpopulated. Disappointed, the fleet returns home to resupply and research another warp point.
A Civilian Fleet is constructed and moves one CEN from Samarth to Daksh, the first system discovered, and founds the first SGP colony! Additional colonists from Samarth are not likely because it would affect the Protectorate's economy to send more, there is already a clamor from the general population for keepsakes and souvenirs from the new world, and a consortium of business interests are discussing the placement of an orbital trading station (Civ Base 1) to accommodate this trade in everything from local plants to local animal furs.
------
Discovered a Low-value system with no stellar or system anomalies. Just an empty world. In the fluff there are ruins, but they've been salvaged or rusted to the point of uselessness from an empire perspective. So far, 50% of systems have had a system anomaly, although 2 explored systems is hardly definitive. Also, with +3 combined explorer bonus (+2 from Explorer rating from first ship, +1 from additional 2 Explorer rating on second ship), it took 5 months to succeed on first exploration but only 1 month to succeed on the second warp point.
Removing more colonists to Daksh would lower Utilized Productivity, costing 9 EP/turn while only gaining 4 EP on Daksh.
Next turn construction will be another Civilian Fleet to construct a Trade Outpost (orbital civilian base), and after the base is constructed, the fleet will conduct trade between the two systems. I'll probably move a squadron into Daksh to prevent piracy since there are a few squadrons floating around doing nothing.
Adding new Setting Rule that no encountered NPEs will have more CEN than the player empire, because they will only have had as much time to expand as the SGP itself.
As I've already had 2 tech breakthroughs no more research will be allocated this year. The second breakthrough was largely due to the tech bonus from dissecting the derelict destroyer, resulting in advancement to Tech Era +2.
I'm greatly looking forward to finding an NPE to test out diplomacy, trade, and possibly ground combat
EDIT 12/1/16 - I finished through the rest of the year, including year-end sequence (gaining 1 CEN from homeworld). During Oct-Dec, one additional system was scouted on the first try, while the last December try failed to reveal anything. The one that was located was a Major Colony with the Rare Minerals trait, no stellar anomalies, and no result on my secondary chart.
Separating Stellar Anomalies and System Anomalies is working out well. If I encounter a Stellar result I won't need to roll on the system importance table anyway, so that's been my sequence: stellar Y/N >> System Importance/Traits >> System Anomalies table. The rate of special results has so far been about right (one system anomaly, no stellar anomalies, 3 systems explored in 12 turns).
Given the rate of finds, I'm considering adjusting my NPE/NAE modifiers for jump distance from -4/-2/-1 to -3/-1/-0, or even just -3 in the first jump only, so that NPEs are remotely possible 2 jumps away but otherwise no modifiers.
I've also decided that *for my campaign* due to setting fluff, NAEs will be limited to having no more CEN than the player empire, probably with a d100 roll, 1-50 = 50% CEN, 51-75=75% CEN, 76+ = 100% CEN to keep it simple. But a similar breakout, with maybe a 5% chance of *more* CEN than the player empire, could work well for Galaxies. Just random thoughts.
Valiant Explorers Discover Strange New Human Civilization Peace-loving humans practically beg to join the SGP
Samarth, May 15, 3001: Exploration vessels of the Samarthian Greater Protectorate (SPG), expertly navigating the treacherous Warp Points (WP) of Samarth, made first contact on May 5, 3001 with representatives of the Tasalan Republic, formerly of the Terran Hegemony. This is the first inhabited system so far discovered by servants of Holy Mother Terra as we pursue our manifest destiny to reunite the galaxy under Terra's holy guidance. Led by the renown Basak Hammed, the glorious veteran of four previous WP navigations, the SGP's Exploration Fleet discovered how to traverse the unstable WP 005 and vanished from SPG detectors as expected. On arrival in Tasalon, Hammed discovered the system was inhabited and immediately began the First Contact Procedures given to the Exploration Fleet by His Holy Eminence, the Emperor of Samarth.
"On arriving we saw the most beautiful system yet," Hammed said, "other than blessed Samarth herself. We were immediately hailed on all frequencies by unknown approaching naval vessels. They identified themselves, as did we, and we were shocked to then discover that they had never heard of Holy Mother Terra, nor of Her chosen emissary, the Emperor. We had a lot of fun talking to them about the word of God and how they might be granted Her salvation. There were some problems at first with communicating, because they kept laughing, but they did listen intently and took copious notes. I'm sure once they analyze our statements, they will discover the true meaning of all that we told them."
Spokespersons for the Will of the Emperor, the august body of advisors chosen by He Who Shepherds and administrators of his will, have stated that citizens are to expect no danger from the Tasalan Republic. In addition to being open to hearing the Truth of Terra, it has been confirmed by the Emperor, communing with Terra's Holy Spirit, that their nation is technologically backward and lacks warp drive technology.
Said Mobak Balaan, regional director of the Will of the Emperor, "Mother Terra has gifted all of Samarth with the abundant resources of the Tasalan System. Though alerts have been issued to all three Task Force commanders throughout SGP territory, the Tasalans are reportedly eager to trade to Terra's advantage, so that we may partake of their bounty. And of course, if they are afflicted with the sin of Greed, the Fist of the Emperor stands ready to deliver Mother Terra's will by the sword, for she comes in peace only to those who obey Her will, through the voice of Her emissary."
Additional information will be released as it is received. For citizens who wish to see the galaxy (and be granted with an Upgrade Package: Housing and Transport), the Emperor encourages all adults to register with Conscription Services as volunteers as soon as possible. Spaces are limited!
Farah Sayeel
Warp Correspondent
Bureau of Domestic Tranquility
---- I discovered a system with no Stellar Anomalies, and it turned out to be a Major Colony with the Rich Resources trait. The System Anomalies table result was "Splinter Colony." This would ordinarily mean the system belonged to a multi-system NAE instead of a single-system NAW, but dueto my campaign setting I roll 1d6; a result of 6 would have indicated this was merely a colony of a NAE, but I didn't roll a 6.
I gave them the Human empire's fleet roster from the core rules.They had the funds for a few quality ground units, one defensive starbase, one free ShipYard, thirty-five medium flights, 6 light carriers and 12 small ecorts. These were placed into 3 equal squadrons within one TaskForce, for ease of movement.
Then I've pieced together the Diplomacy rules use, which is Tension rather than Relationship. Besides being Pacifist Diplomats, they also rolled a "31" for initial Tension! So, I expect at least a trade treaty to come of it in the next game month.
I intend to have the Emperor spend as much as possible on Intel agents to conduct Diplomacy: Coup missions to get us quickly to the point of war so I can spread Holy Terra's mission with the Tasalani (that's code for testing out the new combat systems for real!)
The campaign guide (listed at the top) has been fully updated now. I have just revised my rules to include BroAdso's ground combat writeup, but I've merged my old Air Superiority ground combat rules with it. If you like the idea of unused Flights providing ground support, check it out
Really enjoying the fluff here, and you are doing a nice job bringing in the minor power as a useful and interesting element. Fluff wise, I particularly enjoy the bordering-on-comical characterizations of Samarth society and government, and the way you are mechanically handling the question of anomalies. I look forward to continuing to read!
Thank you, BroAdso I'm glad it's entertaining. I always did believe the fluff makes the game at least as interesting as the mechanics - which I can't help myself but to fiddle with them, despite my intentions to run a vanilla game. Lol.
As we head toward the end of year 2 (3001), the NAW has offered a trade treaty, and the SGP is considering pushing for better relations rather than worse, to try to simply absorb them. While the SPG is determined to bring the galaxy under its own control, I don't think they're likely to find a more willing partner than this NAW and there's more than one way to control them. So exploration will continue. The rest of the year is likely to be spent focused on intel, diplomacy, and trade/infrastructure.
Now that there is something going on in the universe, I am probably going to buy another explorer fleet, so that there is one working on systems 2 jumps out, and another focused on finishing up the warp points out of the homeworld system. My hope is to find a (small!) NAE to get an interesting war going.
The benefit of using an octagon instead of a hexagon for mapping is just that I can use a spreadsheet for the map - which is handy, since I lack any ability to make a pretty map
August, 3001 - Hordes of tourists from both Sanarth and Tasalan, visiting another world for the first time in 500 years, have caused a number of diplomatic incidents that have raised tensions between the two nations. On Tasalan, Sanarthian tourists traveling under strict orders not to discuss the Church of Holy Terra (for their minds are still too "natural", whatever that means), were unable to resist and, after being met with laughter, assaulted citizens of Tasalan. The pacifistic Tasalans arrested the aggressors and have sentenced them to lengthy prison terms, causing outrage back on Sanarth.
Meanwhile, Tasalani tourists, unfamiliar with Sanarth's "post scarcity" economy, have been frustrated by the level of service provided by hastily-fabricated hotels in the Spaceport District, and upon blaspheming the Emperor's "stupid Bureau [of Domestic Tranquility]" for their failure to provide adequate services, were ejected from the planet and shuttled home. Several filed formal complaints upon return to Tasalan, causing a slight disruption in trade - whereupon Sanarthian gov't representatives filed suit on Sanarth against them.
Sanarth seeks both commercial damages from the Tasalani parties and the release of their own citizens in Tasalan jails; Tasalan seeks reparations for their citizen's cost of vacation packages on Sanarth, as well as punitive and actual damages from Sanarth to compensate for the actions of Sanarth citizens on Tasalan.
Before the situation could escalate, however, both governments have agreed to mediation, conducted via computerized resolution software programmed with laws of both worlds.
Tensions Rising Uncontrollably Tasalon Agitators Sabotage Own Fleet, Blame Emperor
Samarth, Sept. 10, 3001: Tensions since July's so-called Tourist Incident continue to rise despite the best Sanarthian diplomatic efforts. Both nations filed additional formal complaints in August, related to the original incidents of July in which several Tasaloni tourists committed acts of deliberate blasphemy and were ejected from Sanarthian space. The Republic responded to those ejections by imprisoning several peaceful Sanarthian tourists on the Tasalon homeworld.
In August, Sanarthian advanced "fuzzy logic"-enabled computers, programmed with the legal statutes of both nations, delivered a fair and just verdict in favor of the Sanarthian Greater Protectorate, and ordered payments of restitution from the Tasaloni citizens involved and the release of Sanarth's hapless prisoners. Though Tasalon complied, they filed a subsequent grievance alleging that the Emperor was complicit in fraud against Tasalon citizens by instructing the mediator computer's human operators to render a false verdict.
Earlier this month, on Sept. 3rd, local criminals that infest Tasalon due to their lax moral laws, surrounded the Senarthian delegate's motorcade and, according to a source who spoke only on condition of anonymity, attempted to assassinate the SGP ambassador. Tasaloni envoys quickly denied any involvement, citing a lack of evidence that such an event occurred.
Said Metlar, SGP's Ambassador to the Tasaloni homeworld, "Of course they have no record of the event. The same lax legal and moral standards that led to the attack on my entourage and me also ensured that the report, which was correctly given to local law enforcement responding to the attack, was buried or never even made it back to their police station. They allowed thugs to try to kill me, and their incompetence ensured no recording of all our statements was filed. That is, if it was an accident. I begin to wonder if the Tasalon government was involved in this attack."
The Ambassador went on to say that he has received rumors from concerned locals that in fact the so-called thugs were government operatives.
The Protectorate filed a categorical condemnation of Republic security measures to ensure the safety of protected diplomatic staff, and Tasalani incompetence in the matter of local law enforcement's "misplaced" victim statements.
Two days later, on Sept. 6th, a large number of Tasalani trade vessels within SGP space simultaneously suffered catastrophic explosive damage, venting numerous hulls and resulting in the lost of nearly five hundred Tasalan civilian lives. The Republic immediately condemned the "attack" on their neutral merchant vessels, despite reassurances from the highest ranks of the Emperor's staff that the SGP was in no way involved with the tragic events.
The Emperor has ordered the recovery of all those who lost their lives in SGP space for proper burial under the Eye of the Church's auspices, an honor normally reserved for those citizens of the SGP who die while performing the highest, noble purpose of the Protectorate -- excluding military personnel --and the Republic responded by ordering the return of their deceased.
A spokesperson for the Bureau of Domestic Tranquility has advised this reporter that the Tasalan demands came as quitea shock, and there was conjecture as to why their government would spurn such a gracious gesture. Accordingly, the Tasalan demands were refused because, per the Bureau's spokesperson, "those noble souls shouldn't be punished because of the actions of their government.
Update -- Sept. 28, 3001 -- The highly skilled Eyes of the Emperor, the SGP's elite intelligence service, has disclosed copies of Tasalani Republic internal memos suggesting that the accident which devastated the Tasalani trade fleet was no accident. Details point to the unthinkable notion that they were the victims of a plot by their own government to cause incidents in order to lead once-peaceful relations between the Republic and the Protectorate into a course of open warfare.
While these allegations remain unconfirmed, and are strenuously denied by the Tasalani government, this reporer has also received original copies via courier of a number of similar internal memos taken from the Tasalani embassy on Sanarth. When confronted with this evidence, the Republic's response has been to withdraw their ambassador "until such time as we can be assured of the safety of Republic citizens within Protectorate space."
All SGP naval taskforces and their component fleets have been placed into a heightened state of readiness, but open hostilities have not yet commenced. It is to be hoped that the Republic leadership will see the error of their current course. However, if they steadfastly insist on continual escalation of tensions, the SGP fleet, though outnumbered, stands steadfast in its resolution to defend SGP space at all costs.
For information on volunteering for military service, contact your local recruiter.
Farah Sayeel
Warp Correspondent
Bureau of Domestic Tranquility
---- August saw ANOTHER diplomatic tensions result(+2). September then saw a full-blown Incident with a large spike in Tensions (though the Tasalons passed their Break Treaty chance and so did not try to break the Trade Treaty). In an effort to cripple the Tasalon economy quickly and cheaply in preparation for the seemingly inevitable war, an Intel mission was launched to sabotage the Tasalon trade fleet in Sanarth. The mission was a success, but the SGP failed to avoid detection, raising Tension by a further +20. Tensions currently stand at 68, up from 31 on first contact 3 months ago.
The Sanarthians are going to try to tease this along until Year End before pushing hard to instigate war, so that they can get the Tech Advance they need to develop another type of infantry to support the Shield unit recently developed. They definitely will take this to ground combat, if/when it goes that far. They'll likely be buying a Universal List assault ship or two...
There's no real way the NAW can defeat the player empire, however. SGP has a war chest of almost 500 EP now, so once things get real hot they'll have no problem purchasing everything needed to roll up the Republic militarily.
Really enjoying the tension increases and the creative justification that goes along with it. I almost feel bad for the Tasaloni against your massive, massive war chest. What on earth would you do with all those saved EP - warp lanes or something?
They just didn't have anything really to spend it on. Once they get a couple more tech breakthroughs, and CEN increases for Productivity purchases, getting max System Intel, occupying Talason... they'll burn through a chunk of that.
Bad Diplomacy Shift dice rolls three years running with the player empire getting caught destroying their civilian fleet, spells their doom. No way they can overcome that warchest, and the vastly greater SY capacity. Yeah, I feel for the Talasoni too lol.
