Bloodlust

[Iron Knight]

Gaerlandia

The Lord Marshal sat reviewing reports from sector 37; another petition to be given full status as a colony. What had started as a minor outpost now has a few sizable communities. It was time to recognize them, but that is largely irrelevant to him. The discovery of another alien relic, this time in the ruins of an armory, confirmed evidence that they were a large interstellar empire brought down quickly by some new weapon or technology. Sadly, not much usable information has been gained. Scientists say that they can understand and reproduce the alien anti-gravity technology, but too late to be incorporated into the next generation planetary assault forces being developed.

Thankfully, Gearlandia unified with the news of the aliens several years ago. The military and likeminded patriots unified the home world and its colonies. Whatever the old alien race developed must be found and secured. Reports show that we are not alone in being able to use the ancient jump lanes. There seem to be at least three other forces within the network. Gaerlandia must rise above them and take control of the alien’s dominion.

Gaerlandia-Military Meritocracy (negative religious)

Efficient Slavers – (2)
Combat Respect – (-1)
Superiority Complex – (-1)
Rival Houses – (-1)
Superior Military Instruction – (1)
Master Tacticians – Command – (1)
Master Tacticians – Maneuver – (1)


Edgarrian Confederacy

The Provost called the council back to order. Once again they had devolved to arguing amongst themselves. Confederate explorers have moved deeper into the jump networks. Contact is inevitable. What to do with the other factions? Can they be trusted? Are they even worth talking to?

No. The alien ruins point to a most terrible power. We must have it. It must be studied and a defense must be created. The clans can agree on this, but how to deal with the other contenders? They will have to be studied as well.

Edgarrian Confederacy (Scientific)

Subterranean – (2)
Effective Industry – (1)
Mercantile – (1)
Bureaucratic Diplomacy – (-2)
Superiority Complex - (-1)
Contemplative – (1)


The Alliance of the White Kingdoms

The crowd roars in fanatic approval as the Prince ends his speech and withdraws from the balcony. His announcement that minor houses would be allowed to purchase heavier ordinance was very popular. A combination of his charismatic embrace of the minor houses and knightly chapters along with the discovery of the ancient alien race has cemented his role as the head of the alliance.

Still, he has only done what was in the Kingdom’s best interest. Other powers have been discovered, though several stars away. Scientists have been monitoring them and as far as we can tell they are godless heathens, militaristic, corrupt and aggressive. Such faithless peoples cannot be allowed to hold control of the region or the alien’s power. It is just a shame we have not be blessed with better star systems. The path of god’s chosen was never meant to be easy though.

The Alliance of the White Kingdoms (Religious Aristocracy)

Fanatical – (2)
Spiritual – (1)
Veteran Armies – (2)
Open Society – (-2)
Trade Barriers – (-1)


Jessionian Trade Federation

News of the departure of the civilian transport fleets runs across the screen above the floor of the senate. The Chancellor was pleased with his people’s progress. They were always explorers but the discovery of alien technology added fuel to the fire. There was also potential of trade with the neighboring empires. However, the government has been rather quiet on what they suspect the other powers to be like.

The people have at least started to support the building of defense ships. Guns have been added to explorer and supply vessels. In a few month construction will start on the first large defense ships and new larger supply ships which can be refitted as military assault vessels if need be. Hopefully peace can be maintained but with what terrible power that has been recorded in the destroyed alien ruins… it is unlikely.

Jessionian Trade Federation (Trade Republic)

Effective Industry – (1)
Mercantile x 3 – (3)
Logistical Experts – (1)
Open Society – (-2)
Rival Houses (-1)

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Bloodlust is a solo campaign report, in which four powers face off over the remains of an alien empire. The map was generated using a simple ‘pizza slice’ technique with a hex map and a total of 105 systems.

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Opening moves before the introductions:

Turn 1 & 2

All factions launch newly build scout fleets into the unknown. The trade federation finds alien ruins in system 7 and an anomaly in system 14 but cannot capitalize on either due to restricted jump lanes.

Turn 3

Gaerlandia finds alien ruins in system 37; a colony fleet is redirected to that system. Another colony fleet colonizes system 36 (Hailania).

The Confederacy colonizes system 66 (Valrur).

The Trade Federation colonizes system 13 (Bern).

Turn 4

Gaerlandia colonizes system 37 (Hlak).

The Confederacy completes heavy ground micro tech.

Turn 5

The Confederacy colonizes system 69 (Balvarin).

The White Kingdoms complete heavy and armored ground tech micros. Supply depot landed in system 90 (Inla).

The Trade Federation invests in large amount of civilian transports (3 inter construction). Research is more than halfway done on new auxiliary ships.

Turn 6

Gaerlandia completes ground macro tech 1, along with armored, irregular, and light. Prototypes planned for turn 7.

The Confederacy lands a supply depot in system 65 (Ralginan), construction starts on one in system 69 (Balvarin).

The White Kingdoms complete ground macro tech 1 and colonize system 96 (Zaphadim).

The Trade Federation lands a supply depot in system 10 (Wakia) and colonizes system 9 (Elsvil).

[Tyrel Lohr]

It will be interesting to see how this campaign plays out!

Is there any chance we might get to see a copy of the map, just to get our bearings a bit and see where each empire is in relations to the others?

-Tyrel

[Boneless]

I'm sorry, did that say 105 systems? Am I doing something wrong that my six player map has 34?

Edit-----------------------(Didn't want to clutter thread with reply)
Thanks for the 10 system tip. Fortunately, two people flaked out. I have four dedicated people now, and I don't mind if the first campaign runs on the short side. Rather finish a game than start one that was too big. Can't post a map though since I am CM'ing it.

[Iron Knight]

Well my map has more low raw systems to add strategic depth as well as using a hex based method of map creation (27 hexes per slice with 1 of them being shared for the center piece).

A good rule of thumb is 10 systems per player. Having at least 10 assures that there will be more than one or two systems that have to be defended. For example, in Twilight Imperium (hex based space empire game) most players have one fleet that guards all their vulnerable systems by sitting in a system that can react to several threatened areas. The same thing can happen in Vbam due to the time it can take to clear off a well garrisoned planet (assuming census morality or some other limit on bombardment) and having major lanes speed things up.

So, basically, the fewer systems, the fewer major fleets needed. If there are only one or two major fleets, a player is effectively killed when one of them is defeated. In any game with dice, battles can easily be lost due to a few bad rolls so to give players more than one chance at victory and victory through strategic operations players need to have reasons to break up fleets into smaller groups.

In my game, each faction will be forced to manage three theaters. Even if they are fortunate enough to only need one fleet per front, having three large fleets will still allow them to stay in the game if one is defeated. If one falls, several options arise. If the other fronts are going well they can switched to a defensive stance and a new fleet can be created through draining the others. A losing front might be able to peace out and sent its forces to plug the gap (The enemy giving the peace doesn't want another player to get another empire wholesale, so they would likely settle for a few system if it stops another from achieving an economic victory). The center could also be given up if it looks like it will create conflict and hesitation over the newly open system, which always be reconquered later.

Maps will be up shortly (on the yahoo site, unless there is a way to post them here?). I'll try to post one with each update. I just have a little more tweaking to go. I'll also post my map creation system.

Edit: 34 systems would be a quick and violent game for six, it might be a bit tight for four but 8.5 systems per player is viable if there aren't a lot of systems with 4 or more jumplanes.

These are my general thoughts on map creation, I am curious to know what others think about the level of strategic depth vbam needs.

[Tyrel Lohr]

We don't have the option of uploading files here (too many security issues with phpBB that make those kinds of plugins untenable), but the YahooGroup would work fine. If it was just a raster image, you could always upload it to an image hosting site and link to there, too.

As for the number of star systems that should be in a campaign for each player, I would agree with Garland's recommendation of 10 systems per player. If each player begins with a good core 4-5 systems, that leaves a little bit of room to expand before coming into direct conflict with the other players. Or, if the map is fully-explored and populated at game start, a 10-system allocation allows for a split along these lines:

1 Homeworld
1 Major Colony
1 Colony
2 Minor Colonies
2 Outposts
3 Minor Outposts

That gives three fairly solid colony world at the beginning of the game (including Homeworld), and enough other sources of income to keep a player going even if it loses one or two of them.

Now, I will admit that most of my solo campaigns end up having a much lower systems-to-empires ratio as I end up triggering additional NPEs. In a 100 system sector, I will end up with anywhere from 8-10 active empires. That still theoretically leaves 10 systems per empire, but given how the exploration rules work you aren't guaranteed to encounter all 100 star systems in a sector. So the real ratio is probably about 7 systems per empire in those campaigns. That is a little cramped, but it still works out fairly well.

VBAM games do benefit a lot from strategic depth, and it is something that is often missing in 1E. That is one of the reasons that I usually use the Captain level system generation rules, as the extra level of planet detail actually makes it less likely that you are going to find close concentrations of good star systems. This forces the player to have to explore and expand farther to find better systems, and also helps to provide a larger number of low-quality star systems that you have to end up controlling for security purposes but that you won't necessarily want to live on.

The above situation actually becomes a bit more interesting in VBAM 2E, as income is now based on Census x RAW instead of Census x Productivity, and you also have Agriculture and Biosphere values to worry about for foodstuff production. Taken in combination it means that you might find a colony that has a rich biosphere that would be great for farming but that is otherwise worthless. Or you can find a high RAW planet which will have to import in all of its food. You could also choose to only build up Productivity at select planets, if you didn't think your "mining" or "farming" planets were in strategic ship building locations.

-Tyrel

[Tyrel Lohr]

Thanks for uploading the maps, Garland! My first impression is that Gaerlandia and the Edgarrian Confederacy look to be on a collision course with one another. A little bit more exploration that direction and they are going to come into contact, and that nice star formation in the upper left hand corner is going to become a battleground. Limited access makes it easier to defend, and by taking and holding systems 68, 77, and 78 the Gaerlandians will be able to effectively maintain control of that front.

Comparatively, the Jessonians seem to be in a less tenable position, just because their avenues for expansion seem limited. The narrow corridor north is going to put them into competition with the Gaerlandians (who have a lot to gain by denying the Jessonians access to those territories), which leaves them breaking through the White Kingdom sphere of influence -- or at least carving out enough control there to expand up into the middle of the map before they get cut off.

That is just my surface reading based on the map layout and the first seven turns of exploration and expansion. I look forward to seeing how things play out!

-Tyrel

[Iron Knight]

Maps are up on the yahoo site. They are made in yEd, which can be found here (Great Vbam tool).

The key:

Colored systems are colonies or have ground units present for the empire.
Octogons are supply points.
Large systems are core worlds. (Only homeworlds at start)
Bold lines are major lanes.
Dashed lines are resitricted lanes.

Map Generation:



Roll (d20)___RAW_Roll (d20)_2ndRoll (d10)_CAP

1-6____30%__1______1-2________________1
7-11___25%__2______3-4________________2
12-16__25%__3______5-6________________3
17-19__15%__4______7-8________________4
20_____5%___5______9-10_______________5
___________________11-12_______________6
___________________13-14_______________7
___________________15-16_______________8
___________________17-18_______________9
___________________19_________________10
___________________20____1-4__________11
_________________________5-6__________12
_________________________7-8__________13
_________________________9___________14
_________________________10__________15


Roll (d100)__ %__ Special Traits
1-2__ 2__ Ancient Alien Ruins; hidden, planetary, 2d6 science XP, +1 XP if a science institute is built here
3-4__ 2__ Ancient Alien Shipyards; hidden, planetary, 3d6 research points in a random ship type, 1d6 XP of a space or flight type, +1 research in same category per turn as before
5-6__ 2__ Ancient Alien Armory; hidden, planetary, 3d6 research points in a random ground research project, 1d6 ground XP, +1 research in same category per turn as before
7-12__ 6__ Asteroid Fields; -20% detection, if 5+ on a d6 then system is +1 Raw as long as the system is not constested space-wise
13-16__ 4__ Heavy Asteroid Fields; -40% detection, if 3+ on a d6 then system is +1 Raw as long as the system is not constested space-wise
17-18__ 2__ Trade Resources; hidden, planetary, +25% of system output for trade income, doubled for trade government or merchantile empire
19-20__ 2__ Military Resources; hidden, planetary, -2% maintenance costs
21-22__ 2__ Morale Resources; hidden, planetary, +1 intel for all insurgency and counter-insurgency mission launched from here, +1 to morale checks here
23-24__ 2__ Science Resources; hidden, planetary, 2% research discount
25-26__ 2__ Resource Cashe; hidden, planetary, 3d6 EP gained (one time only)
27-28__ 2__ Energy Resources; hidden, planetary, counts as a supply point, if already a supply point +10% output
29-30__ 2__ Energy Nebula; -60% detection, supply does not pass through this system
31____ 1__ Lost World; hidden, planetary, special
32-33__ 2__ Hostile Space Forces; special
34-35__ 2__ Hostile Ground Forces; special
36-40__ 5__ Expansive System; see chart
41-99__ 59__ None
100____ 1__ Roll Twice

Expansive System Roll__ Effect
1-2__ Expansive System; -2 Raw, +2 Raw as long as the system is not contested space-wise
3-5__ Expansive System; -1 Raw, +1 Raw as long as the system is not contested space-wise
6-8__ Expansive System; +1 Raw as long as the system is not contested space-wise
9-10__ Expansive System; +2 Raw as long as the system is not contested space-wise


Jump Lanes

1: No lane
2-3: Restricted
4-5: Minor
6: Major