The Road to 2E: In a Sea of Stars - Taiping Union

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The Road to 2E: In a Sea of Stars - Taiping Union

Post by Tyrel Lohr »

Over the weekend I started a new playtest campaign to walk through some of the latest rule changes and see if things were going to work or not. I want to share some of the insights I've had in this campaign, and the best way to do that is to give you a kind of running campaign diary of what has happened up to this point in the campaign and discuss the ramifications that certain rule changes have had.

Prologue

The generation ship UNS Zeus was launched from Sol in 2053 to escape the impending ecological collapse on Earth. This mission was dispatched on a course that would take it to the Tau Ceti star system, but something happened and the ship found itself stranded in a distant part of the galaxy. The Zeus and her crew eventually arrived on the outskirts of a yellow dwarf star that they named Olympus, and settled on the planet they could be come to be called Gaia. From these humble beginnings the Olympic Republic was formed.

The current date is 2183 by Earth reckoning, 72 years after landfall. The Olympic population is surging and its people are ready to turn to space and seek out any other remnants of humanity that may have escaped Sol and ended up in the same region of space.

The Republic Army currently consists of 4 x Republican Guard units. These units aren’t very powerful, but they’re small enough to be transported to other systems if the need arises.

The Republic Navy is smaller and relies entirely on Atmospheric craft because Olympus doesn’t have any shipyards. The ORS Athena is an Athens-class light system monitor that lacks a FTL drive but is more powerful than your average ship at this tech level. Without FTL it is forced to rely on jump gates for interstellar movement, but it might eventually be able to move where a starbase wouldn’t be able to. The Republic’s other five ships are all Arrow-class frigates. These ships do have FTL drives, but they have very limited combat capabilities. They are going to be used to explore nearby space and as pickets rather than as combat craft.

The outlook for our naval forces right now is that we will need a more powerful ship to exert force in nearby systems. That project is going to have to wait until after we have built a shipyard in Olympus so that we can build non-atmospheric starships.

Olympus/Zeus (G5 V Single Star System) [High]
CAP 7, RAW 5, BIO 4, JUMP 2
CEN 3, MOR 3, ECO 3, IND 3, AGR 3, RES 3, INT 3

Republican Guard-I
C$ 5 M$ 2 BT 3 TL 0 Ground Force
DV 2 AS 2 PD 2 CR 3 CC 1

Athens-class light monitor
C$ 9 M$ 4 BT 5 TL 0 Starship
DV 3 AS 3 PD 3 CR 5 CC 2
Atmospheric

Arrow-class frigate
C$ 4 M$ 2 BT 2 TL 0 Starship
DV 1 AS 1 PD 1 CR 3 CC 1
FTL 1, Atmospheric

2183.01
ORS Pythagoras, an Arrow-class frigate, successfully explores the northern jump lane out of Zeus and arrives in the Hera system. This system is a multiple star system that contains a total of six stars. The system’s primary is a dim M4 V red dwarf. The innermost planet is a tidally-locked world that may make a good candidate for colonization as it seems to possess the right properties to support basic agriculture.

Hera (M4 V Multiple Star System) [Moderate]
CAP 6, RAW 2, BIO 4, JUMP 5

2183.03
The Pythagoras reports that it ended up mis-jumping while exploring near Hera. This put the ship dangerously out of supply and it took 1 damage as a result. The ship is now crippled. It will continue with its exploration attempts but will need to return home to be repaired lest it be destroyed due to a lack of supply.

The Republic Senate has ordered the government to begin investing in both tech and intel points so that it’ll be prepared should the need arise. Olympus’ current infrastructure allows it to buy 3 tech points and 3 intel points per turn and it’ll be buying its maximum every turn for the foreseeable future.

2183.04
We’ve lost contact with the Pythagoras. Space command believes that the ship mis-jumped again and was unable to return to Hera before running out of supplies. The ship and her crew will be remembered.

This illustrates why explorers with high Defense values are better: they can survive the effects of being in peril a bit easier than other ships can. I’m not going to worry about replacing the Pythagoras with another Arrow until the Republic reaches TL 1.

Morale in the Zeus system has increased based on a combination of factors that are signaling greater economic prosperity for the Republic and its inhabitants (+1 Morale @ Zeus).

2183.05
Construction has begun on a shipyard complex in the Olympus system. It will take 10 turns to complete this shipyard, but once it’s built the Republic will finally be able to start building non-atmospheric starships.

2183.06
The Arrow-class frigate Havilland reports that it has successful negotiated the last unexplored jump lane in Zeus. It emerged at the edge of a single star system that contains a single red dwarf star. The frigate notes that this star, which the commander has named Hades, is an extremely active flare star that is putting out unusually high amounts of radiation. Scientists believe that long-term inhabitation of this system would be expensive because of the amount of extra protection that colonies would be required to protect colonists from radiation exposure.

Hades (M3 V Single Star System) [Low]
CAP 6, RAW 4, BIO 0, JUMP 4, Radiation Field, Flare Star

Based on the Havilland’s report, the Republic Star Command has issued a travel advisory to all ships that might consider visiting Hades. Expansion through this system won’t be a problem, but colonization appears to be out of the question. Hades’ three unexplored jump lanes does make it an inviting target for future exploration missions, but the Hera system is simply a better candidate for long-term expansion.

Star Command is considering the possibility of building a supply depot in the Hera system. The amount of money required to fund such a project is high enough that it probably won’t be approved until such time as scouts can probe the jump lanes past the system to see if there is any reason to extend supply into the region versus just building a supply depot in the Zeus system and relying on it to feed supply outwards. Centralizing military facilities at Zeus makes it easier to defend these assets but it also might end up not extending supply far enough into the uncharted territories. Only time will tell.

2183.09
The Havilland suffered damage while exploring this turn. Unlike Pythagoras, the Havilland will be ordered to return to Olympus to undergo repairs before it resumes its mission of exploration.

The people of Olympus continue to be overjoyed at their prospects and the colony receives a +1 Morale bonus. It would seem that Olympus’ population is only happy when their scouts are threatened with imminent destruction...

2183.10
Havilland returned to Zeus from Hades.

2184.01
Havilland undergoes repairs at Zeus.

2184.02
Havilland moves to Hera.

2184.03
Havilland begins exploring the southwest jump lane in the Hera system.

Scientist at Olympus have made a technological breakthrough, increasing the empire’s tech level to TL 1. The system’s own tech level must be upgraded before it can benefit from this tech advance, but any new colonies will start at this higher tech level.

2184.04
Republic Star Command’s Bureau of Ships has recently been debating whether or not to upgrade the Athena light monitor to TL 1. With a construction cost of 9 EP, the Athena is the biggest ship that the Republic is currently capable of building. It is Atmospheric but doesn’t have FTL, which severely limits its utility as the Republic looks to expand. A unit refit would allow the ship class to be retooled. Upgrading the ship from TL 0 to TL 1 provides it with +1 MU, and it could remove its Atmospheric capability to free up an additional +2 MU. That would be enough space to install a FTL drive and still have an extra MU to go towards improving its combat factors. The downside to these upgrades is that it would increase the unit’s maintenance costs from 4 to 6, a 50% increase that would mean the Athena would cost an extra 2 EP per year to maintain.

Due to the underlying economics of such an upgrade and the fact that we only have one of the Athens-class monitors, the idea of refitting the ship will be tabled until later once technological upgrades make it a bit more practical.


2184.05
The Olympus shipyard facility is completed. The system can now build non-atmospheric starships.

2184.06
Protoyping has begun on a new starship class at Olympus. The new Sparta-class light cruiser is slightly smaller than an Athens but has substantially the same statistics. It isn’t Atmospheric capable, but it does have a basic hyperdrive so that it can travel from one star system to the next. Its point defenses aren’t as good as the Athens, but it has superior firepower. Military planners hope to make up for this defensive gap by designing and building a new dedicated escort frigate that could lay down defensive fire for the ship.

Sparta-class light cruiser
C$ 8 M$ 4 BT 4 TL 1 Starship
DV 3 AS 4 PD 2 CR 5 CC 2
FTL 1

2184.08
+1 Census @ Zeus

Sparta prototyping complete, construction begins

The Havilland has completed its survey of the southwest jump lane in the Hera system. It leads to Argus, a multiple star system that contains an uninteresting white dwarf. The system is barely habitable and only has one jump lane connecting to it.

Argus (D VII White Dwarf Multiple Star System) [Very Low]
CAP 2, RAW 1, BIO 2, JUMP 2

2185.01
Havilland discovers new system:

Vulcan (K6 V Orange Dwarf Single Star System) [Moderate]
CAP 10, RAW 2, BIO 1, JUMP 4, Maser Nebula

2185.03
Work begins on the Laconia, the Olympic Republic’s second Sparta-class light cruiser.

2185.04
-1 Morale @ Zeus

2185.06
Laconia is completed
+1 Industry @ Zeus

Olympic intelligence sources report that they have heard rumors of pirates operating out of the Argus system. They are evidently using the system as a base from which to attack prospectors that are journeying to the system looking for claims to stake on various planets and asteroids in that system. The system is located outside the Republic’s sphere of influence for the moment, but eventually the pirates will have to be dealt with (11 EP of pirate forces are now in Argus).

2185.07
Havilland finally repaired at Zeus

Extra troops purchased at Zeus

2185.08
-1 Morale @ Zeus
4 EP of pirates in Hades; Arrow class Janssen retreats from system as soon as it arrives

Image

===============================================

Some thoughts on how things have come together thus far in this campaign:
  • I purposefully started with a small colony so that I could have a slow build up and see whether or not some of my other rule changes would negatively effect minor powers with limited economies. This test shows that things should turn out all right for them. I'm currently eying a 6 Census, 6 Morale, 6 per Infrastructure as the new default game start conditions. That would give empires quite a bit of room to maneuver early on, especially with home systems with a minimum CAP 10, RAW 5, BIO 5, and that will probably get bumped to CAP 12, RAW 6, BIO 6 as before for standardized starts (equivalent of 3 special trait rolls preassigned).
  • The maximum amount of tech I can buy each turn is equal to my total utilized Research value, and the maximum amount of intel I can buy each turn is equal to my utilized Intel value. This restricts the rate at which both resources can be collected. For tech, it means that I can only research 1 tech advance per campaign year unless there are extenuating circumstances, because I can have at most 1 Research utilized per Census and it takes 10 tech points per Census to earn a tech advance. This balances tech back to where it should be while making Research infrastructure something that you wouldn't necessarily just scrap out of hand. The intel tempo still needs tested, but what it'll likely come down to after testing is having an intel cost for missions equal to 10 x Difficulty (returning to 1-4 difficulty) and then you use utilized Intel at your colonies to give yourself actual bonuses. Also look to have defensive intel back, with +1 mission difficulty per 2 utilized Intel in a system (round down).
  • System generation has not been kind to the Olympic Republic. Two of my avenues for expansion have been blocked by hostile system terrain. The maser nebula in Vulcan is going to be a problem until I can get supply into the system, and the radiation field doubles my population increase costs. Luckily Hera is about as good as Zeus, and I plan on (finally) colonizing that system once I have enough money saved up against after a wave of (undocumented) infrastructure upgrades that I've made at the end of year 2185. Here's to hoping that my scouts can find better systems in the future.
  • An Industry upgrade at Zeus increased my supply range and put Argus within my supply range, so I'm losing money from the pirates in that system now. I'll have to build up a military force to dispatch to the system to try and take those guys out. I am tempted to use intel points to sabotage the pirates there instead of sending ships, but I'll probably just send the Sparta down to take care of them.
  • I am a little concerned that facilities may be taking longer to build than they should. Ten turns is a long time to wait for something to complete, but I guess that's appropriate considering what they represent, and I wouldn't want an empire to replace those kinds of things too quickly.
I'll fill in and flesh out the last few entries once I get some time to jump back in and do some more testing. I have until the last turn of 2185 played out and it just need converted from notes form. Specifically, the Laconia moved against the pirates... and was beaten up pretty bad because it rolled the worst possible detection result and got jumped on by the pirates. It defeated the pirate's Arrow equivalent, but was nearly crippled in the exchange. Sigh.
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Re: The Road to 2E: Playtest Campaigns

Post by Tyrel Lohr »

Image

In a Seas of Stars: The Taiping Union
Since the Olympus campaign got side tracked by subsequent VBAM rules development, I've decided to start a new solo playtest campaign and will be documenting its events here this weekend. I'll be updating this thread as I go, posting reports of the campaign's progress as things happen -- kind of live blogging experience in a way, as I'm just going to post things in about 10 turn snippets as I go to keep things rolling.

The name of this empire comes from the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. I used it in a carrier warfare test earlier this week as a placeholder and just decided to run with it here.

Image

The Taiping Union starts in the home system is Tianjing. It is a Very High importance system with 12 Carrying Capacity, 6 RAW, and 6 Biosphere. The TL 5 colony in the system has the following statistics: 7 Census, 9 Morale 9, 6 Economy, 6 Industry, 5 Agriculture, 5 Research, 3 Intel. There is a shipyard facility in the system that I purchased with the Union's starting points (50 EP of 200 EP total available).

For player reference, I started with a 10 Carrying Capacity, 5 RAW, 5 Biosphere system and applied three special traits to the system. I also reconfigured that table slightly to make strategic resources less common. I kept getting an inordinate number of strategic resources on my latest system rolls, and Tianjing originally ended up having 2 Strategic Resources -- which would have really thrown off game balance in this campaign! After the adjustment I re-rolled and got the above results. The size of the starting colony was similarly randomly generated, using a 6 Census core world as a starting point and applying special traits.

The Taiping Union has the following starting unit designs on its force list:

Mekong-class heavy carrier
TL 5 Starship, C$ 20, M$ 12
DV 10, AS 3, PD 5, CR 10, CC 4
FTL 1, Carrier 6

Lhasa-class light carrier
TL 5 Starship, C$ 10, M$ 6
DV 6, AS 1, PD 2, CR 5, CC 2
FTL 1, Carrier 3

Tian-class destroyer
TL 5 Starship, C$ 5, M$ 3
DV 2, AS 3, PD 2, CR 3, CC 1
FTL 1, Fast 2

Sejong-class heavy fighter
TL 5 Flight, C$ 3, M$ 2
DV 2, AS 2, PD 2, CR 2, CC 1

Viet-class light fighter
TL 5 Flight, C$ 1, M$ 1
DV 1, AS 1, PD 2, CR 1, CC 1

Bikal-I ground brigade
TL 6 Ground, C$ 10, M$ 6
DV 4, AS 4, PD 4, CR 5, CC 2
Carrier 2

My actual starting armed forces look like this at the start of the game:

Dragon Fleet @ Tianjing (26 CC)
1 x Mekong CVF (6 x Sejong HF)
2 x Lhasa CVL (6 x Viet LF)
6 x Tian DD

Water Fleet @ Tianjing (3 CC)
3 x Tian DD

Seeker Fleet 1 @ Tianjing (1 CC)
1 x Tian DD

Seeker Fleet 2 @ Tianjing (1 CC)
1 x Tian DD

Seeker Fleet 3 @ Tianjing (1 CC)
1 x Tian DD

Taiping Defense Force @ Tianjing (6 CC)
3 x Bikal-I troops (6 x Viet LF) - RESERVE

* * *
The current economic situation in Tianjing is as follows. The system has a system income value of 36 EP (6 Economy x 6 RAW). I've changed the rules back so that empires do earn commerce income from their own systems again, using system income instead of a separate commerce value just to keep things simple. This means that we also earn 4 EP of commerce income from our home system.

The reason why I reversed course on this is that I was finding that players had little reason to invest in Economy against outside of high RAW worlds unless they had some trading partners around to make extending commerce ranges worthwhile. Allowing a small trickle of interstellar trade from your own systems at least gives you a reason to put some extra investment in even if a system isn't very good. I eliminated the separate economic capacity, too, because it ended up being a lonely derived statistic that was only used for one thing. It just seemed easier on the player to reduce the amount of values they had to balance each turn.

Our total income is therefore 40 EP per turn. The cost to maintain our fleets, armies, and shipyard is 11 EP per turn. This leaves us with 29 EP each turn to apply towards new expenditures.

On the agriculture front, our home system produces 30 food per turn, and our 7 Census eats 21 food per turn. This leaves us earning 9 PP per turn. That's also enough extra food to support 3 Census in other systems. We can still increase our Agriculture value twice at our home system to increase our food supply and allow us to expand even further.

That should be enough setup. On to the game!
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Re: The Road to 2E: Playtest Campaigns

Post by Tyrel Lohr »

In a Sea of Stars: Y2153, Turn 1

The Taiping Union starts the turn with 29 economic points, 9 population points, 5 tech points, and 3 tech points. With these limited resources we must forge an empire that can stand the test of time.

The economic points could be spent to start laying down some additional warships, and I am strongly tempted to do so. Starting construction on a new Mekong-class fleet carrier is especially attractive because they take 10 turns to build and tie up a large amount of industrial capacity (20 IC) while under construction. Tianjing currently has 6 Industry x 7 Census = 42 IC available and could actually sustain construction of two Mekongs at once, but this would more or less max out the system's industrial capabilities for a significant length of time.

I'm going to be cautious and instead bank all 29 EP and save up instead for an Economy increase. It'll cost us 70 EP to increase Tianjing's Economy to 7, or about three turns worth of income at current levels. After that Economy upgrade we will have reached the system's maximum utilized Economy value and be making an extra 6 EP per turn.

I should probably spend some money to upgrade Intel and purchase some tech and intel points, but I'm going to wait. That'll put us behind the tech curve a bit, but a few turns of miss investment won't hurt us that bad. We have to have 70 TP to earn a tech advance right now, and that value will increase with the size of our population. Our 5 Research allows us to buy at most 5 TP per turn, so at present it would take us 14 turns to purchase a new tech advance. We would have to increase our Research value to 7 in Tianjing and spend 7 EP a turn on tech to be able to maximize our research and get a tech advance every year.

While we wait on all that, I'm directing our three Seeker squadrons to start exploring the jump lanes that connect to Tianjing. Each of these squadrons contains a single Tian destroyer. These units don't have the Scout ability that would give them a bonus to these rolls, but they are the cheapest units we have so we're using them. I debated starting the game with an expensive explorer ship but ultimately decided I would be better off starting with an expensive carrier instead.

Our turn orders for the first turn direct the Seekers to each explore a different jump lane -- and that's it for the turn! Time to generate:

Seeker Fleet #1: 7 - no effect.
Seeker Fleet #2: 7 - no effect.
Seeker Fleet #3: 2 - In Peril - Systems Failure (Tian takes 2 damage)

A very inauspicious start to our exploration program!

Piracy: Tianjing (+7 Census, +1 Facility, -1 Capital, -38 CC Friendly Fleets): 8 - no effect
Morale: Tianjing (+7 Census, +1 Facility, -1 Capital, -6 CC Friendly Troops): 5 - no effect

As you might infer from the modifiers listed above, Tianjing is fortified enough that it can only experience pirate attacks or morale loss as the result of a natural '1' on a D20 roll.

Taiping Union: +29 EP, +9 PP

# # #

In a Sea of Stars: Y2153, Turn 2

Taiping Union: 58 EP, 18 PP, 5 TP, 3 IP

Our first turn didn't get us off to the best start we could have hoped for. Our Tian destroyer in Seeker 3 is now crippled and is going to have to be brought back home for repairs. Luckily we can cycle one of the Tians out of the Water Fleet to fill in for it in the interim. We'll also keep banking the rest of our economic points.

Taiping Union Turn Orders:
Transfer 1 Tian from Water Fleet to Seeker 3
Transfer 1 Tian (2/4) from Seeker 3 to Water Fleet
Repair 1 Tian in Water Fleet (3 EP, 2 turns)

Seeker Fleet #1: 2 - In Peril - Out of Supply (Tian takes 1 damage)
Seeker Fleet #2: 8 - no effect.
Seeker Fleet #3: 4 - In Peril - Exploration Force Lost (Seeker 3 Destroyed)

Piracy: Tianjing (+7 Census, +1 Facility, -1 Capital, -37 CC Friendly Fleets): 5 - no effect
Morale: Tianjing (+7 Census, +1 Facility, -1 Capital, -6 CC Friendly Troops): 12 - no effect
Construction: 1 Tian under repair at Tianjing (5/42 IC in use)

Ouch. This turn wasn't kind to us at all. We lost a Tian outright and another was damaged. Seeker 3 is just cursed! We can replace those losses, but I really didn't want to build new ships until after the Economy upgrade.
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Re: The Road to 2E: Playtest Campaigns

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In a Sea of Stars: Y2153, Turn 3

Taiping Union: 87 EP, 27 PP, 5 TP, 3 IP

Our first turn didn't get us off to the best start we could have hoped for. Our Tian destroyer in Seeker 3 is now crippled and is going to have to be brought back home for repairs. Luckily we can cycle one of the Tians out of the Water Fleet to fill in for it in the interim. We'll also keep banking the rest of our economic points.

Taiping Union Turn Orders:
7 Economy @ Tianjing (70 EP)
Create Seeker 3 using 1 Tian from Water Fleet
Transfer 1 Tian from Water Fleet to Seeker #1
Transfer 1 Tian (1/4) from Seeker #1 to Water Fleet
Seeker #1 explores JL 2, Seeker #2 explores JL 4, Seeker #3 explores JL 5
Repair 1 Tian (1/4) in Water Fleet (2 EP, 1 turn)
Purchase 3 x Tian @ Tianjing (15 EP)

Colony:
7 Economy @ Tianjing. System income is now 42 EP per turn.

Exploration:
Seeker Fleet #1: 7 - no effect.
Seeker Fleet #2: 12 - Jump Lane Explored - Moves to Xuiqing
Seeker Fleet #3: 10 - Partial Success - +1 to future attempts

Image

Xuiqing
K7 V Orange Single Star System
5 Carrying Capacity, 1 RAW, 3 Biosphere, 5 Jump Lanes

Piracy:
Tianjing (+7 Census, +1 Facility, -1 Capital, -37 CC Friendly Fleets): 17 - no effect
Xuiqing (+0 Census, +0 Facility, -1 CC Friendly Fleets): 15 - no effect

Morale:
Tianjing (+7 Census, +1 Facility, -1 Capital, -6 CC Friendly Troops): 15 - no effect

Construction:
3 Tian under construction, 2 Tian complete repairs at Tianjing (25/42 IC in use)

Economic:
Tianjing Union: 42 system income + 5 commerce income - 11 maintenance = +36 EP
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Re: The Road to 2E: In a Sea of Stars - Taipang Union

Post by Tyrel Lohr »

In a Sea of Stars: Y2153, Turn 4

Taiping Union: 36 EP, 36 PP, 5 TP, 3 IP

Last turn saw our first successful exploration attempt as Seeker #2 moved into the Xuiqing system. That system could prove to be quite strategically located, but it really isn't very useful for anything other than subsistence agricultural development. We've extended supply into this system and it is now officially part of our sphere of influence. Luckily we didn't find any other powers poking around in the system, otherwise we would have had a good chance of having a neighbor sitting on our door step.

Here's the disposition of our forces at the start of this turn:

Dragon Fleet @ Tianjing (26 CC)
1 x Mekong CVF (6 x Sejong HF)
2 x Lhasa CVL (6 x Viet LF)
6 x Tian DD

Water Fleet @ Tianjing (3 CC)
3 x Tian DD
2 x Tian DD (under construction)

Seeker Fleet 1 @ Tianjing (1 CC)
1 x Tian DD

Seeker Fleet 2 @ Xuiqing (1 CC)
1 x Tian DD

Seeker Fleet 3 @ Tianjing (1 CC)
1 x Tian DD

Taiping Defense Force @ Tianjing (6 CC)
3 x Bikal-I troops (6 x Viet LF) - RESERVE

Now that we've upgraded our Economy in Tianjing we can figure out how we're going to spend the rest of our economic points. I could save up to buy some other infrastructure, but right now I'm tempted to use the points to build up our carrier forces and start purchasing tech points so that we might eventually be able to start prototyping some more advanced units (or refitting existing units to the new standard, even if that is a bit less efficient than prototyping entirely new unit classes).

Taiping Union Turn Orders:
5 Tech @ Tianjing (5 EP)
Seeker #1 explores Tianjing JL 2, Seeker #2 explores Xuiqing JL 6, Seeker #3 explores Tianjing JL 5
Purchase 2 x Lhasa @ Tianjing (20 EP)

Exploration:
Seeker Fleet #1: 7 - no effect.
Seeker Fleet #2: 7 - no effect.
Seeker Fleet #3: 6 +1 = 7 - no effect

Piracy:
Tianjing (+7 Census, +1 Facility, -1 Capital, -41 CC Friendly Fleets): 9 - no effect
Xuiqing (+0 Census, +0 Facility, -1 CC Friendly Fleets): 4 - no effect

Morale:
Tianjing (+7 Census, +1 Facility, -1 Capital, -6 CC Friendly Troops): 18 - no effect

Construction:
2 Lhasa under construction, 3 Tian complete construction at Tianjing (35/42 IC in use)

Economic:
Taipang Union: 42 system income + 5 commerce income - 13 maintenance = +34 EP

# # #

In a Sea of Stars: Y2153, Turn 5

Taiping Union: 45 EP, 45 PP, 10 TP, 3 IP

We have two Lhasa carriers under construction at Tianjing. They take five turns to build but, after they're completed, they'll end up serving as the core of our outer system patrol fleets. A Lhasa, fighters, plus a few Tians should be enough to dissuade enemy attacks or carry out anti-piracy operations. Once I get TL 6 I'll probably prototype a new 2 EP fighter (the biggest a Lhasa can hold according to the new carrier rules) so that I can cram as much firepower as possible into the carriers.

Taiping Union Turn Orders:
5 Tech @ Tianjing (5 EP)
Seeker #1 explores Tianjing JL 2, Seeker #2 explores Xuiqing JL 6, Seeker #3 explores Tianjing JL 5
Purchase 2 x Lhasa @ Tianjing (20 EP)

Exploration:
Seeker Fleet #1: 11 - Partial Success - +1 to future attempts
Seeker Fleet #2: 9 - Partial Success - +1 to future attempts
Seeker Fleet #3: 4 +1 = 5 - no effect

Piracy:
Tianjing (+7 Census, +1 Facility, -1 Capital, -41 CC Friendly Fleets): 3 - no effect
Xuiqing (+0 Census, +0 Facility, -1 CC Friendly Fleets): 4 - no effect

Morale:
Tianjing (+7 Census, +1 Facility, -1 Capital, -6 CC Friendly Troops): 19 - no effect

Construction:
2 Lhasa under construction (1/5), 2 Lhasa under construction (2/5) at Tianjing (40/42 IC in use)

Economic:
Taipang Union: 42 system income + 5 commerce income - 14 maintenance = +33 EP

Taiping Union: 53 EP, 54 PP, 15 TP, 3 IP
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Re: The Road to 2E: In a Sea of Stars - Taipang Union

Post by Tyrel Lohr »

In a Sea of Stars: Y2153, Turn 6

Taiping Union: 53 EP, 54 PP, 15 TP, 3 IP

Research continues this turn. We can't start building any flights for our Lhasa CVLs until we free up some industrial capacity at Tianjing, so that'll have to wait. We are in a position that we could colonize Xuiqing, however. We have the economic points available to do it this turn if we wanted to. Building a colony in that system would help us out in the long term and let us start building the system up. It means less tech points this turn, but better to get it started now.

Taiping Union Turn Orders:
Colonize Xuiqing (50 EP)
3 Tech @ Tianjing (3 EP)
Seeker #1 explores Tianjing JL 2, Seeker #2 explores Xuiqing JL 6, Seeker #3 explores Tianjing JL 5

Exploration:
Seeker Fleet #1: 12 + 1 = 13 - Exploration Success - Moves to Suzhou
Seeker Fleet #2: 7 + 1 = 8 - no effect.
Seeker Fleet #3: 6 + 1 = 7 - no effect.

Image

Suzhou
F5 V White Single Star System
6 Carrying Capacity, 5 RAW, 1 Biosphere, 5 Jump Lanes

Piracy:
Tianjing (+7 Census, +1 Facility, -1 Capital, -41 CC Friendly Fleets): 10 - no effect
Xuiqing (+0 Census, +0 Facility, -1 CC Friendly Fleets): 17 - no effect
Suzhou (+0 Census, +0 Facility, -1 CC Friendly Fleets): 3 - no effect

Morale:
Tianjing (+7 Census, +1 Facility, -1 Capital, -6 CC Friendly Troops): 19 - no effect
Xuiqing (+0 Census): 11 - no effect

Construction:
2 Lhasa under construction (2/5), 2 Lhasa under construction (3/5) at Tianjing (40/42 IC in use)

Economic:
Taipang Union: 42 system income + 5 commerce income - 14 maintenance = +33 EP

# # #

In a Sea of Stars: Y2153, Turn 7

Taiping Union: 33 EP, 63 PP, 18 TP, 3 IP

It never fails, you colonize a system only to have your scouts finally find a new one! Seeker #1 is now in Suzhou and will continue to explore that system. Like Xuiqing, Suzhou has five jump lanes connecting to it. This makes it a potentially strategic location, depending on what's in all of the systems that those links connect to. The high RAW value in Suzhou makes it extremely attractive as a future colonization target as its almost as mineral rich as Tianjing itself. For now I'm going to concentrate on getting Xuiqing up and running first, though, then we'll save up and colonize Suzhou.

A component of this strategy is that I want to wait until AFTER I have my Lhasa carriers ready for deployment. I really would like to station two light carriers in each of those systems with enough destroyer escorts to fill out their Command Ratings. In other words, 2 x Lhasa CVL + 3 x Tian DD minimum in each system. Having more ships would be good in case I get caught off guard, but I'll take what I can get.

Taiping Union Turn Orders:
Population Increase @ Xuiqing (10 PP)
1 Agriculture @ Xuiqing (10 EP)
5 Tech @ Tianjing (5 EP)
Seeker #1 explores Suzhou JL 3, Seeker #2 explores Xuiqing JL 6, Seeker #3 explores Tianjing JL 5

Exploration:
Seeker Fleet #1: 7 - no effect.
Seeker Fleet #2: 6 + 1 = 7 - no effect.
Seeker Fleet #3: 4 + 1 = 5 - no effect.

Piracy:
Tianjing (+7 Census, +1 Facility, -1 Capital, -41 CC Friendly Fleets): 7 - no effect
Xuiqing (+0 Census, +0 Facility, -1 CC Friendly Fleets): 1 - Pirate Force (11 EP)
Suzhou (+0 Census, +0 Facility, -1 CC Friendly Fleets): 5 - no effect

CRAP. A pirate force containing a single pirate Lhasa CVL and a flight of Viet light fighters appears in Xuiqing. That's just what I need at this point.

Encounters:
Xuiqing: The Xuiqing Pirates roll Normal Detection and the Taipang Union roll Limited Detection. The pirates contribute 2 intensity, the Taiping Union contributes none. The pirate force demands a Normal Interception against the Union's Tian DD (Seeker #2) in the system. The destroyer refuses the scenario and begins retreating from the system, en route back to Tianjing. The pirates choose to allow the Union to run as they have no reason to pursue them; better to stay in Xuiqing and raid commerce for money.

Morale:
Tianjing (+7 Census, +1 Facility, -1 Capital, -6 CC Friendly Troops): 19 - no effect
Xuiqing (+1 Census): 8 - no effect

Construction:
2 Lhasa under construction (3/5), 2 Lhasa under construction (4/5) at Tianjing (40/42 IC in use)

Economic:
Taipang Union: 42 system income + 5 commerce income - 14 maintenance - 2 commerce raiding = +31 EP
Xuiqing Pirates: 2 commerce raiding - 1 maintenance = +1 EP

# # #

In a Sea of Stars: Y2153, Turn 8

Taiping Union: 49 EP, 53 PP, 23 TP, 3 IP
Xuiqing Pirates: 1 EP

We've got a pirate problem. Seeker Fleet #2 is currently in Xuiqing, but its forced retreat from the system is forcing it to move to Tianjing this turn. It doesn't have a choice, it has to move. The Union navy needs to respond to this threat in a decisive fashion, and to that end we are going to combine elements of the Dragon and Water Fleets to form a new fleet - the Jade Fleet - that will move to Xuiqing and eliminate the pirate threat. Here's all of our fleets after the reorganization:

Dragon Fleet @ Tianjing (16 CC)
1 x Mekong CVF (6 x Sejong HF)
6 x Tian DD

Water Fleet @ Tianjing (2 CC)
2 x Tian DD

Jade Fleet @ Tianjing (19 CC)
2 x Lhasa CVL (6 x Viet LF)
3 x Tian DD

Seeker Fleet 1 @ Suzhou (1 CC)
1 x Tian DD

Seeker Fleet 2 @ Xuiqing (1 CC) => Moving back to Tianjing this turn
1 x Tian DD

Seeker Fleet 3 @ Tianjing (1 CC)
1 x Tian DD

We'll be sending Jade Fleet over to Xuiqing to finish off the pirates. Dragon Fleet will absorb the two of the new Lhasa CVL into its ranks to reinforce itself after this reorganization.

The improvements to Xuiqing went through last turn because it wasn't contested until the Piracy Phase of the turn, so there's currently 1 Census, 2 Morale, and 1 Agriculture in the system. We can't purchase any other population or infrastructure increases this turn because the system is being contested by the pirate forces. Future improvements to the system will just have to wait.

Tech investment will continue this turn, and I think I'm going to save up the rest of our money to think about expanding the Industry at Tianjing to increase the system's industrial capacity so that we can build more things in the system at a time. Right now the 4 x Lhasa CVL are maxing out our production. We have just enough capacity to build 2 x Viet LF there this turn. This provides the two Lhasa that will be finished this turn with at least a pair of fighters that they can base.

Taiping Union Turn Orders:
2 Viet LF @ Tianjing (2 EP)
5 Tech @ Tianjing (5 EP)
Jade Fleet moves to Xuiqing
Seeker #1 explores Suzhou JL 3, Seeker #3 explores Tianjing JL 5
Seeker #2 moves to Tianjing

Exploration:
Seeker Fleet #1: 4 - In Peril - Out of Supply (1 damage)
Seeker Fleet #3: 11 + 1 = 12 - Exploration Success - Moves to Anhui

Image

Anhui
D VII White Dwarf (Low Value)
4 Carrying Capacity, 3 RAW, 3 Biosphere, 2 Jump Lanes

Piracy:
Tianjing (+7 Census, +1 Facility, -1 Capital, -19 CC Friendly Fleets): 3 - no effect
Xuiqing (+0 Census, +0 Facility, -19 CC Friendly Fleets): 5 - no effect
Suzhou (+0 Census, +0 Facility, -1 CC Friendly Fleets): 17 - no effect
Anhui (+0 Census, +0 Facility, -1 CC Friendly Fleets): 1 - Pirate Force (8 EP)

Another pirate force! Gah! Luckily this isn't as big, but it's still pretty big. I have to create a new pirate unit, basically a cheap Tian, to fill this gap. But that's just what we needed.

Encounters:
Xuiqing: The Xuiqing Pirates roll Normal Detection and the Taipang Union roll Significant Detection. The pirates contribute 0/2 intensity, the Taiping Union contributes 2/2. Both forces are tied for Command Rating, but the Taiping Union wins the tie breaker because they have the larger force by Command Cost. The Union demands a Normal Interception against the pirates, and the pirates can't refuse (a special condition of being pirates).

Pirate Action in Xuiqing
Scenario Length: 2, Command Cost: +2
Taiping Union [Bad - 1 Advantage, -1 to rolls first round]: 2 x Lhasa CVL (6 Viet LF), 3 x Tian DD
Xuiqing Pirates [Superb - 4 Advantages, +2 to rolls first round]: 1 x Lhasa CVL (1 Viet LF)

The two factions take turns spending advantages, starting with the pirates. The pirates spend their first advantage on Surprise Attack, giving the Taipang an additional -1 to all rolls on the first combat round. The Taiping Union then uses theirs to increase the scenario length by 1 (they want to eliminate the pirates and feel they are in a good position to do so after the first round. The pirates then spend their remaining three advantages on Maximum Firepower, giving them a cumulative +5 to their rolls on the first round.

Round One:
The Taiping Union launches [D6-2] 1 x 6 Carrier / 10 = 1 CC of flights. 1 Viet launches. The pirates launch [D6+5] 9 x 3 Carrier / 10 = 3 CC of flights. They only have 1 Viet flight, and it launches.

Point defenses activate. The Taiping PD fails to activate. Pirates receive [D6+5] 10 x 4 Point Defense / 10 = 4 PD. These points are used to give the pirate carrier a +2 FL bonus (now FL 3). It could have fired on the enemy fighter, but it wanted to save its carrier.

Weapons fire. The Taiping score [D6-2] 2 x 12 Attack Strength / 10 = 2 hits against the pirate carrier, scoring 1 damage. The pirates score [D6+6] 12 x 2 Attack Strength / 10 = 2 hits against the Union fleet, crippling a Tian DD (2/4).

Round Two:
The Taiping Union launches [D6] 1 x 6 Carrier / 10 = 1 CC of flights. Another 1 Viet launches, bringing its total active flights to 2 Viet LF.

Point Defense: Taiping fleet generates [D6] 3 x 14 Point Defense / 10 = 4 PD. 2 PD destroys the enemy Viet, and the remaining 2 PD provides the crippled Tian with +2 FL. The pirates generate [D6] 3 x 4 Point Defense / 10 = 1 PD. It cripples an enemy Viet.

Weapons fire: Taiping scores [D6] 6 x 10 Attack Strength / 10 = 6 hits against the pirate carrier. The pirate Lhasa CVL is at FL 1, so this scores 6 damage against the carrier (7/12). The pirate flight is destroyed, leaving it with just [D6] 5 x 1 Attack Strength = 1 hit against the Union fleet. This scores 1 damage against another Tian DD (1/4).

Round Three:
Taiping launches [D6] 5 x 6 Carrier / 10 = 3 CC of flights. A total of 5 Viet are now launched.

Point Defense / Weapons Fire: The battle is more or less decided at this point. The pirate Lhasa can't hope to produce enough Point Defense fire to protect itself, nor can it do more than 1 damage against the Union forces. The pirates do manage to cripple the Tian DD they damaged last turn (2/4). In return, the Union scores [D6] 1 x 15 / 10 = 2 hits to the pirate Lhasa, scoring 2 damage (9/12).

End of Battle:
The pirate Lhasa is still intact, but is crippled having taken 9 damage of a possible 12. In return the Taiping Union has crippled two Tian DD and a Viet LF. This battle has interrupted the Xuiqing Pirate's commerce raiding activities this turn. Next turn they will be eliminated completely.

Anhui: The pirates have two modified Tian DD in the system. The Anhui Pirates roll Limited Detection, the Taiping Union rolls Normal Detection. Seeker #3 is going to retreat from the system regardless, and these are pirates so they won't pursue as it isn't in their best interests (they just want to raid the system). No combat.

Morale:
Tianjing (+7 Census, +1 Facility, -1 Capital, -6 CC Friendly Troops): 7- no effect
Xuiqing (+1 Census): 20 - +1 Morale

Construction:
2 Lhasa under construction (4/5), 2 Lhasa under construction (5/5), and 2 Viet LF (1/1) at Tianjing (42/42 IC in use)

Economic:
Taipang Union: 42 system income + 5 commerce income - 14 maintenance - 1 commerce raiding = +32 EP
Xuiqing Pirates: 0 commerce raiding - 1 maintenance = -1 EP
Anhui Pirates: 1 commerce raiding - 1 maintenance = +0 EP
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Re: The Road to 2E: In a Sea of Stars - Taipang Union

Post by Tyrel Lohr »

Okay, after eight turns we have reached a point where we have colonized a system, fought some pirates, and explored three star systems. We're making good progress, and with a bit of extra investment I should be able to shore up security in the adjacent systems and get ready for another wave of exploration and expansion out of the Xuiqing and Suzhou systems. The Xuiqing pirates are almost history (and would have been destroyed if they hadn't ambushed us!), and it should be relatively easy to wipe out the Anhui pirates. It looks like I'll want to station about 3 Tian DD in each of these systems as a defense in case pirates return in the future. Three destroyers per system will end up costing the Union 1 EP per turn in each defended system, but that's pretty reasonable considering the amount of economic points we continue to bring in every turn.

On the first turn of the next year I think I'm going to drop in a second player empire in a nearby system to give Taiping an adversary to contend with as they continue to expand. Any particular strategy, personality, or military doctrine that readers would like to see from this new power?
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Re: The Road to 2E: In a Sea of Stars - Taipang Union

Post by Iron Sky »

So in a regular solo game, would the player decide when to add rivals or would it be randomly determined?

I would say it would be best if there was something like a % chance of a new empire activating each turn (maybe 1% per turn, increasing by 1% each turn? 1% first turn, 2% second, etc?) Maybe have it activate in a random linked system that hasn't been explored yet? That would also give more incentive to explore so a new empire is less likely to activate right on your doorstep.

If it's tied to exploration, than it would make sense to not explore until your home system is pretty much maxed out to avoid "awakening" a rival. As a player, I'd rather it be randomly activating to make the game less predictable instead of "I guess I'll activate an empire now".
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Re: The Road to 2E: In a Sea of Stars - Taipang Union

Post by Tyrel Lohr »

Iron Sky wrote:So in a regular solo game, would the player decide when to add rivals or would it be randomly determined?
There's a few options for this. The best is usually to start the campaign with 2-3 player empires so that they can evenly expand during the early game. I opted not to do this here just to give the game a bit of a jump start and make sure I could get into the groove before it became an issue.

Another thing that has been done in the past is to have new empires enter as the result of random events. Essentially, each random event roll would give you a 1-5% chance of a new empire appearing. I think the roll in previous games was something like 96+ as New Empire or CM's Choice, so that the player/CM could choose if it was appropriate for another empire to appear or if they wanted to have some other effect take place.
I would say it would be best if there was something like a % chance of a new empire activating each turn (maybe 1% per turn, increasing by 1% each turn? 1% first turn, 2% second, etc?) Maybe have it activate in a random linked system that hasn't been explored yet? That would also give more incentive to explore so a new empire is less likely to activate right on your doorstep.
A progressive check every turn like this would be a good optional rule. +1% per campaign year, with a roll each turn to see if a new interstellar empire appears.
If it's tied to exploration, than it would make sense to not explore until your home system is pretty much maxed out to avoid "awakening" a rival. As a player, I'd rather it be randomly activating to make the game less predictable instead of "I guess I'll activate an empire now".
Empires have a chance of discovering new empires as the result of exploration, and that's how most new powers enter play in my campaigns. You're right that players could just sit and develop systems one at a time until they finally found something, which is a boring but currently acceptable method of play. But I enjoy the exploration element and haven't run into the problem before. I do like your solution to the issue, though, and will try to get it added into the Campaign Guide.
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Re: The Road to 2E: In a Sea of Stars - Taipang Union

Post by Tyrel Lohr »

In a Sea of Stars: Y2153, Turn 9

Taiping Union: 71 EP*, 62 PP, 28 TP, 3 IP
Xuiqing Pirates: 0 EP
Anhui Pirates: 0 EP

* I realized that I hadn't updated the maintenance expense since the last pair of Lhasa went into construction. I'm adjusting their economic pool to try and cover this. I'm still too used to not charging maintenance until after a unit is completed instead of starting on the turn it is built. Sigh.

Here's the Taiping Union fleet at the start of the turn:

Dragon Fleet @ Tianjing (22 CC)
1 x Mekong CVF (6 x Sejong HF)
2 x Lhasa CVL (2 x Viet LF)
6 x Tian DD

Water Fleet @ Tianjing (2 CC)
2 x Tian DD

Jade Fleet @ Xuiqing (19 CC)
2 x Lhasa CVL (6 x Viet LF [1 x 1/2])
3 x Tian DD [2 x 2/4]

Seeker Fleet 1 @ Suzhou (1 CC)
1 x Tian DD [1/4]

Seeker Fleet 2 @ Tianjing (1 CC)
1 x Tian DD

Seeker Fleet 3 @ Anhui(1 CC) (moving to Tianjing this turn)
1 x Tian DD

I have several options for what to do, but right now I think I'm going to have Taiping concentrate on filling out its carriers with new fighters and getting the last two new light carriers online. Then I should be able to dispatch ships to Anhui to counter the pirates there. The pirates in Xuiqing should be eliminated this turn, and then I'll be able to get back to exploration and expansion.

I am going to colonize Suzhou this turn just so that I can get started spending my accumulated population points to start building up its population a bit more. Then I'll have to concentrate on increasing Agriculture at Tianjing before I'll be able to support a larger population.

Taiping Union Turn Orders:
Colonize Suzhou (50 EP)
8 Viet LF @ Tianjing (8 EP)
5 Tech @ Tianjing (5 EP)
Seeker #1 explores Suzhou JL 3
Seeker #2 moves to Suzhou
Seeker #3 moves to Tianjing

Exploration:
Seeker Fleet #1: 3 - In Peril - Out of Supply (1 damage)
Ironsky Activation Roll (1%): 02% (GAH!) :shock:

Piracy:
Tianjing (+7 Census, +1 Facility, -1 Capital, -26 CC Friendly Fleets): 19 - no effect
Xuiqing (+0 Census, +0 Facility, -19 CC Friendly Fleets): 17 - no effect
Suzhou (+0 Census, +0 Facility, -1 CC Friendly Fleets): 17 - no effect
Anhui (+0 Census, +0 Facility, -0 CC Friendly Fleets): 20 - no effect

Encounters:
Xuiqing: The Xuiqing Pirates roll No Detection and the Taipang Union roll No Detection. Neither side has detected the other. No combat. That was unexpected.

Morale:
Tianjing (+7 Census, +1 Facility, -1 Capital, -6 CC Friendly Troops): 6 - no effect
Xuiqing (+1 Census): 8 - no effect
Suzhou (+0 Census): 7 - no effect

Construction:
2 Lhasa under construction (5/5) and 8 Viet (1/1) at Tianjing (28/42 IC in use)

Economic:
Taipang Union: 42 system income + 5 commerce income - 18 maintenance - 1 commerce raiding = +28 EP
Xuiqing Pirates: 0 commerce raiding - 1 maintenance = -1 EP; negative point pool, one unit out of supply this turn (pirate Lhasa at 10/12 damage)
Anhui Pirates: 1 commerce raiding - 1 maintenance = +0 EP

# # #

In a Sea of Stars: Y2153, Turn 10

Taiping Union: 36 EP, 71 PP, 33 TP, 3 IP
Xuiqing Pirates: 0 EP
Anhui Pirates: 0 EP

Taiping Union Fleet:

Dragon Fleet @ Tianjing (34 CC)
1 x Mekong CVF (6 x Sejong HF)
4 x Lhasa CVL (10 x Viet LF)
6 x Tian DD

Water Fleet @ Tianjing (2 CC)
2 x Tian DD

Jade Fleet @ Xuiqing (19 CC)
2 x Lhasa CVL (6 x Viet LF [1 x 1/2])
3 x Tian DD [2 x 2/4]

Seeker Fleet 1 @ Suzhou (1 CC)
1 x Tian DD [2/4]

Seeker Fleet 2 @ Suzhou (1 CC)
1 x Tian DD

Seeker Fleet 3 @ Tianjing (1 CC)
1 x Tian DD

I'm creating a new fleet called Tiger Fleet from the new construction units that I included in Dragon Fleet this turn. This new fleet will head to Anhui to deal with the pirates there. Once that's done, I'll start exploring the unexplored Anhui/Xuiqing lane so that I can get those systems linked together. I'm also spending EP to build an additional 4 Tian DD at Tianjing so that I can start expanding my presence in other nearby systems.

Taiping Union Turn Orders:
Population Increase @ Suzhou (10 PP)
1 Economy @ Suzhou (10 EP)
5 Tech @ Tianjing (5 EP)
4 Tian DD @ Tianjing (20 EP)
Create Tiger Fleet from Dragon Fleet (2 x Lhasa, 6 x Viet, 2 x Tian)
Move Tiger Fleet to Anhui
Seeker #1 explores Suzhou JL 3
Seeker #2 explores Suzhou JL 2

Exploration:
Seeker Fleet #1: 6 - no effect
Seeker Fleet #2: 7 - no effect
Ironsky Activation Roll (1%): 64% - no effect

Piracy:
Tianjing (+7 Census, +1 Facility, -1 Capital, -23 CC Friendly Fleets): 13 - no effect
Xuiqing (+0 Census, +0 Facility, -19 CC Friendly Fleets): 8 - no effect
Suzhou (+1 Census, +0 Facility, -1 CC Friendly Fleets): 12 - no effect
Anhui (+0 Census, +0 Facility, -12 CC Friendly Fleets): 1 - Pirate Force (+7 EP)

I am adding 1 x Tian DD to the pirate forces in the Anhui system for 5 EP and upgrading the other 2 x Pirate Tian in the system to full-fledged Tians to use the other 2 EP.

Encounters:
Xuiqing: The Xuiqing Pirates roll Normal Detection and the Taipang Union roll Limited Detection. The pirates provide 0/1 intensity, the Union 1/2. They still win initiative thanks to their larger force, and they generate a Minor Interception (6 rounds). Both task forces start at Bad Readiness. The Taipang starts with 3 Advantages (+1 Interception, +1 Enemy in Bad Readiness, +1 from Fast units - forgot that last one in the previous battle) and the pirates start with 1 Advantage (+1 Enemy in Bad Readiness). Taipang uses 1 Advantage for Maximum Firepower (+1 to rolls on the first round, counteracting the Bad start) and 2 Advantages for Emergency Repairs (repairs both damaged Tians). The pirates use Emergency Repairs to repair 2 damage on their carrier (now at 8/12 damage).

Round One:
Taiping Union launches 4 Viet flights. Pirate point defense is ineffective, but they do score 1 damage against a Union Tian DD. Union scores 3 damage to enemy carrier (11/12 damage)

Round Two:
Taiping Union launches 2 Viet flights (all 6 now launched). Pirate point defense again misses, but it does one more damage to the injured Tian (2/4). Union scores 3 damage to the pirate carrier, destroying it.

Anhui: The Anhui pirates roll Normal Detection and the Taipang Union rolls Significant Detection. Pirates contribute 0/1 intensity, Taipang contributes 1/2 intensity. Taipang wins initiative based on its task forces' superior Command Rating. A Minor Interception (2 rounds) is generated. Both forces start at Normal Readiness. Taipang Union has 2 Advantages (2 x Maximum Firepower), Pirates at 1 Advantage (-1 Scenario Length).

Round One:
Taipang launches 4 Viet flights. Anhui pirates generate 4 PD, increase their formations by +1 each and score 1 damage to an enemy Viet. Taipang generates 11 PD; both carriers get +2 FL, +2 FL to Tian#1, +1 FL to Tian#2. With their Fast rating, those two Tian DD are now at FL 4 and FL 3, respectively.

Weapons fire: Anhui pirates score 3 hits against enemy task force, scoring 1 damage to Tian#2. Taipang scores 6 hits against pirates. This scores 1 damage against two different Tians.

The battle was incredibly indecisive. The pirates are lightly damaged, and it was about an even fight all things considered. The Taipang Union is really lacking a heavy hitting combat unit with enough AS to damage enemy ships. Their fleet is built for large pitched fleet battles, not hunting down pirates. They really need more destroyers, a dedicated fighter bomber, and a true cruiser capable of putting out massive amounts of firepower.

Morale:
Tianjing (+7 Census, +1 Facility, -1 Capital, -6 CC Friendly Troops): 8 - no effect
Xuiqing (+1 Census): 1 - -1 Morale
Suzhou (+1 Census): 5 - no effect

Construction:
4 Tian (1/3) at Tianjing (20/42 IC in use)

Economic:
Taipang Union: 47 system income + 5 commerce income - 20 maintenance = +32 EP
Anhui Pirates: 0 commerce raiding - 1 maintenance = -1 EP (1 unit out of supply)

Ending Point Pools for 2153:
Taiping Union: 33 EP, 67 PP, 38 TP, 3 IP
Anhui Pirates: 0 EP

# # #

I'm sure I've made some math errors along the way (know I did for several turns with maintenance), but you should be picking up the gist of things and how they progressed through that first year of activity in the solo campaign. Our empire is growing at a decent pace, though the pirate attacks have slows us down a bit. Here's the map after Turn 10:

Image

Xuiqing and Suzhou are the Union's two links to the outside galaxy. This gives it a very good defensive position. It can establish major colonies in these two systems and fortify them against enemy attack. That way they can fall back to either defensive linchpin in case they run into another empire that they don't feel comfortable attacking directly.

I'm tempted to develop Xuiqing in preference to Suzhou in the near term simply because Xuiqing has enough Biosphere to at least break even on food production. Its RAW value is miserable so I probably wouldn't want to develop Economy infrastructure there, but I could build up some Research and Intel facilities there and maybe even some Industry to use the system as a base for unit construction and repair. I can put at most 5 Census and 5 Industry there, giving me a max IC of 25 (barring the construction of orbital factories, which would raise it to 35 IC). If Xuiqing had 25 IC that would be enough to handle the simultaneously construction of five escorts like the Tian-class. It could also handle a pair of light cruiser/carrier hulls. Not bad.

Suzhou on the other hand is going to be an excellent mining system, thanks to its high 5 RAW, but its 1 Biosphere is more problematic. It's not so much of a problem now because Tianjing can produce enough food to feed everyone in Suzhou for the foreseeable future, but it would have troubles meeting its food requirement if we put anywhere close to Suzhou's max population in the system.

Anhui is an interesting case because it's middle of the road. It can just barely cover its own food costs and has 3 RAW, which is average but still not bad. It's a "safe" system, too, because an enemy would have to break through Suzhou or Xuiqing to get there. There's nothing exciting of Anhui, though, and you usually hope that a protected system like that is going to be, well, a bit more useful.

Future exploration is going to press coreward towards the systems that have a chance of creating a short series of jumps between Suzhou and Xuiqing. The long route rimward is probably going to be left unexplored for the moment, or at least given less active interest, simply because it would be a minimum of five jumps around that way via a shortest possible route, which may or may not exist. The coreward frontier promises the potential of a three jump route between our two colonies.

It is also important to point out that our home system's commerce and supply range is 2. That means we can travel at most this distance from Tianjing before we'll run out of supply or won't be able to establish trade routes to colonies that are farther out than that. The results of our next wave of exploration will determine which of these next systems is the best candidate for a supply depot. A supply depot provides +1 supply range with a minimum supply range of 2 in the system it is built. That makes that useful at home systems but more useful on the frontier. Starports offer the same bonus but for commerce ranges instead of supply ranges.

I look forward to more comments and questions. I have other work I have to do tomorrow, but I hope to knock out a few more turns and incorporate some more playtest notes into the working draft.
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Re: The Road to 2E: In a Sea of Stars - Taipang Union

Post by Tyrel Lohr »

In a Sea of Stars: Y2154, Turn 1

Turn 11 starts a new campaign year. I've set up a file sharepoint for the playtest campaign that I'll be uploading files to to make keeping track of things easier on everyone. After Second Edition is finally done, as a personal project I plan on going back through the old 1E campaigns and trying to index as many of them as I can to the vbamcampaigns.com site.

As we are starting a new year, our Iron Sky empire activation target increases to 2% per turn. But I'm also going ahead and introducing a second player empire to our campaign just to liven things up a bit. The Welsh Star League is that new empire!

Image

Welsh Star League - Force List
Welsh Star League - Initial Turn File

Here's a view of the map with the Welsh Star League added:

Image

I chose to put Caerdydd up in that region to keep them from being in direct contact with the Taiping Union for at least the short term. That position puts several systems between the Star League and Union, and both can expand a bit further without running into any major resistance or competition. They're still fairly close, but I don't think that's a huge problem.

Now, to turn our eye towards the Welsh home system of Caerdydd. The only non-random elements in the system's generation are that I chose to give the Welsh a yellow main sequence star in a single star system to maximize the system's chance of sustaining life. And boy does it. Caerdydd has 8 Carrying Capacity, 3 RAW, 4 Biosphere, 4 Jump Lanes, and a Agriculture Resource as a special. This resource doubles the system's utilized Agriculture value. This puts the Welsh Star League in an excellent position to rapidly develop new colonies and sustain colonies in systems that would otherwise be untenable due to food being such a precious resource. The colony in Caerdydd has 7 Census, 9 Morale, 7 Economy, 5 Industry, 4 Agriculture, 4 Research, and 4 Intel.

The low RAW in Caerdydd did pose a challenge when trying to decide how to allocate the League's starting points. They start with (21 System Income + 3 Commerce Income) x 5 = 120 EP. This really isn't enough to afford a Shipyard in their home system, so I decided to just have the Welsh Star League concentrate on Atmospheric starships right now. They are less effective overall because they lose their Command Cost bonus when calculating mass (and pay a maintenance penalty besides), but they can be built in systems that lack Shipyards. You can check out the Star League's force list in the PDF above to see what types of designs I built using their 5 unit class "slots" they were afforded based on their initial utilized Industry.

I decided to give the Welsh a dedicated light scout cruiser that is capable of getting a +1 Exploration bonus when operating in pairs. That should give them a leg up in the exploration race and allow them to expand a bit further if they're lucky. I also gave them a light assault cruiser and a ground force small enough to be carried aboard it. Should the WSL run into any primitive life forms they'll be prepared for a quick ground invasion!

Caerdydd's biggest problem is one of system loyalty. Caerdydd's loyalty check target is 1 + 7 Census - 5 Troops = 3. That's a 15% chance per turn of losing Morale. My first priority is to build some more Mawr Falk brigades to police the system and get that chance down to the minimum of 5%.

I still have to convert the Taiping Union over to the newly-updated turn file format and correct some other errors (realized there was a miscalc on my maintenance spreadsheet after I created the mod-Tian raider frigate) before I can proceed, but I went ahead and generated Turn 2154.01 for the WSL. The result: Sojourner Fleet #1 ended up in peril and one of the Manawydan-class light scout cruisers was crippled as a result. Ouch. That's par for the course, but I was really hoping for a better showing.

That's all for this weekend. Expect some more updates throughout the week as I finish adjusting some rules and convert the Taiping Union over to the new file format.
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Tyrel Lohr
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Re: The Road to 2E: In a Sea of Stars - Taipang Union

Post by Tyrel Lohr »

In a Sea of Stars: Y2154, Turn 1 (Update)

I spent most of my time this weekend working on rules revisions and accounting, but I did manage to get the Taiping Union moved over into a Word document so that I can keep playing and testing. I generated 2154.01 for Taiping to get them caught up with the Welsh Star League, with the following results:

Seeker Fleet #1 rolls a '2' for its exploration roll and ended up in peril, putting it out of supply for another turn. The Tian destroyer in that fleet now has 3 damage and is going to have to head back home for repairs.

The anti-piracy campaign in Anhui didn't go well. We had a minor interception in the system again that lasted 2 rounds. The Union scored a total of 3 damage between two of the three pirate Tian DD, but in return the Union lost 2 Viet LF, damaged a third, and lost one of its own Tian DD. Another Union destroyer also took a point of damage.

The continued hardships in Anhui have me wondering if I've gimped carriers a bit too much, but I'm not going to commit to any additional carrier warfare changes until I've had a chance to see how they pan out in larger fleet operations. The Tian-class destroyer does have good AS to begin with, and being Fast also gives them an advantage.

I have tweaked the Fast ability based on further testing so that units that use Fast value to purchase extra Advantages during scenario setup don't get their formation level bonuses during the battle. This balances out the ability a bit more fairly and makes the Advantage bonus more situational.


The continued pirates problem in Union system has made the people in Tianjing restless, and the system lost 1 Morale this turn.

========================

The two empires are now synched back up and I'll be able to keep them moving at a decent clip from here on out as I test out some other rules changes.
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Re: The Road to 2E: In a Sea of Stars - Taiping Union

Post by Tyrel Lohr »

In a Sea of Stars: Y2154, Turn 2

Taiping Union: Five Tian DD from the Dragon Fleet in Tianjing were dispatched to Anhui to join Tiger Fleet and try to stamp out the pirates in the system. The reinforcement were largely successful, managing to destroy two of the enemy destroyers and leaving the third damaged. Another turn of anti-piracy operations should be sufficient to finish pacifying the system.

Economic investment at the colonies saw Agriculture increased to 2 at Xuiqing and Research to 1 at Suzhou. A population increase was also purchased in Xuiqing that brings it to 2 Census. This population increase completely increases the Union's food cost to 30, but the Agriculture increase at the colony this turn balances it out. The investment in Suzhou made the population happy, and their Morale increased by 1 (loyalty check result). 5 tech points and 3 intel points were purchased.

Seeker #1 has moved back to Tianjing and will undergo repairs next turn. Seeker #3 has moved from Tianjing to Suzhou and will begin exploring next turn, essentially taking over for Seeker #1 while it's under repair. Seeker #2 did manage to get a +1 to future rolls against jump lane #2 in Suzhou.

Welsh Star League: Life is far less interesting for the Welsh. Sojourner #1 rolled a partial exploration success and gains a +1 bonus to future rolls against JL 3 in Caedydd (I really should have just called it Cardiff and been done with it... Welsh spelling is as frustrating as the Chinese when you're not used to it!).

The Star League purchased 4 tech points and 4 intel points this turn. Construction has also begun on another 3 Mawr Falk ground forces to help patrol Caedydd and counter the system's large population.

# # #

In a Sea of Stars: Y2154, Turn 3

Taiping Union: Rather than risk damage to more of my military forces, I dispatched covert operatives to raid the pirate fleet and eliminate them as a threat. The Union paid 5 intel points to purchase a 1 difficulty Sabotage: Fleet mission into Anhui. The mission had 3 offensive intel assigned to it from Tianjing and with a range of 1 had a modified difficulty of 2, giving me a 3/2 = 150% chance of success. I rolled a 98% -- definitely not good, but also not the 100% automatic failure, either (but it was close!). The pirates lose 1 CC of ships, which is coincidentally just enough to destroy their last ship in the system. Woo hoo!

Seeker #3 rolled a partial success while exploring Suzhou FL 3. That's at least some progress, but it's slow progress.

4 Tian DD have been completed at Tianjing. I'm going to need to use these to patrol Anhui while Tiger Fleet moves back to Tianjing to undergo repairs. Right now the industrial capacity at Tianjing is still pretty cramped, largely because I started work on that second Mekong fleet carrier. It's going to be awhile.

Welsh Star League: Caerdydd has received word that one of the Manawydan CLX in Sojourner #2 has suffered a systems malfunction very similar to the one suffered in Sojourner #1 a few months ago. The ships will continue to explore for now, but many engineers are starting to wonder if there's something wrong with ships' FTL drives...

Morale in Caerdydd dropped by 1 this turn to 8. This is part of the reason I'm building more ground forces in the system: to help keep the people happier by making them feel more secure. I also noticed that I mixed up the numbers when I entered the Welsh home system's stats onto the turn sheet. Sigh. I have that fixed now, too.
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