Earth-Based, Politics Oriented Campaign?

[logan400k]

Generally, if someone managed to get the African states all headed in the same direction AND found a way to control the HIV epidemic, then they could be a powerful bloc to contend with.

[MarkG88]

Generally, if someone managed to get the African states all headed in the same direction AND found a way to control the HIV epidemic, then they could be a powerful bloc to contend with.

I agree about Africa. Same goes for corruption and so forth in South America, get either of those continents organized and they have large population base and vast resources to exploit.

Tyrel, awesome game idea I'm looking forward to my first "massively multiplayer VBAM game" hehe.

-Mark

[Rainer]

Perhaps but it just seems wrong for me to let them be bigger than Japan + Korea for example.

[MarkG88]

Perhaps but it just seems wrong for me to let them be bigger than Japan + Korea for example.

Depends on how far in the "near future" this game take place too. Japan is going to suffer from serious population shortage (aging population and less than 2 kids per couple typically) while Korea will have massive economic rebuilding effort to get the former North Korea up to "acceptable" living standards. When the two Germanies reunited after the Cold War, it was much more expensive and socially "painful" then originally anticipated.

Also you have have economies of scale working here too, Korea + Japan is rather limited in size and resources overall vs. the "continental" sized nation blocs.

Regardless, overpopulated China and India will be looking to expand and colonize in the solar system post haste which seems realistic too.

[MarkG88]

I know it's early going here but I was curious on some things.....

Will permanent veto in UN be abolished?

Will every nation have equal votes in UN or will it be based on census, or both (like US with Senate getting 2 per state, House based on population)?

Any pre-existing alliances, trade treaties etc?

[Tyrel Lohr]

Well, I seem to have a little problem--I don't know much of the North African nations--what their customs are, etc, so I'm not going to be entirely true to character.

So do I have Western Africa (like Nigeria, Benin) or is it purely nations with a coastline on the Med?

Your territories encompass mostly northern Africa. If you draw a straight line across Africa interstecting with Ethiopia's northern border, the African nations above that line are part of the League. Somalia is also part of the League, and is the further south you go.

Nigera and Benin should be part of the African Union, I believe. The main dividing line for the two nations is largely religious. The northern states are predominantly Muslim, while the south are a bit more mixed.

[Tyrel Lohr]

Any reason why Unasur is so strong economically? The same applies to the African powers.

I took the GDP numbers from Wikipedia and dumped them into a spreadsheet and then ran calculations to determine the stats. I do have to admit to cludging Africa, in part to make them playable. Given current GDP, the combined states of Africa should only have 5 Productivity split between them.

I do see, though, the problem -- that the two African states have the same output as China. I may have to drop them down a notch, then, to help balance that out. Would dropping them down to Productivity 4 each be fair?

I also have a question regarding the overpopulation rules in the CC. Do you really want to make a morale check against 2 for India and China EVERY turn? I somehow doubt that that will be good for game balance.

What, you don't want riots and disaster from the get go? It may be best in those cases to drop the Census to be equal to Capacity, and then make overpopulation pressures be a potential issue on the next year.

[Tyrel Lohr]

I agree about Africa. Same goes for corruption and so forth in South America, get either of those continents organized and they have large population base and vast resources to exploit.

The GDP of South America is really pretty high, all things considered. Admittedly, it is supposed to be lower than Japan, but trying to fit Japan into the VBAM mold is difficult. I am wondering there if it wouldn't be better to have some sort of "efficiency bonus" that would allow an extra Productivity to be utilized? That would about equalize Japan for its size. Then again, if we were using Menagerie traits they may simply have a more efficient economy or have enough trade bonuses to vastly increase its trade income.

The GDP of Africa isn't that great, and as mentioned I did have to cludge a bit to make them a bit better. I can see possibly tweaking their Productivity down just a bit to at least let some of the other nations have a momentary advantage before they increase their Productivity.

[Tyrel Lohr]

Will permanent veto in UN be abolished?

Yes, the Security Council will be reworked so as to be something useful without being the deadlock it is currently. Expect a few nations to have permanent seats, along with a few rotating assignments. IIRC, the one major advantage of the Security Council is that its resolutions are binding, where I don't think those of the General Assembly are.

Will every nation have equal votes in UN or will it be based on census, or both (like US with Senate getting 2 per state, House based on population)?

I think have a Census-based vote in the General Assembly makes sense, as each Census more or less can represent some component nation in a power's sphere of influence that is voting with them. For the larger economic blocs, it is just the individual nations that comprise it. It isn't a perfect solution, but it should make the General Assembly fairly interesting.

Any pre-existing alliances, trade treaties etc?

That I will leave up to the players. Each empire will receive a trade fleet to use to trade at Earth at the beginning of the game, and I think the first turn file you receive will be essentially a "pre-game" turn that will let you establish what you are doing prior to the first UN election cycle. That will give everyone a turn of politicking to get ready for the first real turn of backstabbing to begin.

[logan400k]

I would be fine with a reduced Productivity as Africa is not heavily industrialized. I would suggest however, something be given to take into account that fact that to even in their current positions the Africas would have to have solved their health and land management issues? Perhaps a step up in Terraforming and or Biotech? Just a thought.

I can certainly understand that maybe the Prod was too high and either way will still happily play the African bloc.

[Rainer]

What, you don't want riots and disaster from the get go? It may be best in those cases to drop the Census to be equal to Capacity, and then make overpopulation pressures be a potential issue on the next year.

You can leave them in if you want to. I am willing to solve the overpopulation issue - one way or another.

[Rainer]

I can certainly understand that maybe the Prod was too high and either way will still happily play the African bloc.

I agree that the Africans should get perhaps some tech advance instead if their productivity is reduced. I certainly don't want to let any power become unplayable (although the neutrals are a borderline case).

[Leo_Vs_Aidan]

I took the GDP numbers from Wikipedia and dumped them into a spreadsheet and then ran calculations to determine the stats. I do have to admit to cludging Africa, in part to make them playable. Given current GDP, the combined states of Africa should only have 5 Productivity split between them.

I would like to look at your spread sheet. I am interested to see how it works.

Also why did you give NAC to Iron Knight.
Now there is no way to annex Canada.

[jygro]

Though I ended up with a pretty full house, I could use you as an underworld empire type agency, Bren! We have to have someone to help control the raiders and the like

Like I said, I'd love to be a fly on the wall for this game to see how you handle all the workload. It seems to be the easiest plan for the game.

-Bren

[MarkG88]

Greetings comrades,

Anyone interested in forming a pre-turn trading bloc etc with the Russian Federation, feel free to contact me here on forum or at email below:

mxgman88@yahoo.com

Assuming this is ok by Tyrel of course.

-Mark