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Please post descriptively, and "dwarf" us insofar as the game allows

8 (42.1%)

Let us agree on major decisions, but you take care of the little details

8 (42.1%)

Let us make even minor decisions, I wish I had this game for myself

3 (15.8%)

Total Members Voted: 19

[ivanthe8th]

Hello,

I've never done any of the "lets play together" games in this forum before. But I'm open to starting one if there is interest!

Star Trek: TNG BOTF is an older game I've had for years. It's a bit of a mini 4x game, with relatively simple gameplay. Games can easily last hundreds of turns, but don't take long to do.

I'd be happy to do one of two styles of lets-play. Either an "I'll play and share with the community" style or a "community makes decisions and I execute" style. If people request the latter, I'll probably limit involvement to "big" decisions like who to go to war with, what type of fleet to build, and so forth and post every 5 turns or so. The game is complex enough without nitpicking over every detail, and it would be tedious to get feedback for each turn.

So anyway, what do you think? Let me know and I'll begin the game in a few days.

[ivanthe8th]

I'm also open to playing a gametype that suits the needs of the forum. Here are the map parameters for when I make a new game. If you're interested in participating please vote for the kind of game you'd like in addition to the main poll above.

Galaxy size: [small, medium, large]
Galaxy shape: [irregular, elliptical, ring, spiral] Elliptical is closest to a "normal" distribution - more in center of map
Starting tech level: [1,2,3,5,8] Tech 5 and 8 provide us with additional starting systems in addition to infrastructure. You can customize tech for each starting empire, but for the sake of fairness we'll set all empires at the same level
Number of minor races: [none, few, some, many] Large galaxies with many minors top out at about 30
Difficulty: [simple, easy, normal, hard, impossible] I'm used to playing on normal.
Random events: [yes, no] I typically play with them off, they're almost always negative and generally a pain. But it's up to the community.

Finally, vote on the empire we will be playing:
Federation: Diverse fleet, good research and diplomacy, bad intelligence wing and average buildings
Ferengi: Cheap ships, can trade with anyone barring open war, good diplomacy, bad race-specific buildings
Romulans: All military ships cloak, good intelligence division, can build ships without dilithium (with research), bad diplomacy and average buildings
Cardassians: Average ships, good intelligence division, many buildings to keep conquered systems in line, bad diplomacy and mediocre buildings
Klingons: Good ships, 2 classes can cloak, good diplomacy with like-minded minor races, bad otherwise. Easy to keep happy if you're winning, average buildings.

Minor races interact with each empire differently, warlike races get along with Klingons while peaceful ones prefer the Federation. Personally I find Federation to be the easiest, Cardassians hardest.

Also note I will be playing vanilla BOTF. I am aware of community mods but I don't have any.

[mcclay]

Medium
Ring
1
many
normal
yes
Fedration

[Sirus]

Galaxy size: Large
Galaxy shape: Elliptical
Starting tech level: 1
Number of minor races: Some
Random events: Yes
Empire: The Federation

And I'm voting for the dwarfing option, I've never seen this game before.

[Jarod Cain]

Galaxy size: Large
Galaxy shape: Spiral
Starting tech level: 1
Number of minor races: Many
Random events: Yes
Difficulty: Normal
Empire: The Federation

Also because I'm a demanding jerk I vote for a council setup similar to what Sirius did with his GalCiv II LP.
-J-

[Sirus]

...
Also because I'm a demanding jerk I vote for a council setup similar to what Sirius did with his GalCiv II LP.
-J-

Now there's a blast from the past. I'm kinda surprised anyone remembers it

[Jarod Cain]

Yeah, I read through it all a couple of weeks ago. Almost started one of my own using a similar setup, still kind of considering it or maybe KoDP, but either way not going to until I at least have working internet at home.
-J-

[NRDL]

ROMULANS!!!

[ivanthe8th]

In terms of a council setup, I think that will depend heavily on how well the community follows the thread and how often I post.

For a little context, unless I've got a stupidly large empire (over 30 systems) I can usually get a single turn done in 10 minutes or less. That includes obsessive micromanagement and optimization. The game is very stripped down and simplistic for a 4x-style game. I'll better explain how things work in a day or two in my "intro" post.

Just keep in mind that the more involved you choose to be the slower the game will progress, and the more active the thread will have to be to keep it from grinding to a halt. For additional context, I have regularly encountered my first major empire 50 or 60 turns into the game, for large galaxies. So you all may consider something closer to "consult us every 5 turns" just to keep the ball rolling.

Since it seems Federation's winning, +1 to the Feds.

But it would be really awesome if we could go alternate universe Evil Federation. 

This game uses a simplistic morale system, kind of like in DF. Do things your people like, and they get more productive. Do things they hate, and first you lose industrial output, then the system revolts. Playing an "evil Federation" is basically the same as killing yourself because they're such sissies.

The empire that is most friendly to wild mood swings in the overseer would be the Romulans. They celebrate when you declare peace, declare war, and most things in between. As long as we're winning battles they won't complain. Just food for thought.

[NRDL]

I'll change my vote then.

[MonkeyHead]

PeeTeeEff.

Klingons, large galaxy, low tech start, lots of minors. I say agressive imperialism for the win...

[ivanthe8th]

I'm glad to see there's a little interest. Just for everyone's knowledge I'll begin putting together the appropriate screenshots for a "first post" in about 12 hours. The game will begin in a day or so. I think I'll make a new thread for it, so be on the lookout.

Also two comments about the feedback so far.
1) Please don't think I want to push you guys in one direction or another in terms of decision-making. I'm getting the feeling that none of you are familiar with this particular game. So my long-ish post about councils and empire choice was primarily intended to explain what works regarding playstyle and posting frequency, rather than to prompt anyone to change their minds about anything.

2) One of those votes in the poll is mine. And if I take it out we've got a tie as of this writing. As it stands, I'll go for option 2 in case of a tie or a close margin between options 1 and 2 to accommodate those who picked option 3. Posting merely to say that it's a bit of a split decision right now and I'll have to pick something if we don't get a strong preference one way or the other.

[RedKing]

I'll say Ferengi. Minor races can be rather potent in BotF, especially the ones that give you empire-wide bonuses like the Caldonians, Trill and Vulcans. Conquest is messy because it takes a LOT of time and effort for a conquered population to raise their opinion of you.

Diplomacy takes longer but is easier in the long run. But diplomacy takes money. And nobody knows money like our big-eared Space Jews.

[ivanthe8th]

I'm gathering screenshots now for a post later.

It looks like the predominant whim of the community is:

Large galaxy
Undecided shape, so I'm going with Elliptical. This is basically "scatter the systems about, with more in the middle"
Starting tech 1
Many minor races
Random events on

And I'm getting the most support for the Federation. This means we'll need to be heavy on diplomacy and research to win. We can fight other empires if they declare war on us, but we can't declare first. More to come in the main thread.

Also I've come up with a community-involvement method that should make almost everyone happy.
Does anyone have suggestions for a good image-hosting service?

[ivanthe8th]

Posting to practice the screenshots a bit. Just a teaser of the research screen.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)