Arms Race - Aurora 4x Edition
100 years into the future, mankind is travelling the stars. The discovery of the trans-newtonian elements on earth have given mankind an interesting opportunity to expand across the galaxy and explore the stars. The major nations of earth have formed the UHF (United Human Federation), in hopes of putting down conflict and allowing mankind to be able to succeed as one united race. Engineering companies across the globe raced to secure grants with the UHF, and eventually, in 2040, the first cargo ships began transporting automated mines and infrastructure to Mars to prepare it for future colonists. In 2055, the first colonists set foot upon the red planet, and mankind had officially became a space-faring race. The success of the colony mission led mankind to rejoice in their union, and strengthened the bond between all cultures and peoples.
For once, there was peace.
Then the UHF rapidly declined. In 2065, the first jump ships shot starships flying across the void through wormholes into a star system 4500 ly away from Sol. The whole world was watching as the scout ship, escorted by two Prosperity-class frigates, as well as a detachment of two tankers, advanced towards a world with a thermal signature hovering in orbit. The result was tragedy. All 5 ships were destroyed in quick succession. All the brave UHF servicemen (and women) perished in their lifepods, with a rescue mission impossible from the UHF fleet on the other side of the wormhole, as the UHF's only two tankers were destroyed in the alien system. Humanity was torn. Two political parties rapidly grew into power, the National Party, led by the radical but famous UHF Admiral Percy Hazelip, which opposed all alien life and was extremely xenophobic, and the Peace Party, led by famous reform leader Karin Godditz. In 2066 things reached their climax as Admiral Hazelip staged a dramatic coup and took over the UHF Council, reinstating himself as the Supreme Commander. Supreme Commander Hazelip renamed the UHF to the UHE (United Human Empire) and began to radically build up the naval and ground forces, and began to provoke militancy among the people of Earth. He replaced the UHE's blue and yellow livery with that of menacing red and black, and redesigned all the uniforms to look more evil and menacing than ever.
Those on Mars, however, did not fare so well. The UHE ignored Mars, and its military forces began to terrorize and oppress the Martian people, and squeezed the prosperous mining colony of every ton of ore that it could possibly wrap its hands around.
The people of Mars stood up however, and soon a rebellion was born. The revolution was bloody, but the atrocities that followed on behalf of the UHE only fueled the Martians' anger even more. Soon the UHE's hold on Mars was released, and the NMC (New Mars Conglomerate) was born. They built themselves up more than ever, free of the mismanagement of the UHE, and soon they were a force to be reckoned with. Sensing the danger, and knowing the Martian people wanted peace, the UHE proposed a peace treaty, which the NMC happily agreed to.
But the Martian people are not stupid, and they know the UHE only plan to strike again, to gain their precious supply of ores and materials back, before their dwindling supply on Earth runs out... (enjoy my lore which is based loosely on an actual campaign I have on Aurora and is a bastardized mix of Red Faction and Planetside)
The GameArms Race - Aurora 4x, is based off of the popular Arms Race series of games, and revolves around the game Aurora 4x. Aurora 4x is a space 4x game described as "dwarf fortress in space", with its graphics being lovingly referred to as "having all the charm of an 80s tax software". Nevertheless it is an amazing game that gives the player so much freedom to micromanage and build their empire, as well as providing amazing RP potential due to the lack of any notable graphics other than the UI, which uses circles and lines to represent planets, missiles, ships, lifepods, and everything else.
The game will be ran in turns of about 1 week each, pending small changes in duration as my schedule can accommodate. Each turn will last 8 in-game years and which will be ran at the end of the week, before the next turn begins.
Each turn will consist of a a "proposal phase" lasting about as long as meaningful debate continues, and a "voting phase" where players will vote on the various proposals. The proposal with the highest amount of votes will be selected. There will be multiple categories of policy that players can include in their proposal. This can range from one specific category, to a grand master plan covering all areas of policy. The voting will be by category, not proposal, so if UristMcAwesome makes a plan that covers everything, and UristMcMini makes a plan that just covers military doctrine, there will be two votes, one for the main plan (assuming nobody makes conflicting proposals) and a separate vote for the specific proposal made by UristMcMini. Example: McAwesome's plan goes through, but UristMcMini's plan goes through as well. All of McAwesome's plan will be included in the next turn, except for military doctrine, which will be covered by McMini. It seems complicated but it will make more sense in practice. Anyone can create or remove their own proposals at anytime, and a proposal can have any sort of range.
I will conduct all the actual "interfacing" with the game and report snippets and what not of events back to the appropriate threads. I will, of course, cover battles with much more detail as they are a more interesting aspect of the game.
This thread will serve as a general interest thread, as well as the OOC thread when the game begins. Two other threads will be created when the game starts for each faction.
Players who are interested in joining must specify their faction (Either UHE or NMC), as well as a general experience level in the game, ranging from 1 - 10, with 1 being "I've never heard of this game until now." and 10 being "I've bitchslapped the Invaders all the way back to their home nebula". You don't need to have any experience with Aurora to join, and you shouldn't be discouraged either if you don't, as there'll be me and hopefully some other experienced players on each team to help assist with things. The purpose of this experience indicator is to that I can balance an even number of experienced players on each team to help lead and guide them.
For those of you who are new and would like to learn Aurora or at the very least know what is going on, the Aurora wiki is here:
http://aurorawiki.pentarch.org/index.php?title=Main_Page|here. I will be able to provide basic information in the game, and correct you if you're SUPER wrong, but for conflict-of-interest purposes, I will not be able to advise you on tactics and design choice
.
I want to start with at least 5 players on each team, but don't want any more than probably around 10-15. The teams don't have to be super-balanced but there shouldn't be a spread of more than around 3. As with all Arms Race games there is an honor code to abide by, so no looking at the other teams's thread, and if you late-join (which I don't know if I'll be accepting yet), you must promise you have not yet looked at any of the other team's thread.
Turns will not follow a strict 1 week schedule and may be longer if I'm not able to post a turn exactly on schedule, or if the team agrees as a majority to give others time to respond. Turns may also be shorter if I decide that waiting longer may put me in a situation where I am not able to update in a timely fashion. Turns need not follow a strict propose-vote structure and players may pre-vote if they like to speed up the process. Additionally at least 50% of a team's players must vote on a proposal for it to be considered valid.
Policy CategoriesResearch and DevelopmentTechnologyThe proposer may specify any areas of research to be focused on for the next 8 years. The proposal can range from anything to a general branch to focus on, such as missiles or engines, or a certain technology or technologies to be researched in succession if possible.
Ship DesignThe proposer may specify a certain class of vessel to be designed by our engineers for the next 8 years. At the start of next turn, 3 designs will be made that follow the specifications of the proposal, and the entire team may vote on which to implement.
Military DoctrineFleet DoctrineThe proposer may specify a structure for our fleets to use. This can range from a vague (x number of ships in each fleet, x number of fleets), to an ultra-specific plan that must be followed to the letter. Fleet command will attempt to follow the plan the best it can during the next 8 years. Fleet doctrine also includes armaments and ordnance loadouts to use for missile ships. Note that Doctrine also covers non-military ships.
Fleet TacticsThe proposer may specify the tactics our fleets use in battle for the next 8 years, ranging from a vague (x ships hold back while x ships charge forward) to an ultraspecific plan that incorporates exact distances, fire control setups, fire patterns, shield usage, speed, heading, etc, and any amount of conditional orders to follow while in battle. Fleet command will attempt to follow the specified tactics for the next 8 years to the best of their ability during combat.
Fleet OrdersThe proposer may specify orders for fleets to follow for the next 8 years. It is asked such proposals either specify a date for the order to be carried out, or ASAP or some sort of conditional to follow. Orders can range from a vague "attack this" to much more specific sets of orders with conditionals. Note that Orders also include non-military ships.
Ground ForcesThe proposer may specify orders for ground forces to use during combat, as well as specify organization of ground units. This will be rarely used as ground combat is very rare.
Industry and Economy(It is advised you not mess with the industry and economy of your faction unless you know what you are doing!)Construction Orders / Mineral ManagementThe proposer may specify construction orders and mineral management orders to be used over the next 8 years. Construction orders may be placed in a queue format to follow if orders are finished early. Mineral management orders may specify whether or not to use mass drivers to transport minerals, minimum stockpiles to meet, CMCs to buy production from, etc.
Shipyards/Ground Forces TrainingThe proposer may specify a plan for Shipyards and Ground Forces Training to be used for the next 8 years. These plans will be followed to the best of the ability of our civil managers. Note that plans will respect the established mineral management reserve limits if applicable, like all construction orders. (Shipyard and GFTF construction fall under Construction Orders)
EconomyThe proposer may specify whatever miscellaneous plans they can come with for the economy here. Things such as whether or not to subsidize transport companies can be specified here.
Foreign RelationsA separate diplomatic thread will be created that both factions will be able to use to talk to each other ICly. The proposer may specify diplomatic treaties to be proposed to the other faction here. A diplomatic proposal must have at least one sponsor from each faction before it enters voting, whereupon it must have a majority vote in both factions to be ratified. Transactions involving material assets will be processed immediately, but long term agreements such as 20-year long cease-fires or a "neither of us colonize this planet" type things are under no obligation to be respected by either party. Conduct diplomacy with caution.
You shouldn't feel overwhelmed or obligated to fulfill all of these categories in a proposal, and you should not worry if some don't get filled over the course of the turn. Those that are left open will be managed by me, putting you in pretty good hands
. As a general rule if you don't have much experience in the game, try to stick to military doctrine, and avoid economic and industrial decisions until you have more experience. If you're new also don't (or feel obligated to) make very specific orders, it'll be fine if your proposal isn't a wall of text, but a meek "attack this, run if x, build these ships".
For experienced Aurora players, the settings will be with NPRs enabled, a maximum of 30 systems, star swarm and precursors, but no Invaders. (I don't want both factions getting rekt super-hard by the intergalactic boogaloo.)
UHE:
http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=159341.0NMC:
http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=159342.0
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