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[Tyrant Leviathan]

Hello all. I wanted d to make a Warhammer40K/Sci fi themed arms race deal that is player vs npc. In which the community plays a commander vs threats to empire. Instead of the 40K Empire though, you will get to pick what sort of empire you fight for and officer/company notes. But your starting tech and units are pre made and pre selected with good ole dice.

BUT instead of a tech tree in which pre made things are for grabs, it's a honest to God Arms race in you the community get to make the rest of it up and have fun at being creative.

There are up to 7 enemies. I rolled enemy die. It got a one. So only one, so far. If it picks up and people like it, other npcs will show up. And some show up via event or even by choice of you guys, the players.

Rules:

First is mission statement made by GM, up to three missions to divide efforts into to securing the Empire.

Second is design phase. Inventing for current phase. Your company archivist who has access to Imperial files can offer insight into a previous design. Though your boss may make suggestions sometimes.

Also Revise anything on your gear or just made to work out the bugs.

Third is  tactics phase. Where you use tactics points to aid in upcoming battles. Roll for results. Get third pre made plans, get to make up a fourth. This section is like a SG deal with A, B, C and option D is your own idea. Command points used here and consequences will happen. In deciding what gear and how to use it.

Fourth is battle phase. Prayer and die rolls here as everything mashes up. It also depends which tactics were picked to tip the scales.




Player creation stuff:

Commander name:

Company name:

Empire type: (Pick 1)
A: Your Side are the Good Empire/Republic/Etc of Humanity and keeping it from threats foreign and domestic.

Pro: People love you. Starting out. Also if not at war, can deploy "diplomacy" with the more reasonable aliens. (If they are rolled that is.)

Con: Too many known ethics scandals or "bad guy" deals leads to Rebel Enemy generation.


B: The Empire is in the middle of growing outwards and need strong leadership to make use of it. Can you achieve glory?

Pro: Empire cares not for Atrocities, so turn a blind eye. Also can still wheel and "deal" with foreign threats.

Con: Resource split as everyone is expanding

C: The Empire you serve are flat out evil and must be served to keep it going, by crushing the rebels, burn the alien, and keep order going.

Pro: The Empire with most resources/units available.

Con: The Rebels are guaranteed to show up. And got to enslave/genocide all enemies.

D: The Empire is in decline and your just a loyal officer trying to hold back the tide.

Pro: Maximum allowance of starting tech from start as your at wits end.

Con: Good luck keeping it together.

E: It is more of a Imperial Cult in which big guy does not rule but church does.

Pro: People care not for how you fight the war. They are ignorant. Start with all religion units.

Con: Lots of infighting and internal conflict will whittle you down.

F: A secular order that is trying to claim back dominance.

Pro: You are truly the commander. Maximum command points as their is no high command. It's you and fellow commanders. Pretty much warlords at this point.

Con: That's a lot to cover. Aside aliens and rolled "independent planets" you have to back track to find humanities lost worlds. Earth is included.

Commander Mindset: pick one from below.
Sanguine: Very high spirits and think your army is invincible. Kill the enemy, let the blood flow.

Pro: Army under service gets relentless. As they do not know to stop except when enemy is dead.
Due to training this way. Are good at the attack.
Con: They suffer resource flaw as they constantly demand troops to fill in the ranks. (High morality rate, as they are hesitate to withdraw.)

Stoic: This officer speaks a few, strong words. Action speaks louder than words.
Pro: Whatever you do actually order will get done. Your men have been taught that way.
Con: Command rating is down due to lack of commands given.

Maverick: You are an upstart who has thrown away the rule book and play by your standard. The soldiers love you for it as you value their lives, command, not so much.
Pro: Morale, and bonus tactic points on tactics phase.
Con: Less resources/fend for yourself. As command hates you.

Pious: You are a devote commander to the faith and drill it into the minds and souls of those under you.
Pro: Bonus with such troops (Tribals, Pilgrims, Templar  and Monks.)
Con: Mentats and Scholars do not like it as much.

Watchful: Super caution and by the books. You do not just rush into a fight.
Pro: Less likely to fall into enemy traps.
Con: Less command points as focus on a few main things.

Head Strong: The best way to lead the team is to be among them. Do you want to live forever!? I thought not!
Pro: You yourself get to go into a battle zone in super hero unit status, giving positive roll mods to theatre.
Con: You can be killed, then need replacing.


Doctrine:Pick three from below.
Fast Deployment: Troops get into field fast, really fast. To surprise enemy in flanks and outnumber tactics.

Trench Warfare: Dig in, shrug off the volley, return volley and keep on fighting until too tired or other guy is dead.

Intense Hand to Hand: A good deal of training into melee and hand to hand combat.

Sharp Shooters: Taught how to shoot with all avaible guns, for sake of being handy with fire arms.

Covert Ops: Know how to do sneak missions and hurt the enemy in hidden ways.

Field Craft: Reduce resources needed in knowing how to fend off needs with the land, and whats available. Knowing how to be your own improve mechanic.

Heavy Fire Power: Have access to really big guns. Squad support ones anyway.

Iron Discipline: tougher to break up or fall back as with a iron will bestowed to troops, they will not falter.

Bigger is Better: With this your tanks, cannon encampments, mecha, etc can be built/deployed at very big levels in scale. For sheer scale effect and bigger boom. ( If having armor/mechanized units. Can go insanely huge. Like Bane Blade or Imperial Titan size.)


Death from Above: Know that to rule the air is to rule battlefield. Air strikes, paratroops, lifts, carry, strafing runs, that sort of thing.


Home World: Below are options for your starting base world.

Death World: Your home base is a Death World. Where the plants and animals are out to kill humans.

Pro: Tougher troops.
Con: Recruit troops may die based on rolls.

Fortress World: World on the fringe, under constant attack by a enemy. Now whole populace is in a encamped city armed to the teeth.
Pro: Pick a enemy, bonus against.
Con: Constantly have to spend time and effort defending world from said enemy. ( Not to mention another enemy generated from enemy list.)


Halo World: Massive artificial super world that equals to four worlds encircling a star. Rich due to matter inside and a preserve for all things.

Pro:  Rolling in resources if starter.

Con: Huge! So a lot to defend.


Forge World: Having this under your protection will led a huge boost to your effort.
Pro: More mass produced stuff/resources to you. All things manifested in arms race is a tier cheaper too.

Con: Must protect said world, at all costs.

Temple World: Your world is a holy world.

Pro: Holy units love it here and more flock here to serve.

Con: Of course gotta protect for bonus.

Scholar World: One of the scholar worlds.
Pro: Being a school of warfare techniques. More options on tactics phase.

Con: Of course you gotta defend it.

Lost World: Your home world was lost to the enemy.
Pro: Get massive bonus against chosen enemy who did it. All enemy forces who can feel fear, get it facing your troops.

Con: no home world as a base, stuck on fleet, or a asteroid until you earn a world.

Gear Bonus: (Start with three.)

Heavy Support: Easier access to bigger guns, bigger vehicles, and such.

Bomb Squad: Start off with bonus explosives to blow stuff up.

Pack Rats: Thieving hands allows to snatch stuff from fallen friend and throw to add to armory. even steal directly. If caught, take penalty. (Roll for that.)

Xeno Beasts: Use xeno beasts as attack pets, steeds, or even in siege warfare.

Modified Weapons: Get to start off for free revised gear of your choosing.

Cyberware: Your flesh and blood types can get cyborg parts/more of than average. ( Get access to cyborg unit creation this way.)

Cameo: Blend in easier with stuff that helps troops to blend in.

War Trophies: Remainders of past victories that strike fear into hearts of the enemy 9If they can feel it that is.)

Not as bad as my first Arms Race. It is asymmetrical but works better if not vs each other that way with space.

Better than Pangaea in that your guys get to decide your own stuff.

Have fun!

[Madman198237]

This looks neat. Combination of Arms Race/chess/Stratego/other army-control games? I'm in.

Sorry to be a pain at start, though, but I just want to clear up some grammatical mistakes in here.

So, turn order:
Mission Statement: GM gives us up to three missions, so we know what we might want to work on. Do we HAVE to take every mission?

Design Phase: Make a new item, massively/comprehensively upgrade old one, etc.. Do we make tactics here?

Revision Phase: Standard AR fair, fix the bad rolls.

I suggest rolling the next two phases into ONE phase, since everything's got to happen simultaneously anyway.
Mission Preparations: Give guys gear and assign them to missions.
Tactics Assignment: Use tactics points (Is this the same thing as Command Rating?) to assign tactics to the units under your command. Do we also design the tactics here? That point is not clear. Also, do tactic points allow us to give IRREGULAR orders, or just allow us to assign tactics/orders/plans that we've already "designed"?

Battle Phase: Again, standard AR. GM rolls dice and decides just how dead you are.

Aftermath: Interesting idea, could this be folded up into the Mission Prep/Gear Up phase instead? It makes more sense to keep things together like that, especially since we won't know exactly what we'll be doing until after the next Mission Statement, so we don't really want to make decisions on equipping units until after we know what we're being faced with.

I recommend you change "Tactics" to "Troop Training and Doctrines", because what you have listed are not TACTICS (The plans by which you fight, i.e. "Send squad A four kilometers west by northwest, arc back northeast and hit the enemy from behind") but rather doctrines (The way in which your unit(s) fight) and training (The skills your men possess).

Alright, I'm going to recommend changing the following for balance:
The Hub World should ONLY give a +1 bonus to ONE design OR revision per turn. Giving extra designs/revisions is so unbalanced as to be ludicrous.
There are a few dubious things, but I think that that's the only MAJOR offender in your lineup. For instance, do you REALLY need two different choices that make big things more plentiful?
Actually, I'd suggest making the "Gear Bonuses" just give BONUSES to each thing, instead of straight-out allowing you to do such things.

As for votes...

Spoiler: Votes (click to show/hide)

A: The Republic (Star Wars):
B: Expansionist Empire:
C: Galactic Empire of the original trilogy (Star Wars):
D: Imperial Remnant (Star Wars EU):
E: Imperium of Man [sort of, no Emperor, just the church] (WH40k):
F: Fallen Empire trying to reclaim the galaxy:

1: Sanguine (Vicious fanatic with high casualty rates and poor tactics):
2: Stoic (Hard-line leads-from-the-frontlines officer, gets things done but has limits on simultaneous actions):
3: Maverick (Great tactics points, great morale, Command gives few resources):
4: Pious (Gets bonuses to religious-fanatic troops, hard time with science):
5: Watchful (Does not get trapped by the enemy, fewer command points):
6: Headstrong (Can enter battlefield as self, leads from the front and gets battlefield-wide bonuses. Can be killed.):

PICK THREE
1: Fast Deployment (Get on the field really fast, element of surprise):
2: Trench Warfare (Dig in, don't get killed):
3: Intense Hand-to-Hand (Troops know how to kill things up close):
4: Sharpshooters (Troops are good with all guns):
5: Covert Ops (Special warfare, do sneaky things):
6: Field Craft (Generally reduced resource requirements):
7: Heavy Firepower (Have better access to large weapons, rely on large weapons for attacks):
8: Iron Discipline (Much harder to rout these troops):
9: Bigger is Better (Deploy more tanks, artillery, mechs, etc.):
10: Death from Above (Utilize air power better than average):

1: Death World (Tougher troops, much harder time getting recruits):
2: Fortress World (Bonus against one enemy, must constantly defend homeworld against them):
3: Hub World (Bonuses in Design and Revision phases, must protect homeworld or lose bonuses):
4: Forge World (Much more resources available, losing world = lost game):
5: Temple World (Recruit more fanatics, do not lose homeworld):
6: Lost World (MASSIVE bonuses against occupiers of your homeworld, issues with bases):
7: Halo World (Resource bonuses, must defend large area):

PICK THREE
1: Heavy Support (Easier access to big things):
2: Bomb Squad (Start with more explosives):
3: Pack Rats ("Acquire" stuff from battlefields, risk getting caught):
4: Xeno Beasts (Use alien beasts as part of your army):
5: Modified Weapons (Free revision(s?) before game start):
6: Cyberware (Can use more cyborg/cybernetic parts):
7: Camouflage (Can use environment better)
8: War Trophies (Can scare any scare-able enemies you have beaten before):

[Tyrant Leviathan]

Just take Tactics as Doctrines for sake of game and Hub worlds give a bonus project not rolling. Which makes it so juicy.

[Madman198237]

I'm saying you need to change that.

It's TOO juicy---it's ridiculously unbalanced. There's no reason to choose anything else with that bonus available.

[Tyrant Leviathan]

Well main issue is you have no idea what your facing. Like literally. Your not facing another human player. Fighting threats against the galaxy.

[Madman198237]

Yes, but if you want this to be an actual choice instead of everyone taking one look and saying "There's no reason to pick anything else", then that would have to change.

If you think we'll need it that bad, might as well make it a default choice.


As for the "Tactics as Doctrines" thing, I'm suggesting you just make a quick edit to rename them. Ultimately up to you, I suppose. It just makes things easier to explain and easier to comprehend if you do.

[Tyrant Leviathan]

And the main reason the Hub was so great because in this game it is 8 sided die for results but using Shadows of the Stars or Chibby mans system. In which 1 is in reality negative one and two counts as zero. And in that game had three researchers and we were not steam rolling anyone.


Also research in this game is done in three ways.


Original idea, Archives (digging up tech from Age of Technology to use in present) and Researching enemy loot.


Because spoilers.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

 The first enemies Inrolled up are organic necrons. For all purposes. Any 40k fan knows that's kinda bad.

Also there are pre existing units and techs handed out via die rolls.


Honestly Forge World and Halo World are just as great as Hub world was.


Forge: Your items get a level chopped off in expense.

Halo: Get to build a lot of stuff due to resource points. ( Whichnis basic math in subtracting from total to equip your legions.)


Also there is a tech in archives for artifical planet sized war ships (counts as planet though) and aside ground forces will have a space fleet to manage too, collectively.


This thread is a glorified sign up sheet, ooc chat and discussion. The combat/research comes after all beginning stuff is on the table.


Edit: And in design phase can come up with new skills/tactics.

[Madman198237]

So wait, are there multiple characters involved?

I'm slightly confused as to how you're organizing this.

[Tyrant Leviathan]

No. You are a Commander among six commanders. And you get special privileges due to war time.


But you give orders. So your not a researcher. Your the guy giving design team (or was teams) the command of what to do. Aside deployment and what gear the troops have.


Another reason it was not that unbalanced is the rebels, who may show up are human. Meaning they can (with bad rolls, on your half) Getz YOUR stuff to play with as well.

[Madman198237]

OK, so is this a suggestion game sort of thing? You provide options, players vote for those options?

Or is this "There's X number of players each doing their own thing"?

[Tyrant Leviathan]

It's a suggestion game deal with Arms race element of developing tech.

[Madman198237]

OK, that's what I had thought.

If you think that the Hub World would have been a balanced choice, one that allowed us to keep pace with the enemies, then the other choices are all underpowered, or so they seem based on Arms Race experience.

[Tyrant Leviathan]

The only advantage Hub world has is onventing more toys.


Does not help in buying units or equipping them.

[Madman198237]

So do you expect having more units or equipping more units to be as important as making more designs?

[Tyrant Leviathan]

There is more to winning a war than designs. Deployment too. This is not Wands Race where everything is instantly relished and your ready to go or like Hive race where your troop pool is a hive city ( billions of meat shields in essence.) Also designs do not break or make as at the start is a equipment roll to decide what you start with. Another reason designs are not game breaking is there are seven enemy types with six sub catergories. Each is different and gear in turn works differently against them as opposed to everything working the same against all 7.