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Author Topic: Cold War Arms Race Test: Turn 2/7  (Read 4475 times)

Khamsin

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Cold War Arms Race Test: Turn 2/7
« on: October 17, 2017, 08:09:24 am »

The year is 1960. Two islands in the Caribbean, Ivy, and the Jinda Keys, have become another front on the ideological battle of Capitalism and Communism. Millions of dollars of foreign aid have been given, with one intent- to ready the islands for war. Analysts give the region 3 years before war breaks out between the two nations, leaving this a ripe time for arms companies to move in and market their products.

This is a test for a rule set i’ve been working on a while now (because everybody needed more arms races, right?)- a competitive arms race where individuals represent companies marketing themselves to two different island nations. This game will last for 3 years of pregame, where no war will take place, and then 4 years of war, where the highest-performing nation will be given favourable terms at the UN, and the company with the highest money will win.

Technology level is the 60's. No huge leaps forward are to be undertaken, (like inventing cold fusion), but revolutionary or divergent technologies can of course be made (like early stealth technology, or laser guided bombs becoming much more frequent earlier.) THE GM'S WORD IS FINAL.

There will be 3 companies in this game, but if the system works well, there may be more games in future.


Spoiler:  Country Bios (click to show/hide)

THE RULES:
Each game turn takes 1 year, with the phases as follows:
Design->Revision->Marketing->Trials/combat
Each phase’s orders will be submitted by each company in a spoiler, with accepted Gentlemen’s Agreements that each company will not read the other’s spoilers. That would be industrial espionage, after all.

Design
Each design is broken down into a complexity:
Trivial/Simple/Moderate/Complex/Cutting-Edge
With higher complexity designs having more possibility of things going wrong, but much more marketability. Each company has a number of projects possible per turn equal to their Labs. These projects are completed the turn they are chosen, and are available to be sold for the Marketing phase of that year.

Each design costs a scaling amount per the Complexity of the product. (In millions) 5/10/20/50/75.

Depending on the complexity and type of the design, a cost will be assigned in Dollars. This is either per-battalion (for infantry equipment), per unit (for miscellaneous equipment, like artillery or emplaced weapons), or per unit (for helicopters, aircraft, ships, tanks etc). This is the cost of production, not the end-price you charge to nations.

Example:
D-1000 Airstrake Roll: (7)
Cost: $1.2 Million
A fighter jet focused on brand new guided missiles, this design features spacious underwing pylon capacity and a good top speed. It has a small fuel tank, however, meaning it cannot guard air raids over enemy territory.

Revision
Revisions are upgrades, bug fixes, etc for existing technologies. They cost $20 Million per revision regardless of complexity, and an amount equal to Labs may be undertaken per turn. Revisions cannot make a product worse, they can only improve it, but bad results can cost money. Revisions are also not instantly applied. They must either be sold as Upgrade Kits, or as improved designs. (I.e, those of an inferior make will not disappear and be replaced in frontline service that easily.)

Marketing
Marketing is the most important phase. Without money, no further designs can be made. You must choose a design to market to a particular country, or a number of countries. You can market as many products to as many countries as you would like- but be careful. The quality of the design and the Marketing roll both affect the end result. An excellent design, even if refused, may give positive bonuses to other designs, or create a need where there was none before. Filling niches in a timely manner also gives a boost to the likelihood of a product succeeding, even if it is only a mediocre or even bad product. As such, even testbeds or disaster products may still find a use.

If two or more companies compete in the same area in the same turn, or a previous design is being replaced by a new one, a trial will take place. This does not apply for desperate need scenarios- if an anti air weapon is needed, they’ll take equal amounts of both competing designs, or whoever gets the higher marketing roll.

Trial/Combat
Trials are where designs are tested in all categories and strengths/weaknesses. They are truly comprehensive, meaning that bad designs are less likely to be accepted if competing with good designs, and general designs that are competent in most areas are also more popular.

Combat is the ultimate test of a device. In the air, ground, and sea of the contested territories, battles will take place using your weapons of war. During the battle phase, events may occur, such as a jury-rigging of your device (leading to a bonus to revisions in a particular area), some sort of Need being created on either side, or some other random event.

Spoiler: Ivy Equipment (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Jinda Keys Equipment (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Company Customisation (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Company Sheet (click to show/hide)
« Last Edit: October 21, 2017, 12:19:50 pm by Khamsin »
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Tiruin

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Re: Cold War Arms Race Test: Turn 0/7 3 Players needed.
« Reply #1 on: October 17, 2017, 08:51:29 am »

Questions!
Quote
D-1000 Airstrake Roll: (7)
What's this roll mean?

Also what format is present for projects/designs? Freeform, or to what category?
« Last Edit: October 17, 2017, 08:57:03 am by Tiruin »
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Khamsin

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Re: Cold War Arms Race Test: Turn 0/7 3 Players needed.
« Reply #2 on: October 17, 2017, 09:04:38 am »

I'll go with freeform designs, just as long as it's clear for me what exactly you're designing. I.e, as long as I get a rough sketch of what your aims are, as the project may change on your rolls.
The roll system I haven't fully decided on, so for this test it'll be a single D10 which determines the efficacy. A 1 would fail in everything, but something like a 6 or 7 might be good at something you focused on (I.e, cost), be decent at others but might have a flaw.
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Shadowclaw777

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Re: Cold War Arms Race Test: Turn 0/7 3 Players needed.
« Reply #3 on: October 17, 2017, 09:39:07 am »

Spoiler: Character Sheet (click to show/hide)
« Last Edit: October 17, 2017, 10:03:32 am by Shadowclaw777 »
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Khamsin

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Re: Cold War Arms Race Test: Turn 0/7 1 player needed.
« Reply #4 on: October 17, 2017, 09:57:01 am »

Alright, Tiruin and Shadowclaw, you're both accepted. Now all we need is one more to get the game started.
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Maximum Spin

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Re: Cold War Arms Race Test: Turn 0/7 3 Players needed.
« Reply #5 on: October 17, 2017, 09:58:47 am »

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
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Khamsin

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Re: Cold War Arms Race Test: Turn 1/7
« Reply #6 on: October 17, 2017, 10:08:06 am »

The American Report
1$, 3rd January 1960
NEW YEAR SIGNALS FEAR
The USSR has gone on record to declare a "treaty of eternal friendship" between themselves and the Carribbean nation of Ivy. This is nothing more than a further sign of their sabre-rattling, war mongering ways as they turn yet another socialist banana republic into a Kremlin-led handpuppet. Ivy has solidified their agressive stance in the region by not only courting USSR funding and aid, but also by searching for sellers of modern military hardware. The only peoples of the area who still value freedom and have not fallen to godless Communism, the people of the Jinda Keys, have been forced to turn to arms companies as well to defend themselves.

The first design phase has begun.
Choose your projects for the year and clearly flag which of your projects will use your special abilities, if you choose for any to be used.

Spoiler: Ivy Equipment (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Jinda Keys Equipment (click to show/hide)
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Shadowclaw777

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Re: Cold War Arms Race Test: Turn 1/7
« Reply #7 on: October 17, 2017, 10:32:39 am »


@Khamsin Do my designs seem too far-fetched, all came from 1970s, so seem reasonable in context, might be cutting-edge technology, however.
« Last Edit: October 17, 2017, 11:55:04 am by Shadowclaw777 »
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Khamsin

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Re: Cold War Arms Race Test: Turn 1/7
« Reply #8 on: October 17, 2017, 10:39:28 am »

Spoiler: Nightwing (click to show/hide)

This reminds me. I'll outright state the difficulty of a task to you if you'd like to check before a turn, however, if you don't ask, I'll assume you're fine with the outcome.
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Shadowclaw777

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Re: Cold War Arms Race Test: Turn 1/7
« Reply #9 on: October 17, 2017, 10:50:01 am »

Spoiler: Night Hawk (click to show/hide)

Edit: Actually second-thoughts, makes me want to try something a little more risk-ey, this post has been compromised and am actually going against the word
« Last Edit: October 17, 2017, 11:53:18 am by Shadowclaw777 »
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Maximum Spin

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Re: Cold War Arms Race Test: Turn 1/7
« Reply #10 on: October 17, 2017, 11:24:16 am »

OXALIS supports the future of global Capitalism and isn't interested in selling to Communists unless the price is very good.
Spoiler: Such things as these (click to show/hide)
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Tiruin

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Re: Cold War Arms Race Test: Turn 1/7
« Reply #11 on: October 17, 2017, 10:04:26 pm »

Okaaay @_@
...How do we do turns? :-[
Quote
1$, 3rd January 1960
Err, 1$?
Quote
Choose your projects for the year and clearly flag which of your projects will use your special abilities, if you choose for any to be used.
So "freeform" as many projects as you have labs. Which means 2 unless you started up with that one startup?

Quote
Revision
Revisions are upgrades, bug fixes, etc for existing technologies. They cost $20 Million per revision regardless of complexity, and an amount equal to Labs may be undertaken per turn. Revisions cannot make a product worse, they can only improve it, but bad results can cost money. Revisions are also not instantly applied. They must either be sold as Upgrade Kits, or as improved designs. (I.e, those of an inferior make will not disappear and be replaced in frontline service that easily.)
Can there be multiple revisions presented?
And are these 'improved designs' or 'kits' sold separately in the marketing phase?
Meaning: Can earlier versions be more 'mass produceable' but the later ones be 'upgraded thanks to revisions'?

Lastly:
Quote
Engineer-led: You may choose 2 designs during the pre-war turns, those designs have 2 dice rolled for them each and the higher dice is chosen.
This pertains to two out of ANY designs pre-war? That means this is done right before the war?
What do those 'higher dice' mean?


Arbores Technologies focuses on the vital components of their possible contractors, thereby being open to any and all fronts. Manpower was the baseline, as the CEO figured that other companies would focus on more mundane and applicable technologies, from vehicles to weaponry, and this was easily gleaned in public knowledge. The outlook was never to denounce purely by political spectrum, as the common component was the people--and people were the heart of anything broader or encompassing 'ideologies'. Due to its company values, it slates every design projected in the present to be both indepedently used by themselves, and to be able to be modified within revision later on, not only to create products with a similar and thus familiar usage, but also for filling in specialized contexts or broadening capabilities.
« Last Edit: October 18, 2017, 03:49:07 am by Tiruin »
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Shadowclaw777

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Re: Cold War Arms Race Test: Turn 1/7
« Reply #12 on: October 17, 2017, 10:54:55 pm »

Quote
Okaaay @_@
...How do we do turns? :-[
Quote
1$, 3rd January 1960
Err, 1$?
Quote
Choose your projects for the year and clearly flag which of your projects will use your special abilities, if you choose for any to be used.
So "freeform" as many projects as you have labs. Which means 2 unless you started up with that one startup?
Turns are processed as simply as they are stated, we begin with the "design" phase and with the two labs will be given their designated turns. Than the revision phase will mean with two labs, you could perform two revisions with the price tag of 40 million. Than the marketing and trial/combat phase will follow suit.

Quote
Quote
Revision
Revisions are upgrades, bug fixes, etc for existing technologies. They cost $20 Million per revision regardless of complexity, and an amount equal to Labs may be undertaken per turn. Revisions cannot make a product worse, they can only improve it, but bad results can cost money. Revisions are also not instantly applied. They must either be sold as Upgrade Kits, or as improved designs. (I.e, those of an inferior make will not disappear and be replaced in frontline service that easily.)
Can there be multiple revisions presented?
And are these 'improved designs' or 'kits' sold separately in the marketing phase?
Meaning: Can earlier versions be more 'mass produceable' but the later ones be 'upgraded thanks to revisions'?
2 revisions in the revision phase because of two labs, don't have a comment about improved designs and kits. I mean after the design phase we go to the revision phase, I don't know why we need to delay the normal "base" design, it's immediately going to get revised

Quote
Lastly:
Quote
Engineer-led: You may choose 2 designs during the pre-war turns, those designs have 2 dice rolled for them each and the higher dice is chosen.
This pertains to two out of ANY designs pre-war? That means this is done right before the war?
What do those 'higher dice' mean?
There will be 3 pre-war turns and 4 normal War turns. With two labs, you will be able to perform up to 6 designs in the pre-war, that means 2 out of the 6 pre-war designs will be rolled at "advantage", where two 1d6s (in this case, 1d10s) are rolled twice and the higher number is chosen i.e rolls a 1d10, gets a 6 and a 3, The 6 is a higher value so it's the number that is used.
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Khamsin

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Re: Cold War Arms Race Test: Turn 1/7
« Reply #13 on: October 17, 2017, 11:42:10 pm »

Shadowclaw is pretty on the money here and your turn is pretty fine for a gameplay standpoint- the Target Complexity is also cute a useful stat for me.

However, to address your points. The $1 thing is just a little bit of fluff representing a newspaper or magazine- which the article also represents. Sorry if that got you confused. As for the design rules, Shadowclaw is correct. 2 labs, 2 projects, and as you are Engineer-led you can choose 2 designs from ANY of the pre-war turns but ONLY in the prewar turns, and only a total of 2 over these three years. They basically roll 2 dice, with the higher dice being chosen as higher dice are more effective.

The comment on having a base version and then a number of upgrade kits is pretty accurate. Say you produced a tank that is decently cheap and sells in numbers. Then, your revisions could create a type of special armour that could be applied to the outside of tanks. You would be given the cost for the armour, and could then produce new variants of the tank that by default include the armour or sell the armour to nations that already have it.

I'll be working on the turn later on today, so if you have any more questions now is the time.
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Tiruin

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Re: Cold War Arms Race Test: Turn 1/7
« Reply #14 on: October 18, 2017, 01:16:57 am »

I'll be working on the turn later on today, so if you have any more questions now is the time.
LET'S SEE IF I GOT DIS RIGHT!


Design->Revision->Marketing->Trials/combat
So there's no way to get MOAR labs or improve our...err, company. And Monies = endgame score so its analogous to those games that track endgame score as one determiner for the winner I don't care about that I care about HELPING and then near bankruptcy but this is limited to 7 years so :V

Then Revisions has 20$ Million of funstuff regardless, so we can fluff that how much we want.

Then Marketing, which includes both base designs (starting at 2), and any revisions each. All of these have their own roll.

Then Trials/Combat, which is moreso testing. What's the difference between this and War turns?
Also we get to do the same in War turns right, but the only difference I assume is the sheet-bonuses which apply pre-war?
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