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.
Ivy
A colony which became independent through socialist revolution. With such a large population, this nation needs lots of gear, and it needs it cheap. Focusing on the ground war, this nation also cherishes reliability, meaning that only a certain kind of rugged weapon will thrive with this nation.
Jinda Keys
A former British colony that is now democratic and independent, Jinda Keys has idolised the small-scale commando raids of WW2. Focusing on a CIA-nurtured intelligence and special forces program, Jinda values less glamourous pursuits highly as well- logistics in many forms will go down well sales-wise in this nation.
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.
Ground:
Mosin-Nagant BV-1894
A full-size Mosin from many, many years ago and still the primary weapon of this former colony. Hits hard and is decently accurate, but desperately in need of replacing.
TT-33
Cheap and nasty copy produced indigenously. Good punch but suffers in a number of flaws. Issued to officers.
Air:
Mig-3
A very old and outdated turboprop plane. Armed with 20mm cannons, Russian 12.7mm machine guns and with a powerful engine, this is still a turboprop in the age of jet fighters.
Naval:
None.
Ground:
Lee Enfield SMLE
A British colonial classic. 10 rounds of .303 British with a smooth action. This rifle has seen many conflicts, but is still reliable. It cannot last in Jinda’s armoury forever, however.
STEN
Designed to be produced in underground workshops, this 32 round SMG with a distinctive side-loaded magazine is a WW2 classic. It suffers from magazine problems and is unreliable, but in close range it has saved many lives, and taken many others.
Air:
Supermarine Spitfire
An early model acquired during WW2, this plane only mounts .303 machine guns. It has great aerodynamic capabilities, but is simply unable to do serious combat with the jets of this day and age.
Naval:
None
Companies
Background:
Startup: Gain an extra $50 Million.
Old-timer: During the first pre-war turn only, you may act as if you have 1 more lab than normal.
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.
CEO:
Tenacious: One revision per turn may have two dice rolled. The higher dice is chosen.
Tech Wizard: One design per turn gains a +1.
Business-savvy: One marketing attempt per turn gains a +1.
Generous: Judges are wooed more easily in Trials by your “generosity”.
All companies, unless modified otherwise, start with 500 Million and 2 labs.
COMPANY SHEET
Name:
CEO Name:
Background:
CEO Type:
Money:
Labs:
Motto: A small sentence representing your company’s values.
Bio: Your company’s history and background.
Author
Topic: Cold War Arms Race Test: Turn 2/7 (Read 4483 times)