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 Welcome to the Let's Play of Aurora, a space 4x written in VB6 by one man as his private project. It has been called the Dwarf Fortress of space 4x games, due to its extensive depth and its arcane interface. Example of both will be discussed below. First, a brief historical overview (a more in-depth recap is provided in the second post for you nerds who want to read my terrible geopolitical premise) of the starting scenario. It is midnight on January 1st, 2025. In the early-to-mid-2010s, an escalating conflict in the Middle East -- triggered by a UN-mandated intervention in the Syrian Crisis, led to a large-scale tactical nuclear exchange. While cooler heads may have prevailed and prevented the escalation of the war into an all-out global nuclear conflict, the effect on the Middle East was devastating, with as much as 90% of the region's oil infrastructure destroyed or otherwise rendered inoperable. The resulting global energy crisis, as well as the shifting geopolitical situation that led to and resulted from the conflict, has reshaped the current global situation. Two supra-national organizations have arisen, taking on the role of the new global superpowers. One is the United Nations, though it is very different from the organization we know today. With the withdrawal of China and Russia (and later India) and the energy crisis, the UN, guided by the principles of the European Union, has become a far more hands-on organization, taking a large responsiblity for defense, social services, and many other functions normally reserved for soverign entities. While still characterized as a supra-national organization (and thus theoretically keeping self-determination at the level of its constituent nations), the UN Executive Council is empowered by the new UN Constitution (ratified by all members in 2023) to decide matters of policy that affect all members, including the development and exploitation of space. The power players in the UN remain the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Japan. The other is the Федерация европейских и азиатских Наций (Chinese Simplified: 欧洲和亚洲国家联合会, English: Federation of European and Asian Nations, often shortened in the West as the Eurasian Federation). Having its roots in the unofficial Russian-Chinese alliance during the Syrian War, the Federation began as an economic and energy based trade alliance (the Eurasian Energy Commission) in 2021, with China, Russia, and India as founding members. India had won most of the Middle East reconstruction contracts and was one of the wealthiest nations in the world at the time. Over the next few years, the organization emerged as a de fact UN alternative, with most nations in China and Russia's sphere of influence withdrawing from the UN and enrolling in the Federation. Relations between the two factions are frosty, to say the least. Memories of the Syrian War are still fresh in many people's minds, and the ensuing dog-eat-dog oil shortage only served to exacerbate things. The only thing that kept the two from all-out war is the lack of energy supplies with which to wage it. Instead, a new cold war has flared up, with espionage and political jockeying taking the forefront. The energy crisis was finally resolved in late 2024 when a UN research team discovered a new set of elements that behaved outside the realm of known physics. Dubbed Trans-Newtonian elements, these substances have the potential to revolutionize the world and solve its energy needs indefinitely. Naturally, the Federation quickly gained access to this information and is planning its own research. Metagame Mechanics This will be a Let's Play in more than just name, as I will be taking control of one of the factions, and you, the collective Goonisphere, will be taking control of the other. Both factions have an identical set-up and initial resources, so the choice is more of an aesthetic one. There will be multiple levels of participation available, in two broad classes. Examples below assume the choice of the United Nations as the player faction. Policy Makers These are Goons who shape the policy of their assigned bailiwick. For example, a five-goon United Nations Executive Council will be at the top of the hierarchy, providing a guiding hand to all other policy makers below their level. Other examples include the Head of the United Nations Science Administration (who directs research), and various members of the United Nations Military Forces (who control military policy, ship design, and strategic goals). None of these players have a corresponding in-game character, since in game terms, they are represented by the player. Openings for these positions will be announced as they are created, and a 48h voting period will commence. To keep the thread from becoming too cluttered with voting, these will essentially be for-life assignments, so choose wisely! Inactive players will be replaced as necessary from a pool of interested candidates. In-Game Characters Interested goons may apply to have an in-game character named after them. There are three types of characters available:
There will be three separate waiting lists, one for each class of in-game characters. NB: There are limited availabilities early on, but as the game progresses, the rate of character creation quickly outstrips the in-game assignments available to them. So while your name might be pasted into the game, it may take a while for an assignment to open up that your in-game likeness is assigned to. About Aurora This is a complicated game. It started as a tool to help the programmer (Steve Walmsley) play games of a tabletop space strategy game known as StarFire. In the same way that Dwarf Fortress is sometimes described as a "procedural fantasy fiction creator," Aurora could be called a "sci-fi fiction creator." The AI is nothing spectacular and the game relies on the player to create an interesting scenario and narrative. The game is nothing special to look at, with most of the functionality encased in dated-looking Windows dialogs and Excel-like gridviews. The mechanics are often not transparent and wrestling the interface becomes part and parcel of playing the game. However, you are spared all that, as I know it pretty drat well, and I'll be detailing mechanics as the situations requiring them arise in the thread. Feel free to ask questions at any time, whether you're actively participating in the game or not. Okay, Now What? The first order of business is to decide which faction the Goons want to play as: The UN or the Eurasian Federation. As I noted, the setup for both is identical, and the decision is mainly aesthetic. Signups are also open for the in-game character waiting lists. bgreman fucked around with this message at 22:18 on Mar 23, 2012 |
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On April 1st, 2012, after nearly two years of internal strife in Syria, the United Nations Security Council put forth yet another resolution condemning the violence and the regime, and prompting for further UN action. As was the case in the last SecCouncil resolution, Russia and China, both permanent members of the Security Council, exercised their right to veto the resolution. Stymied again, the United States and its European allies circumvented the Security Council by exploiting a procedural loophole to drive a nearly identical resolution through the main UN voting assembly, where Russia and China's vetoes were powerless. Furious that their bloc-veto plan was neutralized, China and Russia presented a united face and threatened the signatories of the resolution with economic sanctions. The Western powers recognized this as an obvious bluff, as either China or Russia cutting economic ties with the west would haved drastically disrupted their economies. However, the situation did drive Russia and China closer together, despite their ideological differences. As conditions in Syria deteriorated, the UN began to publicly mull the idea of a Libya-style intervention. Once word of initial plans reached Russia in late November of 2012, they responded decisively, warning the West against any sort of intervention. They cited the questionable successes of former Western interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan, and claimed that Syria was within their sphere of interest in the region. Unwilling to risk a proxy war, the West backed down. For the time being, the Russian sabre-rattling had succeeded. Things in Syria went from bad to worse, and the situation finally erupted into a full-scale civil war in mid-June of 2013. Surprising everyone, Iran spoke up, asserting that the West had no real interest in promulgating democracy or upholding human rights. With this rationale, Iran declared its support for the al-Assad regime and sent in several battalions of what it characterized as "peacekeeping forces," via a corridor in northern Iraq. Speculation ran rampant in Western intelligence and media that these forces were funded, armed, or advised by Russian or Chinese military agents, but no hard evidence was forthcoming. Israel demanded an immediate Iranian withdrawal, and was supported in its demands by the US. Several highly placed Russian diplomats unofficially supported Iran's actions, under conditions of anonymity. Aware that the situation was incredibly precarious, Russia began to quietly build up troop concentrations in the Caucasus, along the Georgian border, hedging its bets against the feared Western retaliation against Iran. As the Western allies debated their options, the war in Syria continued to escalate, with the rebels being pushed back several times by regime forces supported by Iranian combat elements. Other regional powers began to mobilize their military assets, but the conflict remained localized to Syria for the time being. In August 2013, three months into the fighting, a video was released by WikiLeaks (who refused to disclose its provenance), appearing to depict Russian Spetznatz special forces assisting Iranian troops with the pacification of a village in northern Syria. The Western allies immediately lodged formal protests, and a multinational NATO peacekeeping force was hurriedly mustered. Composed mostly of European combat elements, US forces were conspicuously absent, as UN planners believed that the fighting wasless likely to escalate if US forces were left out for the time being. The United Nations Syrian Peacekeeper (UNSP) mission saw its first combat troops arrive in western Syria, still held by the rebels, in late October of 2013. The rebel control of the region was tenuous, and the UNSP's orders were to establish a military cordon around the rebel-controlled area and to provide humanitarian support. The idea was that once the UNSP established the cordon, a demilitarized zone would be implemented, giving time for the combatant factions to negotiate the future of their nation. Strikes were targeted at Syrian command and control facilities only within the confines of this proposed DMZ, a gesture the UN hoped would persuade Syria and its allies that its intentions were, on the whole, in Syria's best interests. By early February of 2014, the first phase of the UNSP's mission was judged complete, with complete UNSP/rebel joint control of all of Syria behind a line stretching from the Lebanese border, through Homs, to Aleppo, and to the Turkish border. Organized fighting dwindled to minor skirmishes, but in its place rose a pair of competing insurgencies: one composed of rebels and striking regime and Iranian targets in the rest of Syria and abroad, and the other composed of Syrian loyalists and Iranian jihadists, striking UNSP positions in Syria and civilian and governmental targets in UNSP contributor nations in Europe. A peace conference took place in Crete in May of 2014, but little progress was made. Neither side advocated partition of the nation, but the rebels refused to entertain any solutions that did not call for the ouster of al-Assad's government, and the loyalists refused to be a party to any such solution. The rebels objected to the Iranian troops still present in most of non-rebel-controlled Syria, and regime diplomats made the same arguments about the UN peacekeepers. After several weeks of aimless debate, the mood of the conference was altered by the presentation of further video, very recent, of Russian troops still inside Syria. The UN delegates to the conference, infuriated, demanded an immediate Russian withdrawal, which was met with disavowals and evasion by the Russian delegation. Incensed, the UN hurriedly passed a resolution calling for Russia's complete withdrawal from the region, and threatening a forced removal if necessary. The Russians responded with diversionary tactics, and actually increased the number of Russian troops on Syrian soil, moving into Iran via Azerbaijan and from there into Syria through the same transport corridor in northern Iraq that the Iranians had already secured. Aware that negotiations had broken down, the UN prepared to follow through with its threats and augmented the UNSP with several new combat units throughout the months of June and July 2014. Everything came to a head on August 12, 2014, the UN announced it would move forward with its plans to expel the Russians from Syria. It also announced that outside the DMZ, Syrian and Iranian forces would only be targeted if they retaliated on UNSP forces or were found aiding Russian forces. On August 14, the lead elements of the UNSP's push to expel the Russian spilled out of the DMZ and into eastern Syria. Initially surprised that the UN was actually acting on its threats, the joint Russian/Iranian/Syrian loyalist forces organized a brief retreat further into the interior. In many places, Iranian and Syrian troops abandoned their Russian allies for fear of attacks from the UNSP. The Russian withdrawal was entirely bloodless for the first week. As per the UN announcement, no attacks were made on Syrian or Iranian positions outside the DMZ, and the Russians were permitted to withdrawal in an orderly fashion as long as it was clear that a withdrawal was happening. This changed on August 24th, as the Russians ceased their withdrawal on the northeast bank of the Euphrates river. Russian diplomats announced that the UNSP mandate was illegal per UN bylaws, that the Syrians had legally invited the Russian forces into Syria, and that therefore, the Russian forces were the legitimate peacekeeping mission and would be acting to eject the UNSP troops. At this pronouncement, both sides dug in along the Euphrates, and minor skirmishes erupted all along its length. On the morning of August 24th, 2014, the first pitched battles took place at Ar Raqqah and Dayr az Zawr. The war had turned hot. Responding to these new developments, China sent a large combined arms combat force through Central Asia and into Iran, but remained outside Syria, citing solidarity with their Russian allies, but making token calls for peace. The combat was largely static, with neither side committing to attacks large enough to force its opponent from its fortifications along the river. The US, in the meantime, had been content to let Europe shoulder the burden for this peacekeeping mission especially in the wake of the American public response to the Libyan intervention. Once the bullets started flying between the UNSP and the Russians, however, US President Mitt Romney was the first to call for an immediate ceasefire and Russian withdrawal. When none was forthcoming, the US threatened to involve itself military in support of its NATO allies. While technically the fighting had been initially instigated by the UN mission to expel Russia from Syria, the public was swayed by a new media propaganda blitz that portrayed the Russians as the aggressors and the UN peacekeeping mission as a legitimate humanitarian venture. The media campaign emphasized the US's place in NATO and its obligations to come to the aid of other NATO signatories when attacked. US forces were visibly mobilized in an attempt to encourage the Russians to back down. The Russians made no signs of surrender or withdrawal, and further threatened to disrupt Middle Eastern oil shipments to the West, and to cut off its own oil shipments to the West, unless the UNSP retreated back to the cordon. With a major conflict between two superpowers looking more and more likely, the US was thrown into disarray when President Romney and several members of his staff were assassinated on November 13, 2014 by a Syrian loyalist terrorist. Acting quickly, new President Newt Gingrich managed to spin the assassination by placing the blame for its funding and planning on Russian intelligence members. An enormous multi-branch combat force was deployed to the Middle East and landed behind the UNSP cordon in Syria on Christmas Day and began heading for the interior to support the UNSP forces already present along the Euphrates. Meanwhile, further US and NATO forces were deployed to Eastern Europe along the border with Russia. President Gingrich made clear that no NATO forces would be deployed against targets in Russia so long as the Russians stayed on their side of the border in Europe as well. All fighting would be limited to the Middle East and the Caucasus. Throwing a wrench into this plan, however, the Chinese committed their troops to assist their Russian allies in Syria. This caused Iranian and Syrian loyalist forces to rejoin the war and attack the Western forces from the south. Suddenly outnumbered and overwhelmed, US forces declared that unless Russian and Chinese troops withdrew immediately, and Iranian/Syrian forces returned to the ceasefire, the US would begin deploying tactical nuclear weapons. Rather than force a capitulation, this served only to cause the other factions to increase their nuclear rhetoric. Iran took this time to announce that with the assistance of Chinese scientists, it had a working, if crude, nuclear bomb. With the threat of a nuclear war on their own turf, the Arab League threw in its lot with the Western Allies in February 2015, aware that the only thing now standing between them and a dominant Iran was Western combat troops. Member nations mobilized their troops and positioned them to defend their territory from Iranian expansion. Conventional warfare continued for the next several months, neither side wanting to be the one to start the end of the world. The powder keg is finally ignited on June 3, 2015, when a B-2 bomber dropped a low-yield tactical nuclear bomb on a joint Russian-Chinese HQ compound in eastern Syria. With a nuclear exchange thus started, the bombs fell quickly and by early July, more than two hundred nuclear weapons had been detonated in Syria. Through all this, the forces along the Russian border remained on high alert, but no border incursions were reported by either side, both belligerents apparently deciding to keep the fighting off of their own soil. By the end of 2015, nearly 600 tactical nuclear devices had been employed throughout the Middle East conflict. Vast swathes of Syria, where the fighting was most intense, were rendered a smoking wasteland. With virtually none of the Syrian forces -- either loyalist or rebel -- able to fight, and the majority of both their administrative infrastructure destroyed, the two sides declared a truce on January 17, 2016. Fighting between the other factions roared on, despite the original cause being lost. Early on, Russian and Chinese forces had begun to heavily bomb NATO allies in the region, with a huge Russian-Chinese-Iranian joint force being deployed to occupy as much of the Middle East as possible. The US committed a vast array of forces to interdict these troop movements, but the collateral damage was incredible. Retreating national forces from these regions also implemented a scorched Earth policy to deny the oil resources from the occupying troops. By mid-2016, the drastic reduction in oil shipments from the Middle East was having resounding effects on the global economy. Fighting ground to a standstill as vehicles no longer had fuel to power them, and with the original cause of the war removed, a hasty ceasefire was declared. The Middle East lay in ruins, and the civilian sector around the world was on the brink of collapse. Recriminations were flung about from and at every party, with the heaviest blame laid on the shoulder of Iran, whose march into Syria in 2012 had been the instigator of the entire conflict. Iran as a nation was bankrupted and its remaining oil reserves confiscated by Russian and Chinese soldiers as they withdrew from the region. With the war all but over, the remaining combatants stood down and left the Middle East a smoking ruin. Immediately the energy question was raised. How would the world power itself until the Middle East could be rebuilt? The answer lie on the Indian subcontinent. India and surrounding nations had long provided migrant workers to Middle Eastern energy concerns. Having not taken a side in the conflict, India was well placed to take a more direct role and began investing its hoarded resources in rebuilding the region. Already a rising economic powerhouse, its near-complete control over the rebuilding project made it the wealthiest nation in the world in the late 2010s. However, the rest of the world quickly came to realize that the rebuilding effort would take time. Massive energy rationing programs were implemented in many nations around the globe. Those lucky enough to have sufficient domestic oil production found themselves insulated from the slow decline the rest of the world was facing. Russia and the US were forced to cut their oil exports in order to provide more oil for their own nations. Bans on offshore and Arctic drilling were very quickly repealed in the US to augment production. Still, these nations could not produce enough to satisfy demand, and many parts of the world began a drawn out struggle against major economic decline. Huge investments were made in any scientific program that could potentially ease the oil burden, but progress was slow, and made slower by the energy rationing. In February 2021, India shocked the world by entering into an energy-sharing alliance with Russia and China, with many other Asian nations as ancillary members. This organization rapidly evolved into an alternative to the United Nations (from which China and Russia had withdrawn after the first nuclear exchange in 2015). By 2024, this organization, known in the West as the Eurasian Federation, had enough international economic and political clout to rival the remains of the United Nations. Meanwhile, the remaining members of the UN, in a joint-support effort, drew closer and began to merge many of their common governmental organizations, such as national science foundations and space exploitation initiatives. Research and development programs were established under the UN umbrella in a desperate attempt to assuage the energy crisis by finding novel energy sources. In mid-2024, one of these initiatives finally paid off. On May 24th, 2024, a research team at the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland made a startling discovery: the existence of another dimension, close to our own, but with radically different physical laws, the most significant difference being that space-time in the other dimension had the properties of a fluid rather than a vacuum. The theoretical work of the scientists resulted in the discovery of previously unknown elements with strange compositions that seemed to be affected by the presence of this dimension. A frantic geological survey for these new elements was implemented. Unfortunately, almost all of the elements were only found within the molten core of the planet using prototype sensors devoted to the search and would require significant effort to access. Given the significance of the discovery, sufficient funds were quickly made available by UN member nations and limited core mining techniques developed. Once in the possession of sufficient quantities of the minerals, the scientists discovered the minerals somehow intruded into the space-time of the alternate dimension and that objects built from these elements would be affected by some of the physical laws of that universe. They theorized that this would allow spacecraft to turn in space like ships in water but it would also quickly slow them to a stop if their engines ceased operating. A secondary effect was that the mass of such a ship would be dramatically reduced allowing much higher speeds from conventional power systems. It was discovered that sensors and communication systems constructed from some of the new elements could send energy signals through the other dimension at a speed much greater than light. Within a solar system, communication and sensors would effectively be real time. Finally, and most importantly, one of the new elements, dubbed sorium, was found to be able to be refined into a material with an energy density hundreds of times higher than even the best rocket fuels. Additionally, when burned, this new fuel produced no significant greenhouse gases. This breakthrough meant that the energy crisis was effectively over, provided sufficient quantities of sorium could be found. The United Nations Science Administration, when learning of these developments, attempted to keep them secret. Such a discovery could not remain secret for long though and within six months a team of researches working on a sorium refining program defected to the Eurasian Federation, taking along with them detailed knowledge of the newly discovered dimension and the existence of the minerals, now known as Trans-Newtonian Elements. The Eurasian Federation immediately began its own work on exploiting this research.
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Mar 23, 2012 22:14
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Policy Makers
BGreman posted:United Nations General Assembly Resolution 1 Current Goon Officers, Administrators, and Scientists Participant Lists: Naval Officers
Ground Force Commanders
Civilian Administrators (Currently Available: 0)
Leading Scientists (Currently Available: 0)
Prior Policy Makers
United Nations Information Aurora LP Wiki (mostly up-to-date research, ship designs, ship components, etc). Coldest War Viewer Tool (Provides up-to-date information on officer status, task groups, populations, and more. Work in progress. H/t to TildeATH for helping out on this). Google Doc for submitting craft names bgreman posted:For some time now, I've been interested in expanding on certain areas of the milieu of this LP. This is something that I can work on while I'm away from my home desktop for whatever reason. It will also provide a little extra content in between updates. IRC: #ColdestWar on SynIRC.net Informational Updates
Narrative Updates Table of Contents Links I had to move these out of this post because they pushed it over the character limit. bgreman fucked around with this message at 06:17 on Dec 30, 2016 |
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Mar 23, 2012 22:14
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quote:This is a complicated game. I'm not that policymaker.
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Mar 24, 2012 05:03
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I have played this, it is a hell of a drug. Also space boats.
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Mar 24, 2012 05:09
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Make me a space navy captain so I can fight people on the seven seas of space. Also the Eurasian Federation so I can be a super Chinese cosmonaut. Commoners fucked around with this message at 05:56 on Mar 24, 2012 |
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Mar 24, 2012 05:25
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I am the very model of a scientist E: And I guess drat Commies Slaan fucked around with this message at 15:10 on Mar 24, 2012 |
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Mar 24, 2012 05:40
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Going to follow this, albeit cautiously, since I know just how complicated Aurora can be, and how hard it is to make a fun LP of it. Are you going to be using SM Mode to set up a good starting scenario, so you have a bit more control over the story?
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Mar 24, 2012 07:13
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I've been interested in and intimidated by this game for awhile, so I'll definitely be following this. Throwing my vote up for Eurasia. Make me a Civilian Administrator.
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Mar 24, 2012 10:54
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Putting in a vote for the neo-UN so I can live out my Red Dawn fantasies.
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Mar 24, 2012 11:58
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Better dead than red, neo-UN it is.
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Mar 24, 2012 12:08
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Yayyyy, I love Aurora so much. I'm glad someone else is doing an LP of it so I don't have to! I want us goons to play the UN and I want to nominate myself as a Civilian Administator Edit: If it helps, I'm well versed in this game. The previous LP had me pick this game up and I play alot of it. If the OP wants I can help with Mechanics and helping out
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Mar 24, 2012 14:44
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Servant posted:That's probably the problem that can stop user participation in its tracks. There was an LP of Aurora that I followed greatly because it helped explain the mechanics. It's a shame it's abandoned, and I hope this one gets picked up, but I can't see how 'goons' could even do anything. Not unless you have some awesome policymaker that we'll defer to at all costs. Yeah, my intention is to try to mask the players from the obtuse mechanics as much as possible. I'll surely describe what I'm doing as we go along, since I want this LP to be instructional as well, but players won't necessarily have to be well-versed in how the game works in order to make decisions. TBH, even if we only get one person to chime in for a policy maker position, I think it can work. If not, I have backup plans to just run both sides and present a more traditional LP. Red Mike posted:Going to follow this, albeit cautiously, since I know just how complicated Aurora can be, and how hard it is to make a fun LP of it. I already did this part and the scenario is ready to go. It's not super-complicated, since both sides are starting with what is known as a "conventional" start, and therefore don't have a lot in the way of infrastructure. I'll be using SM mode a lot to handle some of the narrative things the game itself doesn't natively support. Lord Windy posted:Yayyyy, I love Aurora so much. I'm glad someone else is doing an LP of it so I don't have to! I love this game a lot too, despite its (many) flaws. I was disappointed when the last LP for it ended, and was hoping maybe someone would do a new LP of it. After more than a year of waiting, I started planning this one of my own. The more people who do actually know how to play the game, the better -- to a certain extent. I want to ease the players into things, and will be trying to present new mechanics as the need for them comes up in the thread. That said, I'm happy for anyone who knows the game to help answer questions when they arise.
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Mar 24, 2012 14:59
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I'm throwing my vote in for some Eurasian action but I would simply like to be involved as a researcher, preferably toward something peaceful like energy research.
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Mar 24, 2012 18:19
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I've looked at Aurora several times, and always just gone "eeeh, Nah" every time on seeing how insane it looks. I'd love to see mechanics and explanation posts for people that've never played it before.
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Mar 24, 2012 19:17
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Votin' for the United By Force Nations, also I want to be a 1. Civilian Admin. or 2. Naval Officer, depending on which has a slot open.
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Mar 24, 2012 22:15
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I vote for the United Nations, and also, I'd like to be a Naval Officer
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Mar 25, 2012 06:17
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Ceebees posted:I've looked at Aurora several times, and always just gone "eeeh, Nah" every time on seeing how insane it looks. I'd love to see mechanics and explanation posts for people that've never played it before. Likewise. The earlier LP did a great job of explaining just wtf was going on. By all means, tell a cool story, but also tell us just how you're going about things.
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Mar 25, 2012 06:29
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Oh, what the heck. United Nations and Ground Forces Officer.
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Mar 25, 2012 06:44
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Lets go U.N if possible I'd like to be a Civilian Administrator.
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Mar 25, 2012 06:52
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Let's force our name on the rest of the world as the U.N., and I'd like to be an extrasolar Civilian Administrator of some future colony.
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Mar 25, 2012 07:45
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With the direction that this LP is going, are you going to assign one Civilian Administrator to a Planet or are you going to get us to vote on what we should? If it's the former, would we be President for Life or would you rotate like you would for our Military?
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Mar 25, 2012 08:39
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bgreman posted:With a major conflict between two superpowers looking more and more likely, the US was thrown into disarray when President  I vote for Eurasia, then. Can I be a Ground Force Officer?
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Mar 25, 2012 10:35
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and several members of his staff were assassinated on November 13, 2014 by a Syrian loyalist terrorist. Acting quickly, new President 
managed to spin the assassination by placing the blame for its funding and planning on Russian intelligence members.
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Chamale posted:With a major conflict between two superpowers looking more and more likely, the US was thrown into disarray when President Hey, brighten up: Newt promised us a moonbase by the end of his second term. There might even be open deposits of Sorium there! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=or1Mb1Vje1Q A vote for the U.N., and sign me up as a researcher!
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Mar 25, 2012 18:27
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I've been wrestling with this game for a week now. Really interested in seeing some instructional content as well as the ambitious meta game. Sign me on for a passive Research Scientist role, please. Best of luck with this project!
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Mar 25, 2012 20:22
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Just a question, what's the in-game explanation for our space-race? Didn't see any hints that there were any off-world deposits of this sorium stuff. Also for the sake of speed and sanity, I assume the first round of spaceships will be unarmed, and designed by you? Can't wait for this to get up and going!
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Mar 26, 2012 06:06
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Lord Windy posted:With the direction that this LP is going, are you going to assign one Civilian Administrator to a Planet or are you going to get us to vote on what we should? Civ administrators have stats that make them more or less suitable for various postings. When a Goon becomes a civ admin, I basically take an existing in-game character and rename it with the Goon's name. It is up to the appropriate policy maker to assign administrators from the Goon pool (or reassign them to new postings as necessary), although as its shaping up right now, it looks like no one is terribly interested in being a policy maker. All in-game characters have a chance to retire after age 65. When we get that far, Goons will be able to sign-up again if they wish. Triskelli posted:Hey, brighten up: Newt promised us a moonbase by the end of his second term. There might even be open deposits of Sorium there! I didn't even think about Newt's claims when writing this, ha. Who knows what secrets lurk up there? Triskelli posted:Just a question, what's the in-game explanation for our space-race? Didn't see any hints that there were any off-world deposits of this sorium stuff. Also for the sake of speed and sanity, I assume the first round of spaceships will be unarmed, and designed by you? Can't wait for this to get up and going! Without giving too much away, both factions will have access to a report detailing the complete stocks of Trans-Newtonian elements present on Earth. I'd imagine any government would want to secure a long-term supply of strategic resources, especially given the potentially hostile organization sitting on the other side of the planet. I'm going to do my best to strike a balance between letting you guys do what you want and providing a modicum of direction. The game is complicated and entirely open-ended, so I won't hesitate to prod the Goon faction with options or hints if necessary to move things along. I'll let faction voting carry on for one more day, and will tally the votes tomorrow at 5pm EST.
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Mar 26, 2012 13:27
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bgreman posted:Civ administrators have stats that make them more or less suitable for various postings. When a Goon becomes a civ admin, I basically take an existing in-game character and rename it with the Goon's name. It is up to the appropriate policy maker to assign administrators from the Goon pool (or reassign them to new postings as necessary), although as its shaping up right now, it looks like no one is terribly interested in being a policy maker. Oh. I didn't realize we had to say we wanted to be a policy maker. I want to be a policy maker
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Mar 26, 2012 13:30
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Lord Windy posted:Oh. I didn't realize we had to say we wanted to be a policy maker. In case it wasn't clear, Policy Makers are separate from the in-game characters. They represent high-level administrators, politicians, scientists, and military personnel that oversee the higher-level functioning of the faction. The first few will be leaders of the faction, and further openings will be for things like Head of Research, Head of Ship Design, etc. Many of these will be military positions, because let's face it: this game is about spaceships and doing cool poo poo in space.
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Mar 26, 2012 13:44
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bgreman posted:Civ administrators have stats that make them more or less suitable for various postings. When a Goon becomes a civ admin, I basically take an existing in-game character and rename it with the Goon's name. It is up to the appropriate policy maker to assign administrators from the Goon pool (or reassign them to new postings as necessary), although as its shaping up right now, it looks like no one is terribly interested in being a policy maker. From reading the first post, I thought that the scramble for Policy positions wasn't open yet. I'll announce my candinacy for the Executive Council with caveat that I cannot promise that I can be sober, conscious, aware of current political climate or aware of who, what, were I am. I also have no idea how this system works, what's possible in it and honestly, I'm completely clueless about everything. What I can promise however is that if nobody expects anything from me, I probably won't dissappoint them!
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Mar 26, 2012 13:48
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Puistokemisti posted:From reading the first post, I thought that the scramble for Policy positions wasn't open yet. Whoops, looks like you were both right. Nevertheless, feel free to announce your intentions for policy maker positions so I can gauge interest, though the actual voting period for the initial positions won't open until the faction vote has ended.
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Mar 26, 2012 14:13
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I'll announce my candidacy for Policy Maker as well, I have no clue how to play this game, but I promise to give it my all and gives us a great adventure!!! Also as Civilian Administrators, do we control colonies when they are created?
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Mar 26, 2012 19:40
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If knowing how to actually play the game isn't a prerequisite for being a Policy Maker, I'm down!
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Mar 26, 2012 19:45
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 Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster, unless the bribe's good enough. I want to be a Policy maker, too, if at all possible.
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Mar 26, 2012 21:00
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I vote for UN and would like to be a naval officer please.
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Mar 26, 2012 21:57
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Just did a rough tally, and these are the results so far: Eurasian Federation: 5 votes United Nations: 10 votes. So if you want to play as the space-commies, then you better get voting!
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Mar 26, 2012 23:52
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Triskelli posted:So if you want to play as the space-commies, then you better get voting! Nonsense, the Space Commies cannot be allowed to triumph, go down to your local recruiting station and enlist for the U.N Peace keepers: 
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Mar 27, 2012 00:35
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All right, the votes are in! You goons have decided to take up the mantle of United Nations. Next up, we have voting for our initial set of Policy Makers. At the top of the United Nations hierarchy is the United Nations Executive Council, a 5-member "Board of Directors" that sets internal and external policy for the United Nations as a whole. They dictate overarching strategic and social goals for the United Nations, and give appropriate directives to the next level of policy makers. They can also remove any subordinate policy maker with a 4-out-of-5 vote. Currently, there are six candidates for the Executive Council: Lord Windy Pistokemisti Jimmy4400nav A RICH WHITE MAN Ynkling Triskelli Goons have until 5pm EST tomorrow to announce their candidacy, following which will be a 48h campaign/voting period. Voters will vote on a slate of five members. I will tally the results and the five candidates with the highest number of votes will be elected. In the meantime, stay tuned for a quick walkthrough of setting up a game in Aurora. That will be followed by a State of the UN update, in which I'll lay out the starting situation and provide some informational content on the game! bgreman fucked around with this message at 05:25 on Mar 28, 2012 |
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Mar 27, 2012 22:38
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I'll throw my hat into the ring for Policy Maker. Next to no idea of how the game works but if Dwarf Fortress is any indication then ignorance of the rules just makes the whole thing even more !!fun!!
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Mar 28, 2012 00:12
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| # ? Apr 23, 2024 17:44 |
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Well, it makes ship building far more interesting if you don't understand how to make them. Nothing like building a missile boat and forgetting to put in the firing controls, or putting in a magazine! (I'm not very good at building missile ships). On a totally unrelated note! A vote for Lord Windy is a vote for lasers and the death star!
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Mar 28, 2012 01:19
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