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 A game set in a very Star Warsish Universe where a small group of Rebels with a secret base attempt to topple an oppressive Imperial government. I will be playing this game against an opponent on Vassal. Some of you may remember a previous Let's Play of the game I ran a while back which I sadly never finished. This time I will be playing as the Rebels. I will make final decisions but anyone who wants to make suggestions can operate as a part of the Concordance Parliament and make suggestions which I will try to follow if they have enough support. If you want to represent the Rebel factions on a specific planet go for it. I realize I have not put a map up but planets will get mentioned. My plan is to try to make it more story-based and less gamey than the last LP. We'll see how it goes. Also plan to include more lore posts, some based on the official game history but a lot made up by myself. ______________________________________________________________________________________________ Secret Rebel Refuge Planet of New Hope, beyond the Borders of the Empire  President Xenocides addresses the Concordance Parliament: Greetings honored delegates. I congratulate you all on your recent election to represent your people in the Concordance Parliament. Many of you are exiles from your homeworlds, fleeing the oppression of the Empire. Some of you were born here, the children of exiles. Our great purpose is to serve as a bastion of freedom against the day we can liberate the worlds from the tyranny of the Empire. We have done this through slowly undermining Imperial institutions and fanning the flames of freedom while spying on and discovering the secrets of the Empire to bring it down. I have dire news that has upset our plan. Lord Anaxim, confidante and most highly ranked advisor to the Emperor, has captured one of our agents. She died under torture administered by the criminal Dr. Sote. Under the effects of the truth drugs and the pain she confessed the existence of New Hope and of the Concordance. Lord Anaxim knows we are out here and has recognized the danger. A mole in the Imperial Capitol captured this message sent out by Anaxim:  Marshall, Generals, you are the most trusted military leaders the Empire has. I have discovered that there is an organized and pervasive plot against Imperial rule. The Emperor has been informed but does not yet appreciate the magnitude of this plot. You are to excuse yourselves from your military duties as soon as possible. Rebel operatives are infiltrating the Empire. You must shore up the loyalty of the Imperial worlds and subvert, capture, or eliminate these operatives. I will oversee the operation and coordinate our military and Intelligence responses. I will assign missions as possible but act on your own recognizance as needed. I have assigned you teams to assist in your efforts. For the EMPIRE!Due to this new threat we must accelerate our plans. I propose we activate our best agents. We must bring the Empire down before they find this world and destroy the last beacon of hope. All in favor? (Chorus of Ayes) The Ayes have it. I will have our agents contacted and begin active operations against the Empire. We will seek out allies, we will expose corruption and Imperial atrocities, we will foment revolt, we will arm the citizens of the Empire, and we will bring it down! ______________________________________________________________________________________________ Military Report Imperial Military Resources: Estimated at around 8 capital ships and around 30 smaller military warships. 1 Star Marine unit, 5 Stormtrooper units, around 20 army units, and around 35 local conscript units. Concordance Military Resources: No warships (capital or smaller), no ground units. Economic Report Imperial Economic Base: 50 planets and 2 moon sized space stations. Rebel Economic Base: 1 Planet (New Hope) ______________________________________________________________________________________________ Characters A lot of the game revolves around the characters you can control. At the start of the game each player organizes a certain number of teams (Rebels 6, Imperials 4) which must have at least two characters each, draws a certain number of characters (14 for the Rebels, 9 for the Imperials), gets a certain number of items (Imperials get 2 total and can assign at most 1 per team, Rebels get 6 and must assign 1 to each team). If any team members start with a starship you get that for free. Every team that does not have one then gets one in a certain hierarchy until each has one. You can get additional characters as the game goes on. Odds are all the non-sovereign characters will eventually show up in every game and a fair number of the sovereigns as well. I went ahead and organized the teams around certain specialties. The main focus is to have a decent pilot for each team, enough muscle to get them out of scrapes, and team members to accomplish the mission. My opponent also organized his teams. Every character has a number of stats which I will go over briefly. STR: Strength, ability to deal damage in personal combat. Done with either blaster pistols (every non-Avsari automatically has one) or plasma swords (Avsari have one). Higher the better. Caps out at around 8 but weapons can raise the value as can other items. You can still attack with a 0 but should not expect much success. END: Endurance, basically maximum hit points. Ranges usually from 4 to 12. Higher the better. INT: Intelligence, used in a lot of missions such as Espionage and Sabotage. Also used to repair personal equipment. Ranges from 1 to 6. Average is 2-3. AGI: Agility, gives a chance to avoid an attack in personal combat if 4 or higher. For every digit higher than 3 you have a 1/6 chance of dodging an attack. Ranges from 1 to 6. Most have 2 to 3. Lower values generally do not matter unless enhanced by an item. CHA: Charisma, used in a lot of missions like propaganda & diplomacy, persuading minor factions, and influencing sovereigns. COU: Courage, used in a lot of daring mission. Believe it goes from 1 to 6. RNK: Rank, used in missions like planting Rebel Cells and Sparking Rebellions. Goes from 1 to 9 (the Emperor). Also determines who commands a team though someone else could be the Mission leader if they are better suited. It also determines how much intel can be extracted via interrogation if they are captured so capturing high rankers is good/bad depending on who is doing the capturing. COM: Ability to command fleets and armies. Only used when attached to a military unit. Gives bonuses. Ranges from NA (cannot command) to 8. NAV: Ability to fly a personal spaceship. Ranges from 0 to 6. 0 cannot fly. A 1 has a chance of crashing every time they land. 4 through 6 get bonuses in combat. Higher numbers also help in plotting hyperspace jumps and fixing damaged personal spaceships. Each character also has a home planet which some missions will allow you a bonus if the mission is done there. A few characters are nobility and get bonuses with missions as well. Personal spaceships also have stats: STR: How well armed the ship is. 0 is not unarmed but is pretty close. END: How much damage the ship can take before being destroyed. CAP: How many characters (main characters and droids and whatever) can ride in the ship. Between 2 and 12 I believe. Rarely need more than 7. MNV: How good the ship is at evading detection when sneaking in and out of planets. CMP: Has a range of Poor, Normal, Good, Outstanding. Poor gives a penalty to hyperjumps, normal is nothing, and good gives a bonus, and outstanding a bigger bonus. Some ships are also 'civilian' which means they have a chance of talking their way out of a detection situation. ______________________________________________________________________________________________ Rebel Teams At the start of the game each player organizes a certain number of teams (Rebels 6, Imperials 4) which must have at least two characters each, draws a certain number of characters (14 for the Rebels, 9 for the Imperials), gets a certain number of items (Imperials get 2 total and can assign at most 1 per team, Rebels get 6 and must assign 1 to each team). If any team members start with a starship you get that for free. Every team that does not have one then gets one in a certain hierarchy until each has one. I went ahead and organized the teams around certain specialties. The main focus is to have a decent pilot for each team, enough muscle to get them out of scrapes, and team members with stats to accomplish missions. Each team starts on a random non-capital planet Scorpion Team Team Scorpion is currently on Mars, near the Imperial capitol of Earth. It is designed primarily to create Rebel Cells and later to foment Rebellion. Since it creates cells of resistance to sting the enemy Scorpion seemed a good name.    Koolet Ison is the ex-President for Life of the planet Elfond and is remembered fondly by most of the people there. He is a member of the Concordance Parliament and Vice President of the Concordance but has had his deputy fill in as he wants to be more active in the Rebellion. He is especially skilled at planting rebel cells and, as an Aquarian, works best in the water. He is skilled at creating Rebel Cell Networks and fomenting rebellion once a planet is in high unrest. He also owns a medical droid designed to hydrate him as needed when he is out of water.   Monk Bulma is a human member of the Avsari order. While trained in combat with the plasma sword her main skill is as a pilot. She brought Master Edwards, the highest raking Rebel Avsari, away from Avsar against the wishes of the Avsari High Council.   Machumen is a Ragnari bodyguard. His loyalty to his first Rebel politician has been transferred to Ison and he swears to keep him safe.  Ison is the star of the team. I am glad I got him in the initial draw. Rebel cells are hard to destroy and getting them out early means more time to use them. Monk Bulma is the best travel pilot in the game with the extra movement step which is good for this team as they are rarely going to stick around in one place for long. She is the only Avsari I drew which is very odd so she gets the Avsari transport. Machumen and the Medical droid are there to keep everyone alive. Archer Team Archer Team is on the Planet Einstein, site of the Minoplisian Minority, a conclave of the Barbarians that sometimes harass the Empire's borders. The team is designed to win over minor factions.    Mahoney heads up the team. She knows a little about everyone and has an 'in' with virtually every faction, particularly the Free Traders.   Lindi is a brilliant psychic. She is an Endobell, a flying bat like creature. She had to flee due to her psychic powers being discovered. She is useful in interrogation through reading thoughts and can see trends in the future.  This team is designed to hit up the minor factions. The Laian dog provides some combat help and Lindi's reroll can be a big deal. Ideally I want to save it for the final mission success roll in case it goes badly. Mahoney also gives me the Hawk of Chiron, one of the best spaceships in the game. Also very well suited for shooting the weak spot on the Moloch planet killer it if ever shows up. Lightning Team Lightning Team is designed for dirty jobs like stealing, sabotage, abductions, rescues, and interrogations.   Prois is a Solarian, a Roswell grey. He is a dirty tricks specialist.    Huat is a cyborg, a group of ostracized humans interested in cybernetic augmentation. Most live on their own world to avoid persecution. He is a representative from his planet to test whether the Concordance is their ally. He is outfitted for covert missions. He is also authorized to use the dangerous mind probe on captured Imperial prisoners.  This team is designed to do dirty jobs though Prois can do Propaganda if nothing more pressing is needed. Huat and the mind probe make this my best interrogation team too if any Imperials are captured. Prois also lets me start with the flying disk, the most expensive spaceship in the game. I am glad to have it. It cost an arm and a leg to buy it last time. It is the best ship at avoiding notice though its armament is terrible. Friendship Team The aptly-named Friendship Team is designed to make friends. It starts on the planet Drasperon.   Lesard Ketres is a famous holovision star who can win almost anyone over.    Selrach Ekud is a former Imperial and Merc. With his sniper rifle he is the best assassin the Rebellion has. He provides muscle to the team.   The canon is a Travisian, a follower of Travis, a faith that has colonized four worlds. He has a calming presence and can assist in bringing Travisian worlds around. His Charisma is not outstanding but his nobility bonus can make up for it on Travisian worlds.  This team is mostly for propaganda. Once I have more characters I will probably spin the Canon off to work with Travisian worlds. Ekud is the muscle and the pilot. The Orbital Lighter is the most garbage ship in the game. It will probably need to be replaced at some point. Nebula Team Nebula Team can do propaganda and research and espionage missions.    Federova is a brilliant doctor who was horrified by the experiments of Sote and his confederates. Proving their existence is a goal of the Concordance.   Onioc is an android created by a human-Solaian team and is skilled in assisting in research and combat. He can also repair himself and other robots.  Federova's high CHA score makes her good at propaganda. Onioc provides muscle. Federova and Onioc together also have an amazing research skill. Onioc can also repair himself and the combat droid if needed. The Sirius 7000's only redeeming value is that it is not as bad as the Orbital Lighter. Tobori Bull Team The Tobori Bull Team is designed to plant Rebel cells.    Mardok is a Drak ex-stormtrooper and previously commanded an entire legion. He is the best military commander in the Concordance.   Bagul is an insectoid Chapine. She is a prankster and a skilled technical genius. This is pretty much what I had left after assigning everyone else. Mardok is hard to use without a military to command but using his Rank for planting cells should work well. Bagul is a good pilot and decent at combat. I think it will be a serviceable team. Overall I am a little annoyed that I do not have a lot of good espionage characters and at the lack of Avsari and high Charisma characters. I am pleased I got every available ship I can get from getting characters. I also appreciate having Mahoney who gives immediate access to the Free Traders. ______________________________________________________________________________________________ Going Forward I plan to go over the Imperial team on Thursday and write that up and I hope we can start the game proper Thursday evening as well. Tomorrow I have to fight Nazis in a tabletop wargame but I will try to get out some kind of a lore post if I have time. Debating Points for Parliament Should Scorpion Team start off by planting teams on Mars? Or perhaps start on Earth (risky!). Another option would be to go to Elfond where Ketres once ruled and use the bonuses that gives to hopefully put down multiple cells. Thoughts? What should Lightning Team get up to? We could really use more resources so a Steal Mission might make sense but those are difficult to pull off. Another option is to send them to try to ferret out Imperial secrets. Not the best team for the mission but they could get the job done. And Archer Team. They need to persuade a faction. Winning over the Free Traders will provide us with some badly needed income and espionage bonuses. The Hyper-mafia would provide the same but we do not know where they are yet. Another option would be to work on the Barbarian Minoplisians. Winning them over has negative diplomatic effects but would earn some ships and troops. Bad part is that we would have to hide them quickly or the Empire will try to wipe them out. The pirates are another money-producing faction but I don't know their location either.
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May 9, 2018 05:14
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The obvious choice for Archer Team is to convince the Free Traders to work with us. We know how to find them right away, they'll get us income and intel, and it will be as easy as it could possibly be with Mahoney working on them. As for Scorpion Team, the fact that they can prime Elfnod for revolt easily seems like a good first step. For Lightning... not sure whether theft or espionage is the best call for them. It depends on what risks we can take... nweismuller fucked around with this message at 05:57 on May 9, 2018 |
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May 9, 2018 05:55
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Good to see this mad game again. Our first rebel cells are going to attract major attention so make them on Mars and then get the hell out of Sol. Remember from last game that Sol will have a lot of ships and troops hanging around waiting for disaster to strike in one sector or another. Giving them something to do is a gamble. Hold off on hardcore espionage until we have the free traders onboard. I think stealing resources is the way to go since they have at least a +3 between them. Getting to the free traders first is a no brainer if I remember correctly. The only downside is that we might miss out on a faction that the Empire can also seduce. I think the only such faction that we know about is the barbarian hordes. Definitely not worth the trouble (before we bring in the pirates). I'll nitpick and say you should split up the battle dog and the psychic when you form another team. Ignoring surprise attacks is too good to waste. Edit: Putting a link here to the previous LP, so I can stop forgetting if the underlined skill only works if that character is the leader or not. https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3733409 habituallyred fucked around with this message at 06:26 on May 10, 2018 |
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May 9, 2018 11:03
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I actually intentionally put the doggie and Lindi in separate team but then switched the dog and the combat droid at the last minute so that Onioc could fix the droid. Of course the dog was on the time then Federova could heal the doggie. I will probably switch them back.
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May 9, 2018 18:18
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Oh hey it's this game. I made a map for this last time, right when the thread was dying, 'cause I found it hard to visualize where stuff was from the little maps. Doesn't show the individual planet names, but it has all the systems.
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May 10, 2018 00:49
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How dare you oppose the Empire! You Rebel scum! All kidding aside, this is another LP I’ll be watching & enjoying. Good luck!
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May 10, 2018 01:15
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Whoo! This game is going again! Awesome. Voting for attempting to get the Free Traders on our side asap, and put some cells on Mars. Those are going to be useful in the long run. Early game is basically (from what I remember) Whacka mole for the Rebels while htey try and build up support before the Empire is annoyed enough to bring down force. Let's try and not get into early game strategic combat with the Empire this time around. Going for Imperial secrets should probably wait until we have a dedicated espionage team or some juicy targets to poke at. Archer team should try and go for the Free Traders. Scorpion team I'm torn on as having early game rebel cells on Mars is nice,but the Empire has a large garrison available and can do whack a mole with them quickly unless they start hidden. OTOH getting mltiple cells setup early in the other system is possibly more useful and easier. I'm.. Going to lean towards getting Rebel cells setup on Elfond as we have a higher chance of getting multiple cells there, and cells sprung early on Mars just risk the Empire getting to suppress them that more quickly given they have substantial forces there. A steal mission is (likely) if it works going to get us 3-5 resources (based on the last game IIRC) and doesn't have a high chance of succeeding. But, early on that's useful to hav ein the bank for repairs, making small craft, or using to generate cash/credits. And the team can get out of any trouble it get sinto. But secrets early on mean that we can find juicy Imperial targets, minor factions, etc which are useful longgame. Not sure. Okay, voting for Elfrond and theft. A dedicated espionage team will do better at secrets and early game resources are hella useful to us.
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May 10, 2018 03:36
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I really liked the last thread and hope this one goes well. Gamey is fine, it was pretty fascinating to see how it worked.
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May 10, 2018 05:55
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A Brief History of the Empire and the Founding of the Concordance by Alex Weber This document is intended to familiarize agents leaving New Hope to work within the Empire who are unfamiliar with the Imperial System. Do not take copies with you on the mission itself. In the year 2450 CE of the Old Earth Calendar the warp drive was discovered. The process behind this discovery is lost in antiquity and the records lost. Most posit that it was a normal technological development. Some posit that the warp drive was developed with the air of a recovered Solarian drive from one of their early visits to Earth. These often tie the acquisition of the drive to the old United States and the Roswell theory. This theory is mostly reserved for the more conspiracy minded in the Empire. Most assume it was developed independently and there are enough key differences to make this the more likely hypothesis. In any case a quick wave of expansion went off with the settlement of nine colonies by the various Earth nation states and then followed a century of stagnation with little interest in continued exploration and expansion. Earth remained dominant politically over the colonies and established the United Planets government. The scant representation and power given to the colonies makes the name of United Planets something of a joke. The nation states of Earth still existed in various forms but the supranational government took over in order to keep control of the colonies. The two settled planets in the Lacaille system (Aurora and Vesperas) began to chafe under the Earth's tight grip over colonial affairs and their stifling of further expansion. The theory was put forward (with some justification) that the rulers of the United Planets were preventing expansion to make sure Earth could dominate the colonies if the number of colonies was kept small. The planetary government formed the Lacaille Republic and declared independence from Earth. The Lacaillan revolt was fairly one-sided. The Lacaille Navy consisted of a few captured patrol ships and some civilian ships converted to military use. They lost the first major battle against the United Planets navy and the remnants tried a strategy of commerce raiding but were largely ineffective. The planets were blockaded and invaded. The invasion took three years against strong ground forces. Neither side was willing to use unconventional weapons and the war dragged on as the United Planets struggled to train and move in enough troops to pacify the planet. Eventually the Lacaille Republic surrendered and were accepted back into the United Planets. To avoid further revolts the United Planets did not impose sanctions though the occupying army was to remain in place and the treaty even acknowledged the Lacaille call for continued expansion as valid. This was not entirely due to empathy for the conquered. On Earth the war resulted in the military usurping a lot of political power. A hawkish faction led by Space Marshall Pantaleon de Armes was the de-facto ruler of Earth with a weak democracy underpinning his control. With the victory won with minimal casualties in the war Pantaleon was a war hero and the people backed him. The United Planets Council worked at undermining Pantaleon and were near success at removing him from office when Pantaleon staged a coup in 3072 CE and seized control of the government to popular acclaim and named himself Pantaleon the First. He dissolved the United Planets and ruled as Emperor. Most of the colonies supported him as he gave greater economic and political freedom to the colonies and broke the stranglehold of the Earth based government. The Emperor was ambitious but not cruel. He wanted to be loved and respected and go down in history as a great leader. The Empire prospered under his leadership and he created an extensive bureaucracy and institutions to benefit the people and himself. He was fair but was brutal to corruption within his regime which made him very popular. The Emperor masterminded the Stellar Constitution, which gave planets the right to self-government under the protection of the Empire in exchange for taxation and allowing the Empire to police violations of the basic liberties the Constitution assured. It also formed the Imperial Military, a joint ground and space service dedicated to protecting the Empire. The Constitution also formed the Stellar Senate, a legislative body with real legislative power. The Congress consisted of one senator from each planet whose voting power was determined by the population of the planet and together they passed laws and set budgets. Under the Emperor a large-scale expansion effort was begun and numerous additional planets were discovered and colonized. Then came first contact (outside of early Solarian visits largely disbelieved before). The biggest surprise was the discovery of the Drak on Draconis IV. Equivalent to a 19th century Earth civilization the Drak were a hermaphroditic reptilian humanoid race. The Emperor demanded their submission to the Empire. The envoy that delivered it was rejected with an offer of friendship. The Emperor, used to absolute power, was incensed. Someone in the government (it is debated to this day whether the Emperor was behind this) 'leaked' the story that the Drak had massacred the diplomatic team and desecrated the bodies. War followed. The technologically inferior Drak fought using ambushes but, despite some notable successes, they were largely unsuccessful against the Imperial Military. Then Lorenz Hubba came along. He was a teenaged fighter in the Lacaillen military during the Civil War from Aurora. He was a fanatic still furious at the old Earth attack on his planet during the Civil War. When the Empire was formed he radicalized even further. He was a brilliant and fled to the Drak to arm them. He was able to speed them in converting their industry to produce combat-capable ships and modern weaponry. Hubba was found and killed. It is not clear who eliminated him. Some say it was an early Adim Agnot assassin, some a special forces team, some that members from his old combat units killed him for treason, and some that the Drak betrayed him. The truth may never be known. Hubba is remembered as an archtypical traitor. Some Concordance historians have tried to recast him as an unsung hero who saw what the Empire would become. I will keep my thoughts on this to myself. The Drak secretly built fighters and a modern army while giving up ground to the Empire. Then, when Imperial victory seemed assured the Drak army struck at the supply bases the Empire had established. Imperial forces were forced to evacuate the planet. The Emperor and the Stellar Congress quickly increased the size of their military buildup and returned with overwhelming force after the Drak had thought they had won. The Drak surrendered. Pantaleon I was stern and unyielding with his enemies but quick to forgive to mend fences once the war is over. As he did with the Lacaillen Revolt he quickly forgave the Drak. They were granted full citizenship, representation in the Stellar Senate, and generous aid to modernize and rebuild the planet. Following the war Pantaleon had over an 80% public approval rating. Expansion continued with the integration of other aliens found. Some peacefully, some by force. When Pantaleon I died his last speech declared there were 22 jewels (one for each planet) in the Emperor's crown. Then his 68 year reign ended at the age of 126. His son succeeded him with the approval of the Stellar Senate. Pantaleon II began an aggressive policy of encouraging integrated alien races to colonize their own worlds. Care was taken to encourage them not to bunch up but encourage them to colonize in different regions of the Empire. This spread the population more evenly and discouraged the formation of homogeneous nationalistic groups that could undermine the Empire. In the Year 3277 in his old age Pantaleon III, with 39 jewels in his crown, declared the year Pax Stellaris, the first year of a new era and instituted a new calendar. Two years later Pantaleon IV authorized the creation of the Avsari Order, a place for those with psychic skills to hone their abilities. Previously these people were feared as mind readers (though none were capable of anything so grand) and dangers. The Avsari trained them to hone their powers and their minds and bodies to use them for the good of the people of the Empire. They were given the icy planet of Avsar as an autonomous refuge outside Imperial control in which to study and train. Now they are heroes of the Empire, agents of justice out to right wrongs with their signature plasma swords. Things began to change in the beginning of the Fifth Century of the new calendar. Pantaleon VII and the VIII began to expand the Imperial hold over the Empire. Pantaleon VII established the ducal system, establishing five dukedoms under himself. One was granted to the Emperor's heir and the others were basically sold to powerful members of the Emperor's court and all systems except for Sol and Avsar were placed under the control of a Duke loyal to the Emperor. This led to the Dukes slowly increasing taxation to keep themselves and their families and supporters in style. Under Pantaleon VIII taxation grew even more oppressive and the military began to be led more and more by sons of the nobility rather than by merit. The demands of the venal courts began to tax the abilities of even the Empire to provide. The Imperial Military grew more brutal in enforcing the peace. Planets that could meet the growing taxation burdens and conscription quotas survived but economically suffered. In some cases the planets protested or simply could not meet the requirements. The Imperial military moved in and toppled the local governments and installed Imperial Viceroys to whip the planets back into line. Corruption increased throughout the system and almost every Imperial institution is now riddled with it as Imperial officials seek to emulate the extensive court trappings of the Emperor's court themselves. Slavery and debauchery are secretly rampant amongst the elite. When Pantaleon IX took the throne it was hoped the system would change. Instead the government has grown even more oppressive. From the reign of Pantaleon VII a group of political freedom fighters and dissidents fled from the Empire to live in freedom. They established a colony on the planet of New Hope sending out agents and observers. Over the century since that exodus the agents of New Hope have secretly led other groups of dissidents from various planets in the Empire to New Hope. In the Year 499 Pax Stellaris the people of New Hope created a new government, the Concordance of Planets. Representatives from the exodus from various worlds represent their planets in the Parliament. The stated goal of the Concordance is to destroy the oppressive Imperial system and spread the Concordance throughout all the Imperial Worlds. The people of the Empire are fed up with the oppression and excessive taxation they face. They want to be free. We just need to give them a reason to believe they can be.
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May 10, 2018 07:13
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Woo! Great writing there Xenocides. And looking forwards to seeing this play out! Had a lot of fun watching the old one when it was going on.
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May 10, 2018 07:54
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Intelligence Report on the Opposition Teams Lord Anaxim has summoned his best military leaders to oppose us. Alpha Team    Report: Field Marshall Totem is the supreme commander of the Imperial Military under the Emperor. Most holders of the rank of Supreme Marshall have been human but Totem has risen to his rank primarily through merit. He likes his creature comforts but is more dedicated then most of the Imperial elite. He is a skilled marksman and a skilled military commander. He led the Battlestar Terra to victory over the barbarian Minoplisians during their last raid into the Empire. He has also put down three revolts. He appears to enjoy the total confidence of the Emperor. Pulling him away from his command duties is a sign of how seriously Anaxim is taking the Concordance.   Report: Franco Giovanelli, scion of Benito Giovanelli, one of the kingpins of the HyperMafia. As the youngest son he was unlikely to take over and he found the family business dull and petty. He became a Star Marine and has seen combat several times. He was under consideration for joining the Imperial Guard when he was pulled into Imperial Security. Anaxim pulled him off normal assignments to work with Totem. It is likely he is being used as an in to make progress with the Hypermafia and it is suspected that he has given the Empire the location of the Hypermafia's central meeting place which we do not have at this time.  Report: The standard high-speed personal transport of the Imperial Elite. Overall Report: It is suspected Alpha Team may attempt to win over the Hyper-Mafia which would give the Imperials an intelligence advantage and additional resources. We cannot counter this move until we find their base. In addition Totem's rank would give him some skill in reorganizing local governments and possibly help in a coup to install more loyal Imperials. ______________________________________________________________________________________________ Beta Team    Report: General Odette Gamelin is a skilled General. After Totem and Vonder she is considered to be the third best military leader in the Empire. She prefers ground combat and has been involved in several campaigns but she is also skilled in space warfare. She is a fencing champion and competed and won in the Stellar Olympics. She was once in love with the Lakandi General Tlaniel who has joined the Empire back when they were at the Academy together. He did not reciprocate those feelings and it is suspected that she is still angry at the rejection.   Report: Tamara Stargazer is the Empire's best spy. She is a skilled seductress, infiltrator, assassin, kidnapper, and saboteur. She has been secretly decorated by the Emperor himself twice for her activities. She single-handedly stopped a Minopisian invasion when she killed the warlord planning the invasion, stopped a biological weapon attack on the Imperial palace, seduced two dons in the Hyper-Mafia and got them to kill each other, and it is rumored she has a second identity as an Avsari (seems unlikely). Overall Report: Beta Team could use Gamelin's rank, int, and command skills to pull off a coup with Stargazer's help or Stargazer can work her magic in a number of fields. This team bears serious watching. ______________________________________________________________________________________________ Gamma Team   Report: General Von Vonder is an elderly military leader who functions as Chief of Staff of the Imperial Military, mostly an administrative position concerned with the dispersal of funds and general fleet and ground force deployments. Vonder has put down several uprisings and, 20 years ago, led the fleet that brought down the Pirate Warlord Denmouth who marauded through the Armes District for over a year. He is an incredibly careful leader and has never been caught off guard. He tries to avoid committing atrocities but this seems to be more of a practical stance rather than a moral one under the logic that an atrocity creates more rebels. He is also a hypochondriac and always has a medical droid with him and has a battery of tests run every day to ensure his health. It is believed that he covet's Anaxim's position as chief advisor to the Emperor when Anaxim retires (unlikely) or dies. Anaxim called him out of his office to serve in this crisis. He may have also sent him away in case Vonder was plotting against him but that seems unlikely.   Nana Summers is a Travisian holovision evangelist who focuses on charity and good works. She has a grandmotherly approach to things and few are willing to disagree. The Travisians are split between a conservative and a liberal faction. The more liberal followers like Canon Tessenn advocate for more openness with other species and questioning reprehensible Imperial policies. The more conservative dominant faction is cautious about alien races and advocates strict obedience to the Empire. Nana is a moderate who embraces alien species and often has them come on her show. She is a staunch supporter of the Empire. It is clear she has little idea why she has been called on this special operation and it appears Anaxim convinced the Emperor to personally ask her to join the team. She seems to see it as a propaganda tour to build support for the Empire but knows little of the Rebellion. She is an old friend of Canon Tesenn's and has met the Emperor several times (he went on her show once). The tabloids have tried to suggest there is an intimate relationship between her and the Emperor but since the Emperor has a harem of slave concubines to keep him company after the death of his wife that seems unlikely. The team will have to hide anything untoward they do from her.   Report: Monk Derek Troyer is the son of an Imperial family that has served the Empire in the democracy on the planet Aurora. His father was the senator from the planet for a time. He came late to the Avsari order and is dedicated to its ideals. He is of the Avsari faction that believes the Avsari serve the Empire and not the people of the Empire. He travels to planets with unrest and campaigns vigorously for loyalty to the Empire. Anaxim requested his help and filled him on the dangers of the Concordance. He brought his Avsari transport and volunteered to help Vonder and Nana damp down Concordance propaganda.  Overall Report: This team will probably focus on propaganda on worlds leaning towards rebellion. Vonder could also use his abilities to start coups. ______________________________________________________________________________________________ Delta Team   Vaovi Shushi is an Endobell freelance private detective. Skilled at ferreting out secrets and interrogating others without bloodshed. Anaxim hired him a few years back and after he discovered a cabal of traitors inside the Senate he was richly rewarded and was put on retainer. He directs the team.   Gatta Baben was a street urchin on Gotica. She survived on the predominantly Drak planet and when she was old enough starting bringing in petty criminals. She excelled at the work and made a living. She joined the Bounty Hunter guild and has brought in a number of criminals including a few Condordance operatives. She custom built her ship, the Renegade, to capture and deliver criminals.  Overall Report: This will probably be the counter-team team. Baben can capture a Rebel and Shushi can interrogate. The Renegade is a good ship but is handicapped by the low capacity. If this team gets new members they cannot take them with them and will have to spin them off into their own team. ______________________________________________________________________________________________ Our agents have their work cut out for them. This is in some ways a bad draw. Three of the four primary military leaders when there is no need for them to command yet. On the other hand they got both characters they need to start with better spaceships (an Avsari and Baben) but like me they only got one Avsari and only Nana and Troyer are good diplomats so the Imperials are suffering a shortage like I am. I also switched the dog and the combat droid back. Thanks habituallyred for catching that. We started the first turn and I will put this in a separate post. Xenocides fucked around with this message at 06:28 on May 13, 2018 |
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May 13, 2018 06:20
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Turn 1 Stellar Events We decided to go with the card scheme from last time and draw two a two a turn instead of one because we find them great fun.   We have received reports that Archon Morgan is privately torn over the recent crackdowns by the Empire.   Basically Sovereigns are characters that appear that run planets. Most are either pro-Imperial or pro-Rebel. While both sides can influence a Sovereign most will only commit to one side and persuasion by the other side mostly involves keeping them neutral. This is one of the relatively rare sovereigns that can go either way. Once they commit they move their planet unrest as well. Archon Morgan also has some pretty impressive stats for converting other Travisian worlds. This could end in a battle. I am planning to send Friendship Team here. Canon Tesenn is nobility on the world which gives him big bonuses in influencing the sovereign and Ketres gives a bonus too. I suspect Nana may show up with her team too. And the second card is:  Holy......okay, the Barbarians no longer exist as a minor faction. They have invaded with double the strength they would if they committed to either side and will join neither side. ______________________________________________________________________________________________ Collected Oral History of the Minoplisian Invasion Lieutenant Arabelle Denison, sensor officer on the Imperial Light Cruiser Dominant: There was no warning. The Dominant was on patrol over the planet Einstein. My main job was IDing ships after they left atmosphere and as they came out of warp and verifying their IDs. Suddenly 14 ships showed up near simultaneously far beyond the legally allowed entry distance. This is odd and set off alarm bells. Only military ships try for formation cohesion during a jump and there were no military ships expected. I infomed Captain Q'heel. He is Ignean and always looks calm in his heat suit. I jumped and reported the contact and he ordered a standard query. There was a simple text reply: "We come to loot and pillage. Bow before Supreme Warlord Torsk of the Minoplisian Warrior tribes." The computer read the reply to the whole bridge and there was a second of silence as we realized they are back. The captain ordered a message sent to Einstein to scramble its fighters and then ordered the ship to begin a full burn to make an emergency escape jump while we launched out own fighters. There was a moment of disbelief that we would run but we quickly realized that our ship did not stand a chance against 14 Minoplisian longships even if there were no upgrades since the last war. The planet quickly sent courier drones to inform the Duck at Lai but it would not be soon enough to help us. The longships moved to cut us off.  We attempted to jump but they had intercepted us and jammed our attempt. Our guns were at low power but we fired everything we had at the two lead longships as our squadron and Einstein's fighters all closed in on the lead longship. The captain hoped the Warlord was on the lead ship and killing him would confuse them and give us a chance to escape. Our deflectors struggled to repel the attacks and we damaged one of the lead ships. We survived the first attack but the engineers were unsure of whether we would be able to jump due to damage to the engines. The captain calmly (how do Igneans stay so calm?) ordered the ship to make the attempt. Flak took out 2 of our 3 squadrons. Staying was suicide. We tried to make another emergency jump but nothing happened. I am not sure whether the engines were damaged too badly or whether they blocked us. We continued firing and one of the Longships was hulled from our fire. Hits ripped into us and I was so busy looking at my board calling out reports that I missed the chaos of the hit that killed half the bridge crew and then a hit knocked out power to the entire bridge. I looked to see the captain was dead. I dragged the unconscious helm officer Bryan who seemed to be alive into an escape pod. I saw a few others doing the same. I climbed in and two others followed and we hit the jettison switch. I looked back and watched the Dominant explode as her hyperjump fuel burned off. The longship we hit hard was burning but I was not sure if the wound was mortal. I prayed it was. I looked for surviving fighters but could not see any. Those rat-faced bastards had upgraded their flak since the last invasion. We managed to guide the escape pod towards the planet and headed for a sparsely populated island. Only landmass we could reasonably get to. Most of Einstein is urbanized but there are a few less developed areas. We crashed down and popped the pod. We had landed not far from a tourist beach resort of all things. We made our way to a hotel there and the people there were all glued to a holovision set. Some were crying. Some in shock. When we walked in in our blood-stained uniforms and asked for a doctor we were swamped with people demanding to know what was going on. One rich tourist offered us a fortune to take him off-world immediately. Guess the poor fool thought we had a ship ourselves. One the holo I saw shots of planetary bombardment. The GDN of Einstein is barely there at all. Why didn't we upgrade it? We knew it was right in the way of the Barbarians.... I watched images of the GDN control building on the main continent burning. We found out there was no military presence on the island and went into hiding. A kind doctor on holiday came and treated Hadley. He recovered. We ditched our uniforms figuring we should avoid attracting attention. I got some civilian comm gear and managed to tap into our military channels. The Dim Bulbs (based on Einstein...well, they thought the name was funny) fought against the invaders but they were outnumbered. Three of the rat-men hordes landed. In the end they tried to get to their transport ships and were defeated and the ships destroyed. The rats started looting the planet. We hid. There was no communication from off-world. Hadley and I paired up. Not out of any real attraction (at least at first) but sexual activity served to make us feel alive after what we had endured. I found myself in charge of the hotel after the resort manager took a boat out and never came back. Never found out what happened to him. I had everyone hide anything of real sentimental value. About a week after the initial landing the ratmen raided the island. They lined everyone up and demanded anything of value. We gave them currency and electronics. They killed one tourist who they found tried to hide currency in his room.They took anything they thought was valuable. and destroyed a lot of what they did not find valuable. They found my comm gear and destroyed it but could not tie it to me. After they left there was talk of taking a boat out to one of the uninhabited islands and hiding there but I nixed the idea as I doubt most of us had the survival skills. We waited for the Empire to come save us.  The Imperial light cruiser actually fought really well and the longships fought badly. One longship was nearly destroyed. The longships bombarded and destroyed the GDN. That image is a little wrong as I had not yet taken it off. The 2nd line ground unit inflicted one hit on the horde unit but was wiped out. That is as far as we have played out the invasion so far. We might play again tomorrow but it depends on how Mother's Day plans end up working for both of us. Fun fact: One of my teams is on Einstein. and will have to run the blockade to get out. Xenocides fucked around with this message at 01:26 on May 23, 2018 |
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May 13, 2018 08:02
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...Boy, that escalated quickly. I mean that got out of hand fast! So if I'm reading that card right, the barbarians are going to keep raping, pillaging, and burning until the Empire blasts them all away. drat. Is, uh...is that a good thing for the Rebels? I'm honestly not sure given the circumstances...
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May 13, 2018 08:20
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Dr. Snark posted:...Boy, that escalated quickly. I mean that got out of hand fast! Well, they spread out until they run out of units. They have to leave a garrison on each world. It all happens in this phase. We just did not have time to keep going. There is a chance that the barbarians could assault the district capitol next. If that falls it could get ugly. I think there is a slight possibility they could push through the capitol and attack Sol but, if they do, I expect they will die. While horrific it is mixed for the Rebel. At the beginning of every turn they are occupied by the Barbarians their unrest shifts up. If it shifts all the way up they go into Rebellion and try to liberate themselves. However when the Empire liberates a world it shifts towards the Empire. The same would be true if the Rebels liberated a world (that is unlikely since the Rebels currently have no military. So if the Empire liberates worlds quickly it could help on unrest. If not, it won't. That does not factor in the Empire needing to replace the lost ships and ground units.
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May 13, 2018 08:31
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Although I can hardly hope for people to suffer under the horrors of a barbarian occupation, I think we have to consider the damage to Imperial military strength and tax take as an opportunity, and people who feel abandoned by the Empire will be easier to guide to self-reliance and taking their own defense in hand. We need the chance to build up our own military force to challenge the might of the Empire.
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May 13, 2018 08:40
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Xenocides posted:Well, they spread out until they run out of units. They have to leave a garrison on each world. It all happens in this phase. We just did not have time to keep going. There is a chance that the barbarians could assault the district capitol next. If that falls it could get ugly. I think there is a slight possibility they could push through the capitol and attack Sol but, if they do, I expect they will die. ...Just out of curiosity (and possibly the mounting horror of the Empire player)...what exactly is in orbit of Sol and defending it from the Barbarians?
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May 13, 2018 08:43
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So much for my patented plan of hiring the barbarians to spread their longships across the galaxy to inspire pirates. I don't suppose Archer team could just hang out and raise funds until this blows over?
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May 13, 2018 08:47
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habituallyred posted:So much for my patented plan of hiring the barbarians to spread their longships across the galaxy to inspire pirates. I don't suppose Archer team could just hang out and raise funds until this blows over? I think in this case it's less "raising funds" and more "looting anything that has an imperial insignia on it."
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May 13, 2018 08:52
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Dr. Snark posted:...Just out of curiosity (and possibly the mounting horror of the Empire player)...what exactly is in orbit of Sol and defending it from the Barbarians? I have no idea. We are playing with hidden fleets. If there is a single ship it has to be displayed but if there are two or more you put a star fleet marker out and put the ships on a pane you opponent can not see. I am guessing there is a battle star and a couple of other ships there. With the base stars ability to reduce the attack of non capital ships attacking it it alone could probably take on 4 or 5 longships on its own plus whatever its fighters could do. More curious about what is around the district capitol. The longships might be able to take out a heavy cruiser which might be there with a sloop or a destroyer or something.
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May 13, 2018 09:11
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habituallyred posted:So much for my patented plan of hiring the barbarians to spread their longships across the galaxy to inspire pirates. I don't suppose Archer team could just hang out and raise funds until this blows over? It would actually not be hard to get off World. Most of the longships will leave and the GDN was destroyed so no global defense network and longships do not have much firepower or any fighters to intercept with. Easier then many Imperial worlds.
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May 13, 2018 09:13
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Given the Rebels have no actual military units to speak of or worlds aligned, the best result is this means the Empire has to shift forcest o deal with them. We're nto exactly in any position we can handle anything ourselves. At best this gives our teams in the area a bit more cover to operate with when it comes to things. But also yay we get some battle early which is fun! And a few dead Imperial ships.
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May 13, 2018 14:23
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Planet under barbarian occupation go into increased unrest every turn(?) because what's the point of taxes if the empire doesn't protect, but if and when Empire military frees them unrest diminishes because that's the point of taxes, also an active military presence that just dealt with barbarians is an amazingly bad situation in which to display rebel sympathies. Have I got it right? What would have happened if one of your teams had convinced space Conan* to join the rebellion, instead of this event coming up? *Space Attila? Space Genghis Khan? Since this is Star Wars inspired, Felicity is clearly Han (her spaceship is blatantly the  ) while is
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May 13, 2018 14:40
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Omobono posted:Planet under barbarian occupation go into increased unrest every turn(?) because what's the point of taxes if the empire doesn't protect, but if and when Empire military frees them unrest diminishes because that's the point of taxes, also an active military presence that just dealt with barbarians is an amazingly bad situation in which to display rebel sympathies. Have I got it right? I think from the last game the Rebels convincing the Barbariansto join meant that several planets in the area got a loyalty bonus to the Empire which solidified their support in several areas. THe Rebels got some ground and space forces which at the time they needed as it gave them some actual forces that could go toe to toe with the Empire, but in the resulting offensive they lost most of their space and ground forces so it wasa wash.
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May 13, 2018 14:55
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Omobono posted:Planet under barbarian occupation go into increased unrest every turn(?) because what's the point of taxes if the empire doesn't protect, but if and when Empire military frees them unrest diminishes because that's the point of taxes, also an active military presence that just dealt with barbarians is an amazingly bad situation in which to display rebel sympathies. Have I got it right? Yeah, we did not get Luke or Obi-Wan equivalents yet. Empire did not get the Emperor’s son who is analogous ways to Vader. There are a couple of characters that are stand ins for Leia. If the Barbarians align before the event the event is ignored. I think they are meant to be a bit like Viking raiders (longships) and a bit like Mongols (hordes) except that they are also disgusting rat men.
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May 13, 2018 18:49
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Turn 1 Stellar Events Continued The Barbarian invasion continued as the Minoplisians jumped to the Draconis system and took Draconis II from a conscript force that fought well and damaged the horde and then moved on to Draconis III, the Drak homeworld. The single destroyer in orbit tried to flee but was destroyed. The second line unit on the planet also tried to flee and made it into space but the longships destroyed its transport. Then the fleet jumped to the Lalande system and landed on PIndi and wiped out the conscript force there. Then the longships moved on Lai, the District Capital. They left a horde and two longships at each of their previous conquests leaving them with six ships carrying two hordes. Here they encountered their first real resistance, the heavy cruiser Sauron backed up by the sloops Pedant and Intercept supported by the Sauron's squadron and two more squadrons from the surface. The Longships split up with one longship each going after the sloops while the other four concentrated fire on the Sauron. The overwhelming numbers made it difficult for the Sauron to try to split its fire to real effect. The captain of the Sauron ordered the squadron to prepare to withdraw if the battle did not go well. The sloops dueled indecisively with their attackers. The Sauron damaged three of the longships with fighter support but also took multiple hits and was in danger of being crippled. One fighter squadron was also destroyed by longship flak.  Realizing that one more hit would cripple the Sauron the captain took the planned withdrawal and made to take the ship out of the system on sublight engines to escape and hopefully join in any counterattack. The fleet narrowly escaped (needed a 5 or less, got a 5). The six remaining longships found a tougher fight against Lai's GDN system, much more developed than those fought previously. One longship was crippled and the GDN did not fall. The longships had to land under fire but skillfully evade and both hordes land on the planet and face the 1st Stormtrooper Legion and a conscript. The Hordes allocate a small hit to the conscript to concentrate firepower on the stormtroopers.  The stormtroopers out flank the barbarians and deliver a hard blow to one horde while the conscripts hit the other. The Stormtroopers take minor casualties. Another round sees nothing decisive. Another round sees the Stormtroopers and the conscripts battered but holding.  Seeing the tide turning the conscripts are ordered to shield the stormtroopers while they flee to their ships. The horde attempts a breakthrough to prevent the escape but bungles the attack. The Stormtroopers make it to their transport and manage an emergency jump and are now lost in space near the system. Back on the planet the conscripts manage one last blow against the Minoplisians before their defeat. The surviving Minoplisians then destroy the GDN on the ground and take minor casualties in the attack. The Minoplisians leave their damaged ships in orbit and a battered horde on the surface and check which star system is closest for their next conquest......Sol. It was a random roll between Earth, Mars, and Ganymede. The barbarians hit Ganymede. The depleted longboats are unable to scratch the GDN and the last horde lands under fire against the conscripts on the planet and wipes them out taking minor damage. They then attack the GDN but are unable to take it out of commission. The ship that landed the troops takes off again. The initial invasion sites:  The capitol system of Sayakama and the Sol system:  On a fun not for me the Sayakama district is up for taxation next turn. Unless they retake Lai they get nothing other then special income. If they do retake Lai then they still will not get taxation from the occupied planets. The district has nine planets and five are occupied. The Empire also cannot send ships wherever they wish due to their movement restrictions. Most likely they will focus on taking Lai and maybe Ganymede back. This turn they get no income but can spend what they already have saved from setup. Next turn they take their income and build up at Lai and try to retake worlds. I figure it will be Turn 3 or 4 before all can be liberated. ______________________________________________________________________________________________ Turn 1 Resources and Builds Imperial Turn No income or upkeep on the first turn. They have 22.5 RP and spend 21. One purchase was a 1st Line unit on Earth and the other was for warships. My guess is either a Starcruiser or a heavy cruiser and a light cruiser. They also spend 1 RP to give their teams money ($1000) leaving them with 0.5 RP. They then put this $1000 into the Bounty Hunter purse. Rebel Turn No income or upkeep for the Rebels either. We have 10 RP and convert 1 RP into $1000 leaving 9 RP. ______________________________________________________________________________________________ Overview I see no way to help the invasion at this time. The Rebels could sabotage the troops on Earth to slow their response but it is unlikely they could do enough to matter. I would target the Star Marines on Earth but it would be risky getting to Earth. One idea I can float is a full-court press on the planet Einstein. Attempt a coup mission there. If it succeeds attempt a propaganda mission there. If that succeeds they are at a +3 and Spark a Rebellion there. Normally this would be occupied but this would draw troops off from the regular conquest of Lai. Since they cannot send anyone before the end of the turn the planet will join the Rebel Concordance. Downside is that an early Concordance planet means the Imperials can do Espionage there to start finding the Rebel Base but the joining of the planet and the shockwave effects from it that will influence other worlds could be worth it. That would be three shockwave effects. I would really love to hit the Drak homeworld with his crescendo but odds of success are very low there. Another option would be to go after the cyborg world of Ercoth, also in the district. While the cyborgs do not have any other planets to shockwave the same system shockwave effects will be concentrated on the nearby planets. I probably could not get good teams together to try for both. Or I can avoid a revolt for now and focus more on long term buildup. Thoughts? Rebel Missions are up next.
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May 15, 2018 04:47
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What are the conditions to get us a battlefleet again? A successful rebellion?
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May 15, 2018 05:10
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TheGreatEvilKing posted:What are the conditions to get us a battlefleet again? A successful rebellion? A Rebellion gives troops and ships whether it succeeds or not. We can build ships and troops at the secret base but getting them in play means putting the base at serious risk. The Rebels can also build units at minor secret bases but it was either build a secret base or fund the teams this turn and I went with funding the teams.
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May 15, 2018 05:16
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'cause that loving rebellion and get this party started, while seeding further cells literally everywhere we can
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May 15, 2018 05:40
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Actually I made an error. Once a planet's tension is high enough you can send force from any of the capitols in the Empire and touching off a rebellion would hit that threshold. It is probably a bad idea as it will accelerate how quickly the Empire can redeploy troops to the District and can possibly use them to fight the barbarians. Going to avoid that for now. Would make more sense to do something like this in another District to draw off troops. I think I am going to focus on seeding cells, propaganda, and getting that Travisian Archon on my side.
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May 15, 2018 06:04
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Yeah, we shouldn't go for massing too early. WE want targets of opportunity - not to make ourself a target of opportunity. We want to increase tension, try and get cells setup, and work at expanding. Now is not the time to get into combat. Alwo wow barbarians. Occupation of nearly half a sector in first turn. Yeah, we don't want to give the Empire room to counter them. Let us take advantage but only if it gives us minimal exposure as ow. wedgekree fucked around with this message at 17:41 on May 15, 2018 |
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May 15, 2018 14:30
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Hit the Empire where they aren't. The Imperials and the barbarians will be very busy with the Sayakama sector. So we'll mess around everywhere else. Zero in on the free traders. Plant cells on secret objective planets, really go nuts.
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May 19, 2018 02:27
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habituallyred posted:Hit the Empire where they aren't. The Imperials and the barbarians will be very busy with the Sayakama sector. So we'll mess around everywhere else. Zero in on the free traders. Plant cells on secret objective planets, really go nuts. Yeah, agree there. Particularly where we have a few turns where the Empire has a real sucky ability to transfer forces about from sector sector andmost of their armed forces will be pinned. We want to not necessarily cause damage but get as much infrastructure as we can for later - espionage, plant cells, get the free traders.. Heck, if we can maybe try and go for an alliance with the pirates early. Also can barbarian units repair or not or all damage they take is 'permanent'? wedgekree fucked around with this message at 03:58 on May 19, 2018 |
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May 19, 2018 03:50
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Turn 1 Rebel Missions ______________________________________________________________________________________________ Scorpion Team Mission: Plant Rebel Cell on Mars Team started on Mars so no need to travel. Team gets $300 from the purse. Ison will lead. For those who were not in the last thread each mission has a preliminary step where you may have something good or bad happen (roll d100) including new items and new characters. Then you have six action steps. If your mission is not on the planet you are on you will need at least one to fly there. There are also a new null type actions like healing your team or fixing equipment that take a step. Once you are at the location the mission is targeted on you start collecting FASC each step which help with the final mission roll die. You also roll a d100 and lots of things can happen. Preliminary Action Step Rolled Sovereign recalled, if you have a non-dethroned sovereign on the team you have to take them home before going on the mission due to some pressing business. We do not so ignored. 1st Action Step Possible Bounty Hunter attack. For every $1000 in the Bounty hunter purse there is a 10% chance of a bounty hunter attack. For every step the bounty hunters are negative in alignment (i.e. towards the Empire) they get an additional 10% chance. They need a 3 or less on a d10. d10 = 5, no attack. FASC 1 2nd Action Step Special Forces Assistance  Just got a coded message from command. They are setting up a distraction.(An explosion in the distance)  The GDN control center. The Imperials should be distracted for a while.GDN took 2 hits out of 4. Unfortunate. If they had taken 4 or more it would have been eliminated and had to have been rebuilt. As it is the distraction allows the team to repeat the step they are on. FASC 2 2nd Action Step Take 2 A citizen spots Ison in the streets and makes a call to Imperial Intelligence. Team is detected. Detection means the Imperials can search for the team until they lose detection. FASC 3 3rd Action Step Attempts to set up the new Rebel cell run into a snag with an incompetent would-be rebel. -1 to FASC. FASC 4 - 1 4th Action Step A patrol of 5 conscripts finds the team but Machumen spots them in pursuit and sets up an ambush. Bulma nearly takes a hit from a blaster shot but she dodges and wounds two of the attackers and Machumen and Ison take out one each. Two more conscripts are wiped out Machumen and Ison and Bulma wounds the lone survivor. The team concentrates their attacks and finishes off the last one and the team escapes. FASC 5 - 1 5th Action Step Monster. Each planet has a monster that is revealed the first time a monster is encountered. While travelling through the outback of Mars the team is attacked by a Diona, a bird of prey that automatically gets surprise. It is pretty weak with a STR of 2 and an END of 4.  Machumen and Ison are both scratched by its claws but both put shots into it and Bulma's plasma sword kills it.  You would think a terraformed planet wouldn't have pests like that. The Diona was found on a survey mission outside the Empire. Someone brought some to Mars to tame and they got out.FASC 6 - 1 6th Action Step A citizen spots the Diona corpse and a hunting expedition occurs to cull their numbers. No more monster attacks on this mission. These always seem to happen on the last step. FASC 7 - 1 Final Step At the end of the Mission you sometimes modify the base FASC and then add modifiers based on the team and the mission target.  FASC doubled to 14 - 1 for modifier + 5 for Ison's rank - 2 for unrest on Mars + 1 for Natural Environment + 3 for $300 in bribes = 20. Need a 20 or less to succeed (except a 20 is bad). d20 = 19, one cell placed. Was hoping for a 10 or less which would give 2 cells. A natural 1 would have given 3 cells.  Team took hits but naturally heal one at the beginning of the Missions phase so no problem. ______________________________________________________________________________________________ Archer Team Mission: Persuade the Free Trader's Union on Drasperon to support the Rebellion Team is given $200. Mahoney is team leader. Preliminary Action Step Team gains an item. Mahoney acquires a vial of Grimorean healing draught from a friendly contact.  1st Action Step Team takes off from Einstein. The GDN was destroyed by the Horde but the crippled Longship in orbit picks up the fleeing ship and opens fire but Mahoney evades in her impressive ship. The team hyperjumps to Drasperon and due to low tension on the planet the ship is not searched for and the ship lands. Mahoney moves to make contact with the Free Traders. FASC 0 2nd Action Step A contact is found quickly who can set up a meeting sooner than expected. Skip roll next step. FASC 1 3rd Action Step Roll skipped FASC 2 4th Action Step Sympathetic representatives in the Free Trader Union begin lobbying on behalf of the Rebellion. Repeat step. FASC 3 4th Action Step Take 2 Imperial informant recognizes Mahoney and reports to the Imperials. Team is detected. FASC 4 5th Action Step Possible Bounty Hunters, need a 3 or less on d10. d10 = 4. No attack. FASC 5 6th Action Step Imperial Intelligence, acting on the received sighting, begin a search for the team. Fortunately with only a conscript group odds of success are very low. Need a 1 on a d10. d10 = 6 FASC 6 Final Step  FASC 6 doubled to 12 + 1 for Mahoney's CHA + 6 for Mahoney's special + 2 for $200 in gifts (Imperial patrol routes) = 19 d20 = 17  (Waves hand) You want to help us out.Lindi uses a reroll to try for a better result. d20 = 2 The faction moves 2 steps from 0 (neutral) to +2.  The Free Traders agree to provide intelligence and donations to the Rebellion. We get a +1 to all Espionage missions for each point of support and 1 RP for every two levels of support so +2 and 1 RP a turn. Better then regular default income right now which was 0 RP.  Not much but it is a start. Maybe this Rebellion will have a prayer of success.______________________________________________________________________________________________ Lightning Team Mission: Steal Imperial Resources on Aquaria Team is given no money. Prois will lead the team. Aquaria because they are already there. No money because it does not help on this mission.  Here is the plan. We will acquire access to the secured launch pad by stealing a keycard, acquire Imperial uniforms to wear, hack the GDNs computers to authorize an early launch and confuse their tracking, break into the shuttle carrying the rare seabed minerals, blast into orbit, rendevous with a Concordance transport to pick up the haul, and then jettison in the escape pod and land on the planet to plan further heists. We are going to die aren't we?Preliminary Action Step Rebel High Command assigns a defected Imperial shuttle pilot to assist. A civilian joins the team to help with the deception. If he is still with the team at the end of the mission they get a +2. 1st Action Step The team realizes there are no Solarian Imperial uniforms available on the Black Market. Skip FASC next round. FASC 1 2nd Action Step Jailbreak, no effect. FASC 1 3rd Action Step Lose detection (no effect) FASC 2 4th Action Step While making contact with a forger who can make the keycard 3 civilians decide to take out the Cyborg freak (Huat). Prois creates a distraction and the civilians are confused (surprised). Prois trips one and Huats knocks the other two unconscious. Then both attack the last one and take him out of the fight. The meeting goes ahead. FASC 3 5th Action Step The meeting is very successful and they get schematics for the starport in addition to the keycard. Repeat this step. FASC 4 5th Action Step Take 2 Huat is recognized from a most wanted list. Team is detected. FASC 5 6th Action Step 8 civilian friends of those beat up before show up and attack the team. Prois takes 2 hits from a club and Huat is punched for 1 hit. They deal a few hits back and flee. Normally the penalty for fleeing is being detected but since they are already detected this does not matter. FASC 6 Final Step  FASC = 6 + 2 for Dram's special + 1 for Huat's special = 9 d20 = 11, within two of success so partial success. Team gains 0.5 RP for the Rebels. Oddly that is exactly what the Imperials have so they lose it and the Rebels gain it. Shame the Imperials caught us on lift-off and shot down the shuttle. We got nothing. Actually I put a bit of the haul in my backpack before we had to jettison. I could push my lips to yours in that mating ritual you humans seem to like so much in gratitude. Uhhhh....no.______________________________________________________________________________________________ Nebula Team Mission: Propaganda on Umbra Team is given $100 and Federova will lead the team. Preliminary Action Step New main character is activated and immediately joins the team.   Lien Glon, the senator of Karibden is assigned to join the team. Oh hell yes. The only sad part of this turn of events is that Glon cannot immediately be put in charge of the team. Glon is probably the best influence character on the Rebel side (and generally). 1st Action Step Team lifts off from Ignis II and plots a course through the wormhole to Umbra.   Tension is so low that the ships at the wormholes and the GDN on Umbra are not allowed to try to track the ship. The team arrives on Umbra. FASC 0 2nd Action Step The propaganda begins. 3 pro-Imperials find the message offensive and attack.  Danger! Danger Federova!Shocked the dog can talk the team gets the drop on the attackers. Onioc punches one and the dog bites another on the leg making him flee. The dog takes a hit but they manage to drive the last of them away. FASC 1 3rd Action Step The Travisians seem unimpressed by the idea of treason. -2 to FASC. FASC 2 - 2 4th Action Step Rebel Intelligence has a mole in Imperial Intelligence on Umbra and blocks all attempts to shut down the mission. FASC 3 - 2 5th Action Step The Travisians again attack the team, six civilians. Glon takes a hit and Federova takes 3, badly injuring her. Onioc takes 2 hits and the dog takes another hit. Glon and Onioc take a civilian out and two more are wounded. The team forms a cordon around Federova and continues the fight. Onioc takes another hit but takes out two attackers. The dog takes out another and Glon takes out the last one. Federova's STR and COM are halved and loses an AGI and a NAV. Not a big deal except it is hard to fix this without a healer and she is the team healer. FASC 4 - 2 6th Action Step Skip next action step (no effect). FASC 5 - 2 Final Step  FASC = 5 doubled to 10 - 2 for FASC modifier + 3 for Federova's CHA + 2 for team members with high CHA - 3 for unrest - 1 for sovereign - 1 for not having a Travisian + 1 for $100 in bribes = 9 d20 = 3 Planet shifts one towards the Rebels from -3 to -2. Rough mission but squeezed out a minor success in the end. ______________________________________________________________________________________________ Friendship Team Mission: Influence Sovereign Archon Morgan on Umbra The team is given the last $400 available. Ketres is put in charge. Preliminary Action Step Gain a free action. The team boards the ship and heads for Umbra. Amazingly this cheap piece of garbage ship makes it in one jump. I expected it to take two actions. Ship lands on Umbra. 1st Action Step Tesenn finds his friend is a top aide to the Archon. +2 to FASC. FASC 1 + 2 2nd Action Step Monster. An ice lynx attacks the team.  The Lynx misses and Ekud kills the beastie in one blow. FASC 2 + 2 3rd Action Step The Lynx's mate attacks. All members of the team take 2 hits each but bring down the lynx.  I don't need this many catskin rugs.FASC 3 + 2 4th Action Step A local Travisian religious day of contemplation calms the citizenry. No civilian attacks. Useless as the Canon gives that ability anyways. FASC 4 + 2 5th Action Step The Lynxes go into hibernation. No more Lynx attacks. This actually makes me feel better. FASC 5 + 2 6th Action Step Spaceship fixed (no effect) FASC 6 + 2 Final Step  FASC 6 doubled to 12 + 2 for FASC modifier + 3 for Ketres CHA - 1 for sovereign commitment - 2 for planet unrest + 1 for Ketres special + 2 for $400 in bribes = 17 d20 = 4 Archon Mogan is impressed moves from -1 in favor of the Empire to +1 in favor of the Rebels.  Your evidence is persuasive. I will consider helping you and will tamp down on Imperial support until there is real reform. I am so smooth. ______________________________________________________________________________________________ Tobori Bull Team Mission: Plant Rebel Cell on Neogea I picked Neogea because it is Mardok's homeworld giving him a bonus and is a valuable world and has the Adim Agnot assassing base on it though I do not officially know that so cells could find it.  I will rally my people for the war ahead.Preliminary Action Step Mardok is required at home for the funeral rites for his father. If he does not spend one step there he takes stat penalties and gives a FASC penalty. Fortunately we are going there anyways. If he does go I get a Mulligan card meaning I can reroll a die at any time. 1st Action Step Ship arrives at Neogea without incident. FASC 0 2nd Action Step Mardok attends funeral. Get mulligan card. FASC 0 3rd Action Step Mission crisis. Locals demand an explanation for Mardok turning on the Empire. Mardok must roll mission critical attribute (RNK) or less or fail the mission on a d6 with a 6 always failing. d6 = 3. Success. +2 modifier to FASC. FASC 1 + 2 4th Action Step One of those demanding the explanation was not convinced and report the team's presence to the Empire. Team is detected. FASC 2 + 2 5th Action Step Rebel Intelligence shuts down Imperial plans to shut down the mission. FASC 3 + 2 6th Action Step Mission crisis ignored because it can only happen once a mission. FASC 4 + 2 Final Step FASC 4 doubled to 8 + 2 FASC modifier + 4 Mardok's RNK - 1 planet unrest + 1 planet size + 2 Mardok's home + 1 City environment = 17 d20 = 7 Two rebel cells placed on the planet.  ______________________________________________________________________________________________ No outright failures so that went pretty well. I am winning the fight for the Archon and the Imperial teams do not have the characters they need to hit back hard and I expect some (one or two) of them to head to Earth to lead battle groups against the Barbarians. Probably will not have time together to do the Imperial Missions until Sunday or next week. I am planning to do another lore post soon though. I can't decide between a rundown of the species of the Empire or an overview of the Political system of the Empire. Preferences for which to do first? Xenocides fucked around with this message at 18:10 on May 19, 2018 |
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May 19, 2018 05:26
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I'd be interested in a rundown of the political setup of the Empire. See what it is we're trying to take down.
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May 19, 2018 05:34
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Looking for the political setup of the empire. That'd be interesting to see how we can take it apart at the seams. Also not a.. Bad turn for missions. No botches, no losses, and while not a great number of successes, some early leadins that could help later on. And nothing to imediately plant a targeton our forces.
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May 19, 2018 07:34
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Free Traders shifted to the Empire? you sure that isn't a typo?
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May 19, 2018 16:57
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Grognan posted:Free Traders shifted to the Empire? you sure that isn't a typo? Yeah, that was a typo. Fixed.
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May 19, 2018 18:11
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Imperial Government A brief by Lien Glon, senator of Karibden To tear down an institution you first have to understand it. The Empire has strengths to be countered and weaknesses to exploit. In this brief I will discuss the structure of the Empire in a structural sense so that you can understand what you are up against. The Emperor The Emperor is the supreme executive authority in the Empire and has de facto legislative control. The Emperor can elevate families and individuals to the nobility, has control over the Imperial military, and can authorize expenditures without any real oversight. The Emperor is the Head of State and the Head of Government for the Empire. The only legal limits on the Emperor’s power are the limits imposed by the Stellar Constitution and the Veto of the Stellar Congress. The former has been abused in the reigns of the last three emperors and the latter has not been exercised for over two centuries now. The Imperial office is hereditary and is currently held by Pantaleon IX. The current Emperor is an evil man. While not stupid or ineffective he sees the Empire as an extension of himself and will take morally abhorrent actions and perpetuate atrocities if it will solidify Imperial rule. He has violated the Constitution’s guarantees of individual rights and has disbanded troublesome planetary governments who spoke out against his decisions. The current heir to the Empire is the Emperor’s son, Master Pantaleon of the Avsari Order who would become Pantaleon X. The Emperor also has an infant son, Napoleon, who would inherit if his father and brother were killed which would establish a regency (probably led by Anaxim). The Emperor’s wife (though not any concubines) is called the Empress but has only the power her husband allows her. No woman has ever inherited the Imperial office and, due to genetic engineering of the Emperor’s children, all heirs are male. Pantaleon IX’s wife died last year. Stellar Congress Generally referred to as the Senate the Congress is, in theory, a check on the Emperor’s power. Each planet in the Empire selects one senator to represent them in the Senate. Each planet can determine how they want to select their senator. A senator’s voting power is determined by the population of the planet represented. A proposal generally requires a majority power vote to pass. The Senate writes the Imperial budget but it has become routine to allocate a large portion of the budget to “Imperial discretionary funds”. In practice the Emperor can do what he wills. They can also pass laws and modify taxation. All proposals passed by the Senate become law when the Emperor approves or does not respond for a full Earth week. The Emperor can also veto a budget or proposal passed by the Senate. In theory the Senate can override an Imperial veto with a 75% vote but this is functionally almost impossible as the Emperor controls about 20% of the Senate directly or indirectly and his dukes control another 10% through governments directly led by appointees who also select the planet’s senator. The Senate can also theoretically veto an Imperial act or decree with a 66% vote but this has not happened for over two centuries. I am technically still a member of the Senate and I can tell you that while winning support in the Senate could weaken the Empire it will not topple it. The Senate does not have the power to bring the Emperor to heel. If the Senate were to defy the Emperor publicly the Emperor would have little trouble disbanding it thought the fallout would weaken Imperial support. This is most likely the best case scenario for the Rebellion as it would remove the veneer of representation from the Empire. Currently about 10% of the Senate’s votes sympathize with Rebellion. Another 50% are mild Imperial supporters or neutrals but are amenable to possible reforms. The rest are staunch Imperial loyalists. The Emperor often has unpopular laws and tax bills presented by his stooges in the Senate to prevent acrimony towards his person. The debates of the Senate are good political theater for political discussion junkies. There are no real parties in the Senate but there are factions. In practice smaller worlds with less voting power agree to support legislation favored by the more powerful planets in exchange for help for their worlds. Many weaker senators are essentially patronage subordinates of a more powerful senator. Imperial Judiciary The Imperial courts generally handle only matters of interplanetary law (such as one planet suing another) and crimes against the Empire as a whole. Most other disputes are left to local planetary courts to judge. In theory any case involving the fundamental rights assured by the Stellar Constitution can be appealed to the Imperial courts but most cases are not reviewed. All judges are appointed by the Emperor and the Emperor has the right to intervene in any case and make a ruling himself. Recent case law gives the Emperor and his Dukes sovereign immunity from being tried by any court. The Dukes The Empire is divided into six districts. The Central District, consisting only of the Sol system, is controlled directly by the Emperor. The Armes District is ruled by the current heir. The other four are administered by Dukes (all but one of them are human). The Dukes serve at the Emperor’s pleasure and can be removed by him. They administer Imperial control in their district. They lead the military, discipline rebellious worlds, and oversee the Imperial bureaucracy in their district. The Dukes compete for the Emperor’s favor. Some are hands on and others appoint others to run the district while they focus on court life or their own pleasure. Master Pantaleon usually leaves the running of the Armes district to subordinates to focus on Imperial responsibilities and his Avsari training. All live under the threat of being removed if things go poorly. All are almost fanatically pro-Imperial. Imperial Bureaucracy The Imperial system is riddled with agencies reponsible for overseeing various aspects of the Empire. Bureaucracies exist for tax collection, conscription, trade, interstellar safety regulations, agricultural distribution, intelligence, etc. Most are riddled with venal officials and bribery is often a second income for these dedicated public servants. Imperial Aristocracy The Emperor has a collection of Imperial titles he bestows in those who serve him faithfully. These and some of the wealthy untitled form the families that provide the Empire with most of its leadership. They serve as officers in the military and lead elements of the bureaucracy. They compete for Viceroy positions and senatorial appointments. Many work in the corporations that make up the Commerce Federation. Most are human but some alien families have reached this status. The competition for appointments is fierce and campaigns to discredit each other are common. Some even hire Adim Agnot assassins to dispense with their enemies. This group gluts itself on wealth and tests the ability of even the current high taxation of the Empire to meet their competition for the most extravagant lifestyles. Many are also involved in even darker activities that they try to conceal. Slavery is practiced for everything from sex slavery to demeaning labor to forced gladiatorial games for the amusement of these jaded hedonists. I will write up a piece on the variety of planetary governments soon. Should also have a new game update ready in the next few days too. Xenocides fucked around with this message at 22:20 on May 22, 2018 |
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May 21, 2018 17:39
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Nice writeup! Great job of taking the stuff from the game and enhancing it!
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May 21, 2018 18:47
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The Emperor directly controls 30% of the Senate... are that many planets really governed by Imperial Viceroys? E: Also interesting that the 45% of the Senate described as fanatically pro-Imperial precisely corresponds to the 45% described as directly controlled by the Emperor and the Dukes. I suspect this is likely not coincidence. nweismuller fucked around with this message at 17:44 on May 22, 2018 |
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May 22, 2018 02:53
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