...and baron Gurati arrives on his throne world. Having had first dibs, eh picked the "poorest" corner of the sector.

The Imperial Sages report:

House Gurati
Homeworld: Jerstertia III
Income: 5
House units: Anthrosynthetic Berserkers, Cyborg-Commandos

Treasury
12 Solats

Allies
Emporex
   2 Imperial Centurions & Diplomacy =1
Colonial Council
   1 Colonial Ranger & Diplomacy = 1
Discordian Heretics
   4 Heretics
Imperial Army
   3 Imperial Shock Troops

Nobles
1. Baron Andorus Gurati
2. Borveo Gurati
3. Castile Gurati

Troops
3 x House Troops
2 x Anthrosynthetic Berserkers
1 x Nuclear Arsenal
2 x Jumpships
This message was last edited by the GM at 10:01, Wed 12 Mar 2008.

well, the new ad is out. If nobody joins, I'll take another side and we can start.

The Kadesh sent their envoy to the sector. Their base world will be in the sector southwest. The imperial sages await news of their force composition.

The Imperial Sages report:

House Kadesh
Homeworld: Holy Algeri
Income: 5
House Soldiers: Kadesh Fanatics, Kadesh Warrior Priests

Treasury
13 Solats

Allies (included in all statistics)
Imperial Secret Police (2 Imperial Death squads and Assassination = 1)
Imperial Navy (3 Jumpships)
5th Sector Rebels (3 Rebels and Sabotage = 1)
Imperial Aristocracy (Recruit Noble +1)

Nobles
1. Countess Varlia Kadesh
2. Priest Captain Gerlien
3. Priestess Captain Sayla

Recruit (2d6)
Sabotage 1/turn
Assassination 1/turn

Troops
3x House Troops (2, 1; +2 defend)
2x Kadesh Warrior Priests (5, 2; psychic)
3x Rebels (4, 2; FS when attacking, +1 vs Imperials)
2x Imperial Death Squads (4, 1; +1 and FS when attacking)
1x Nuclear Arsenal
5x Jumpships

Baron Gurati may make the first move this round without a contested roll, should he wish.

There were three rules questions I had for the GM which may interest you, Baron:

(1) Can jumpships with units can fight each other in space?  Can jumpships be casualty choices when stationed on a planet?  If a jumpship with no people in it is attacked by one with people, does it automatically lose?  (Of course, sacrificed units and nukes would not apply since they only last one round.)

(2) You can only build on planets the type of unit it indicates and not your personal house units?

(3) Jumpships can only be built on certain planets and never on homeworlds?

Yours,
%Countess Varlia Kadesh%

This is my interpretation of the rules. We might change some of them later or for other games, but for the first one I'll try to stick to the game rules as originally written.

Can jumpships with units fight each other in space?

- No.

Can jumpships be casualty choices when stationed on a planet?

- While the rules seem to imply that they can only be destroyed by nukes, they also say that the defender chooses casualties. I'll go with the latter (represents jumpships caught while landed on a planet)

If a jumpship with no people in it is attacked by one with people, does it automatically lose?  (Of course, sacrificed units and nukes would not apply since they only last one round.)

- Jumpships do not attack eachother.

(2) You can only build on planets the type of unit it indicates and not your personal house units?

Yes. Personal house units, house guards and damper fields are built only on the House homeworld.

(3) Jumpships can only be built on certain planets and never on homeworlds?

Yes. There are allies which give you control of jumpships, too.
This message was last edited by the GM at 07:09, Thu 20 Mar 2008.

Oh, and you are free to post your orders in the Map thread, as private lines to me.

So, is it just we two ... or we three?

Also:


does this mean I have:
2 additional Diplmatic Actions each round
3 additional Imperial Shock Troops
4 additional Heretics
1 additional Colonial Rangers

and, what are Heretics and Colonial Rangers?

just the two of you.

The units gained from allied factions deploy at faction homeworld. However, these units might change hands later through Intrigue.

Also correct is that some allied factions add additional diplomatic actions. (Specific actions - so, Baron Gurati gains two free uses of * Diplomacy: Take control of target World that has no enemy armies on it. ) It's all in the rules. Units from the allied factions can be purchased and are deployed on the faction Homeworld.

All special units are listed in the rules. Fluff-wise, Discordian heretics are the opposition of the TechnoPope (who heads the Church of Mankind), and the Colonial Rangers are the supermen who keep small scale peace in the frontier worlds (like marshals in the Wild West movies).

Also, you can buy your allies' units at your homeworld- a significant matter of importance!  However, the more of them you buy, the more vulnerable you are to intrigue!

Correct :)

I outlined the orders format in the rules redux thread, if you are unsure about anything, ask.

there is room for two more players, for later on.

All my noble actions failed!  How can this be!?

Alas... you are lucky, Baron Gurati!

Lol. Okay, for each noble action you should write:

[who][where][what][roll]

e.g.

Duke of Fnordia (A1): Diplomacy - Eden (E6). Rolled 1

so I get to use the spectacular failures as backdrop to some RPG set in this conflict :)

Some updates put in Character description and Map.

PM:

Since I got a higher initiative, I will now make everything public... This shadow of war makes things interesting.

actually, in the original rules there is no fog of war. But since we want to make it interesting, each player will have only a vague idea of the opponent's units.

rules clarification - noble action:

* Govern: Income of world + 1D6-1D6; Automatic success, minimum +1

so even if you manage to roll a negative number or 0, you still get +1 megacredit.

Also, to make things easier to me, always list all your armies and where they are :)

Also, nobles who move or fight, can't use diplomatic actions that turn.

Also, allies give additional special actions for free. use them :)
This message was last edited by the GM at 08:30, Fri 21 Mar 2008.

next turn is posted. :) I'll try to come up with a nicer way to represent the map.

I keep the positions of my units noted under character description.  Would you prefer it in the map thread?

In the map thread please.

Dear Baron Gurati,

I have noticed that you have taken some interest in this sector of space.  I wish to inform you that we have already received a pending royal charter under Code &8-Sigma-3.  Indeed, I daresay the royals themselves and especially the Technopope support the holy crusade of House Kadesh to help the heathens.  While I'm sure House Gurati would like to help, I'll politely take this opportunity to ask you to find another sector of space.

Thank you for your interest,
A lack of cooperation may result in unfortunate consequences,
House Kadesh is not responsible for the understandable fanaticism of third parties.

With universal love,
Countess Kadesh.

I'm going to change my move.

please do ... but please remember that "Crush the Gurati" is a military action, not a Noble Action.

Funny!  I was just RPing the message.  Of course you can respond however you want!

(Darn, I just realized how terribly I played last round.)

Hey, GM Void, how will this next turn work if we have combat?  I mean, it's hard to declare battles if we don't know who moves first and what the result of THOSE combats are.  Or are we going to all move at once and then combat are done and those who have higher initiative count as the aggressor in all battles?

Every war is a gamble :)

as outlined in the  rules thread, your initiative score will determine when your units move. You might use * Strategic Planning: Automatic success. +1 or -1 to Initiative roll next turn. as a noble action to be fairly sure that yor turn will come before or after the opponent. Then again, so can he.

As for taking losses, you should include a priority number for each of the armies within a group, e.g.

1 kadesh warrior priests (2), 2 Imperial Death Squads (1), 3 Robot Death Machines (3)

The army with the lowest priority number will be sacrificed first. So in the example, the first two damage points will each destroy one death squad, the third will destroy the priests, and the final three will each take one death machine.

If the priority is not set, I'll decide. who gets hit. I also do all the rolls for combat and so on.

You just give orders, and... well, the sector is a big place, and it takes a long time to pass messages from one spot to the next. All movement for one side is simultaneous, then all movement for the other side.

This also keeps the game from slowing.
This message was last edited by the GM at 08:29, Sun 23 Mar 2008.

I just wanted to be sure that you had no problem with us ordering troops to move that no longer exist.  The strategy one would have could be vastly different, after all.

well, real generals often ended up ordering troops who no longer existed too. :)

Okay, I had to rewrite my mind a bit to get over some arcane bias about playing in such a way, but I'm cool with the experiment now :).  I'll be considering strategy and should have my turn finished tomorrow.

I hope that you both had a happy bunnyfest :)

now, back to the game. I hope the baron is with us as well?

Was that too vague, Sir Void?  I can give concrete commands.

Btw, I was thinking of writing a program so players can more easily play it on their computers.  Any thoughts before I embark on the project?

I wrote one in Delphi already, but right now my computer is out of commission :)

Also, you can't give decision trees in the commands, since the entire package is considered to be "sent" to the various units without knowing if you have won strategic initiative or not. I like this level of uncertainty more than the IGO-UGO system, and this game is the trying grounds for it.

Oh, if the Baron does not post his move till friday evening my time, I'll move for him.

Lucky, then, that I got in on time.

Works been running me deep this week ... sorry if it caused any tension.

nope, no tension :) I figured RL stuff had taken its toll.

I probably need to rewrite AGAIN!

too late for a rewrite. I am already writing the move.

:)

I like the way things develop, full of twists and turns. I havent rolled the battles yet tho.

Oh well, I did rewrite it just now in case you want it :).

P.s. I know I lost big this turn either way.

the imperial scribes report...

two more noble houses appear to have sent their representatives to the sector.

Howdy all!  I'm new to the game, so it may take me a round or two to learn the ropes, but I should pick it up quickly.  A quick question about dice rolling:

It looks like all the rolls are public, even those that might influence decisions (like init).  Are we doing anything to keep someone from waiting until the other players have rolled, and then using their results to plan your move?

Ah, I did not understand that nobles added psychic dice.  That might have been a useful thing to know and I would have added them to my attack.  I thought they merely gave +1, FS.  With psychic, they are much more devastating. Also, where did my jumpships that retreated end up (or was that just fluff for they all died)?

all moves are simultaneously posted. You can't really know if the other player hasn't spent a few strategic planning actions and that 2 he rolled isn't in fact a 6 for initiative. It doesn't really matter if you know what the other player's initiative *roll* is ;) since I just might tilt things to foil such tactics.

the moves are secret, so no worry there.

The two latest players were both hell bent on acquiring the surgeons of Silex :) fun.

addendum to ally list:

nitrix

Surgeons of Silex	Recruit Noble =1 & Income = 1
Rimspace Pirates	2 Pirates
Mercenary Guild		4 Mercenaries	
Imperial Beaurocracy    Strategic Planning =1

lortran

Church of Mankind	Diplomacy = 2
Mercantile Consortium	Income = 2
Black Market		2 Nuclear Arsenals & Income = 1
Spacing Guild		2 Jumpships & Income =1

as per the rules, nobles add +1 AD, first strike, and are psychic. EDIT: oh, and they are impossible to kill as long as there is even one unit of their side on the battlefield.

They are T3h D3adly.

The attacking jumpships died, persumably because they had to become exposed to offload the invasion force.
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:40, Fri 28 Mar 2008.

Also, most probably there won't be any updates till monday morning CET. Use the time for IC chatter ;) try to get the newcomers on your side.

I saw that they gave +1 AD and FS, but the psychic notation on the ruleslist was not corroborated elsewhere and I figured it was a typo.

Looks like the Nitrix won the ally rolls.

All in all, I think it was a good round because, had I crushed the Gurati, it would have been very bad for the balance of the game.  I feel everyone's about equal at the moment.

--Newsfeed from the Nitrix Homeworld--

The statuesque white walls of the Nitrix Imperial Estate are poked and broken will bullet holes and charred from the impact of bursting shells.  In the background, the sounds of battle can still be heard, though in short bursts rather than in long protracted measures.  The camera panned slowly across showing the gray uniforms of Nitrix warriors, some of them wore bandages or were propped up by their neighbor, but all buzzed with excitement.  The murmur of anticipation rose in pitch, and the camera swung up and away to focus anew at a balcony overlooking the courtyard.  Passing by a burning tapestry that bore the heraldry of the Nitrix noble line, three tall solem men in officer's uniforms strode into view, and a cheer rose up from the crowd below.  Dekko Nitrix pulled off his officer's cap before leaning forward and bracing his hands against the guard rail, letting that triumphant call wash over him for a moment, and then, rose one hand up in a fist calling for silence.

"Nine years ago, my brothers, I came to you with a promise." he said, eshewing the use of a microphone and trusting to the acoustics of the Estate to carry his booming voice to his men, "I swore to you that if you followed me, Nitrix would no longer be a "minor" House.  That no longer would the Empire be able to overlook us for it's favored sons, The Gurati and the Kadesh.  No longer would you be forced to bow and scrape to a man, who would be content to eat the scraps from the floor, when our glorious people should be at the head of the table!  For nearly a decade, you heard my words, and put faith in my ability.  Invested your sweat, blood, and the lives of your children, and now, I say to you that the old era is dead!  Lord Gendel Nitrix has been killed, like a coward, in his own bedchambers, and now we," he paused to gesture out towards his soldiers, indicating he meant those in the courtyard as much as the officers above it, "are free to reach for our destiny!"

"Even as we consolidate our control of Nitrix, already gears are set in motion to propel us to the forefront.  The lush jungle world Bolavor is our gateway to a new sector of space, rich with wealth and promise.  Already, my younger brother Zibble gathers our finest men to begin our conquest of this sector," he says, gesturing to the man on his right with his bushy black beard, "And my cousin Karth rallies new allies to our banner." he says, gesturing to his otherside where a handsome, if young, officer nods his head in acknowledgement."

"Remember this day, citizens of Nitrix, and mark it well.  All that comes to pass from this day forward, is in return for your loyalty and sufferage!"

--end feed--

Yay, I'm here!

Duke Lotran looked over the holo display his had prepared for them.  We were slow out of the gates this time.  Already we are at a disadvantage. he thought.  The Gurati are already tearing through space, and the Kadesh a looking for more converts.  Even the Nitrix seem to have caught word of this region before us.  We must act swiftly.

Prepare my jumpship, he said softly to his aide.  And my brother and sister as well.  We sail in one week's time.  We will start our conquest here, he indicated a corner of the holo display as yet untouched by the other houses.  Have three legions of house troops at the ready, and two units of our veterans from the Stigmus campaign called up.  Have an aresenal loaded onto my ship as well.  Go.

The aide left the room, and the Duke was alone with his thoughts.  You are getting old, he thought with a smile. Old and slow.  But you have learned something in these years.  The race is not only to the swift...

Worried by nightmares that Holy Eden may be sacked and pillaged by the tides of humanity's constant conflict, Countess Kadesh has politely invited all parties to respect the neutrality of the Edenic Bishop.

Sorry to trouble you Void- but some of your numbers on the maps don't match the PMs in orange. :) There's more units listed in orange at Mox and Yoravor, for instance, than you've written on the maps.  Thanks for seeing to this!

EDIT: actually, am I confused, but most of them are wrong?
This message was last edited by the player at 18:11, Fri 28 Mar 2008.

Yayayayayayay, for the first time my noble actions worked!  Thank you O generous dice roller!

The Nitrix value the word of the Technopope and the teachings of the The Church.  We would never invade holy Eden, or seek to control their edicts.  However, there are those amongst my people clamoring for the opportunity to see this sacred land, and there are diplomatic channels between Eden and ourselves to see if we can accommodate these people.

Also, congratulations on scoring a Noble Action.  One in six odds were never my favorite.

The Kadeshi public station does a weekend special on the growing prosperity of Nitrix and its role as a player in the future, gently avoiding paranoid commentary.    A series of hilarious cartoons depict the Baron Gurati as a giant who has stubbed his toe and is in the act of dropping his club on his other foot in order to grab his already wounded one.

Now here's an odd revelation I had.  There are units, like the Rimspace Pirates and Discordian Heretics, that have a Cost but are associated with no Planet.  Does this mean that such Units can be bought at the Homeworld if you have the proper Alliance?  Or is it there for Special Events that might be cooked up for a Scenario?  Or, perhaps, it was merely an oversight on the part of the designer.  I simply find myself overcome with curiosity on the subject.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:32, Fri 28 Mar 2008.

This is my understanding from playing so far, so Void may correct me (goodness knows I make many mistakes!)

You can buy allied units at your homeworld for the listed cost.  However, you only get TWO units per turn at your homeworld, allied or not.  You can ONLY buy units at the planets for which they are designed otherwise and that is ONE per turn.  Additionally, allied units purchased can be turned against you by intrigues, so the more of them you buy, the more vulnerable you are in a sense.

whoops. the oranged out numbers are right.

It's my fault - but we can consider it intelligence inaccuracies :)

that is correct :)

The Imperial head chronicler posts a bulletin:

There has been some confusion as to how nuclear arsenals are activated, and the vulnerability of jumpships.

Note that due to the cumbersome nature of order giving in our little universe, it is necessary to think in advance. A nuclear arsenal can attack one jumpship, or roll 5 dice in "phase 0" of planetside combat.

Observe the turn sequence:


4- MOVEMENT- a) loading units onto Jumpships and b) Jumpship movement orders.
5- NUCLEAR EXCHANGE- state each arsenal to be SAFE, ARMED (target:jumpship) or ARMED (target:unit)
6- BATTLE-


you see that jumpships arrive into system, then both the moving fleet's and the defending nuclear arsenals have the opportunity to fire. Then the moving fleet lands/unloads troops, then both arsenals again have the opportunity to fire.

Setting your defensive arsenals to attack all incoming jumpships could be bad for diplomacy. Leaving them set to attack only ground troops ensures that no "accidents" happen. However, in dire situations diplomacy is just another risk.

So, there are 3 options for arsenals:
1. SAFE - The arsenal won't be discharged no matter what
2. ARMED - SPACE - fires on other Houses' jumpships in the system
3. ARMED - GROUND - fires on other Houses' ground units

So loading an invading jumpship with 3 arsenals and setting the arsenals' orders to ARMED - SPACE pretty much insures the destruction of 3 enemy jumpships in the system. However, few can afford this tactic, eh, Countess?

What if a jumpship orbits an enemy planet with a different intention? Jumpships that don't drop troops can be reached only by the defender's nuclear arsenals. If the attacking jumpship offloads units, it is assumed to have landed in a hot zone, and is destroyed if the defender is victorious.

There is no provision for combat between jumpships in any other way other than firing nuclear arsenals. (would you like to see this changed?)
This message was last edited by the GM at 09:43, Mon 31 Mar 2008.

The imperial Chronicler posts a bulletin:

Due to general confusion regarding this issue, there will be a change in the rules regarding the Govern noble action. It will now read:

* Govern: Income of world +1D6 Solats.

Thank You for Your attention.

Thank you for the rules clarification.  My brother and I were discussing that jumpship point just yesterday when I was telling him the rules (I've tried to convert two people so far).

EDIT: It essentially means that nukes are the best planetary defense.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:30, Mon 31 Mar 2008.

wheee?
This message was last edited by the GM at 11:13, Tue 01 Apr 2008.

The table looks nice!

The imperial sages report...

we have graphics! yay!

...ahem.
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:32, Tue 01 Apr 2008.

The table looks very nice, Chief.  Clearly displays relevent data 'n' all that.

The picture...is tiny.  While I'm sure it represents a great deal of work on your part, I think the current hex map is more effective.

teehee. The significance of the map is that I had entirely too much time today, and that I completed a megalomanic excel sheet for tracking all the lil things for the game - and that makes me all warm and fuzzy because I'll have more time to write fluff and have less errors in calculations. The graphic is actually only a byproduct of everything actually working. It should work rather well. As for the tiny size, well... refresh the page ;)

the previous table and map are actually automatically generated by the spreadsheet.
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:49, Tue 01 Apr 2008.

When are we going to continue?  After a few days of eagerly checking and seeing nothing, I begin to grow quite sad :(.

the Baron is posting his turn right about now.

fear not, I'm not about to let this game fade out. It's far too fun for me :)

Plus, I get to use the happenings as a background in a SF RPG game.

The imperial sages advise:

Noble Lords and Lady, please let us again bring to your attention the fact that any jumpship can move a maximum of 3 (three) sectors on the map per turn, and must end its movement in a star system or star station. Otherwise the ships will spend more than one turn in transit.

Am I confused... Void, are you changing the rule?  You specifically said that jumpships cannot end their turn in space when I asked about this.

I am only reminding players of jumpship movement rules.



The reference to "several turns in transit" is to ships taking a roundabout route that satisfies their movement restrictions. They have to start and end their (each turn's worth) movement in a non-empty hex.

The Colonial Rangers on turn 3 were a special case because it seemed to me that they just might be able to pull something like that off. :)
This message was last edited by the GM at 07:31, Thu 03 Apr 2008.

The imperial scribes form an opinion:

can you take possession of anothers homeworld, if they have no troops there?

The rules seem to allow this. However, leaving a Homeworld with no military presence should be a condition rare in the extreme.

Strictly speaking, I can't see why this wouldn't be allowed.  After all, it isn't as if losing your Homeworld disqualified you from the game, as long as you have forces in the Sector you could hypothetically mount a comeback.

It'd be a hard fight though.  Of course, when House Troops cost 2 Solats per unit, you'd have noone to blame but yourself.

I may not be able to post right away until Saturday.  Isn't this a good chance for diplomacy? :)

P.s. do nukes count for occupying territory?

The imperial sages report:

Nuclear arsenals, damper fields, jumpships and nobles do not count as Armies for purposes of Diplomacy noble action.

In case anyone was wondering why there are no updates: I got married on saturday :)

Next update presumably tomorrow.

Well, I suppose that's a legit excuse... ;)

Congratulations!

Only if you had told in advance so we could have teased you about it :).

I hope you have a happy life together.

Nice to see Time and Space getting along so well.

Congratulations, and I wish you the best of luck in the future.

Hehe. Thanks, guys. Now, back to the game. Next update on Monday or Tuesday.

Pardon me, Mr. Void, but it seems that in the excitement of your pending honeymoon you've misplaced two of my troops.

Not misplace, Lord Nitrix ... the good Void sold them to me.
And at a bargain rate also.

I suppose I should say thank you ... but likely won't.

I'm going to double-check things, but the only missing item I see so far is a damper field.  Can those only be bought on home-planets, thus explaining the oddity?  There is a dearth of rules on that matter.  Furthermore, it is not clear whether a nuke vs. a damper field loses all its dice to destroy it or only gets one hit shaved off.

Thank you.

Um, will think on things and update soon.

that is correct. dampers can only be bought on home planets, since nobles tend to safeguard that technology jealously.

as for the missing Nitrix units, that was a simple oversight :) must be my newly-marriedness.

I agree that the damper rules could use some clarification.  Since they cost as much as a house troop, and a house troop can take a nuke as well as anyone, but still can attack, it seems they have to do more than just soak up one roll of a 1.  My thought was that when you carry them on a jump ship, they protect that ship from nukes aimed at it (ie, you can lose the damper instead of the ship and everything on it).  The idea that one damper eliminates all 5 rolls from a nuke could work too.

Ships can use dampers?  I didn't even think of that.  Would they count against unit carrying limits?

Now that, my friend, would be extremely powerful... perhaps enough to merit it being bought on a home planet.

I'm still keeping track of these rules for when I make my java version of the game :).

I assumed they would count against the carrying limit.  Essentially, you can get a damper-equipped ship, but it hauls one less army.  Good for getting into systems with arsenals, less good for actually winning the fight when you get there.

Oh, Lortran, why o why did you go after Dalton?

I've figured out most of my strategy for the turn, but I need to double check everything still (though I've only caught one minor error so far).

As much as it would not terribly have surprised me to discover that Baron Gurati would court the Rimspace Pirates for favors (GhazPORK knows he's been intriguing everyone else...), I'm fairly certain that there'd be a report on my desk regarding a great number of shots fired when their chaperons chastised them for their lack of loyalty.

But, yeah, I'd kind of figured that Damper Fields worked as Anti-Nukes.  Taking up an Army space on the Jumpship and negating a Nuclear Bombardment (which would can be aimed at planets or Jumpships, so hypothetically the Damper could work in both situations as well).

And as far as why Lortran used Diplomacy on a world across the Sector from him and besieged by two more established houses goes...normally I would guess that he was looking for a cheap boost to his Income but Dalton is kind of lousy for that.  Obviously, the depth of his strategy is beyond me.

KROPzahg does know, Lord Nitrix. :)

Oh, in case anyone is curious, I offered to let Baron Gurati surrender.  There has been a chilling lack of response so far.

EDIT:

As a further note, JS damper fields run into the problem of a fleet of more than one JS attacking... then does the nuke get wasted or target the unprotected ones?  Does this mean you merely get to choose which ship will probably not go down?

What about JS + JS (damper) vs 2 nukes?  Could the nukes then be directed against the damped one, since it's probable that the better troops are in the damped ship?  Thus, the strategy for 1 nuke is different than for 2.  Complicated, huh?
This message was last edited by the player at 19:46, Sat 12 Apr 2008.

Each nuke has to be directed against one ship.  So yeah, you could target only the ones without dampers (though, I'm not sure how that works in this play-by-post medium where's it's not clear how we determine which ship we shoot at...

As for why I went after Dalton--I had a church of Mankind giving me extra diplomacy, and it only works on worlds with no armies.  The other worlds with no armies would have had my armies on them if weren't fer you kids!  er...I mean, if it weren't for those intrigues and sabotages! ;)

I'm holding back with my offensive diplomacy and acting quite passive.

concerning dampers: the rules are quite clear for ground units, less so for dampers on jumpships.

whenever there is a nuclear exchange (vs. surface units), nuclear arsenals must spend the 1's rolled on damper fields first.

When an arsenal targets a fleet, damper fields get destroyed first, before jumpships. If we interpret the rules strictly, damper fields in the defending fleet each soak up ONE "1" rolled on the AD of an attacking arsenal, and are expended for this. The chance of an arsenal blasting through a damper field is less than 1 in 3 :)

And no, you can't target jumpships that don't carry dampers .

Due to a recurring nit-pick with ship movement orders, let me spell out how Movement works.

1) jumpships load units
2) jumpships jump to another system
2a) there might be nuclear fun here
3) jumpships unload units.

Jumpships can make ONE jump in a turn.

We might have ships later on that can jump more times per turn, but this is how I interpreted the rules from the beginning. Plus, this lets me introduce special jumpship types as support from the Emperor later on if I feel like it. teehee.

Also, you can't set up contingency orders for military units or diplomatic actions.
This message was last edited by the GM at 10:32, Mon 14 Apr 2008.

Also, Jumpships are not purchaseable on homeworlds without requisite allies (imperial navy or the spacing guild).

Whoa!  That makes a pretty huge difference!  Effectively, only 2 of the four of us will ever be able to move stuff, since there are only two allies to provide them, and any you buy will switch sides once those allies are intrigued!  The one ship we each start with will surely become the main targets for sabotage.

Does that apply to nukes too?
This message was last edited by the player at 13:39, Mon 14 Apr 2008.

Jumpships are the real strategic resource in this game, along with the two planets that produce them and the allies who provide them.

Only units (including nukes) bought from ALLIES change sides. units purchased from worlds do not change sides via intrigue. So yes, those black market nukes... well, the Black Market isn't exactly known to be so very reliable... ;)

I meant more that does this mean nukes can't be bought on the home worlds either?

Countess Kadesh notes publicly that the imperial navy commission she's received might not be renewed by her house.  For a suitable favor, she might put in a good word for another noble house when the time comes for the contract to be settled.

VOID: I'll quit doing this now, but I had thought a JS could move somewhere, pick up a unit, and then drop off the unit elsewhere as long as it didn't take more than 3 moves and it only DROPPED once.

Pardon me once more, Void, but I'm afraid you put 1 too many Mercenaries on Hellish last turn.  The Four Mercs from the Guild were spread out (2 Nitrix, 1 Aquaria, 1 Hellish).  I realize that means I sent a less-than-full Jumpship to Hellish, but with the Rimspace Pirates running escort I felt that 4 Armies was more than enough for an uninhabited world...

Re: joint attacks

The rules do not seem to allow attacks by mixed forces, meaning two houses can't attack a third one at the same star and join forces.

They could attack in sequence, however. And, don't forget your most magnificent nobles either.

Whoops. my mistake. somewhere along the lines a 1 got changed into a 2. Or we can attribute it to vile Lortran influence.

Do we want to redo the turn? according to the rolls, the Suicide squad would remain on Hellish, the planet still in Nitrix hands. What do the other players think?

As much as I'd like to keep ahold of Hellish, it sounds like it wouldn't be fair to do so.  I might like to re-consider the move I submitted if that will have changed, however.  Not re-doing any rolls, as that doesn't seem quite kosher, but perhaps changing troop movement.  At very least I won't be buying any subterranian mutants this rounds! ;)

okay, let's correct the map. Hellish is still in Nitrix hands, with 1 jumpship and one Suicide squad holding it. Lortran has 2 less treasury, Nitrix 2 more.

I'll wait for a day for anyone who wants to edit their turn orders.
This message was last edited by the GM at 11:49, Tue 15 Apr 2008.

Can I get a clarification on exactly what "sacrifice" means?  There's a couple of interpretations I can come up with on how that might work, and I'd like to be sure I'm working under the right assumptions!

re: Sacrifice

Let's say you have

Nitrix Suicide Squads - AD 2, Sacrifice for +2

if you write in your turn orders that you want to sacrifice them, they are removed immediately (so they don't absorb 1s rolled by the opponent) and the AD for your side are increased by 4 (AD 2 and +2 for sacrifice) instead of just 2 (for the AD, and the unit is still there to absorb hits).

The mechanica behind that rule are a bit foggy :) I think that particular modifier hasn't been playtested enough, since getting a 1/6 chance per +1 to inflict a hit vs. losing the attacking unit outright seems something for rulers with a penchant for penal regiments :). The rule could also imply that suicide units gain first strike (which would make them quite nice); I'll reserve that option for later on.

Suicide units would make a lot more sense if you could buy more units.

Oh, two more questions for Void:

1) If you wipe out all the nobles of an opponent, do they lose the game?
2) If a noble loses all territory (i.e. eliminated), what happens to the allies of that player?  Does it go to the one holding the homeworld, the one who defeated the last holding, or no one?

1) The original rules are clear on that as well : No. (the next recruited noble becomes the new house leader). As long as you have something to command, you can go on playing. New nobles can be recruited as normal. A noble house "loses" only if it loses control of all stars in the sector. And even then you could go on playing only with the allies and trying to conquer back a world with their aid.

2) see above. The allies remain allied with a house until won over by intrigues.

yep. I'd like such suggestions to perhaps modify the game rules :)

Two other version I thought might have been possible for troops with the "sacrifice" rule were:

1.  you announce they're sacrificed at any point during combat, they gain their bonus to AD, and fight the combat as normal.  However, no matter who wins at the end, if they're still standing, they die.

2.  "sacrifice" just means let them die in the normal way that you would do for any other troop (ie, the enemies rolls a 1, you have to pick a unit to die), except that when you pick a "sacrifice" unit to be the casualty, in the next round your side gets the sacrifice bonus to AD.

Either of those seem a bit more useful.  As it is, you can sacrifice a suicide squad for a +2 bonus this round...or not sacrifice them, and get that +2 bonus next round since they're still alive...and possibly in rounds after that as well.  However, at 3 bucks for a 2AD unit, they're already a pretty good deal, even with a not-too-useful ability.

I like version where you designate at the beginning that they will be sacrificed but that they die at the END of combat if still standing.  They only get the +2 AD once, however.

Here's a new question:

If you conquer someone's homeworld, do you gain their homeworld unit production?  Can you produce 2 units a turn at their homeworld?  Can you produce YOUR allies at their homeworld?  Can you produce damper shields at their homeworld?

Stuff like that.

HERE'S a RULES MOD I PROPOSE:

Jumpships cost 9 credits at anyone's homeworld.  6 at planets.  4 at Yoravar.  6 from allies.  Comments?

Both options are interesting. I think I like the second one better, tho.

Another rules proposal someone mentioned is to allow hostage-taking (like the assassinate noble action). Hostages could be exchanged for favors and so on. With nobles being such a valuable resource, it makes quite a lot of sense.

As for the homeworlds question - upon a more careful reading, it seems probable that one can purchase ANY NUMBER of ALLIED units per turn on the homeworld, in addition to the two "house" units. Also, conquering an opponent's homeworld gives you the income and ability to buy units produced by it like it was any other world.

Allies can be purchased only on your original homeworld, it seems. Having it the  other way around might make homeworld conquering exceedingly interesting :)
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:10, Wed 16 Apr 2008.

As long as we're in the mode of proposing changes, I'd add to the table that jumpships should be able to orbit worlds their owners's don't control.  If the planet doesn't have the nukes to chase them away, they can orbit safely.  Even ships from two different houses can co-exist around the same planet.

That seems reasonable. However, those ships can't be carrying troops, unless we want to say that troops can be stationed on jumpships... then we have to have rules on invading jumpships in orbit... and jumpships that don't have to land means troops can reach any of your stars instead of just the closest to the staging base of your opponent... yay. Be careful what you wish for.

The current rules say that jumpships "must land" at the end of their move. Perhaps I'm interpreting this "land" a bit too strictly - perhaps we can have drop pods for troops being deployed on a target planet and the jumpship isn't in any danger other than from nuclear arsenals?

Jumpships here are not armed - not real warships or made for extended cruises. It fits nicely with the idea of a degenerate background, where each starship is not easily replaceable.

Yeah, I was definitely thinking troops had to end their turn on planets, even if ships didn't.

Here's another unclarified point:

Say there are two paths to point D.  One goes through hostile world C and another goes through empty space B.  Hostile world C has nukes.  Does the jumpship get hit, or do we assume that empty space is taken by default?  Furthermore, do nukes target jumpships that are not engaged in offensive landing but are merely passing through?

Nukes can target only ships that stop in the system they are in. Some stellar hazards (none are in the game right now) are the only impassable "terrain".

So in the example, the jumpship won't get shot at, unless of course point D happens to have defending nuclear arsenals.

I think most of the rules mod ideas are pretty good.  I'd suggest we don't implement them just now, though.  Either hold off until the next game, or say "in X turns these rule changes will come into play" where X is at least 3.  That way strategies don't get thrown for too much of a loop.

Also, are we all set with orders for the next round now?

We're waiting for the Gurati, I believe.

None of the rules mods are being implemented; however, clarifications are: i.e. jumpships can fly over nuke planets without worrying about the defenses as long as they don't end there.

Ah, my mistake.  I had thought Gurati has posted already.

Oh, GM:

I was curious if psionic attacks were earlier than normal attacks?  I was a bit confused reading over old battle texts.  You have it listed before FS stage!  If so, then psionics are very fast and scary!  By the by, Nobles only give FS to the ONE unit they are leading, right?

*looks sheepish*      _{will attempt to do so tonight}

for order changes for the current turn, please edit your PMs in the map thread.

as for noble psychic attacks, these are added to the AD dice pool for the first strike round (as nobles automatically have this); also the unit they lead get first strike _and_ +1 to AD.

Gurati orders are issued

    *Gurati looks pleased with himself*

Rules clarification: any and all units bought or recruited can be moved (or their special abilities used) in the same turn they are bought.

My orders have been edited and are ready to go.

I probably won't get a chance to do the next round until monday at the earliest, so there's no rush for getting things updated.
This message was last edited by the player at 08:43, Thu 17 Apr 2008.

Oh noe's.  What can the evil baron be plotting?

EDIT: how do assassinations work since we cannot target specific nobles nor specific planets.  Randomized?

Err? You can target specific nobles for assassinations. It says so clearly in the rules.

Yes, but since we do not know the nobles of other players (not listed in this game), we effectively cannot :).  Only when a battle reveals one can we know for sure where and who it is.

Fluff accompanying the moves usually clearly states which nobles are active. If they don't draw attention to themselves, they are safe from assassinations. Take the unfortunate Gurati prodigy... his name got known and pouf. In addition, there is a noble on the House throne, right? :) You can specify targets by star or by name, or leave the choice up for the RNG.

Update anytime soon?  Married life treating you well?

update should be today. Being married for now isn't any different than before, since we already lived together :)

 i n   S I N  ??!?!?!


         _{makes it all the sweeter, eh!}

LOL!

We were engaged long before moving in together.

And... sin? Teehee, we both sing in a church choir.

well, the RNG clearly favor someone. No, I didn't fudge rolls or anything.

Um... I said to use one of the nukes.  One was to be saved, one to be used.  Back to reading.

Also, I said to use the second nuke if I was losing the battle.

So yes, you ignored 10d6 of my dice.  Is there some way to remedy this?

Third mistake: you listed only 3 defending units.  Where did a fourth one come from?

Alright, I'm trying to cool down my disappointment :(.  Is there any chance of a rematch (i.e. rerolling with nuke used), or is that me being a sore loser about human error?  I mean, I did just use 1 noble, 6 units, 4 jumpships, and 2 nukes in a case of misinformation, ignored orders, and wildly unlikely statistics. (Edit: in fact, if I had known it were 4 v 7 units instead of 3v7, I probably would have used both nukes to attack instead of reserving one.)  EDIT 2: To put this battle in another way, I lost 13 units; he lost one and bought it back for 3 solats on his turn.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:18, Fri 18 Apr 2008.

a simple message is broadcast:
      _{(not by the recognisable old Baron Gurati, but by a newly ordained Baron)}

"House of Kadesh;
must we do this?
Your House is the riches, and spreads further throughout the galaxy than any other.
My people just wish to live.
Why does your eternal greed lead us to constant conflict and bloodshed?"

I'm still rather sick at heart about the epic loss this morning, but I'm over it enough to say:

Sorry about how I acted this morning.  Sure, things didn't get done quite right, but it doesn't matter... let's move on.  Besides, what happened will be a lot cooler in Void's RP spinoff of this game, not to mention balancing out my preponderant strength that was going to crush the game otherwise (now we are much more on a level playing field).  Thanks for playing with me, folks! :)

whoops. seems I ignored one of those orders. so much for doing the turn in haste at work :)

as for the fourth defensive unit, it was bought in the recruitment phase of the turn.

also, nukes can only be used in the nuclear exchange phase, before jumpships land. There are no contingencies - it's either use them or don't. you can't save them for using in a later round of combat, since you'd be incinerating your own units as well.

I'll roll now and see if I need to redo the combat.


it seems one arsenal didn't make any difference, other than maassive planetary destruction.
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:43, Sat 19 Apr 2008.

Well, while rolling combats the dice roller really didn't behave sensibly (you'd expect on 18 rolled dice to have 3 1s, not 0). But, those are the dice I rolled. compared to the number of dice rolled, there should have been many more hits, but there weren't. I expected the Kadesh units to roll over the defenders easily - but statistics failed this time it seems. There was no fudging.

It doesn't matter now, but:

I thought recruitment phase was at the beginning of a player's turn, not the game turn (a thing the rules never mentions).  Again, I would have probably used the second nuke thinking he might have 4 units by recruitment.  I spent so much on strategic initiative to beat Gurati's recruitment too, after all!

I don't recall who brought the point up, it was quite some time ago - there was concern if a player could exploit the dice rolls (because they can be seen in the roller) for his gain. Therefore, the dice rolled for initiative are rerolled by me to prevent this from happening.

All in all, it was just terrible luck for Kadesh.

I brought that up, no doubt, but you never said that you rerolled initiative.  (You did mention that you rerolled noble action initiatives.)  Even so, that Gurati could have bought an extra unit by beating me in initiative is quite unlikely as I had +4 or +5 from strategic planning.

So, I should quit bothering rolling for init? :)

you had +4 and I rolled a 1 for you. Gurati had +0 and I rolled a 6 for them. as I said, the dice just weren't with you.

I've had a lot of work of late, so I haven't had a chance to post :(.  Should be putting it in tomorrow!

One thing to keep in mind with 1-in-6 rolls, is that the mean isn't the only important stat.  While 3 ones out of 18 dice is the average, you'll actually get less than 3 more often than you get more than 3.

Going to post my orders now.  Sorry if I've held things up the last few days.

Update potentially delayed another day :(!

Rules clarifications:

There can be only one assassination and one intrigue attempt per turn. If you specify more, only the first will be counted and the extra ones will be ignored.

Noble actions can't be specified as contingencies (if... then...). Either you use them or not.

Wait a minute... I think even that needs clarification!  Are you saying my intrigue to get the spacing guild (which was a success) failed because it was not my first intrigue attempt?  I thought you had one SUCCESSFUL intrigue per turn- i.e. you could keep intriguing until one of them came through but then you'd used up your limit.

Rules say one "attempt" per turn, so I've definitely been playing it the way the Void mentions.

Glad I'm not the only one running into troubles lately, though! ;) in the last turn I rolled four 1's:   one for init, two for governing, and one for a diplomacy attempt against a planet that had armies on it!  doh!  Hopefully I didn't use up all the 1s for my next few turns!

One attempt per turn, as is clearly stated in the rules:

NOBLE ACTIONS LIST
A Noble that did not move or fight this turn may take a 'Noble' action.
Noble actions are successful on a roll of 1 on 1D6.
Some Allies can do Noble Actions.
Nobles (& allies) do not have to be in the same system as their target.

* Diplomacy: Take control of target World that has no enemy armies on it.
* Assassination: Target noble killed. A player may only make one
assassination attempt per turn.
* Intrigue: Take control of target ally. If the ally provided armies or ships,
you gain control of these. Only one intrigue attempt per turn.
* Sabotage: Destroy target army, jumpship, or arsenal.
* Govern: Income of world + 1D6; Automatic success, minimum +1.
* Strategic Planning: Automatic success. +1 or -1 to Initiative roll next turn.

Ah, but I had been doing wrong for some time without correction, so a habit of thought had formed!

Anyway, despite the "massive offensive" line which is the GM's way of convincing you to all attack me, don't buy it. :)

Sorry for the delay, guys.  Been away all weekend.  Will post my moves later today.

Can we get a rules clarification on what happens to allied units purchased at a homeworld when that ally gets intrigued?  Does the purchaser keep the units, or do they switch sides along with the ally?

For example, the original mercenaries that came with the mercenary guild all died when I took control of the mercenary guild from Nitrix.  So I ended up with no mercenaries from the intrigue (though I could have if they had won the fights), but do now have the option to produce mercenary units on Lortran.  If I do so, and then someone else gains control off the mercenary guild through intrigue, do those unit I've purchases switch sides and attack my other units like the original ones did to the Nitrix troops?  OR do I keep the mercenary units I've purchases since I took over the guild from Nitrix, but just lose the ability to produce them?  I had thought purchased units switched sides just like the original ones did, but just want to make sure that's really the case.

I want a rules clarification too!  Does the sabotage-diplomacy gambit actually work?  Can you sabotage a unit guarding a planet alone and then use diplomacy on the now empty planet... or are nobles actions supposedly simultaneous so that it is impossible to do so?  (I actually always thought the S-D gambit was fair and legal myself, if a bit frustrating to guard against.)

The purchased units always switch sides along with their owning Ally.

As for the sabotage/diplomacy combo, it seems that the rules allow that. (it seems that the order in which noble actions are taken depends entirely on the order you declare Nobles to perform them, yadda yadda).  And it is exceedingly simple to guard against. Just have two or three units on each planet, and the chance of success for the gambit to succeed drop dramatically.

Which means (correct me if I am wrong) that if I have the support of the Imperial Navy, and use that alliance to purchase Jumpships (cos I don't have any planets that allow me to do so) ...

If/when someone wins the support of the Imperial Navy from me:
ANY ships that I built (payed 6 solats for) because I had Imp Navy support, suddenly are considered enemy units, and destroyed by my loyal units.

So I loose troops/Jumpships I paid for, and possibly others that die in said fight;  and the other house that wins their support now has the right to build Jumpships.
But will loose any they build if I win back the Imperial Navy.

Okay, that's how I thought it worked too.  Something in a PM had confused me a bit.

yes, that's how it works.

It does seem a bit harsh, doesn't it. Perhaps the rules should be changed in that respect - only the right to build units shifts to other Houses, not already built units? How do you folks think about that?

I could be in favor of that change, though with that or any other rule change, I wouldn't implement it immediately, but instead only X rounds in the future, so that everyone can plan ahead, and not have their current plans (based on the current rules) sent off track due to the change.

Allowing you to keep your units if the ally changes sides would probably make those allies much more useful.  As it is now, there's not much incentive to build units (other than ships) that allies provide.  On the other hand, the allies switching sides does make for added drama.  So really, I'm fine with it as-is, and I'd be fine if it changed.  Either way, though, nothing should change instantly, but rather announced some number of rounds in advance.  One other thing to keep in mind is that this has already occured (I intrigued the mercenary guild from Nitrix, and took out a few of his units in the process), so changing the rule now would mean I 'got away with it' so to speak, and ended up with a bit of an advantage.  Might be best to play this game out with the rules as they are, and save any alterations for the next game.

I think, even with one enemy with a 1/6 chance of intriguing your JS away from you, that's too much to risk.  If anyone looked at my loss on Frost, it should be clear than even 2:1 attack strength with two nukes support is insufficient to guarantee victory.  That means one needs 3:1 or 4:1 attack strength to feel really confidant.  Because of that, you need a lot of jumpships; especially if someone has bothered to fortify- something that tends to happen while it's your turn to be w/o JS so you build garrison while waiting for a succ on intrigue.

I know personally that I wouldn't make an attack with fewer than 5 JS.  That takes 5 rounds to build if you have to rely on an ally.  Then, you have to move them to pick up units.  Then you have to get them to the battle site.  And that's assuming you are attacking a planet with about 4-5 units defending it only.

In other words, I think JS should NOT switch sides.  I even have fluff for it: JS are commanded by your troops, so they do not have their own sentient decision to betray you like mercenaries.  On the other hand, ALL other factions should SWITCH sides.  That's fun and besides they spread out.  Similarly, NUKES should NOT switch sides because they have no free will.  Nukes also suffer from limited planet syndrome and are pretty important, IMHO.

Conclusion: JS and NUKEs bought from allies will not switch sides along with their ally; all other units will.


Next rule I'd like to fix: it's really tough to lose all your ships in a battle if you are the loser.  (On the other hand, everyone faces the same penalty here.)

Which does mean that, the only player entitled to build more Jumpships in this game is Kadesh.

Anyone else must
1st: win the Imperial Navy or Spacing Guild, then spend the Solats to build ships
then: hope nobody wins the IN or SG from them (cos then they loose even those ships built).

There is, of course, one other way ... but I am sure Kadesh knows this, and has ample protection against it.


The same applies with Nukes:
The only players who can 'naturally' build nukes are Kadesh and Lortran (the latter of whom has the problem of transporting them without first winning IN or SG alliance).


In essence, once Lortran, Gurati and Nitrix have had their 3 'house' ships sabataged, thats it ... no more reliable travel or troop transport.



Unfortunately, I didn't. I learnt this whole deal the hard way a couple of rounds ago.  But 'se la ve'.

Of course, don't forget Gurati had first pick of starting location.  I studied the map carefully before choosing my current location, after you got first dibs :).

Now, the way I sense things, no one wants to suggest a certain number of rounds before the rules change because they know it will hurt me and only help them.  Therefore, I'll take the first step forward and stab myself in the foot.

I suggest that the rules change (as per my modifications) on round 12 (current round to resolve is 9).

Kadesh votes Aye


Oh and Gurati, you missed a third way, that, if a fellow player humors my whim, will be public quite soon.

I do like Kadesh's suggestion regarding nukes and ships--as non-sentients, they wouldn't change sides when the allies do, but all other allied units would.  I would be in favor of a round 12 introduction of that rule too, if we're voting on it.

I'd also agree that losing JS due to losing ground combat makes invasion very difficult.  I brought this up a while back, but I think JS should be able to be in orbit around enemy worlds, even when other, enemy JS are there.  Any troops they carry should have to be dropped off, but JS should stay in orbit, and only be shot down with nukes.  JS definitely seem to be the limiting factor in the game, so making them a bit more permanent seems like it'd be good.

And, just since we're on the subject of rule edits, if we're actually going to implement changes during this game, we should probably decide on the sacrifice rule.  We discussed a few a while back, but didn't come to any firm decision.

If we're seriously considering rule changes, I'd suggest we figure out all the rules we want to change right now, agree on what they'll change to, and implement them in round 12 as Kadesh suggests.


By the way, I think Nitrix can also produce nukes, on Hellish?

Definately ... I said to the GM when I chose my starting point that it was 'the poor quarter' of the board.  I don't expect to win this game.
I only used your prime position as the example, because JS are such an appropriate part of this game.

Personally, I feel sorry for Lortran ... who now find themselves without JS, and even if they get an ally who will allow them production, they could loose even those later.
For him, that sucks.



I thought, at the beginning, that if you produced units provided by an ally; you kept your 'paid for' units when the ally left ... cos you had paid for them, and as such, they were 'your men'.
But alas, thats not the way.


As for Sacrifice:  For some of you, this rule seems more applicable, so I'll leave the decision to you all.

Here are the possible sacrifice rules I brought up earlier:

1.  you announce they're sacrificed at any point during combat, they gain their bonus to AD, and fight the combat as normal.  However, no matter who wins at the end, if they're still standing, they die.

2.  "sacrifice" just means let them die in the normal way that you would do for any other troop (ie, the enemies rolls a 1, you have to pick a unit to die), except that when you pick a "sacrifice" unit to be the casualty, in the next round your side gets the sacrifice bonus to AD.

Kadesh suggested a slight change to rule option 1, which would be that they only gain the bonus for one round.  The Void seemed to prefer option 2, if I recall.  I'd be happy with either one, really.

So far, it sounds like the rules discussed for changing are:

1.  Ships and nukes don't change hands like normal units when the allies that provide switch sides.  When you intrigue those allies, all you gain is the option to build those units.  Units other than nukes and JS still change hands as normal, however.

2.  JS are not destroyed just by ending their turn in enemy space.  They are only destroyed by nuke attacks or by sabotage.  Units they carry must be dropped to the planet where the ship ends its turn, and thus fight any enemy units there, but the ship remains in orbit.  Ships controlled by different players can thus be in orbit around the same world at the same time.

3.  The sacrifice rule is replaced by one of the two above.  Gurati has expressed no preference, Lortran is fine either way, so it the Void, Nitrix, and Kadesh can decide which of the rules to use.

We had discussed implementing these rules in round 12 (the round waiting to be resolved is round 9).  Is everyone okay with this?

Void--are you cool with these rule changes?  And can we expect the next round soon?

Although I planned the update today, RL has conspired on me. No updates till monday I'm afraid.

Still with us, Void?

well, work crashed down on me with unexpected fury. but things should go more easily from now on, at least for a few weeks.

Okay, now for the rules changes. I like the way the Duke spelt them out.

1.  Ships and nukes don't change hands like normal units when the allies that provide switch sides.  When you intrigue those allies, all you gain is the option to build those units.  Units other than nukes and JS still change hands as normal, however.

2.  JS are not destroyed just by ending their turn in enemy space.  They are only destroyed by nuke attacks or by sabotage.  Units they carry must be dropped to the planet where the ship ends its turn, and thus fight any enemy units there, but the ship remains in orbit.  Ships controlled by different players can thus be in orbit around the same world at the same time.

3. "sacrifice" means the unit dies in the normal way that you would do for any other troop, except in the next round your side gets the sacrifice bonus to AD. Fluff-wise, this could mean any number of things along the lines of carrying nukes into the enemy stronghold on a suicide mission.

I'd like to implement them on the 3rd turn from now, if you all agree.

Those changes sound good to me.

I've been toying around with the rules in the little spare time I have, and I've noticed that I've misinterpreted the Govern noble action. It should raise the permanent income of a system, and not just for one turn.

Without the ability to build more than one unit per system, things are a bit tricky - buy many ally units, quickly transport them to the point of use and hope the opponent doesn't intrigue your Ally. Or else remain sitting on huge amounts of Solats.

A slight workaround would be to base the number of units that can be produced in a system on the Income level, however we'd need a noble action to reduce the industry level (industrial sabotage). Also, Nuke attacks on planets would each reduce Income by 1.

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=df7wnsf_1d5svqj6z

Interesting rule tweaks all in all.  All things considered, I like 'em.  However, they do leave me with a few question.

1)  Sacrifice - does the ability have to be employed?
2)  Jumpships - where do they go after a failed invasion?
3)  Cards - what's this all about?
4)  Timing - when would you want to put these rules in effect?

Moving the Noble Actions phase before the Movement phase is an interesting choice, it's not overpowered in any particular result, but it does change my options a bit.

Heh, and again I cause confusion :) the rules on the link are a greater rewrite of Emporex. They are NOT being implemented. The only rules changes for now are the 3 I proposed a few posts back.

1) considering how cheap the sacrifice units are and which units get the sacrifice bonus (fanatics, suicide squads), I'd say the sacrifice ability has to be employed.

2) To the originating star. So if you attack from Eden to Mox, surviving jumpships return to Edan 1 turn later. (turn x: attack; turn x+1: transit back; turn x+2, the jumpships are again available at Eden)

3) The cards are from Star Fiefs, another game from the Warpspawn archive. It is a card game and uses the same background as Emporex. The cards are included for reference and inspiration. I've been thinking of employing cards in addition to the regular rules - perhaps each side can have a number of cards equal to the number of nobles. Some or all Noble actions would be transferred to cards then, instead of succeeding on 1 on 1d6. But that would change the game too much, perhaps.

4) the rules on the link above are still under construction, and won't come into effect for now. Only the 3 rules changes I put up for voting (ships and nukes don't change hands, JS destroyed only by sabotage and nukes, sacrifice rules) will be enacted in 3 turns if you all agree.

The Imperial Treasurer sends a request:

If a House has more than one ally that can provide Jumpships, please include the ally's name who you are buying from in the production orders, to avoid confusion.

All fine, but 'in 3 turns' ... can we have a defined turned these will be implimented, please.
round 13?  or 14?   or 12, cos that was '3 turns' after when we all seemed to agree.

Just for planning purposes.

Thanks

Two turns (rounds 10 and 11) with the old rules.

thank you, sir.


And while I am on the thanks:
  thank you for running the game.
  strategy games are very difficult to juggle.
  i think you are doing a good job of it.

Thanks, I try :)

No sign of Kadesh for a week now.  Perhaps a PM to check she's still with us is in order?

If we don't hear from Kadesh soon, what do people want to do?  Unless they've told the Void they'd be away, I suggest that if we don't hear anything by friday (two weeks since they last logged in), that we assume they've dropped the game.  In such a case, we have a few options:

1.  put an ad in players wanted for a replacement.
2.  have the Void take over for Kadesh (to keep this fair, he'd need to decide Kadesh's moves before the rest of us post ours)
3.  Treat the Kadesh as a passive, NPC force, which doesn't move troops around or launch attacks, but does defend its holdings, produces troops at most planets each turn (up to income limits), and which takes random noble actions.

Option 1 can be combined with the other two, so that we don't have to stall the game too much as we wait for a replacement.

What do you guys think?  Any other solutions besides what I've listed?

1) if a player hasn't posted for 14 days, I'll take over temporarily.
2) if no response in one month, I'll post a wanted ad for a replacement player.

And no, Countess' player hasn't told me anything about extended vacations or the like.
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:06, Mon 12 May 2008.

also, I've had an idea - if the Countess' player doeesn't post, it might just be that there is civil war within the Kadesh hierarchy. So many nobles and field commanders... hmm.

New turn is up. The Kadesh sit tight for now, and we'll have a story explanation for that next turn. We'll look for a replacement for Kadesh if there's no word from Malakan.

Let me just say that the Gurati have uncanny luck with the dice roller on rpol :) but I have a feeling that luck is about to run out any turn now.
This message was last edited by the GM at 09:44, Wed 14 May 2008.

A couple of quick questions about the map:
Gurati seem to have ships on Seeden and Pyreen, though the text made it sound like they had lost all their ships.  Are those ships really there?
The text also sad a unit on Griddox was lost, but there's still one there on the map.  Did Gurati just build a replacement?

1) The Gurati player had 3 ships to start with, lost one to intrigue.
2) Yes, as a matter of fact Gurati did build a second prison soldier regiment there.

Cool, thanks!

First point - Congratulations on the victory, Gurati.  I really didn't expect to find the Baron there, I was kinda hoping a monopoly on First Striking would bring home the day for me.

Second point - I'd like to point out that I did had the Jumpships set up to be casualties in this conflict, which was legal in the "old rules" (it's on page 1 of this very thread).  It was part of the reason I went ahead and attacked this turn instead of sitting back and waiting for Jumpships to be granted immunity from battle death.  Given that Gurati survived with three units (the number of Jumpships I sent over there), I'd sort of appreciate some form of consolation.

Jumpships weren't legal targets in the old rules either. Neither were nukes, damper fields or nobles ("special units").

What sort of consolation prize? Not getting wiped out by the Lortran? :)

Actually, like he says, on the first page of this thread, it was ruled that they could be used as casualties.  I hadn't realized it until he pointed it out, but it is there.  Not sure how best to handle the situation, though, as I think we've already played otherwise in other attacks (frost?).

Hmm. Jumpships were never used as casualty options in the battles that happened until now. Seems I overruled myself :) Picking jumpships as casualties doesn't make sense in my little mind, because:

1) No sensible commander would sacrifice his strategic transportation for a tactical advantage... I think. (Amateurs talk tactics; professionals talk logistics; just imagine the amount of supplies needed to fight for a month - these come stowed on a jumpship.)
2) Jumpships are non-combatant, special units, equivalent to damper fields and nukes. During the battle phase, they just... sit around. Even when landed. Should damper fields be able to absorb opponent's ground fire as well?

I definitely agree that jump ships shouldn't get used as casualties, and our new rules will take care of that.  Though, if the rule was otherwise, and Nitrix was counting on that when he launched his attack, that's a tricky issue to resolve.

I had actually thought damper fields could absorb ground fire until you mentioned it.  Already the only thing they're good for is protecting ships from nukes (using them to take nukes attacking planet-side is silly, 'cause house troops do that just as well, cost just as much, and can fight), so I don't think they need to get any less useful!

While it may not make a great deal of sense to you now, at the time it must've made a modicum of sense or you wouldn't have made the ruling at all.  If you're going to overrule it, well, it'd be nice to have these things in writing (seeing as I combed the OOC thread for every mention of jumpships just to make sure it hadn't been overruled).  Retroactive continuity is an ugly can of worms to open, particularly in a strategy game.

The vision in my head for this assault was like that of Cortes or Asclepiodotus, who burned their boats before battle so their men had nowhere to go but forward.  Admittedly, crashing them into the city likely would've been more effective.

But I'm not really asking for a do-over, the RNG was against me and I'm okay with that, merely a consolation (since it wouldn't have taken much effort to say "Hey, you know you can't declare Jumpships as casualties, right?", particularly given Kadesh's recent absence).  If Jumpships can't be declared casualties, then obviously they can't be destroyed by ground troops, in which case mine should still be around.  Barring that, another round between Zibble's Unit and the remains of the Edenian defenses would be fine as well, I'm sure we can agree that three extra bodies would've given the unit last on my casualty list another swing (given the number of dice Gurati is throwing around, I doubt it'll go on into 2 rounds).  It's not as agreeable, but it'd take a bit of sting out of the fact that waiting another round would've saved 15 Solats worth of resources -_-

The battle was close.

However, I've rerun the combat using new rolls and jumpships as the first 3 casualty options, and for some reason the RNG favors Gurati yet again. The final result of the rerun was exactly the same (the Baron and 3 temlars left standing; one round even had Gurati with +9AD from psychic maelstroms).

On a side note, the image of Nitrix suicide squads waiting hidden in empty jumpships while Gurati units come in to investigate the "lifeless" ships has a certain melodramatic appeal. Crashing ships into cities is so... unchivalric (did I invent a word there?).

As for spelling it out clearly, it just shows that I need to add a few reminders to the rules so I don't get confused later on. (Bad brain! Bad!)

I like the new title Gurati.
"A Kinder, Gentler leader of cybernetic commando squads"

I live.  Sort of.  What a long week...  Any chance I can jump back in?

Jump ... splash ... bombdive ...

and by the way, the water is fine!

I haven't quite gotten through everything yet, but I see that I've lost a turn but gained income.  While the penalty of a lost turn is somewhat inevitable (and probably fair), could I ask for two things?  (1) a roll to see if I recruited nobles and (2) nobles on either planetary management (income) or strategic init?  Also, I've seen at least one change in units between the two turns... which is a bit odd, considering nothing happened!

Finally, how do the Gurati have a JS on Pyreen when they just lost the Spacing guild and have only had the navy for 1 turn (i.e. it's more than 3 spaces away).

More (probably confused and mistaken) observations to come!

Everything is mostly explained in the fluff. It isn't useless, you know.

I'll run the next turn when orders for the Kadesh are posted.

Is there hope for update today, Void, or will it be next week?

It's up.

Once again Gurati is saved by the RNG, as the takeover of the imperial police was earlier in the turn than the successful assassination attempt...
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:23, Fri 23 May 2008.

Cool, thanks Void!
This message was last edited by the player at 15:01, Fri 23 May 2008.

I think you miscalculated my funds by 6 solats, Void :).  The amount listed was already including deductions for troop costs.

Gurati media openly broadcasts a recent transmittion from Kadeshi space:



A simple message is attached to the end;
Baron Castille Gurati, young and attractive (not the old grissled Baron) ...

"Gurati wishes only for the wellbeing of its people.
If that means defending them against a hostile neighbor, then so be it.
Gurati seeks war with nobody; including the Mighty Houses of Kadesh or Lortran.
If Kadesh wishes war with the Lortran, then they should seek it themselves."

The Kadeshi acknowledge the message.  On a reporter's question, they merely add the following:

"We won't get in the way of an invasion through Eden on Lortran, if the Gurati indicate that that is what they are doing.  Lortran has not done anything to get us to jump in front of a massive Gurati invasion.  That the Gurati will probably invade Lortran is pretty obvious since it is easier than going through Kadeshi space, and so we made our offer to remain neutral since it's the logical course of action anyway and such an offer may, in its appearance, gain us... mmm... brownie points.  Anyway, it's only a matter of time until the Gurati launch their strike, so we are currently investigating, in tandem, various options with the Lortran as well.  In fact, our discussion with Lortran takes into account their maintaining forces in just such an area that would keep them well defended against the Gurati in the case of such an invasion.  Why would we try to get them to maintain forces against the area of an Eden attack if we planned it?  I think that shows alone that if anyone is being deluded, it's the Gurati to think we will help them in any way.  We will never work with the Gurati.  It's just that simple.  Thank you.  Common sense, folks."

Actually, it is 5 Solats. But it's not like you need more funds than you have :)

Aw, Void, I do need every cent! :) The priests just demanded increased wages, despite union contracts.  And then the mining operations on Mercurum got a bit feisty when there was a false report of a Templar attack and people started burning things left and right.  Besides, the psychiatric counseling for yours truly takes up a pretty number all by itself.

The imperial taskmaster reminds, yet again:

Only one assassination and one intrigue attempt per turn, please.

As for the rather bloated Kadesh coffers, mate, you could have won the game 2 or 3 turns ago.

Assuming the RNG agreed, anyway.  After showing me some favor out the gate, it's certainly turned cold towards the Nitrix of late.

yeah, there's no sure things with the RNG!  Especially when only rolls of 1 do any good.  That leads to high variance, so even playing the averages isn't very safe (as attacks on Gurati have proven twice now!).

The imperial sewerworkers are convinced it is just a case of the RNG loving the Gurati.

Update coming tomorrow.

If I were trying to win this game, I would have conquered the Nitrix by now, since that would have been the easy way to gain more power.  However, I'm roleplaying and having a lot of fun!  Sometimes this means I act quite against my own interests.  In fact, if anyone has noted, the recent diplomatic tone has gone down considerably and this is intentional.  The Admiral is much less pleasant a persona than the Countess and the colder reactions Kadeshi diplomacy has been receiving please me immensely :).  He's a lot less clever in what he says too, if you have noticed.

Also, while I have a LOT of money, I lack many unit building sites.  I can only build, currently, 4 attack units a round.  Also keep in mind that the attacker has much more to lose than the defender (nobles, ships), so that it's much cheaper to build a smaller deterrent force.  Frankly, I think this is a stalemate.  The only faction that finds attacking cheaper than defending is the Gurati, ironically, and I suspect there may be some surprises soon in that direction...

:)

Nobles and allies are always recruited on the home world.

However, for story purposes and because it is such a great plot device, I'll circumvent this rule in the current turn. :) (not that is changes much).

Interesting developements, to be sure!

yep. And most of it wasn't my idea - rather, it was Gurati and the RNG conspiring together and against Kadesh.

Void, I think you forget to mark the spacing guild as allied with Gurati in the allies chart after the last round.  As much as I'd like to keep them, I'm sure Gurati grabbed them for a reason!  ;)

Heh.  I'm still not sure why Void was bending the rules last round, but it's happened for me on occasion when I screwed up, so I cannot complain.

Let's take this pertenant opportunity to once again say:

THANK YOU, Void ... for the effort running the game.

I think we all know how difficult it must be.
And I personally think your doing a good job juggling everything.

Sean

just for flavor! :) (qv. fluff text)

and yes, the spacing guild is in Gurati hands now. We'll see for how long. The table will be corrected asap.

Thanks for all the kudos, but it seems I'm having at least as much fun running the game as you guys playing.

And Sean, the RNG loves you, man. Really. even in the current round.
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:50, Thu 29 May 2008.

Surrender is not an option for a Noble House :P So no, you can't surrender.

Can I surrender to myself?

We could make a big do of it!  Celebrations, Handover Dinner, Coronation ... the whole deal.

Colder than myself,
I cover myself with myself,
and shrink so I can grow large again.
What am I?

:)

No idea why that popped into mind. Snd no, there can be no surrender.

ICE

You haven't played Bard's Tale III, have you Sean? :) It's Hawkslayer's riddle, and, although close, you are not correct.

I have not played such ...

 hmmm   close, but not correct ...

SNOW?

... I dont know its dynamics, I am trying to figure out the 'getting smaller to make myself bigger' bit!

Iceberg.

It's a game specific riddle :)

So, have we lost 2 players again? *pokepoke*

well, we have all checked in today, according to the cast list, except Kadesh ... who checked in only 4 days ago.  And K is the only one yet to post new round moves.

I'd say we are safe for the moment.

I'm still around.

I'd like to suggest, without offense intended, that The Void posts whatever s/he feels necessary for Kadesh, and we keep the game moving.

If K is having real world or non-connectivity problems, then I sympathise.  But fear that we might actually loose player interest unless something happens soon.

But thats just my 2 cents.

Yeah, I tend to agree.  1 week without any word is probably a sufficient wait.  If Kadesh returns, they can pick it up again, but I don't think we should wait much longer for them.

I'll wait till tomorrow, then make a turn for Kadesh if I haven't heard from their player.

Still no word from Kadesh, eh?  That's a couple times now they've disappeared for a quite a while without warning.  Should we perhaps look for a replacement?

I'll give the player a few more days.

The next turn should be up today. Kadesh being inactive fits the plot nicely, with the Countess having been assassinated last turn.

Thanks for the update, Void.  I think you forgot to update the allies chart again, though.  Merchant consortium is now Gurati's.

Also, I think we should figure out a plan for Kadesh soon, as it could make a non-trivial difference in people's strategies.  If they're going to just sit there doing nothing, that could affect all of our plans for the next few rounds, I think.

well, the original plan was to wait for 2 weeks and then post a replacement wanted ad.

And yes, dang, the allies map :) There might be another error there too, but I can't spot it right now.

Oh yeah, the spacing guild is gurati's too.

yes, that was it. I knew I forgot to update *something* :)

Hey guys, I was talking to the GM of another game I play in about what games I play here on rpol, and mentioned this one to him.  He asked for a link to it, since he likes space conquest type games, and wanted to check it out.  If Kadesh doesn't show back up soon, I think he'd probably be game to take over.  I think he'd add to the RP aspect of things, if nothing else, as the game he GMs is exteremly well done.

roleplay is good

Next turn will be posted when the new rulership of House Kadesh grasps the reins of power.

new leader?   IC or OOC?

both, of course :)

It seems I made a big mistake in moderating the last turn- only one of the Lortran jumpships  should have been destroyed, as each arsenal can target only one jumpship. I should reread the rules carefully again :)

Rerolling the battle, the Lortran force doesn't manage to take the planet anyways, but manages to destroy a significant part of the defending garrison, leaving only one sea monsters unit alive on Aquaria.

So, this one goes to me:

You have a big job, my friend.
Do not be to hard on yourself for mistakes.

Yeah mistakes happen.

I...am totally failing to see where it says a Nuclear Arsenal can only hit one ship.  If that is the case, that seems bizarrely unbalanced, considering the things cost almost as much as a Jumpship in the first place, and are decidedly limited in use (you know...you get to use them once).

edit: Oh, wait, there it is.  Bizarre.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:07, Fri 20 June 2008.

Also, I figure that if one nuke takes out one jumpship AND all the troops and nobles it carries ... that seems like a fair trade.

I do think that each nuke should be limited to doing so to just one jumpship.

True that.  I hadn't really thought of it that way.  Carry on then ^_^

thank you, sir

Slight mistake with Troop Deployment.  PM from here...

what mistake did I make?

oh I see, I didn't send everything I have to destory the enemies of Nitrix.
              oops ... oh well, maybe next round

lol, 4 nobles recruited among the Houses and Kadesh hasn't even posted yet.

It seems, there will be no shortage of noble blood to assassinate.

Im still around dont worry guys. Been pondering my odds and how much i wanted to risk this round.

then move, there are such great plot developments this turn that my fingers itch to pour them into poorly written fluff :)

I can imagine i only hope i have as much luck with the nobles lord knows im gona need it if my gambit goes tits up.

Turn posted sry it took so long

Wow, exciting developements!  Rough luck on Frost, Kadesh, but well done on Pyreen.  Well done to Gurati, both on defending frost, and on the assassination of poor duke Lortran ('s body double).  Things are getting quite interesting!

I fully expected to lose on frost. I needed to burn some troops so figured why not take a few enemys along for the ride.

Another rules clarification for you to vote on.

Let's say player A invades B's system. B has nuclear arsenals armed against jumpships. A attacks with units that have self-transport - the force doesn't have "real" jumpships.

Are the invading units to be attacked by the nukes?

In the rules, it says that self-transport units "...These units have their own jumpships..". So I would say yes. But elsewhere it states that nukes can be used vs. Jumpships.

So do we want the self-transport units to be able to bypass nuclear defenses, or do we treat them as jumpships for the purposes of being targeted by nuclear arsenals?

I would imagine that self transport units still would take volume in space and therefore be vaild targets for intercept nukes. Though a bit of a wasted kill monatarly compared to a normal JS and passangers cost. On a side note JEBUS CHRIST. I might as well be Sisyphus with lasers and spaceships. Im loseing an average 15 solats to every 1 solats killed in battle so far. Eden and frost are militaryly unbreachable. And if gurtai picks up any more nobels he will have the capacity to outproduce all the rest of us combined. That is some fantastic luck man. remind me too never play cards with you ever.
This message was last edited by the player at 07:18, Tue 01 July 2008.

yeah, Sean (Gurati's player) has had the most luck with RPoL's dice roller I've ever seen. :) it's disturbing :) and even when I hand-rolled the last battle, the dice were with him.

Is he one with the dark side of the Force?

Hmm, good question (about the self-transport things, not about Gurati having the dark force--that's obvious!).  I could go either way, really.  I kind of imagine the normal jumpships as being huge things that really stand out (sort of like those from Dune), and the self-transport guys having much smaller, personal ships.  But that's purely a fluff issue, I guess, and perhaps shouldn't make much difference to the rules.  I guess I have a slight leaning towards saying they couldn't be targetted by nukes (as JS at least, you could still lose them if the nuke went after ground troops), but I don't have a very strong opinion on it.

Another rules question though:  If you plan to buy a unit from an allie, but someone intrigues the ally away before your turn, do you still lose the money?  In my case, I had planned to buy another jumpship last round, but Gurati took control of the spacing guild before my turn.  But the money still seems spent.  Is that intentional?  I'm sure I can find something else to spend those solats on if given the chance! ;)

incidently any chance of another game of this when the current one is decided. I cant help but feel the game will be decided for practical purposes very soon. I mean total conquest may take a very long time but we are rapidly nearing the end game if gurtais luck holds. Im in for the long haul but would rather not play the attrtion game as that tends to be boring and tedious.

the missing monies are my mistake.

If an ally gets intrigued earlier in the turn than is your initiative, you don't lose money on its services.

and the question of self transport units is important - because one way, they can eat up defensive nukes to protect bigger ships (heroic Colonial Rangers, sacrificing their lives and so on). The other way around, they can land freely on planets otherwise protected by masses of nuclear arsenals.

(and yes, it's obvious that Gurati has teh dark forc3)

either way is good for gurtai and bad for the rest of us. i dont much care.

The Lortran have an ace up their sleeve. And a Nitrix force just waits to be pointed at someone. Gurati is plagued by a jumpship shortage (but that should end this turn, I believe).

The next 3-4 turns should decide it for practical purposes, yes.

A new game will surely pop up here, I am having way too much fun with this to just drop it alltogether.

Ace in the hole yeah right not with gurtai infernal luck.

Well, Lortran could take Eden, and Nitrix could nip at Kadesh territories, then it would all be pretty much open again.

There's no telling when his luck will fade.

Oh yeah, I realize how we rule it will make a non-trivial difference, I'm just comfortable either way.  The self transport things all cost 7, if I recall correctly, which is pretty hefty.  You could eat up nukes with an empty jumpship for cheaper.  And as for avoiding nukes, paying 7 for a unit that attacks at 1, means they'll only be good at taking very lightly defended planets, which is probably just what they should be for.  Actually, thinking of it that way makes me even more think they shouldn't be targeted by nukes.  Pirates or rangers slipping in under the radar, and then razing undefended towns seems nicely thematic.  It also might make them more worth their cost?

Also, I'm definitely up for another game after it becomes obvious who's going to win this one.

Fade my ass.

Check your message, Kadesh!  Currently it's all visible, not a PM!

Just realized my last post might not have made much sense.  What I mean is, Kadesh's orders in the map thread are missing a "]" at the end, so all is visible!  Kadesh or void should edit it  at first chance!

Have no fear, the void is ... hear? :)

Fixed.

'Ey Boss, those Damperfields are still on the wrong planet.

I definately agree.  "have their own jumpships"   they may be smaller versions of the 'jumpship', but are still ships, and should be able to be shot down.
And they cannot be fitted with Dampers, like JS's can.

That my 2 cents,
Darth Gurati

Shit howd that happen. Ah well to late now. suppose i should be greatful void was as fast has he was.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:15, Wed 02 July 2008.

LOL imprisonment on Griddox!

:) dayum. You guys give me great stuff for the roleplaying spinoff here.

Tension how delectable.

hmm. where did Nitrix go?

I think he left earlier ... honestly

            _{*Gurati sucks in a little bit of blood soaked tunic that hangs from the corner of his mouth*}

According to the log he was around on the third. Probably took a trip for the 4th

Aye, that's basically what happened.  I've a wee half-sister who's birthday is on the 8th, so I took a trip over to their place to celebrate it early.  I'm back now, turn should be up soon (not like I have all that many options)

Yay! :)

I'll do the turn later today.

(and it even rhymes)

C'mon, The Void!  The suspense is killin' me! ;)

as I have a little difficulty accessing stuff from my usual spot (can't access the report stored on my usb stick) the update will have to wait for about 16 hours.

Any progress with the USB, Void?

heh I had it on friday but the internet on work was down. Expect a move today.

on a brighter note, I should finally be getting internet in my apartment in a few days. yay!

It seems, from the Cast list, that everyone has touched base with the game in the last few days.

Yet nothing is happening.

I guess everyone is just waiting for everyone else ???


I hate waiting.

All waiting on the Void to update the round, I think.  Sounds like he's had conectivity issues lately, but should have them sorted soon.

true ... and if I offended, then I apologies.

I have a headache, and am in the process of going through all these games on my list ... and kulling those I am over, and trying to encourage those I still have a soft spot for.

If I offended, then know this, my friends.
I do indeed still hold a soft spot for the Deeper Darkness.

Yeah i wanna know if i am boned or not too.

Still no word from the Void...hopefully he'll get his internet back over the weekend?  If not, would you guys be up for running things without a GM, at least until the Void reappears?  Instead of doing the moves all in secret, we could just roll init, and take them in order.  How to handle combat quickly might take some figuring, but I'm sure we could come up with some way (perhaps the attacker PMs the defender with the order in which he wants to loose troops, and the defender rolls for the entire combat?).

Been a week since we heard from the Void.  What do you guys think?  Should we try to press on without him for a bit, and just handle things ourselves?

I think that would be difficult, and frought with arguement, misunderstanding and inevitable bad feeling.

It would be simpler, in fact, for you all to just conceed and surrender to me.

Nevar!!!

But um yeah we should do something.

Okay, another week with no Void.  Looks like we're on our own.  My suggestion is that we play it out without a GM.  We all roll and post init, then each of us posts our turn in order.  We list our troop casualty orders and nuke orders publicly, so that the person who's turn it is can resolve fights themselves without having to wait for the defender to do anything.  We'll need to figure out how to handle mistakes, since we'll inevitably make some, and will need to deal with that fairly.  Since the attacker will be the one making decisions for another player, we should probably impose some penalty on them if they make errors?

What do you guys think?  Would you all play it out that way?

I see no problem with that plan but how will we handle the turn currently hanging in limbo?

I'd say scrap what we've written, and instead just move forward with the new way of doing things from this round.

Okay fair nuff im in. Nitrix, Gurtai how bout you?

I can see it leading to a world of extra work, arguments and ill-will ...
but ok, lets see how it goes.

finally back :)

long story short, they cut off the internets at work so I could not post.

then I went on vacation with my newly pregnant wife.

the good news is, telekom finally took time to connect my phone so I can regularly post from home.

are you guys still around?

*Thumps fist to chest*

Aye m'lord!  Whilst these ruffians plotted insurrection, I held firm, and waited patiently for your return.

:) that's good to hear! here, have a cookie while we wait for the rest of the players to report in.

I am still in, your Voidness.

Glad to hear that you have:
1/ returned
2/ a pregnant wife
3/ had a good holiday
4/ internet connection again

Me and the RNG rejoice! Darth Gurati is here too! :)

Welcome back Void!  I thought you had disappeared for sure!  Glad to see I was wrong!  Congrats on the little one on the way!

Kadesh posted just yesterday, I think, so I'm sure they're still around too.

Thanks :) The lil one will certainly turn our world upside down.

No fear about me just disappearing. I invested way too much time and effort in this game to just let it fade away. And it's damn fun too!

Now I just have to solve a minor technical problem and we can get going again. No Excel on my laptop, and all game data is stored in a 300K Excel table. I hope FreeOffice will solve that problem. If not, I'll borrow M$ Office.

Wooo Welcome back void.

Will the Kadesh return to dominate the quadrant like a phoenix from ith ashes?

Will the Gurati finally be able to hold on to more than three jumpships?

Will the Lortran be able to bludgeon Nitrix into submission?

Stay tuned for the next episode!

Pardon void but my turn was incorretly processed
This message was last edited by the player at 21:07, Wed 30 July 2008.

should be fixed now. was a case of mis-copy-paste.

Also, it should probably be noted that Lortran successfully intrigued the spacing guild from Gurati.  It's listed that way in the allies list, but not mentioned in the text, and since the allies list had it listed incorrectly before, I figured people should be made aware. :)

Also, thought it doesn't make much difference beyond historical accuracy, it's actually Nitrix that lost the imperial navy to Gurati, not Lortran.

wel, at least the allies chart is finally correct. :)

too bad one of the pivotal Lortran nobles got assassinated. then again, she did play with fire, didn't she?

Indeed!  I had all sort of IC plans for Catherine that now have to be rethought! touche, Nitrix!

I'll post my moves tonight, all.
Have a great day.

Note:

I am moving house tomorrow, and they say it will take about a week to reconnect my broadband at the new location.

I'll go round to my mum's once or twice, and attempt to post a response to anything that's going on (if anything happens) ...

but otherwise, you'll see me back, in force, about this time next week.

Sean

Good luck with moving Sean :) I did it a few times in the last years and it was always a mess :/

Bold move, Nitrix!  Didn't think you'd be coming this round!  This will be certainly be interesting!

Gurati--good luck with the move.  See you back here next week!

Good luck with the move, Gurati.  Do try not to leave your luck behind as you leave, we'd hate to see your fortunes reverse this far into things ^_^

And yes, a BOLD move indeed!  Not at all foolish!  I tried to foreshadow it quite heavily though, signing off the missive to Catherine with "Sleep Soundly" rather than Dekko's usual "Respectfully", the Assassination, it was all leading up to this attack!

I had considered postponing it, but I no longer have access to the Imperial Navy, so picking up additional Jumpships to reinforce the invasion is no longer possible.

Also, when too many turns go by without bloodshed I get a little twitchy, and we just came back from a long hiatus.
This message was last edited by the player at 09:15, Tue 05 Aug 2008.

When do you estimate we'll see the results of the round, Void?  Nitrix's move has me on the edge of my seat!

More rules clarifications:

Damper fields operate normally on jumpships (that is, each soaks up one '1' rolled by a nuke)

nobles you use for noble actions can't be moved that turn.