An SDNW Proposal

[MKSheppard]

No, it's finding Roger Wilco, for the Gippazoid company.

[TimothyC]

I'm tentatively up for it, but I'm not sure.

[Setzer]

Any idea what technology should be like at the beginning of the game?

[Steve]

One of the things to be discussed in the next couple of months, really. Given Shroom's time issues, Thanas' request, and a general need, I think, for some of us to recover from "Game fatigue" I think July is an appropriate start date.

I was considering an "ice cream" scifi (as in soft in texture but hard in consistency - that is, a setting with some sci-fantasy stuff but not a complete Star Wars-like utter fantasy) but a lot depends on what people want to do. The important thing, really, is to ensure equality of outcome and function to avoid "techwank" arguments.

[Akhlut]

The ripped sexual tyrannosauruses of the Sovereignty Marine Corps will show your Imperator and your metal contraptions what it means to be manly in space. Hooah!

The actual tyrannosauruses of the Pangalactic Dinosaur Confederacy Space Army will happily devour your SMCs and show you what manliness amounts to in the face of being a fucking dinosaur.

[loomer]

The Outlander Commissions will use your laughable tyrannosaurs as food and sexual aids for their Colossal Landsquids!

[Siege]

The actual tyrannosauruses of the Pangalactic Dinosaur Confederacy Space Army will happily devour your SMCs and show you what manliness amounts to in the face of being a fucking dinosaur.

Being a fucking dinosaur just means you're a bigger target, boyo. If you bleed, the Sovereignty Marines can and will kill you!

[Shroom Man 777]

The Bragulan Star Empire must, regrettably, decree the consumption of space dinosaurian meats in order to meet the Great Imperator's mandated nutritonal quota for the peoples! To prevent wastefulness, dinosaurian leather shall be used for the Star Empire Military uniforms and jack boots!

For Mighty Bragule!

[Agent Sorchus]

First I apologize for dropping out of SDNW3 so early, but the morphing rule-set was to much trouble to keep track of.

One suggestion I have would be to have the mods provide artificial reasons for players to compete and to work together. In either of the two Stgods I have played their was no reason for people to do more than gravitate to the greatest, most active or most similar power. i.e. in the star wars stgod all the Imperial powers gravitated to alliances, the sith allied and everyone else initially courted Coyote (who unfortunately became inactive shortly into the game despite being the instigator). These alliances were in essence super nations whose interests that would never really conflict.

Thus have the mods distribute goals for each nation. Each nation thus would have interests that they can keep secret or not at their discretion. The goals should have logical rewards or simple rewards from the mods. This is for the ultimate goal of increasing the scope of possible interactions. An example of possible goals would be to obtain technology or to secure a strategic resource.

Anyway I am definitely interested in this STGOD.

[Shroom Man 777]

Make me an Imperium.

[Steve]

Make me an Imperium.

I don't think we'll be returning to the old tier systems.

Not that I'd complain since I'd get to be an Imperium too but I think one of the things everyone liked about SDNW3 was the roughly equal footing.

[Master_Baerne]

I'm in. Ludicrous space hijinks are always fun!

[Setzer]

The problem with the post based power system is that it simply gave some players too big of a head start, one that people like myself couldn't really hope to match without allies. This led to some of the big players allying to keep their lead, and there was just an arrangement of huge power blocks that kinda stifled things.

[Lonestar]

I think I mentioned this in chat, but I'm of the opinion a better model would be several planets with multiple factions on each planet. Pure -spacebased STGOD will make it difficult to wage war(as planets will either be "indestructible fortresses" or "nuke the planets from orbit, only way to be sure.")

[Setzer]

I like the idea of one system per player. You could have something with lots of worlds that are mostly barren rocks, or a few earthlike planets that are extremely valuable.

As for space travel...

Maybe something like the Jump points in Battletech. You have options for travel routes, and there are some strategically important locations, but it's not like you can just turtle in one system and block all attacks.

[CmdrWilkens]

Since much of ASVS is now all but inaccessible I'd have to double check some of my recollections but this bears a STRONG resemblance to one of the most fun periods of STGOD-ing back in those days. For those who aren't aware of the history of STGOD (and thus why it is even called such) we had a massive reset due to the prevalence of no less than 5 galaxy-destroying powers amongst the various players...so we had a reset where the entire cluster of galaxies our timeline existed within be subject to a sort of Ragnarok due to the intervention of Sauron after which we all rebuilt our nations as early interstellar empires.

It was fun in that:
a) The nature of STGODing still allowed for "I sent 10,000 space marines to destroy you...well I send 5,000 bombers to carpet bomb them in their victory pose...well I jump a fleet in to annihilate your bombers...etc, etc" that made STGODs fun BUT it placed a limit to the realistic numbers and lethality of everyone involved
b) We got to reset ourselves in a way that erased the old divisions between the haves and have-nots (see also the brief and inglorious reign of Rob Wilson as head of LIP)
c) The interstellar setting allows for a lot of freedom to grow, get in to conflict, lose, regroup, and start again. It avoids issues such as the fall of the Dutch permanently altering the balance of power or Colombia throwing its entire army in to Panama because the canal is so important, in other words by making each individual planet less important it reduces the natural inclination of the player to burn every bridge to prevent its loss (by way of example one of the wars we fought during this round of play I started out landing an expeditionary force on a planet held by the Mafiosa, took half the planet then suffered a counter-attack that scorched the earth around a dozen cities on one of my planets, suffered the loss of another to an attack by a third power, finished conquering the first planet and then set down a peace where a new neutral NPC was established in the combat zone...all because none of my vital interests were actually threatened.


So basically I think it can work we would just need a few good rules of thumb and a willingness on everybody's part to remember its a game you don't play to win, its a game you play to enjoy.

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

"In the Name of the Holy God Emperor of Terra, I proclaim Crusade against the vile Space Shrooms. They are a scourge of humanity and they refuse the acknowledge the God Emperor as Master. Such heresy shall not be abided Therefore, by order of the God Emperor himself, I proclaim Crusade against Shroom. Scourge the heretic, burn the witch. We shall purge their existence from the face of this galaxy, hunt them down like animals they are, until the ends of the galaxy far from sun."

[Ryan Thunder]

I think I mentioned this in chat, but I'm of the opinion a better model would be several planets with multiple factions on each planet. Pure -spacebased STGOD will make it difficult to wage war(as planets will either be "indestructible fortresses" or "nuke the planets from orbit, only way to be sure.")

I'll have to concur with this.

[Setzer]

For all the 40k references, will there be psykers in game? Because I can get behind that.

[Setzer]

I think I mentioned this in chat, but I'm of the opinion a better model would be several planets with multiple factions on each planet. Pure -spacebased STGOD will make it difficult to wage war(as planets will either be "indestructible fortresses" or "nuke the planets from orbit, only way to be sure.")

I'll have to concur with this.

Well, I had my heart set on playing on a world like Chiron from Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri. If we go with the continent idea, I call dibs on the middle one, the land mass to the east of the L shaped continent.

[Bluewolf]

One thing to say about the multi continent idea is that there needs to be some way to stop entire planets being make into fortresses. I mean there is the risk of power blocs forming and forcing SDNW2 style continental fortresses in terms of defences and power. That would need to be addressed.

[Steve]

So basically I think it can work we would just need a few good rules of thumb and a willingness on everybody's part to remember its a game you don't play to win, its a game you play to enjoy.

A good point, but we do have some people around here for whom enjoyment is fucking things up for other players that displease them or irritate them in some way.

I think I mentioned this in chat, but I'm of the opinion a better model would be several planets with multiple factions on each planet. Pure -spacebased STGOD will make it difficult to wage war(as planets will either be "indestructible fortresses" or "nuke the planets from orbit, only way to be sure.")

I don't think the Alpha Centauri-style game is expansive enough. One of the advantages of this system will be plenty of room for new players or for others to remain active if someone stops playing for whatever reason.

The issue of planets is best dealt with by ensuring their rarity. Nobody wants to see an Earth-like planet, natural or via terraforming, nuked because there's only one natural Earth-like world per sector and terraforming takes centuries to complete. At the same time, permit defensive tech that makes taking a planet an appropriate effort, especially if it's a Core World as opposed to some fringe planet.

If anything this goes hand in hand with Wilkens' point about the setting permitting people to lose a war without getting utterly and completely fucked over; the prospect of something like the conquest of the Dutch in SDNW3 occurring is rather less likely to occur.

[Shinn Langley Soryu]

The first STGODs I participated in were space-based ones, in fact. If possible, I'd like to redo my "Haruhi Suzumiya IN SPACE" faction from STGOD 2k8 for this one, depending on how soft the setting is. If not, then I'll probably just continue on with my usual Code Geass-inspired schtick, complete with mindless drone soldiers chanting "ALL HAIL SPACE BRITANNIA!" at every opportunity.

[loomer]

I'm throwing another vote in for a non-planetbound game. One or two worlds is less fluid.

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

I want my Space Marines, along with Battle Barges and Battleships. Time to reactivate some old ideas that I toyed around with in the Star Wars STGODs.