An SDNW Proposal

[Ryan Thunder]

Eh, sure, why not? If anybody leaves, we'll just treat them as NPCs or something.

[Thanas]

Hear hear. I find myself agreeing with Thanas entirely. I say we look at who actually turns up to play and who doesn't. Evaluate this after a month or so of play, and rearrange the map to exclude those who haven't turned up after that time.

So meaning, we have a test run of like one month before finalising the participants? Do we then take the events that happened then into account?

Yes, but if people drop out their countries get erased and the map redrawn. I would prefer this solution.

[Siege]

If we end up dropping people because they don't participate, there'll be nothing to take into account, deal with or retcon--after all, that's what it means to fail to turn up for the game: you never wrote anything, so what events could possibly need to be taken into account? We can just discard them and redraw the map: it'll be like the ADHD Lemmings, as Lonestar aptly called them, were never even there.

[Agent Sorchus]

What is wrong with the map exactly? Is it that there is a crowded corner that everyone is trying to fill? Because I see that as a mechanism of the unsure to ensure that they are going to interact with other players rather than being forgotten and ignored in the boondocks. And I think that the only way to keep players is to plan stories out better, rather than having a PM system we keep things as much as possible in the OoC thread for planning. PM's stifle creativity and prevent players from all getting a say, and I think that the most recent storyline in SDNW3 is a good example. Thanas had a plan along side another player or two and in a series of PM's built up a story with Siege. When the first part of it was posted in the IC thread and others started responding harshly none of the preplanned story came to be.

Ever since the rules were decided to be good enough and the first nations were conceived we should have been planning future story lines and interactions between all players. Not sitting here whining that most of the players are going to disappear into the mists.

[PeZook]

I actually think people shouldn't be afraid of inolving themselves even in pre-planned stories and messing them up, so to speak. Otherwise an STGOD becomes little more than round robin fanfiction.

[Thanas]

Well, as a consequence of SDNW3 I've decided to have only two nations bordering mine, both run by players who I can deal with. I have no interest anymore in a grand storyarc that is based on external dealing because coordination is just impossible and I have no more interest in constantly reminding players of stuff.

[Force Lord]

Preliminary Political stats:

Name: The Centrality

Government Type: Totalitarian Autocracy
Head of State: Gabriel Enduvos, President and Dictator of the Centrality
Head of Government: Gabriel Enduvos, President of the Centralist Party
Legislature: Supreme Congress of The Centrality. All members are appointed by the Party Council, headed by the Secretary General. Congress members are appointed for life.
Judiciary: Supreme Court of The Centrality. Members are appointed by the President for life. The President reserves the right to pardon individuals or commute sentences, but such powers are not used often.
Political Parties: The Centralist Party is the only permitted political group. All other parties are banned and persecuted.
Capital: Dovan City, Centrum

Religions: Officialy atheist.

Languages: English (Primary), the reminder are secondary.

Economy: All large-scale industry is controlled by the State, though smaller enterprises have a degree of autonomy. Trade is heavily regulated, with the State deciding what should be imported and what should be exported.

Currency: Credit

I'm open to suggestions.

[Norade]

I don't foresee dropping out this time, not unless life steps in and rearranges my schedule like it did last game. Even then if people had PM'ed me, like Thanas had done I would have still stayed in character and that would have dragged me in enough to keep doing the number crunching to stay playing. As it was I didn't feel neededenough to invest the extra time to get back into things after a week and a bit of not looking at the game.

[Siege]

What is wrong with the map exactly? Is it that there is a crowded corner that everyone is trying to fill? Because I see that as a mechanism of the unsure to ensure that they are going to interact with other players rather than being forgotten and ignored in the boondocks. And I think that the only way to keep players is to plan stories out better, rather than having a PM system we keep things as much as possible in the OoC thread for planning.

It's not that there's a crowded corner everyone is trying to fill, it's in fact that there might be a corner that might seem crowded at first glance but turns out to be utterly deserted because none of the players who've signed up to fill it have actually materialized in-game. Which would reduce anyone who does take the time to interacting with a bunch of boring NPC, which is pretty far from ideal.

PM's stifle creativity and prevent players from all getting a say, and I think that the most recent storyline in SDNW3 is a good example. Thanas had a plan along side another player or two and in a series of PM's built up a story with Siege. When the first part of it was posted in the IC thread and others started responding harshly none of the preplanned story came to be.

This pretty much only happens when you approach the PM system (and, by extension, the game itself) adversarially, i.e. you think this is a game that should be 'won' somehow.

PS: The prime reason Thanas conversed with me via PM was because everybody else had deserted the game, and I was the only one of the major Aegean Axis stakeholders left who was more or less actively participating.

[Coyote]

If someone drops out, then a random plague or invasion or supernova event wiped out their civilization, cleansing the region of space of their kind, and the rest of us have to endure a slight recession in galactic real-estate values.

[Steve]

If someone drops out, then a random plague or invasion or supernova event wiped out their civilization, cleansing the region of space of their kind, and the rest of us have to endure a slight recession in galactic real-estate values.

Think that's overthinking it a tad.

Honestly, if someone drops out really early in the game, like within the first month, we'll just retcon their existence. If someone has to take a leave of absence due to pressing RL issues, they can turn their state over to mod care for the interim.

[Magister Militum]

And hrm, W10 area. Puts you closer to where I am now. A Britain expy and a France expy in close proximity. That sounds like a recipe for trouble. I take it you just want me to place the sectors as I see fit and you'll decide which is which?

Not necessarily. After all, both of our nations are children of the Upheaval. Who's to say that we aren't close allies? Of course, we could also spend the next couple of centuries invading one another. It's your call.

Anyways, yeah, the actual placement of my sectors doesn't matter for me.

[Steve]

And hrm, W10 area. Puts you closer to where I am now. A Britain expy and a France expy in close proximity. That sounds like a recipe for trouble. I take it you just want me to place the sectors as I see fit and you'll decide which is which?

Not necessarily. After all, both of our nations are children of the Upheaval. Who's to say that we aren't close allies? Of course, we could also spend the next couple of centuries invading one another. It's your call.

Anyways, yeah, the actual placement of my sectors doesn't matter for me.

Well, I set out some of the history of New Anglia in that thread. There's plenty of room for Anglian-French conflict up through the 28th or so Century, but during the 28th and 29th Centuries I wanted to mostly have on-off again wars, primarily naval, with Thanagar and some of the more militant Dorei nations, then of course the last three quarters of the 30th Century sees the beginning of the brutal Dilgrud Wars.

I suppose some Franco-Anglian War in the 2900-2940 era - perhaps one with the French Empire in alliance with Thanagar - could explain why the Anglians weren't able to stop the Dilgrud conquests of Trill and Doreia, with the Kingdom recovering just in time to fight the First Dilgrud War (2950-2964). And of course the French may have decided not to seize advantage of the Anglian distraction out of sheer disgust at the brutality and savagery of the Dilgrud.

[Steve]

Map update.

[A-Wing_Slash]

Seems the Northeast is sparsely settled, so I'd like to take a position straddling the "Outback." I don't want to disrupt what you guys are planning with the Anglians and the French, but a US offshoot should be able to fit in with Space Britain and France.

25 NCPs

System
"Gotham"
"Hudson"
"Brooklyn"
"New Buffalo"
"Cayugan"
"Saranac"
"Seneca"

System Type
Home
Core
Core
Core
Mid
Colony
Colony

Location
U-17
U-16
U-18
W-16
V-16
V-15
V-18

Data
60 Bil Population, $14,000 GDP, 1 Hyperspace Junction, 1 Warp Gate
50 Bil Population, $12,000 GDP, 1 Hyperspace Junction
50 Bil Population, $13,000 GDP (+ 1 GDP)
50 Bil Population, $12,000 GDP, 1 Hyperspace Junction
30 Bil Population, $6,000 GDP
10 Bil Population, $2,000 GDP
10 Bil Population, $2,000 GDP

Systems: 20 pts
Warp Gates: 0 pts
Hyperspace Junctions: 4 pts
Population Boosts: 1 pt
GDP Boosts: 0 pts

Total Population: 260 Billion
Total GDP (All sectors): $61,000

With thanks to CmdrWilkens for the format.

[Steve]

You're added.

[Zor]

I already have a planet named Gotham.

Also, what are those off colour patches on the map?

As it stands, being in the Unoccupied areas of the Northwest seems like a respectable place for the Nova Atlantean Commonwealth of worlds and its ally.

Zor

[Steve]

I already have a planet named Gotham.

Also, what are those off colour patches on the map?

As it stands, being in the Unoccupied areas of the Northwest seems like a respectable place for the Nova Atlantean Commonwealth of worlds and its ally.

Zor

Sorchus, you mean? He already indicated you'd be beside him, and that you two are splitting the costs for a sector that you'll share.

As for off color, I presume you mean the dark green bits? Those are shoal sectors. Only a few hyperspace lanes go through them for general travel, though each region has a "spider web" of mini-lanes that enable safe hyperspace travel as opposed to types where you're slogging through the "shoals" and running the risk of redlining your hyperdrive. Naturally knowledge of these spider webs tends to be confined to experienced shiphands, including smugglers and pirates.

Anyway, pick your sectors by Sorchus and list them for inclusion.

[Zor]

http://i425.photobucket.com/albums/pp33 ... 1275214064

Uploaded where i want the Commonwealth. I appologize, i did not know.

Zor

[Steve]

Uh, I don't think Sorchus listed the sector you two are splitting, though you can ask. For now I'll fill in the other four.

Edit: He didn't. J8 is exclusively his. You and he need to select the one you're splitting - J-9 seems the most logical candidate, though I-7 would also work. Also, map updated to add Zor.

[Norade]

The map is starting to resemble a horrible tetris orgy.

[Flameblade]

Okay, I have a rules question. I saw that at one point there were plans for economic growth rules, but those have since been scrapped. Seeing as now spending NCPs on GDP upgrades for a sector is less cost effective than just adding more sectors, why is there still a limit on increases on your homeworld?

[Steve]

There is?... ignore that.

[Flameblade]

There is?... ignore that.

Okay, that works. Another question, this one more about the setting. Would it cause any problems with the history if my nation had already had a beatdown delivered to it by the UN? Maybe even being the first time that they took up their paternalistic intervention policy?

[Steve]

If you really want. Keep in mind that the UN is the mod hammer state and that its interaction with other players will be low-key unless we mods feel the need to use it for something.