1KM1KT Free RPG Community

I've been working on a new version of a space wargame that I plan to eventually sell. Are threads on the topic of wargaming allowed on these forums? If so, where would I put it?

I believe wargaming is okay, but I'm not sure where the proper forum would be either.

This is a general discussion forum, so it would seem the most appropriate. Maledictus talked about his card game here and there have been a few mentions of video games. I guess the only barrier that you'd be pushing is the interest in selling the game.

Unless Rob decides to nix the thread lets go ahead and see what happens.

I think it's fine! We've seen board- and cardgames discussed around here.

Do tell us more about your game

Okay, here goes.

It's called Storm of the Armadas (SotA), and it's my third version of the game since its first release in 1995. It was originally inspired by Tanaka's Legend of the Galactic Heroes, but has also been influenced by Jack Campbell's The Lost Fleet series. The battles, however, are on a much smaller scale than either of those series.

In the game, you play an Admiral, controlling flotillas of between 8 and 30 spaceships per counter, with 6 counters being a standard beginning game. It's different from other wargames in that you have to wait a couple of turns before any orders you declare get executed. The problem right now isn't the rules, despite being in alpha playtesting. The problem is the setting.

There are two main sides: the Kraken Dynasty (mostly conservative, medieval or fascist regimes that controls everything from Jupiter and beyond) and the Dragon Alliance (a mostly theocratic government combining Hindu and Celtic traditions that controls the inner system). Sub-factions provide the variations on those forms of government. For example, the Mars League is a member of the Dragon Alliance. It is capitalist democracy based upon pluralism, diplomacy and bureacracy. All fine and good.

But what about communism? It doesn't fit with either faction, but, along with capitalist democracy, it is one of the main large-scale society patterns that we've managed to invent. It even has historical flaws built into it that may be worked into play. I'd love to use communism, but it is diametrically opposed to everything I've come up with so far. So, any thoughts?

Y'know, just writing out the problem made me think of a possible solution.

What if I turned the Mars League into a Jupiter League (switching it to the Kraken Dynasty), and made Mars the communists? Yes, I see the inevitable joke of making the so-called "red planet" be home to the communists, but this solution just might work. The only problem is that communism is opposed to any form of religion.

What do you think?

Communism doesn't have to be the overt government form to be functional communism. You could have a capitalist country that has moved to nationalizing industry because of war or economic catastrophe. It would be almost the reverse history of China. Instead of starting out communist and moving capitalist they could have slowly moved in the opposite direction. Maybe there's a lot of talk about supporting the community and an emphasis on nationalism.

Onix, I hadn't considered using a bit of history to describe the changing government, but now that you've suggested it, it makes complete sense.

I don't think that a revolution is in order, but I do like the idea of change due to an economic catastrophe. Actually, I believe that Mars' low gravity could provide some of the impetus for that catastrophe. Merchants from elsewhere can visit Mars, but it would be difficult for Mars-based companies to travel because of the effects of long-term bone loss. Yes, I know that bone loss may be prevented if the astronauts work out, but babies can't exercise.

Something more is definitely needed for the catastrophe, but thank you, Onix!

Oh, and there is no artificial gravity on spaceships in SotA. It's not that far into the future, so loss of bone mass is still a problem.

Sometimes fear of a catastrophe is all you need. Look at Hitler, he talked about the danger of overpopulation as a justification war because land (and thus food) would become scarce.*

You don't have to go that dark, but maybe it starts out with fears of trade imbalances and a few failed companies and the government started nationalizing companies to protect the economy.

*Interestingly that problem had already been solved (well pushed significantly back) around the first world war by a German Jewish scientist when he invented artificial nitrogen fertilizers. That made all the more ironic that the person that solved the problem Hitler was worried about was now treated as an enemy of the state.