The Griffin's Crier

Everyone,

I used the campaign rules in Noble Armada to create a star system that we can fight over. I drew the map using Campaign Cartographer's Cosmographer plugin (so I did finally get to use it for something!)

I read through the Campaign rules last night and I think they're really cool! I really want to play out a campaign now.

EvilGenius wrote:I read through the Campaign rules last night and I think they're really cool! I really want to play out a campaign now.

I agree. I'd like to fight out a campaign with multiple fleets. It think it could be pretty cool.

So who's up for a campaign?

I assume that Bob, Damon, and I are. I'll email Tom Mazur and see if he's still interested. I'm sure he will be if we run these battles mid-week. Lance -- are you interested?

Here's my thoughts on how to run this.

1) We start with 2000 point fleets. That gives you enough ships to flight a big fleet action while still being able to leave a few ships in reserve. I don't think we want to go with 3000 or 6000 yet because it would take too long to work through the campaign. I think we should focus on something that could actually be finished in the next 6 months.

2) We use the Naldera campaign map. It may be a little light on resources if we have 5 players, but I think that's ok -- again, we'd like this to go quickly.

3) We roll initiative as per the campaign rules. First person picks the system they want, then in turn order everyone makes their own picks. if a fight breaks out, then the players involved figure out when to fight the combat. If Tom's joining us, this means some of the engagements will have to happen mid-week, as I assume weekends remain bad for him.

4) Each fight will use a randomly determined scenario and randomly determine fleet point values, per the campaign rules.

5) After everyone has made their moves and the fights are concluded, we move onto the next campaign turn.

6) In order to facilitate the campaign, I think we should allocate one Sunday a month in the fall to Noble Armada. For simplicity's sake, I'll say the first Sunday of the month -- I volunteer to put together the fall schedule and see how it shakes out. This way we always have at least one day a month when folks can fight their fleets, and the campaign can advance.

What do you think?

As for when to start this ... we could start any time. While we've got at least two vacations this month, the beauty of the campaign is that it may not matter. If I'm on vacation, but Bob and Damon are vying for the same planet, then they can just go ahead and schedule the fight. Moreover some of the early campaign moves may not even involve fights; the first thing you do is claim strategic resources, and it could be that everyone lines up resources on Turns 1 and 2, and the real fighting doesn't get underway until late in Turn 2 or in Turn 3.

This does have me wanting to write a small little app to handle the scenario generation. It should be pretty straightforward.

Let's do this thing!

Damon.

I would also like to suggest that we not us the magic/psychic rules in this campaign. We're still figuring out the basic rules; throwing them into the mix is just going to make things more complicated. Adding them in Campaign #2 makes more sense to me.

Boooo!!!! Psychics Now!!

If we wait until a second campaign to incorporate the Psychic rules, then there's a better than even chance that we'll NEVER get the chance to implement them, and if we actually ever do get the chance it's probably not going to be at least for another year.

EvilGenius wrote:Boooo!!!! Psychics Now!!

Damn it man, get your magic out of my science fiction.

EvilGenius wrote:If we wait until a second campaign to incorporate the Psychic rules, then there's a better than even chance that we'll NEVER get the chance to implement them, and if we actually ever do get the chance it's probably not going to be at least for another year.

I get that you want to use them, and I appreciate that BUT there are a whole bunch of rules we haven't even touched yet relating to planets, debris, scenarios, etc. and now we're going to throw in psychics on top of it? We can't keep the regular rules straight half the time. I think we've got enough customization with the ships we have without throwing in brains-in-jars who can stealth a carrier with a thought.

I'm happy to read through the rules. Maybe I'll change my mind, but honestly I'd much rather have one less thing to juggle, particularly when we've just thrown three or four new balls into the mix already.

NukeHavoc wrote:I'm happy to read through the rules. Maybe I'll change my mind, but honestly I'd much rather have one less thing to juggle, particularly when we've just thrown three or four new balls into the mix already.

Ok, I get that. Maybe it would be better to stick to the core rulebook then? No adjusted fighter cost, no additional troop types, no additional factions or ships or stuff? No psychic or theurgic powers?

EvilGenius wrote:Ok, I get that. Maybe it would be better to stick to the core rulebook then? No adjusted fighter cost, no additional troop types, no additional factions or ships or stuff? No psychic or theurgic powers?

I think we can use the fleet tweaks and new ships. I know there are some additional rules there, but IIRC Lance already purchased one of the new fleets (the space barbarians?) and I've already got the two strike cruisers. I'm not sure about the troops; I'll need to read up on those. I'm more concerned about the psychic/theurgic stuff because it's a new subsystem, but let me read up on it.

It will take me a while to get caught up after traveling quite a bit this month, but I'll try to get reading.

Re. my models, I bought the Kurgen Caliphate fleet box, so I have the following ships:

1 Khabir-class Light Carrier
2 Yildugh-class Destroyers
2 Sheerkur-class Galliots
4 Qawwas-class Frigates
2 Mujahidin-class Raiders
4 Attakhan-class Fighters
4 Bogatyr-class Multirole Fighters

Not sure if that answers your questions or not - I haven't read this whole thread yet (or the new rules, or campaign rules).

I read through the rules this weekend. I say we go ahead and use the psychic and theurgic rules. If we find they are horribly unbalanced we can always remove them, but as Bob pointed out the other day, a Level 4 psychic ends up costing as much as a frigate. I have some concerns about how unbalanced being able to add Stealth or Initiative to any ship, but I think it does offer some cool role-playing opportunities.