Considerations on SPACE SUPREME

 In my last post, I mused that Battlecruiser would be a good minigame for a Star Wars take on Sam Sorenson's Cataphracts. This is exactly the kind of huge game that would be marvelous to play in and an ordeal to try to run, so I don't expect I would run anything like this in the forseeable future. But in part to try to manifest my desires if there are other people who wish to iterate on any ingredients in this recipe, and in part to generate some discourse on options for how to run a Cataphracts-like game, here are my thoughts on how to structure and run such a game. I call it Stellar Politics and Combat Emulator Supreme, or SPACE SUPREME for short.

Cataphract by Hammk

You will notice these rules, setting notes, and plans are wildly uneven in what they cover and that they may not fit together right. This is the privilege of not being a real game. A lot of it will be idiosyncratic and catered to my taste, only some is intended as general advice.

SPACE SUPREME: the Game of Games

The Republic has about 7 constellations of planets. Each of these is run by a Constellation player, who is primarily playing a resource management game as they try to keep their people happy and their states effective. Constellations have Senators who represent their interests in the Galactic Senate. Constellations could direct their votes remotely, but more likely they will find some players to embody some of those Senators so as to gather information in the capital, make direct appeals for and against policies, and to free the Constellation from having to worry quite so much about what is going on in the Senate. Constellations would also need to find players to embody the Commanders of their navies and armies. Add in a player to run the bureaucracy of the Republic itself and a player who sits at the head of the Jedi Council. This would be a game ambitious in scale, with a minigame for determining fleet combat (Battlecruiser), and for planetary invasions (?), for resource collection and allocation (Cataphracts), and for personal action (GLoG?).

"Wait!" I hear you cry, "wouldn't such a game rapidly spin out of control, as it seems to require something like 50 players?". Well, perhaps it would. But here are my recommendations for simplifying Cataphracts-like procedures to yield something manageable enough that it could grow in size and still be managed.

1. Bundling of time. Cataphracts is grounded in real world time and distance, a clear charm. A galactic sci-fi tale can't be that grounded even if it tried. In addition, the daily nature of Cataphracts makes it a clear grind for gamerunners. Sam Sorensen wrote that he did his best to attend to the game three times/day. It's not hard to imagine that taking an hour, often longer if players have questions, which is a lot to give up. The SPACE SUPREME proposal is to bundle time into twice weekly chunks, say (Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday) and (Thursday-Friday-Saturday-Sunday). Movements of ships and messages takes place in units of these time chucks (I'm tempted to call them "Parsecs". Fighting a battle takes one parsec. This way if the GM can't complete everything on Monday, they could get it done on Tuesday without leaving players at different timestamps. It's less pressure on players as well, who would be under no obligation to quickly respond to urgent messages, knowing any orders or missives sent in on Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday would be processed on Thursday.
2. Bundling of space. Outer space is mostly void, a boon for simplification. If this Galactic Republic has, say, 100 major planets that we keep track of that will feel like a lot! And this is well short of the thousands of hexs one would expect from a real Cataphracts game. 
3. Simplification of mail delivery. That recipients are usually moving makes my head spin when I consider how letters get delivered in the Cataphracts game I am a part of. Suppose a further bundling of space to ease communications. I'm imagining the galactic core as two sectors, the hinterland as four sectors, and the outer rim as eight sectors. Communication can occur freely with anyone in your own sector. Remote messages are sent to a specific planet in another sector, for each sector between you it takes 1 parsec to arrive. If you're leaving a sector you can leave instructions like "forward any mail I receive to Sector C", such that any mail that arrives will be sent to the next sector, arriving after an appropriate delay. If the planet your mail is sent to is now in enemy hands, they now have access to your correspondence.
4. Disincentives to raising up rivals. Sam Sorensen wrote that in his game subcommanders were fervently loyal to their commanders, by necessity clinging to the lifeboat of obedience in the stormy sea of uncertainty. Having more commanders gives access to a wider variety of commander traits, the potential to generate a younger duelist, as well as whatever advise and wisdom an additional player can provide. It is almost always in a character's interests for the player to bring in more commanders. This is, most certainly, not in the interest of the GM who now has another person to manage. Therefore, when bringing in a new player roll randomly on the Ulterior Motives table below. These range from non-issues to major subversions to being an active force for evil. Hopefully the very existence of this table will do much to sow mistrust.
5. Bundling of armies. A typical navy in Battlecruiser is 5 warships. Having fewer detachable parts means fewer armies for the GM to manage.
6. A panel of game masters. I've tried to write this outline such that different parts of the game can be siloed from each other, such that multiple GMs could run SPACE SUPREME as a team. I imagine the composition of the group thusly, with the understanding that one person could potentially fill in as multiple roles:
1. Postmaster. Players have a special channel where they only send missives. They must use a certain format that specifies where they are when they are sending the message and where they are sending the message to. The Postmaster's only job is collecting these messages, delivering them to the proper planets after calculating the appropriate number of parsecs, and forwarding mail when appropriate.
2. Warmaster. In charge of the map and moving armies and navies. Players have a special channel where they only send orders for the armies and navies under their command. The Warmaster's job is limited to mechanically processing these instructions and, when hostile forces meet, setting up channels for players to play Battlecruiser and answer any questions they have about how to do so.
3. Accountant. There are probably spreadsheets for the resource extraction of the Constellation commanders, the accountant updates those every parsec with newly extracted or spent resources.
4. Gamemaster SUPREME. This person has creative control over the world and for this reason they must also be in charge of the gamerunning team. They run NPCs, answer questions about the fiction of the world, and decide rulings.
5. Optionally: a Parliamentarian to keep procedure in the Galactic Senate, but if I was running this game I'd be tempted to make the Chancellor handle it.
6. Optionally: a dedicated person to run all the NPC factions if there are many of them.

As I've outlined it here, SPACE SUPREME is peculiar kind of game, large enough that possibly no one person understands everything that's going on within it. It's been my experience that beautiful things can happen when you reach a critical mass of approximately 15-20 people, when the political effect of known causes becomes wildly unpredictable. Even when the likely victor of a conflict is known, what they will have to give to whom to achieve that victory is wildly in flux. Grounding large group politics in the logistical specificity of Cataphracts is to me an intoxicating recipe.

Ulterior motives 

1. Sith. Either a sith lord, one of their apprentices, or someone aligned with them. Seeks to do evil.

2. Separatist. Active sympathizer to a secessionist or autonomy-seeking system within their constellation.

3. Humanitarian. Will never do anything to disproportionately disadvantage a civilian population. Will never be the one to start a war. Will always give disadvantaged foes the chance to surrender.

4. Split loyalty to another constellation, roll randomly.

5. No ulterior motive! Truly loyal!

6. Cash, gold, overweening greed

7. Higher position for self and relatives

8. Glory-seeking, a strong need to have their ego flattered and seem as important as possible.

9. Blackmail victim. Another faction has evidence that could destroy their career.

10. In love with the wrong person

11. Crave personal fief.

12. Adrenaline junky, loves taking unnecessary risks

13. Droid Liberation

14. Vengeance against the specific people who wronged you.

15. Local ambition, seeks to displace their constellation leader and take their place.

16. Life debt to a problematic person

17. Martial honor if a military commander. Peacenik if not.

18. Survivor, won't take lethal risks, just wants to make it through this alive.

19. Cruelty. Indulges in unnecessary spite even to their own detriment.

20. Roll twice and combine.

Battlecruiser: a Minigame of Maximum Firepower

 

Fine artwork by Phlox

Recently I’ve been watching Star Wars and thinking about how to do a science fiction version of Sam Sorensen’s Cataphracts. My current idea is something like a Model UN with rules attached for the inevitable Civil War. One indelible feature of Cataphracts is its elegant simplicity, its focus on logistics. Battlecruiser walks away from that because fighting space battles is fun! For that reason it may work better as war rules for a more traditional science fiction RPG, although its smaller number of detachable pieces would help to keep the player count from growing too crazy in a Cataphracts-alike.

Battlecruiser assumes ships are expensive and difficult to maintain. 3-5 combat ships would be a common fleet for a constellation of planets. 10 or more would be a fearsome array, unlikely to be able to fuel itself for long.

Hull

-Every ship has 2-5 hull points. These are arranged in a straight line.

-1 point must be filled with everything necessary to make the ship work. Engines, etc.

-Other hull points contain Weapons or Systems.

-Only ships of hull 2 can land on a planet. Hull 3 and up are assembled in orbital ports and are space locked 

Weapons

-Each has a Strike Rank, the turn they can start attacking.

-The basic assumption is that the distance between ships is closing. If they are staying a static distance apart there could be a duel of long-range strike range 1 guns, or if one fleet comes around a moon and is surprised to find an enemy fleet an engagement might begin at a higher strike rank. Let the fiction guide you.

-Each has a number of attacks.

-Each has a strength.

-When a weapon system targets a square occupied by a ship, it has a chance-in-6 of piercing the shield equal to the weapon’s strength minus the ship’s armor (almost always 1). So a strength 6 laser lance firing on an armor 1 patrol boat has a 5-in-6 chance of piercing their defenses and destroying the hull.

Order of Play

-Prior to battle, admirals may flee. If pursued, they have a 5-in-6 chance of escaping to an adjacent friendly system and a 1-in-6 chance of half their fleet being caught and forced to battle. The other half may continue to flee or turn and fight.

-Admirals organize their ships on their 10x10 naval graph.

-On the first turn, only weapons of Strike Rank 1 may be used. On turn 2, Strike Ranks 1 and 2. Etc.

-To attack, admirals fire all their in-range weapon systems, starting with the first strike ranks and continuing in order. They aim at squares on their opponents’ concealed naval graph, exactly like in Battleship.To determine who goes first, flip a coin.

-For each attack, admirals are told “Miss” if the target was unoccupied, “Shield” if the target was occupied but the attack was unsuccessful, or “Pierce” if the target was occupied and the attack destroyed the hull.

-When all the hull points of a ship are pierced, she is destroyed.

-Play continues until one side is obliterated, surrenders, or retreats.

Example naval graph

Retreat

-After 8 turns, an admiral may order a retreat. Ships power up their StarWarpers and forgo any attacks for one turn. The opposing admiral is informed of this. On their next turn any retreating ships leave the field.

Post-Battle and Repairs

-After battle, disable systems from damaged ships as jury rigged repairs fail. For each pierced hull point, choose a weapon or system to disable.

     - If engines are disabled, the ship is immobile unless towed by ships equal to twice its tonnage. Immobile ships start battles revealed to the opposing admiral.

-After battle, suppressed fighter and bomber squadrons have a 2-in-6 chance of being destroyed, or 4-in-6 if their hangars have been disabled.

-Damaged ships must go to an orbital port to be repaired. This costs time and supply.

-Destroyed ship carcasses can be brought back to port as salvage. With a week of work, they yield 40% of their Material cost.

Fighters and Bombers

-Carriers utilize a special Hangar system, by default fielding one squadron of fighters and one squadron of bombers. While fighters may have wide uses outside of naval combat, within it their main purpose is escorting/disrupting bombers.

-Bombers attack at strike rank 5, -1 for each friendly fighter wing, +1 for each enemy fighter wing, minimum strike rank 2, maximum 8. They begin targeting at the edge of the naval graph and target 4 contiguous squares (diagonals don’t count). On subsequent turns they continue their attack from a square adjacent to the square they left off in.

-Some ships have weapon systems with a Screen score. Each time such a vessel is attacked by a bomber, there is a Screen score-in-six chance the bomber squadron is suppressed and removed from the battle. If the bomber’s admiral wishes, they may choose to suppress one of their fighter squadrons instead.

Scanning

-Scanners begin at strike rank 3. Each scanner may scan one half of the naval graph and learn how many hull points are within that half. On subsequent turns, you may scan half of the half you previously scanned (a quarter of the naval graph), and so on.

Orbital Ports

-They count as having 10 hull points and 3 armor. 5 of their hull points are typically taken up by Star Factories that enable the production and repair of space ships. Ponderous, they begin play revealed on the naval graph. Typically they are studded with laser lances.

Weapons

Name	Strike Rank	Strength	Attacks	Other
Laser Lance	1	6	1
Plasma Launcher	3	5	2
Neutrino Blaster	3	2	5	Rare
Gauss Cannon	5	4	3
Bomber Squadron	5*	6	4*
Frak Batteries	7	3	4	Screen 2
Dark Matter Missile Tubes	9	9	3	Rare
Neutrino Array	-	-	-	Screen 4, Rare

*See Fighters and Bombers section for Strike Range modifiers and attack pattern.

Systems

-Hangar (2 hull). Can house up to 2 fighter or bomber squadrons. Screen 1.

-Scanner Array. Strike rank 3. Scan to measure how many hill points are on sections of the naval graph. Alternatively, jam enemy signals, reducing their number of effective scanners by 1.

-Overcharged Shield Generator. Rare. Instead of taking up a hull point, this system is placed as an extra hull point on the bottom of the ship on the naval graph. The ship’s armor counts as 2 higher while the Overcharged Shield Generator is still functional, but it cannot generate a shield for itself and has armor 0.

-Cloak. Does not show up on scan.

-Fortress Array. Rare. +1 Armor, +1 Screen.

-Mobile Barracks. House an invading army.

-Floating Factory. Mobile industry.

Logistics

Probably skip this part if you just need war rules. Consider numbers preliminary

-Building a ship takes 100 material/hull point. Systems and weapons cost 25 material, or 50 if they are rare technology. Orbital Ports can produce 100 material of ship per month.

-Repairs cost 40% of the material and time.

-Ships can carry 20 material/hull point.

-When stationary, ships consume 1 material/hull point/week. When moving, they consume twice that.

Default Vessel Patterns

Carrier (5 hull)

-Engines

-Hangar

     -1 Fighter, 1 Bomber Squadron

-Plasma Launcher

-Flak Batteries

Battlecruiser (4 hull)

-Engines

-Laser Lance

-Gauss Cannon

-Gauss Cannon

Destroyer (3 hull)

-Engines

-Flak Batteries

-Scanner

Infiltrator (3 hull)

-Engines

-Cloak

-Plasma Launcher

Patrol Boat (2 hull)

-Engines

-Plasma Launcher

D20 Rare Civilization Shipbuilding Bonuses

1. Hunter-Seekers. Free to install Cloaking technology.

2. Ironbourne. All manufactured ships gain +1 armor, +20% build cost, and attempts to flee from Ironbourne ships always succeed.

3. Boarders. All ships may make an additional attack at Strike Rank 10, the Ram, with a strength equal to the number of hull points+armor+2 if she has a mobile barracks. When ships Ram, the ship they are attacking makes an automatic Ram attack back at them if they are not destroyed.

4. Supercapital Class. You may manufacture ships of up to size 8.

5. Droid Crew. You may reduce the upkeep of ships by 1 material/hull point, though if you do these ships are unaware of their surroundings.

6. Hotshots. Hangars contain 3 squadrons instead of 2.

7. Engineer Corps. After battle, each destroyed hull has a 50% chance of being deemed easily reparable. After a week without moving, these sections are repaired for free.

8. Nanobot Mantle. All ships gain Screen 1.

9. Quantum Computing. Your flagship and any ships adjacent to it or to ships adjacent to ships adjacent to it each give one of their weapons -1 strike rank, minimum 1.

10. Kaizen Manufacturing Practices. Ships cost 75 less material to build.

11. Tomb Worlders. Rare weapons and systems are not doubled in cost for you.

12. Viiscarian Metallurgy. Ships do not need to be built in a straight line.

13. Tracer Doctrine. For squares you have attacked but not pierced on previous turns, the first attack against that square has +1 Strength

14. Scavengers. You may fire to immobilize instead of destroy, reducing your weapon’s effective strength by 1 but disabling rather than destroying ships. Disabled ship carcasses can be salvaged for 80% of their cost. Your ships can tow their own tonnage.

15. Advanced Lenscrafting. Your Scanners have a strike rank of 1.

16. Ionized StarWarpers. Instead of flipping a coin, always go before your opponent. 3-in-6 chance of catching fleeing opponents

17. Earthshaker. Your fleets are better at orbital bombardment. (Vague placeholder until rules exist for armies and planetary industries)

18. Hardpoint Doctrine. Your orbital ports have +1 armor and work twice as fast to build, repair, and salvage vessels. They are 25% cheaper for you to build.

19. Dazzle Camouflage. The first time a hit on each of your ships would send a result of “Shield” to the enemy admiral, they report “Miss” instead.

20. Organic Vessels. Your ships eat and are grown with Supply instead of consuming  and being built by Material. They cannot be retrofitted or salvaged.