AC/AC-X Story Thread

I don't know if any of you have any experience with S&D but I had an idea I thought would be fun to try. There was a suggestion a while back to open an AC War Forum. Well it never got off the ground because MarkG and DanQ wouldn't open a seperate forum. Well I thought what if we opened a S&D type thread. I bet there are some people here who participated in the owo forums Role Playing. We would operate on that basis only consolidating things into one thread. A good example is World 2000 at S&D. I just want to see what people think before I open the thread, so no claims yet.

But most important. What do you guys think?

World 2000: http://apolyton.net/forums/Forum19/H...tml?date=03:38
Good resource for those who aren't sure who exactly to play.
[This message has been edited by Barbarossa (edited August 15, 2000).]

Bump

[Jasonian]

Ok, I read a bit of that thread, and I'm still confused. Those post look like newspaper stories. Is that what this is about? Can you explain it further? (Yes, I am showing interest)

[Ari Rahikkala]

Well, mr.president .

Those threads are basically threads where you tell a story about your nation in its wars through various medias, like newspapers reports and so. You build up an army, get into alliances, and perhaps even start attacking other nations. And write stories about that. Often you disagree with other players on how the attack has fared, then people use OoC messages or story moderator's powers to decide on which player won. Longness, excitement and realness of the story are looked up to. Your luck in wars may change if you write an excellent story about only one soldier, but if you just build up your military and attack the weakest one with using weak stories and so, everybody will attack you then.

This, of course, is what those stories SHOULD be. The problem is, they get quite unrealistic easily. So if you want to join a game, jump in, ask a few stupid questions, choose a small nation and everybody will be happy with you!

[Jasonian]

Ah, I get it. It's all based on your writing skill, which gives people interesting things to read and thus makes the whole store better as a whole.

Hmm... tempting.

Well yes in those type of forums we use newspaper type writing to give it a more real world feel. For this you would write a story about your faction, ally with other factions, explore, research techs ,and eventually post your military stats.

Come on we need more players. Googlie, Raging Mouse, LightSniper? Any of the Corssfire Tales vets?

[Googlie]

I'm (obviously) interested - - but the timing just isn't right for me just now with my six week vacation looming.

I could do a couple or three posts from now till Sept 1, then pick up the thread on Oct 15th, but I'd be so out of things plotwise that my faction may not even exist by then - six weeks is a long time in fiction land.

I take it in an AC context we'd be writing from the perspective of one of the 14 factions (or even a custom faction?) - well, maybe not the 2 alien races (after all, who could decipher their resbursts)

(And the more technically gifted could even provide links to streaming video footage of the action in question - a la Morgan 3dVision?)

Sure I'm interested.

Googlie

Since you know a great deal about AC I'm eager to have you participate. You would wirte from the perspective of your faction, just like in World 2000 we write from the perspective of our country. You would make communiques as the leader of your faction i.e. Brother Lal of the Peacekeepers.

Since you are going on vacation you could choose your faction and than have an understudy or even another poster you really trust play the Peacekeepers (or whatever) until you get back.

We still need more players.

[Alinestra Covelia]

Hmmm.... sounds interesting! I'm happy to take part, but I'm probably going to be more of a "writer" than a "fighter".

It's okay. You can always get someone else to do your military for you. We need more players.

[DarkCloud]

I just thought I might join in since I have decided to suspend University Saga because of lack of interest;

I would like to post in this 'future war'

A Sample:

The University Scholar
vol. 1 ish. 1

University Soldiers in Hive Territory

-University Base, University
Academian Prokhor Zakharov has just announced that he would be interested in a joint agreement with Brother Lal of the Peacekeepers to join him with his peacekeeping forces in Hive territories. He claims that this move "would be a strategic benefit for both of our peoples (the) Peacekeepers and (the) University.
-News Reporter Charles Sash

Are we ready to do claims?

No we still need more players.

[DarkCloud]

Just How many more players. I count just about 6

-Jasonian
-Light Ening
-Googlie
-Alnistera Covelia
-Myself (Dark Cloud)
-Barbarossa

Any rules ideas; I can post some rules ideas if you start a thread. I was thinking of starting something like this some time ago but never got to typing the rules up.

Here is an outline:

-Year 2118
Begins with Planetary Governor Election (Original Factions)

-Need at least 4 people, hopefully 7.
Mindworms count as faction as does Planetmind.

-Eventually factions will splinter off or be discovered

-4 Techs each faction/ each no higher than level 2

-Maximum total population between all of your cities is 360,000

-I could make a diplomatic stances chart or flesh out this outline better, however I believe Barbarossa will probably want his own rules and people will probably want to decide their diplo stances.

All right, I'll try to recruit a few more players, I'm hoping Provost Harrison (AI) might join. Also SCers like Hydro would be good players. Anyway the diplo stances should start out as the default Firaxis stances. Than players can feel free to change it to their own variation, not straying to much I hope.

I'll compile the rules hopefully soon. Claims will start tomorrow. If you have any questions contact me over ICQ at 77118793.

Hi, I am interested to join, but my writing skills suck :/

I have a great imagination,a mind for creativity...but suck in writing it out :/

So doubt i can make anything sound newspaper like.

-LordLMP

Here is a basic rule table, based on the game rules:

Higher Goal - Transcendence Victory - Allowed
Total War - Conquest Victory - Allowed
Peace in our Time - Diplomatic Victory - Allowed
Mine, All Mine - Economic Victory - Disallowed
One for All - Cooperative Victory - Allowed
Do or Die - No Restart for Conquered Factions - Allowed
Look First - Flexible Start Location - Disallowed
Tech Stagnation - Slower Discovery Rate - Disallowed
Spoils of War - Steal Tech when you Conquer Enemy Bases - Allowed
Blind Research - Can't Choose Your Techs - Disallowed
Intense Rivalry - Everyone Hates You - Disallowed
No Unity Survey - Map not visible - Disallowed
No Unity Scattering - Pods Only at Landing Site - Disallowed
Bell Curve - No Random Events - Disallowed
Time Warp - Accelerated Start - Disallowed
Randomize faction leader personalities - Allowed
Randomize faction leader social agendas - Disallowed

Disallowed means it cannot be used in the game and Allowed means it can be.

Nex is a table of the factions, their leader, and the techs they currently have.

Gaia's Stepdaughters - Lady Deirdre Skye - Centauri Ecology, Social Psych, Biogenetics,

Human Hive - Chairman Sheng-ji Yang - Doctrine:Loyalty, Industrial Base, Doctrin:Mobility, Applied Physics

University of Planet - Academician Prokhor Zakharov - Information Networks, Industrial Base, Social Psych, Biogenetics

Morgan Industries - CEO Nwabudike Morgan - Industrial Base, Industrial Economics, Information Networks, Centauri Ecology

Spartan Federation - Colonel Corazon Santiago - Doctrine:Mobility, Industrial Base, Applied Physics

The Lord's Believers - Sister Miriam Godwinson - Social Psych, Industrial Base, Centauri Ecology

Peacekeeping Forces - Commissioner Pravin Lal - Biogenetics, Industrial Base, Social Psych,

Manifold Caretakers - Guardian Lular H'minee - Progenitor Psych, Field Modulation, Centauri Ecology

Manifold Usurpers - Conqueror Judaa Marr - Progenitor Psych, Field Modulation, Applied Physics

Cult of Planet - Prophet Cha Dawn - Centauri Ecology, Social Psych, Industrial Base

Cybernetic Consciousness - Prime Function Aki Zeta-5 - Applied Physics, Information Networks, Industrial Base, Polymorphic Software

Free Drones - Foreman Domai - Industrial Base, Social Psych, Applied Physics

Data Angels - Datajack Sinder Roze - Information Networks, Planetary Networks, Industrial Base, Biogenetics

Nautilus Pirates - Captain Ulrik Svensgaard - Doctrine:Mobility, Doctrine:Flexibility, Industrial Base

Claims Begin Now!

[This message has been edited by Barbarossa (edited August 24, 2000).]

[DarkCloud]

*Double post* (Sort of)

CLAIM:

University


[This message has been edited by DarkCloud (edited August 24, 2000).]

[DarkCloud]

I Claim University.

Should we not post a second topic for this?

Barbarossa what is your claim?

[DarkCloud]

I believe people will have many questions:

Are we using the standard SMAC map?

When are we allowed to start posting?

How should we work posting, all in one thread like Spartan Chronicles or in seperate threads per faction?

Can I (Dark Cloud) write a cumulative summary of all posts every now and then a la Spartan Chronicles summary of events?

How should time pass?

Should we start on a certain day?

All these and more... answered when Barbarossa next logs on.

Thank You.

quote: Originally posted by DarkCloud on 08-24-2000 09:44 PM Are we using the standard SMAC map?

Yes. The Map of Planet.

quote: When are we allowed to start posting?

When I decide. And after everyone is finished claiming.

quote: How should we work posting, all in one thread like Spartan Chronicles or in seperate threads per faction?

All in one thread. When that thread get's too many potsts one of us will open a new thread.

quote: Can I (Dark Cloud) write a cumulative summary of all posts every now and then a la Spartan Chronicles summary of events?

I guess, what do you mean

quote: How should time pass?

I]m not quite sure about that part. I need to get in touch with a certain person named Gilgamesh.

I can also do a brief summary of how the game rules apply, in a bit.

[This message has been edited by Barbarossa (edited August 24, 2000).]

Higher Goal - I don't think we should allow it ofr this sort of a game.

Total War - Conquer all your fellow players.

Peace in our Time - Try and convince enough players to back you in becoming Supreme Leader. This should be hard as I doubt other players will want the game to end this way.

One for All - You and an ally or two try to wipe out your fellow players.

Do or Die - Once your faction is conquered you can't return as that faction. Choose another (I might ammend this later).

Look First - You land, I have placed your first colony.

Tech Stagnation - No slow research. Just the normal pace.

Spoils of War - Come to me after you have conquered a base and I will give you a selection of techs, of which you may choose one to steal from the conquered base.

Blind Research - As long as you have prequesites you can choose which tech you want to research next.

No Unity Survey - Your faction has a rough idea of Planet, but most is unknown.

No Unity Scattering - All the pods are everywhere. You're going to have to look for them.

Bell Curve - Every so often I will throw a random event at someone or everyone.

Time Warp - We start in 2118.

Randomize Leader - You are the leader of your faction, even if you speak as Zakharov or Yang.

Randomize Social Agenda - Stick to your faction's game ideals. Even if you have your own agenda, front your faction's ideals as a cover to them. But on the whole stick to your faction's ideals. i.e. lal should not become a brutal tyrant.

And we really do need more players.

hmm, can we not have more than one player per Faction? can i jump one faction to the other?

if no to both, Spartans i guess, or the Nautilus Pirates

-LordLMP

No, we don't really need multiple players per faction. And you should stick with one faction.

DarkCloud - University of Planet
[LordLMP] - Nautilus Pirates?
gscott23x3 - Peacekeeping Forces
[This message has been edited by Barbarossa (edited August 25, 2000).]

[Raging Mouse]

Right; I'm in. But my participation might be a little infrequent, at least in the start.

Now, what faction? The original seven, right? Then.. The Hive could be mine, please..

[Googlie]

Wioth the imminance of my departure I will take any default faction that hasn't been killed off by mid-october, and read the threads like crazy on my return to catch up.

I admit to still being a little confused. Will there be an actual map (scenario) produced (a la Spartan Chronicles) to identify who are neighbors, where the oceans are, who is landlocked, where the pods are, etc?

How will tech advances be monitored? Will SP's be "dealt" to each faction to write about? Unit production and base facilities? How will we handle these?

(Maybe we each get allocated 10,000 credits for our 360,000 pop, and we have to buy base facilities, troops, etc etc, recognizing that drone riots will occur after a certain pop size in a base without a rec commons or a creche, etc. Using the alpha.txt cost tables as our guide - remember they are then x 10 in the game) - or is this too complicated - easier to actually play a PBEM and write our experiences as we go?

btw, 360,000 pop sounds high - that's 36 heads by 2118 - or 12 size 3 bases - talk about a population boom!!!

If, on my return, Morgan or miriam are still available, I'll take either - maybe one could be on one of the remoter islands so that they are not contacted until mid october?

Googlie

[Googlie]

Nwabudike "Googlie" Morgan reporting for duty

DarkCloud - University of Planet
Barbarossa - Spartan Federation
gscott23x3 - Peacekeeping Forces
[LordLMP] - Nautilus Pirates
self biased - The Lord's Believers
Googlie - Morgan Industries
Raging Mouse - Human Hive
LightEning - Planetmind

I must introduce the concept of IC and OOC. OOC means 'Out of Character'. This is where you speak as yourself and not your faction. IC means 'In Character' and is when you are speaking as your faction or leader. You don't need to say IC at the beginning of every post unless you are switiching from OOC to IC.

Claims Thus Far:
DarkCloud - University of Planet
Raging Mouse - Human Hive
[LordLMP] - Nautilus Pirates
gscott23x3 - Peacekeeping Forces

And I as your humble moderator will choose the.....Spartans.

quote: Will there be an actual map?

Maybe. I'm not good at cartography

quote: How will tech advances be monitored?

Working on that.

quote: How will SPs be "dealt" to each faction to write about?

If you have the proper tech and enough credits say that you are starting the construction of for example the Empath Guild. If another person starts it after you they can come to me secretly and say that you are hurrying. This way you can beat the person who started it earlier.

I'll try to explain more later.

[Ari Rahikkala]

As I finally fired up ICQ and found Barbarossa's message...

I wasn't actually going to join the story at first, because I probably won't really have the time to participate in actions between factions, but...

quote: Originally posted by DarkCloud on 08-23-2000 07:38 PM Mindworms count as faction as does Planetmind.

Yes! If we follow the Cloudy rules, I will play as the Planetmind. I'll just go and read some of the planetgrammar and I'm ready to go!

okay, Nautilus Pirates it is anyway, in 2118, doubt there is many factions that has ships...so an advantage Also, would be better for me than Spartans, where i know i won't get Sandiegos characters and spartans right :P
Anyway, we would have to keep score of money, and so on of the choosen faction?

As for map, why not the the original AX Planet map?
Would we operate like the game or can we do things where the game doesn't give the option too? like guerilla warfare, resistances in conquered bases, establish outposts, landmines/seamines, secret bases, and so on?
How will units divised? like in Spartans Chronicles...one Needlejet unit in the game represents one needlejet (way i see it) and in Alien Crossfire, one Needlejet unit is one squadron worth of needlejets in the story. How about infantry? will it be size up into Regiments, Divisions, platoons or whatever per unit? What about Secret projects? one unrealistic thing about SPs in the game is that, what stops the other faction trying to build their own version of the SP already built in another faction? realisticly, what stops another faction to have a Command Nexus aswell? a Marine place, Cloud Academy? Space Elevator? and so on?

just me with my crazy questions,
-LordLMP