Any interest in a large scale Trek sim?
Posted: Sat Jan 16, 2010 3:38 pm
One of the things I did back in my college days was intern with a group that ran large scale wargames/political simulations for the Pentagon. I am curious if anyone would have interest in doing that with the star trek universe. Essentially we are talking about a play by email type situation that is very much driven by the use of an excel spreadsheet I would adapt and revise from other era games I have run/participated in.
Essentially each player or group of players is handed the keys to a major empire at the time we choose and basically within the limits of their respective empire told to make what they can of it (ie if you are the Fed President and order Starfleet to use trilithum torpedoes to destroy the Breen without provocation the council would likely revoke that order). For some of the larger powers it would probably make sense to divide the duties.
The game is not so much combat oriented as it is about alliances, trade and ship construction. Simple time constraints will limit battles to basically a tallying of fleet strength avaliable in that sector and a few dice rolls based on whatever brilliant orders you might have come up with that could modify things a bit in either direction.
My inclination would be to start at the data for which ship data for this website is considered from in Trek, have an accellerated buildout period (10 game years or so) where players basically work on their economy and fleets to put some differentiation into the simulation from what we have already seen in Trek to let each player sort of put their stamp on things.
Essentially you would control the economy and trade, ship design and building, fleet deployments and diplomacy. For the sake of simplicity there would be no colonization as doing it right would necessitate a whole set of its own rules and expenses that just won't add much unless the game goes on for 100 years.
Off the top of my head we would at a bare minimum need a player for the Federation, Klingons, Romulans and Breen. Having a Cardassian and Ferengi player would really add a lot to it I think as well. I am open to adding the Tholians and Gorn but we would all have to agree on just where they stand vs the other powers since cannon info is a bit fuzzy there. Adding other powers, including the Dominion I suppose, is always possible but I would prefer to fill the other roles first.
Essentially each player or group of players is handed the keys to a major empire at the time we choose and basically within the limits of their respective empire told to make what they can of it (ie if you are the Fed President and order Starfleet to use trilithum torpedoes to destroy the Breen without provocation the council would likely revoke that order). For some of the larger powers it would probably make sense to divide the duties.
The game is not so much combat oriented as it is about alliances, trade and ship construction. Simple time constraints will limit battles to basically a tallying of fleet strength avaliable in that sector and a few dice rolls based on whatever brilliant orders you might have come up with that could modify things a bit in either direction.
My inclination would be to start at the data for which ship data for this website is considered from in Trek, have an accellerated buildout period (10 game years or so) where players basically work on their economy and fleets to put some differentiation into the simulation from what we have already seen in Trek to let each player sort of put their stamp on things.
Essentially you would control the economy and trade, ship design and building, fleet deployments and diplomacy. For the sake of simplicity there would be no colonization as doing it right would necessitate a whole set of its own rules and expenses that just won't add much unless the game goes on for 100 years.
Off the top of my head we would at a bare minimum need a player for the Federation, Klingons, Romulans and Breen. Having a Cardassian and Ferengi player would really add a lot to it I think as well. I am open to adding the Tholians and Gorn but we would all have to agree on just where they stand vs the other powers since cannon info is a bit fuzzy there. Adding other powers, including the Dominion I suppose, is always possible but I would prefer to fill the other roles first.
