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Look, Leroy, just letting you know, but me and my partner on the USA side have already decided on units, so you will probably get whatever we don't want: the dregs. I don't know what the situation for the CSA is, but I don't think they have divide up troops. I just want to give you fair warning.
 
Unit Deployment Phase Start

The clock is now running for the Unit Deployment Phase, part one. End date and time posted to the front page.

During each part of this phase, the players must deploy at least 25% of their individual forces to the map.
They may set up more, but are not required to do so.

With each set of orders, I will update the map with the units and their locations, and the players may adjust their
subsequent deployments using that information.
 
Speed Play

This weekend I should have a lot of free time (Labor Day and all :cool: ), so I should be able to
process and display the results of the first set of deployment orders quickly once all players
submit them. That way we won't have to wait the full two days if they aren't needed.
 
Battle Report Mockup

In addition to updating the political map at the end of the combat phase, I am looking at posting the results of each battle in the following format.

What, if any, are your thoughts on this???



 
The Plot Thickens

Initial unit deployments posted.
The due date for the Second phase of deployments updated on the first page.

Thanks for all the efforts on the part of the players, the setup is looking like it has potential.

Good luck to both sides in their reactions.

:happy:
 
Missing Units in Deployment

This is a heads up to all naval commanders.

During EACH of the deployment rounds, players must commit at least 25% of ALL unit types (excepting aircraft and submarines).
I did not notice that the U.S. Navy was short in that requirement. I apologize to both sides for that mistake.

To bring them back into line with the rules, the U.S. will have to commit at least fifty percent of their total naval strength this round only.

Please let me know if you see other mistakes, I want this game to go as smoothly as possible. I realize that errors happen, I am just
trying to keep them to a minimum.
 
Player Departure

Sebajokela is out of the game.

He had undeployed troops and he missed the orders deadline.
King Hannibal takes possesion of Sebajokela’s forces.

I have posted the Deadline for the next round of orders. At the conclusion of the next round, at least 75% of each militarties forces will be on the map.
 
I am open to anyone joining in sebajokela's spot.
 
Cleared

In my defense, every single one is from you.
 
Honestly, I am really sorry to say this. Really, I feel terrible letting you down so badly, and probably ending the game, but football and school are starting tomorrow, and I don't have the time to do a game as time consuming as this. I am sorry for hurting your game, and letting you down. It's just the game is too time consuming.
 
Honestly, I am really sorry to say this. Really, I feel terrible letting you down so badly, and probably ending the game, but football and school are starting tomorrow, and I don't have the time to do a game as time consuming as this. I am sorry for hurting your game, and letting you down. It's just the game is too time consuming.

OK. Thanks for the update.
 
With the departure of the last U.S. player, it appears that the C.S.A. wins by default.

Congratulations to the Confederate players, though I regret it never came to any combat operations.


Game Status Updated on this Page Each Turn

Current Turn is Zero (Pre Game Start)

Next player orders are due: TBD




CURRENT ALPHA QUADRANT MAP

If unable to see the details by selecting the above map, use the following link:
http://imageshack.us/a/img832/802/t1startfltjpg.jpg




Fleet Details are at:
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/822/fleetdetails.png


 
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Make it all better

Well, things are improving.

My first game didn’t even get enough players to start.

This game lasted a week before folding.

So what (if anything) could I do to improve game play to better ensure the continued involvement of players?
 
I would say make the deployment more like how I said where I generally wanted my forces, and then you iron out the specifics. And I would suggest making it two deployment phases, not four.
 
Example Course of Play


1. George applies to join the Alliance, including in his post that he did not want any optional rules. The GM accepted George, and sent him a PM asking how many of the starting Kzin ships did he (George) want.

2. George made a bid request of 21 ships, and in his request, split his deployments up among the Kzin Fleets as follows:

DEPLOY( KZN, From Pool, 4 ships, Destination Fleet A)
DEPLOY( KZN, From Pool, 4 ships, Destination Fleet B)
DEPLOY( KZN, From Pool, 4 ships, Destination Fleet C)
DEPLOY( KZN, From Pool, 9 ships, Destination Fleet D)

Note that because this is the initial setup for a nation, no Influence bids.


3. When the Deployment deadline passed, the GM processed the player orders, updated the forum screens, and sent a PM to each player containing a model format of their first turn orders.

4. For George, the message contained:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Turn One Orders Template
Alliance Player: George
Rank: 1
Glory: 1
Influence: 10

1. Ship Bids:
Kzin = None Available

2. Fleet Orders
Kzin Fleet D:

3. Deployments:
Departure Fleet (number of departing ships) :: Arrival Fleet

Administrative Notes
Controlled Ship Deployments
Kzin Fleets
Fleet A: 4
Fleet B: 4
Fleet C: 4
Fleet D: 9​
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

5. George noted that there were no ships available for bid (GM allocated all), that he had control of one Kzin Fleet, and that the template indicated the locations of all of his ships.

6. Next George looked at the game map on the forum page.
(Portion shown below, with an addendum of the horizontal coordinates.)




7. He saw the total ship strengths for each fleet, both Alliance and Coalition.
George noted that the fleet he currently commanded had a total of sixteen ships, and that the nearest Coalition Fleet had 23.
If George was curious, he could look on the Fleet Composition Table and see which player had their ships allocated where.
Useful information, but probably not immediately game changing.

George did care that his nine ships in D Fleet outnumbered the remaining ships there by only two, so he made a mental promise to move some of his other ships from their current locations to fill up D Fleet.

Now for the Fleet orders.
George could communicate with the other players on his side, working out a strategy and a coordinated course of action for their fleets.
That takes time though, and George is not interested in devoting that much time to the game.
He is interested in grabbing more land for the Hegemony (bigger general economy, and more Influence for him), meeting the enemy and smashing their fleets.
So he sets his sights on that mission.

Looking at the map, D Fleet has four provinces available for acquisition; C5, and the four column of A thru C rows.
C5 is a safe bet, no enemy can currently attack it.
As for the others, that is more iffy.
They can all be reached by Lyran Fleet A (and even Lyran B Fleet could send ships, though the range attrition would be large), and if Sally (Lyran Fleet A Commander) also tries for all those provinces, almost eight enemy ships would be in each province.
But would the Lyran’s split up like that?

If they did, and George concentrated on just one of those provinces, there could be a lot of drifting Lyran ship debris from that battle.

Possibilities, combinations of chance, opportunities to win and lose.
George does not want to spend an eternity running the permutations.
He thinks for a moment, then decides to go for broke.​


8. He writes in the Orders section of his response:

2. Fleet Orders
ATTACK( KZIN, Fleet D, Targets A4, B4, C4, D5)


George feels that he will lose some ships from the upcoming battles, so he instructs a redeployment of some of his forces from the other fleets. In the Deployments section he writes:

3. Deployments:
DEPLOY( KZIN, From Fleet A, 1 ship, Destination Fleet D)
DEPLOY( KZIN, From Fleet B, 1 ship, Destination Fleet D)
DEPLOY( KZIN, From Fleet C, 1 ship, Destination Fleet D)


9. Satisfied, George sends these instructions to the GM via PM, then moves on to other pursuits.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Time Passes xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

10. Within six hours of the deadline for orders for turn one, George receives a PM from the GM:

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Turn Two Orders Template
Alliance Player: George
Rank: 3
Glory: 1
Influence: 28

1. Ship Bids:
Kzin = 5 ships in Muster Pool
Hydran = 47 ships in Muster Pool
*** NOTE *** The Hydrans enter the game on turn THREE. This entry is just for fleet deployments. Do NOT bid Influence for the Hydran ships, just list the number of them you wish to control.

2. Fleet Orders
Kzin Fleet D:

3. Deployments:
Departure Fleet (number of departing ships) :: Arrival Fleet

Administrative Notes
Controlled Ship Deployments
Kzin Fleets
Fleet A: 3
Fleet B: 1
Fleet C: 3
Fleet D: 9​
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

11. Wow. Things have changed.
George’s rank dropped, his Glory remained unchanged, and his Influence rocketed.
There are now Kzin ships in the Muster Pool available for bidding, along with a mess of Hydrans for the next turn.
George still has control of D Fleet, even though his total number of ships has dropped.​


12. At this point, George takes a look at the forum, and the first thing he views is the new map:




13. It looks like both nations expanded their borders, grabing new systems, and lost some ships in the process.

14. Since George retains control of D Fleet, he takes a look at the Fleet Composition display to see how firm his dominance of the reduced force is:



15. George also took a look at the Glory and Influence table to make sure that while he was way behind in Glory, he was packing in the Influence needed to win the ship bidding competitions.

16. When moving to the forum, he checked the update posts, and one from the GM displayed the moves of the players leading up to the battles on turn one.
George paid attention to what happened in the neighborhood of his only fleet:



17. Out of curiousity, George took a look at the details of the battles involving his fleet. Shown below is the one for province B4:

 
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