From: <Hawkcox@aol.com>
To: <MRP6F@hotmail.com>
Subject: W3K idea
Date: Tuesday, 07 March, 2000 17:46

I have developed a way to actually preserve the old ways of rpg warfare.  I
was thinking the other night while I read the revised rules that there had to
be a better way to do it.  I think I've got it.  The idea I got is very high
maintenance and has probably been thought of before, however I am fully
willing to bear the weight of it on my shoulders.  By allowing people to RP
in many ways they used to, sending out intel teams and using their own
website as  their empire.
I
 figure that if we have them do as they did before and design ships (Like
Terra, Pacifica and myself) but set restrictions and requirements.  To buy
their ships would be using the VP on W3k.  There would be two separate boards
and an appeals board.

When you design a ship you would send it to the Design board.  This would go
also for ground troops and fighters.  It wouldn't require much, just a basic
component list and some basic ideas about the design.  If and when the design
is approved they would be able to purchase it through the same process.  It
would take only a week to produce a ship but there would be a limit on how
many can be produced at once and how many each empire can have.

For these limits it would go by two things.  Economic and size.  For how many
they can have you need to have a maintenance and other limits.  If they start
cranking out hundreds of little tiny ships that don't require diddly for
maintenance then there would have to be a limit based on the size of the
empire.  I was figuring a 5% maintenance cost and a limit of 200-300 ships
for each sector the empire owns.  For production I was thinking along the
lines of 4 ships per sector unless they build stations that allow them to
build more.    These stations won't be ones they design so there won't be a
thousand different BSY designs out there of all virtually the same thing.
However they will be able to make designs of SYS ships to repair ships
damaged during combat.  I tried to get this as close to real SE3 as possible
but remember the human mind is the strongest computer and that is something
that would challenge the human mind.

Combat would be played out by the attacker sending his ships into the
defenders territory via an adjoining sector.  There would be three ways to do
this.  If your empire is already next to them then you are in good shape.  If
you have an ally in an adjoining sector not quite as good but still good.
The last way is to put your ships in dead space next to them.  This is a way
that might put your empire at risk.  If you choose to try and attack from a
sector in their rear and have to send your ships around their empire to get
there you could end up cut off, ambushed or your opponent could launch an
attack over your border while your ships aren't there to defend against the
attack.  This would create a way part of the strategy base that they are not
able to have in the ladder, W3k or even to a certain extent Se3.
When an empire declares that they are invading, they must do three things.
Send letters to both the combat board and the empire they are invading.  Also
a post will be required so other empires know what is going on.  Last a
letter must be sent to the design board so that the number of ships and their
designs are sent to the combat board.  The combat board will decide how many
ships are destroyed, damaged and escape/survive.  This would probably be
where you would have alot of appeals but not to worry the combat board's
declaration stands until overturned.

Intel and research would be a lot different than in the game.  Research would
be up to the empire themself, that doesn't mean they can just build up a ton
of unbelievable tech (it wouldn't get through the design board) but that the
empires are able to think up innovative new weapons and other techs.  The
design boards job would be to not allow them to get the kind of tech that
allows them to destroy any empire that opposes them unless they earned it
(conquering other empires, being older and what not)  Intel on the other hand
would be closer to the game but not exactly.  Each empire would get one Intel
point for each sector.  They can then decide what they're going to do with
each one.  There won't be any sabatage I'm sorry to say but if there was it
would cause more problems than it was worth.  Without that I think you would
be able to do most the rest.  You would be able to find out about other's
ship designs, where their ships are, what their queues are handling. (ie what
ships would be turned out next week), what their spending on what etc.  Most
importantly you would be able to assign intel to block inquiries.  This will
be different than in Se3.  You will have to decide each thing to block.  If
you have a very sensitive new ship that you don't want anyone to know about
you would be better off to put a block on it.  Same with your queues and
spending.  So that everyone knows what they have the option of looking at I
will put together a page for each empire that will have a simple list of all
their design names and sector names, thus your intel is targetted at specific
targets rather than others.

These are just the fine points.  I know it's a lot more complicated than the
way you've got W3k going at the moment but I figure this is alot closer to
the RPG we had going before, yet it's still regulated so people can't make
outrageous claims.  I'm also willing to do alot of this work and so I know it
will get done.  (I'm better at offline stuff than online).  I also figured
out a good group for the combat board would be Hadrian, Jendevi and you.  I'm
getting better net access so that won't be the same problem it was before.
I'm just sending this in as an idea, I know you just completely revised the
rules and that this is about as long as those and just the fine points but I
seriously think people would enjoy this more.  It would only take a short
while to get going also.  If you want me to make a webpage (not actually
uploaded) that would explain the whole system send me a mail.  I'll make two
versions of the rules short and sweet and long and technical, that way people
who don't want to read the long one don't.

President Hawk,
Charlana Republic

P.S. Sorry it's so long, and I only wish I wrote this long for my English
assignments.
 