Tug of War - Progress Thread

MegaTrain · #1 March 20th, 2003, 12:03 AM

I think the other thread you're referring to is here:
http://www.shrapnelgames.com/cgi-bin...=008404#000001

The other thread mentions that if you give a component 0 hitpoints, it is indestructable. Also, if you make it as part of a custom racial tech tree, nobody can make their own "flag ship".

It would be quite disruptive, though, if the flag ship got lost to maintenance.
Best case scenario: have a "spare" ship already built in your "solo" system, and have it located on a sector with a warp opener. If the unthinkable happens, you could have the new flag ship into position in 1 turn (either back to the center, or back where it was when it died).

Fyron · #2 March 20th, 2003, 12:11 AM

If you reread the game description, that is already covered. The game master has a custom racial trait already.

PvK · #3 March 20th, 2003, 12:23 AM

Neat idea, and nice map!

PvK

Katchoo · #4 March 20th, 2003, 01:12 AM

I'll play. Just us know when you're set.

spoon · #5 March 20th, 2003, 02:24 AM

This sounds like a job for the Worms of Woe.

Gandalph · #6 March 20th, 2003, 02:50 AM

OK, some interest!! Let me answer some of these questions.

Megatrain - The catchy name is "Tug of War", get it? The Tug has 3 indestructable components, the bridge and 2 ion engines 1 (and these are the only engines, so ship movement is 2), so it can still move when damaged. It is otherwise a defenseless ship (no armor, shields or weapons) which will cause it to run for a corner during battles.

If you can't pay the maintenance, I wouldn't suggest trying to capture it, unless it's a Last ditch effort to prevent someone else from getting it home.
If, for some reason including lack of maintenance, the Tug gets destroyed, the Game Master can build and place a new ship in as few as 3 turns.

If you analyze the ship, you will not get components as they are racial specific and analyzing the ship is not the object of the game.

The Game Master pays the maintenance until the Tug gets captured.

Because the components are racial specific, noone can make thier own.

To everyone - The idea of high maintenance was to force empires to be balanced economically and militarily. Your empire has to be able to afford the maintenance and protect the ship from all the others.

A question came up on IRC Last night about alliances. I do not have a problem with forming any alliance, just realize that there can only be 1 winner, whoever gets the Tug to his Homeworld.

The Mod needs to be installed at PBW before I can setup the game. I will post in this thread when that happens. Feel free to continue to ask questions and I will continue to answer them.

Gandalph

MegaTrain · #7 March 20th, 2003, 05:07 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Gandalph:
If you analyze the ship, you will not get components as they are racial specific and analyzing the ship is not the object of the game.

Well, I meant disassembling and analyzing the Tug as a method of self-destruction. (I assumed that "fire-on" wouldn't work if it had indestructable components.) This might be a Last-ditch effort if the enemy fleet is closing in and you don't want them to capture the Tug ship from you.

We could probably just make a house rule against this, and beat up any player who uses this tactic.

I wonder if there is a way to prevent someone from retrofitting this ship? As the special components are racial techs, you couldn't make a design incorporating those elements, but you could still "gut" the ship by retrofitting it to "standard" components, then zip it back to base with movement 13 and claim a win (or fire on and destroy it, I suppose).

UNLESS you had a non-standard hull type that nobody else had access to. Then you could not design a ship to upgrade it to. Can you make a hull size a racial tech? (This is probably the easiest option).

If that wasn't possible, to prevent retrofitting you could just make a super-SMALL ship size, that way you couldn't retrofit anything onto it, even removing the special components. If it was size 5kt, for example, but still required a bridge, life support, and crew quarters, you'd never be able to make a new legal design. The special bridge would count as all three component types to make it work. You could even MOD movement-2 into the hull itself, and make the bridge the full size of the ship.

[ March 20, 2003, 15:35: Message edited by: MegaTrain ]