In 1981, the Space Race between the two superpowers had largely died down. United States had won and the Soviet Union was content to only utilize Low-Earth Orbit for spy satellites. NATO and Warsaw Pact forces were still poised against each other in Germany, while proxy wars raged in Afghanistan and several parts of Africa. Thousands of nuclear missiles - in silos and submarines - were aimed at cities and heartlands. Doomsday seemed to be mere four minutes away.
But as 1982 started, a massive object was spotted, heading towards Earth. Widespread panic ensued, as governments seemed unable to save their population from imminent extinction level event. The object, however, decelerated as it closed in, proving that it was under internal power. The realization that humanity was not alone sent shockwaves through all societies. The object refused all types of communications, however, and suffered a massive explosion soon after it had reached LEO. Large chunks fell across the Earth, causing widespread damage and destruction. Africa, in particular, was hard hit, though nearly every nation suffered to some extent.
As scientists and engineers scurried to examine recovered salvage, some of the known laws of physics were soon found to be obsolete. The alien craft, which seemed to have been under robotic control, as no evidence of biological matter was recovered, was built from completely unknown materials. These materials, now that geologists knew what they were looking for, were found to exist on Earth as well, though hidden fairly deep in the bedrock and requiring almost excessive efforts in mining. They were quickly named "Trans-Newtonian minerals", for each one had capabilities that supported technology thought impossible before.
It is now 1st of January 1985 and the Cold War shows no signs of ending. Several power blocs are ready to race to the stars, in search of living space, mineral wealth, scientific breakthroughs, and in the end, a final upper hand over their enemies. Will NATO prove the superiority of capitalism and liberal democracy? Can the Warsaw Pact ensure the future of totalitarian Socialism? Might the People's Republic of China be a wild card that upsets the balance?
Welcome to a new type of Community/Forum game, utilizing the byzantine 4X game/simulator/sandbox AURORA! I have followed several community games run at their forums and elsewhere, and noticed that they always die off pretty soon, because running the game seems to be a lot of work, plus learning the game is fairly challenging as well. I've wanted to run a community game for Aurora for a long time, as its AI is fairly rudimentary but running multiple factions by myself seems boring. So I wracked my brain on how to make a type of game that would be easy for players to participate in, while not being so cumbersome for the "space master" that I would end up abandoning it a month in. I think I have found a solution.
This game is somewhat similar to Balance of Power. Notable differences are that it's more simplified and obviously focused at space. At start, there will only be 3 factions: NATO, WP and PRC. I want to add more factions later, that are not ideologically/politically compatible with those three, so if there is sufficient interest, and the early game runs well with the first three, there will be more spots. In addition, there will be playable aliens in the future.
For more on what Aurora plays like, you could check my AAR over at the Tavern, or any of the fictions players have written over at Aurora forums, the link is provided above.
Players will take the role of a very high-level, removed from day-to-day activities, policy director. They will receive a short "country card" that gives a rough outlining of their factions strengths, and will then issue general guidelines for a 5-year plan. I will run their faction in-game for 5 years, after which they will receive a report of what has happened and will give me another one. Players do NOT need to know how to play Aurora. Players will not micro-manage the actions of ships or ground forces, nor will they design ships.
Possible faction plans - players choose a primary and a secondary emphasis:
[1] Expand civilian economy
[2] Expand civilian industrial and shipyard capabilities
[3] Expand military industrial and shipyard capabilities
[4] Expand and improve ground forces
[5] Expand scientific research
[6] Expand logistical capabilities
[7] Expand planetary defence
In addition, players must choose the role they envision for their future Space Navy:
(A) Power projection: this means fleet carriers carrying missile-armed fighters, for the ability to project power anywhere in the Sol system.
(B) Decisive battle: this means heavily armoured battleships armed with beam weaponry that seek to force engagements where the enemy is utterly annihilated.
(C) Denial and harassment: this means small, fast ships armed with missiles, that would perform lightning strikes against enemies before retreating under the cover of planetary defence installations.
While these doctrines are based on WW2 naval doctrines, do not assume that [A] is automatically superior to the other two. Attrition warfare can be highly successful, as construction of ships takes a long time (from few months to two years). As well, all factions are vulnerable as long as they are based on Earth - and moving away will be a major undertaking, if it is even possible. It's entirely possible to build beam armed groups that shrug off missile spam.
Doctrine A is most expensive in both research and build points.
Doctrine B is cheapest in research but will still require plenty of build points.
Doctrine C is cheapest in build points but does require plenty of research.
Finally, an approach towards aliens and other factions must be decided for each known faction:
<I> Friendship, peace and trade. Only self-defence allowed and only when under direct, imminent threat.
<II> Discussion possible, but trading not allowed. Self-defence allowed when suspected threat emerges.
<III> No official contact between governments. Warn and then shoot at enemy ships if they get close enough.
<IV> Outright hostility. Shoot at sight.
Non-aligned nations can and will join existing factions under my discretion. Additional factions can be introduced. NATO player will have to cope with public opinion, whereas WP and PRC players can ignore it. Navy role will be chosen at a later date, once a faction has built a sufficient scientific, industrial and logistical base to support one. Ground combat is not allowed at Earth between the factions, due to the risk of nuclear war.
Players will need to inform me if/when they want their faction to focus on Interstellar Exploration as this will require an investment of around 20,000 research points. A single research lab provides 200 RP annually, modified by lead scientist skill rating.
If necessary, additional rules and clarifications will be added here.
