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Lets Play: Star Trek TNG Birth of the Federation: Turns 173-175 *WE'RE BACK*

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ivanthe8th:
This will be an LP of Star Trek: The Next Generation: Birth of the Federation. This game was released in 1999 and I've been enjoying the single player game for over 10 years now. I wanted to share this game with you.

This is my first LP ever, and I'm a little unfamiliar with how to do it. So if you have any advice regarding presentation (how to make url links with your own text, for example) please let me know. This game requires relatively little in terms of pictures, but I'll be posting as many relevant ones as I can.

About BOTF
Spoiler (click to show/hide)BOTF is a 4x-style turn based strategy game set in the Star Trek: TNG universe. All images and system names are restricted to the TNG era due to copyright issues at the time it was made. But if you can get over the continuity issues it's a lot of fun.

There are 5 major races, all of which are playable. The United Federation of Planets, the Romulan Star Empire, The Cardassian Union, The Ferengi Alliance, and The Klingon Empire. We'll be playing the Federation, as per the feedback I got from my "interest" thread.
The map is randomly generated, so Star Trek fans should not be looking for any similarities to the fictional cartography of the Star Trek universe. Random event ships from TNG will periodically pass through our galaxy, and frequently cause appropriate havoc.

The game interface is split into 5 sections, plus a short "tactical combat" section for battles. I will control our ships in battle, but I invite you all to participate in other decisions. I have generated a game for us already, based on earlier feedback.
The Game
Spoiler (click to show/hide)The Galaxy map


The galaxy map is our window on the universe. There we see the cartography of the space around us, as well as information about our fleets and systems. For the purposes of the LP most of my pictures will be of the galaxy map. Let's go through some of the information we can see on this screen, starting in the main screen.

We see the map itself. BOTF uses a fog-of-war for galaxy exploration. Any sector that has never been scanned or visited is hidden behind the nebulous image you can see above. Our home system, Sol, is part of our territory, and is highlighted in blue. The neighboring systems have not yet been visited, and so while we can see the presence of stars, we don't know if they are inhabited or what planets may be present. The only way to find out is, as they say, to boldly go where no one has gone before. Finally, the colored rings indicate the range of our ships. Scout ships alone can go to the red boundary, while only our command ships and strike cruisers are restricted to the green boundary. Colony ships, troop transports, raiders, and most of our ships can operate within the yellow boundary. We can expand the range of our ships by building planetary shipyards and keeping them powered. Or we can convert troop transports into spaceborne outposts and starbases to expand our range.

Below this we can see a map of our selected system, in this case Sol. B-class planets appear in blue, gas giants cannot be colonized or terraformed. All the other planets in the system have been terraformed, and appear green. Future systems will come mostly uninhabitable, and those planets will appear in red. Planets have a class, indicated by the letter below it. Classes have a limited impact on future colonization, O-class allow us to build aquaculture centers, P-class unlock a free-energy building later on, but for the most part it merely dictates how hard it is to terraform. Each planet contributes to our maximum population (officially that 335 means millions, but I don't worry much anymore). Planets also contribute to the growth rate, which impacts how fast we reach our maximum. Orbital defenses can be constructed later if we feel we need them. Finally, the blue crystal by the star indicates the presence of dilithium in this system. We require an active dilithium mine to provide fuel for each starship we are building. Dilithium is distributed empire-wide, so any mined here on Sol can be used at any shipyard we happen to have active. Mercury, Venus, and Mars have a glowing rock above them indicating a bonus to energy production. Planet-specific bonuses like this and Earth's food bonus only activate if the planet in question has been terraformed.

The top-left indicates the turn number, and also lists our funds and total available dilithium. Below it are indicators of our relationship with the other 4 major races. Finally we see any ships we have in this sector. They are also visible in less detail on the main screen. As you can see we have a scout ship and a colony ship available at the beginning of the game.

The Research Screen


Here we distribute research points collected throughout the empire. There are 6 areas of development, each with a unique impact on the game. Earning a level in Biotech will unlock type 2 farms and increase farming efficiency empire wide. The bonus applies immediately, but systems must upgrade their farms individually. Levels in Computer unlock scanner systems, but are mostly related to new ships. Construction levels unlock type 2 factories, Energy levels unlock type 2 plasma reactors. Propulsion levels give us small bonuses to the maximum range of our ships, but are primarily related to new ships. Weapons research is only useful for new ships and upgrades to our intelligence and research buildings. Upgrades for these two buildings only unlock after a certain tech level has been reached for all 6 areas of development. We must keep pace with all our research or we will never improve these buildings.

We can keep our research balanced between these 6 options, or we can focus on one at a time in succession. Sometimes we can focus on earning the tech for certain buildings or ships, and then go back to a more ordinary rotation.

The System Screen
This allows us to micromanage the economy of each of our systems. It is divided into 5 screens, 4 of which I will describe in detail. Please note that each system has its own version of this screen.

First: The Production Screen


In BOTF, each building requires 10 units of population to make it function. Currently we can only operate 21 buildings, but with time we can get up to 33 going. We have the 5 building types I listed above, producing a variety of resources. Food is required to maintain our population, and having more food than necessary provides a small bonus to population growth. Industry is used to construct ships and new buildings. Energy powers special buildings that operate off of power rather than population. Intelligence and research points are pooled across the empire, and are used in their own screens.

We can move population between buildings as we like, to emphasize one resource or another.

Second: The Energy Screen


Here we can turn buildings on or off, thereby selectively activating the bonus they provide. At the moment we only have an active dilithium mine and our shipyard. Later we will add private farms, sensor arrays, and Starfleet Academy itself.

Third: The Build List


Here we see the buildings available for construction, we can see the bonuses they provide and their cost. Conveniently, the game automatically calculates the total construction time in turns for us based on our current industrial output. This farm costs 60 units of industry, and as you can see to the left we are currently producing 72 units, therefore this will take 1 turn. To the right is a queue we can fill for several orders. An important note: excess points spent for a given building are lost, and you can only build one building per turn. Queueing up 8 farms with 1000 industry will still take 8 turns to build.

Fourth: The Shipbuilding List


This duplicates the build list, but for starships.

Fifth: The Structures List
This provides a comprehensive list of the currently constructed buildings, and allows buildings to be scrapped (for no return). Useful if you are upgrading farms and now have more than you need. Scrapping those extra farms will reduce the industry points needed to upgrade the remaining farms. I did not feel the need to show you this screen.

The Intelligence Screen

This is where you distribute your produced intelligence points. At the moment we haven't met any major races, so we shouldn't even bother producing intelligence points (intelligence points, like research points, are not accumulated). I'll describe this screen when the time comes.

The Diplomacy Screen

This is where you offer and respond to diplomatic treaties with major and minor races. I will describe this one in greater detail once we meet someone.
How this LP will work
Spoiler (click to show/hide)I've come up with a 3-fold method of audience participation that should allow everyone to participate to the degree they most enjoy.

The first method will be an ongoing poll. Major empire decisions (e.g. should we go to war with the Klingons) will be decided by mass vote. I will set up this poll periodically when important things are happening.

The second method is going to be posting with comments. Any feedback you may have such as "we should try and make the Vulcans join us" is welcome here. I'll be reading all the posts and using your advice as much as possible. All other decisions will be made by me.

Finally, we'll have "dwarfadmiraling". Fleets in BOTF can be built up to 9 ships, and there will be 3 major "types" of fleet you can have. Admirals are responsible for saying where the fleet should go, and what they should do when they get there. Type 1 will be battle fleets. These will typically be "full" fleets of 9, and probably be composed of all the same type of ship (e.g. destroyers), and you can send them where you like and give orders such as to attack systems. Type 2 fleets will be scouts. These will typically be lone ships tasked with exploring the galaxy but you can join other fleets if you like. Type 3 fleets will be support ships, troop transports or colony ships. Usually moving alone, you can join up with battle fleets, build outposts, terraform planets, or colonize systems.

Admirals who choose to colonize systems then gain control over the production in that system. You can dictate the buildings built there, or at least choose the economic emphasis of the system. You can decide that your system should be a major shipyard, research base, or anything else you want. Admirals who do not post promptly or regularly will be superseded by me, to keep the system productive.

In this way anyone who wants to participate can do so as much as they want. If you want a fleet, speak up and I'll do my best. I can't name fleets, but we'll all keep track of where your fleet is located. For the sake of fairness, please be reasonable regarding how many fleets you want to control. We want there to be enough for everyone. That said, if you request a battle fleet I won't simply hand you a scout. Instead I'll put you on the waiting list, and when the system administrators decide to build a battle fleet, you'll be placed in command.
Chapter List
Spoiler (click to show/hide)Turn 1: An Introduction
Turns 1-5: Exploration
Turns 6-12: Federation's First Colony
Turns 13-20: More New Friends
Turns 21-31: Further Exploration
Turns 32-43: First Contact
Turns 44-49: Welcome Betazoids
Turns 50-55: Many Meetings
Turns 56-65: Development and Discovery
Turns 66-74: Mourning and Moving On
Galaxy Map: Turn 74
Turns 75-87: The Arms Race
Turns 88-96: The Situation Deteriorates
Turns 97-102: A Decisive Victory
Turns 103-110: Many More Meetings
Turns 111-118: Bulking Up
Galaxy Map: Turn 118
Turns 119-125: The Wolves Gather
Turns 126-137: Open Hostilities
Turns 138-143: The Borg Appear
Turns 144-157: We Prepare for Battle and We Lose Betazed
Special Update: The Battle with the Cube
Turns 158-164: Recovering and Rebuilding

ivanthe8th:
Turn 1
We've started a new game, with a new galaxy.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)Our home system is fully colonized, and there are 2 nearby star systems to explore. Our scout ship (technically a science vessel) the USS Martynov A provides scanner coverage in the 8 systems around it while our colony ship, the USS Adams A (all ships have a letter due to limited numbers of ship names) is blind save the system it's currently sitting in. Both, however, can explore the star systems we can see.

Our research is at tech level 1 across the board. We should pick a direction for it.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Here is what each tech level we get:

Biotech 2: Unlocks type 2 farms
Computer 2: Unlocks Subspace Scanner, when powered this building will give us scanner vision within 2 squares of the system it occupies. For reference, this is the same size as the medium range (yellow).
Construction 2: Unlocks type 2 factories
Energy 2: Unlocks type 2 plasma reactors and wind turbines (+50 free energy, can only be built in systems with a Barren planet (Type J))
Propulsion 2: Increases the range of our long range ships by 1
Weapons 2: No immediate effect.

All tech 2: Unlocks type 2 intelligence structures and type 2 universities.

Next available ship: Destroyer
Medium range, speed is 1 sector at a time. Better fighter than the scout. No scanners.
Requires: Construction 2, Energy 2, Propulsion 2.
Finally, our home system has a few important buildings, but we'll need more farms for to grow and more factories to put those people to use.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)


For Reals
Spoiler (click to show/hide)This is a section I'll be adding with each turn to talk out-of-universe regarding gameplay and decision making. I've got a lot of experience playing this game, and this is where I can help you make use of it. Please tell me if you don't like this section.

In terms of research, we can focus on biotech and quickly upgrade our farms. 10 Type 2 automated farms will feed all 335 people, but we need type 2 to do it. It'll save us a lot of time building more type 1 farms, then scrapping them as soon as the upgrade is complete. After that a quick propulsion level will help our scout ship visit more systems.

Diplomacy is the strong suit of the Federation, the more minor races we meet the better, so after we've checked out the medium range for a good place to colonize the scout should get to work looking for minor races.

As far as production in Sol, we don't have enough factories to build anything very quickly. Research should be our first priority, and we should make sure our universities are fully staffed at all times. Research and diplomacy are the 2 areas where the Federation shines, we should make use of it. If we plan on just upgrading our existing farms, then new buildings should be factories. When I play I typically purchase the first few factories (this builds then in a single turn, but costs credits) until I can staff enough to build more type 1's in a single turn.


These are only suggestions. And if the community basically says "play normally, we'll participate more when there's more to discuss" that's fine. In that case I'll just play my own way and post updates. But I wanted to introduce this idea of this section for people to give feedback about.

Sirus:
Watching this :D

I say we research computers, mostly because Linguistics is the current project and we'll want to be able to communicate peacefully.

I would also like to request command of the science vessel as the first Scouting Fleet :)

ivanthe8th:
Hi Sirus!

Glad to see people are already interested. I see you posted while I was writing the "for reals" section of my second post. Would you mind commenting on that?


In a similar vein, from a gameplay perspective Linguistics does not allow us to talk to aliens. Instead it unlocks the first scanner building. I know it's titled Linguistics, but in this case the effect is different from what you're thinking it does. We can already communicate with alien races just fine. As a rule of thumb, the title of the research topic is completely unimportant. Ask me what a given tech level does to know how it actually helps.

This is a game where there's simply too much to talk about for each turn, so the "for reals" section should iron out this kind of confusion.

Sirus:
Oh, I see. I was thinking of GalCiv, where you need research in order to talk to aliens :P

In that case, I guess we could do the biotech, though I think propulsion should be first. It looks like we wouldn't get to level 2 farms for at least one more project (unless bionics are the next farm level, which would be weird), so a solid speed boost might be a wiser investment right now.

Go ahead and keep the "for reals" section, it should help clear up confusion with people who've never played this before (aka, me :P )

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