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Author Topic: Arms Race, OOC [Completed] Now with Arms Race III, against another forum!  (Read 214948 times)

Sensei

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Welcome, Bay Twelve, to the Arms Race Forum Game.
(Inspired, as were many, by Kingfisher's old weapon design game).

This game has ended, but its sequal has just started! (Apr 29, 2017) Join now!
Here, you will join one of two nations, and attempt to design guns to shoot at the other one.

Arstotzka: Thread!
Moskurg: Thread!

The year is 1910, and these two nations having been warring over the small continent (they both insist that you call it a continent) of Forenia in the south pacific. The British Empire is strong, and the art of war is changing rapidly in America and Europe. Forenia has, in terms of global politics, been mostly irrelevant. The British Empire established a colony on Forenia, quickly subjugating the natives of both countries who wielded swords, bows and metal armor at the time. It was abandoned in time because, even after being conquered, the plantation workers were continuously at each other's throats with knives, farming tools and stolen rifles. In fact, Arstotzka and Moskurg have been at war to conquer the entire continent as long as anyone can remember, and as far back as any history book is written. The reasons for this are much debated, but the debates universally end in fisticuffs. Now that the two nations have regained their sovereignty, they've industrialized, but are back to vying for control of the continent, same as ever.

Gas lamps burn in the streets and smoke from factories fills the sky over cities. You are meeting around a drawing board, in an office above the factory floor. After a while of stalemate fighting, the old weapons design team has been executed fired, and you have been chosen to replace them.

THE NATIONS
Arstotzka resides in the cold south of Forenia, much of which is frozen taiga. Moskurg has its capital in the hot sands on the north end of Forenia. In between them is a range of mountains, through which passage is difficult by foot or horse, and there is no train track. Around the mountains to the west is a warm, wet jungle region, terminating in swamps rather than beaches. To the east are relatively exposed plains, some areas including trenches that have been in place since the colonial war. Train tracks lead through here, straight from Arstotzka's capitol to Moskurg's, when they aren't blockaded, which they currently are. The sea all around is prone to sudden and treacherous storms that make naval excursions risky, and threaten any ship not in a bay (there is one on the north, south, and west sides of Forenia each). Therefore, ships can only operate in zones adjacent to a friendly bay.

Each region in Forenia has four sections of ground (including an East, West, and Central Desert and Taiga, for a total of 9 regions). A region is controlled when a faction has gained all four sections, and holds them for a turn.

Map of Forenia:

For reference the current state of the art technology in Europe and the Americas is this:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Arstotzka starts with the following weapons and resources:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Moskurg starts with the following weapons and resources:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

RULES OF THE GAME
Updated as of 1924 turn, based on testing and arguing.

In either nation's thread, you may suggest what to do each turn, and vote in favor other suggestions. Please stick to one nation, nobody likes a turncoat! Turns occur in two phases:
-In the Design Phase, you may suggest a new product (EG a brand new machinegun). I will secretly roll some dice, and depending how ambitious your new project is, I will assign an Expense to it, and possibly introduce Bugs. If you want, you can simply revise an old project instead of making a new one.
-Once you've seen the results of your efforts, we move to the Revision Phase- you can try to reduce the expense, remove bugs, or add features to a product (EG make the machinegun stop jamming, or making a new, carbine version of a rifle). This doesn't have to be the product you started in the first phase, if you're happy with it.
-Then the fighting happens! I'll provide a description of who has the advantage on which fronts, and roll some dice. Resources will be gained and lost sometimes. The next year will start, and we will move to a new Design phase.

Sometimes, you might earn a Design Credit or a Revision Credit, which will allow you one extra design or revision action in one turn.

Expense: Regular equipment can be given to everyone in your army. If a piece of equipment is difficult to produce, it has expense levels: 1 is Expensive, 2 is Very Expensive, and 3 is A National Effort. It doesn't matter how many different types you have, as you'll still only be making a total number of guns enough to equip everyone. Inexpensive equipment could be given to every soldier, if you want. Cheap vehicles means everyone can ride around in one instead of marching. Expensive equipment can be given to officers, or one per squad (5-10 soldiers). Expensive Vehicles means a pretty good number can be used for support. Very Expensive equipment can be used by special squads only, about 1 in 100 soldiers. Very Expensive vehicles are few and far between on the battlefield, or there are only a couple squads in total. Your nation can only deploy one National Effort at a time. It had better be an aircraft carrier, or a nuke, or a giant walking robot if you want this to be worth it. If you have multiple weapons at a price tier, then soldiers/squads choose one for the situation. Some weapons, EG crewed machine guns and artillery, don't benefit much from being Inexpensive because there aren't many situations where you'd want everyone using one.

You might gain an Expense Credit for a certain type of unit, reducing the expense by 1- for example, if High Command desperately wants an airplane, they'll offer an expense credit for it, which might reduce your new bomber from A National Effort to Very Expensive. Monetary gains from trade will be represented this way.

The expense of equipment is determined when you design it. The more new features, or the more ambitious, the more likely it is to be expensive. You can attempt to reduce the expense when revising equipment- this might introduce bugs, or it might permanently reduce the expense of that technology.

Resources: You can gain more Ore and Oil by gaining territory, and by designing better general transportation (trains, trucks and boats). If you lose it and a product becomes more expensive, then soldiers will cease to use it as they run out of ammo/replacement parts.

For example, a car might cost Ore 3, Oil 2. If your nation has Ore 2, Oil 1, a product which costs Ore 3, Oil 2 gains an expense level, because you're short 2 resources. If you're short 3 or more resources, it gains two expense levels (Very Expensive). If it's also Complex, that's three expense levels (A National Effort). Something that costs 6 or more resources than you have gains three expense levels right away (A National Effort). If something adds up to 4 or more expense levels, it is Theoretical and cannot actually be built. Ore represents total mining effort, so if you have a gun made of a rare or difficult to mine metal (let's say titanium) it might have an ore cost of 2 or 3 despite being only a rifle. If a large truck can be made mostly from low-quality steel, it might be cheaper. For now I'm ignoring train cost and assuming that new technologies are either cost effective or considered failures automatically.

The following resources are available in Forenia:
Each area must be completely controlled, except for the mountains, where the resources are located (relatively) close to the base on either side.

Desert: 2 oil, 1 ore
Mountains: 2 ore, 1 each side
Jungle: 1 ore, 1 oil
Plains: 1 ore, 1 oil
Taiga: 1 oil, 2 ore

There is a catch! Transport capacity. Oil and ore need to be moved back to the capitol for refining. At the start of the game each faction had a train system which supported a total of 3 resources, and has upgraded to 4 since then.

Espionage: Each nation has one spy. That spy has one action a year, and does the first thing PM'd to me or with the most votes if multiple people do suggest the same thing. Spies require a D6 dice roll (default about 50% chance) to do their work, and counter-intelligence prompts an opposed roll. If the counter-intelligence spy wins by 2, they kill the other spy, who won't be replaced for a year. Counter intelligence only works against spies who are doing something, spies taking no action are safe. Sometimes nations may be awarded an Espionage Credit, allowing your spy to act twice.

The war is over. We have come to the epilogue. Here is an index of our latest turns: (Thanks, Happerry)

1910 Battle Report
1911 Battle Report
1912 Battle Report
1913 Battle Report
1914 Battle Report
1915 Battle Report
1916 Battle Report
1917 Battle Report
1918 Battle Report
1919 Battle Report
1920 Battle Report
1921 Battle Report
1922 Battle Report
1923 Battle Report
1924 Battle Report
1925 Battle Report
1926 Battle Report
1927 Battle Report
1927 Civilian Report
1928 Battle Report
1929 Battle Report
Interim Turn Announcements
1930 Battle Report
1931 Battle Report
1932 Battle Report
1933 Battle Report
1934 Battle Report
1935 Battle Report Final Battle Report
The September Peace Summit
The Battle of the Embassy
Epilogue: A New Constitution
Epilogue: The Future of Forenia
The Next Game: Intercontinental Arms Race

War Museum
Obsolete Equipment is listed here.

Spoiler: Arstotzka (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Moskurg (click to show/hide)
« Last Edit: April 29, 2017, 03:53:15 pm by Sensei »
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10ebbor10

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Re: Arms Race, OOC Thread
« Reply #1 on: July 21, 2015, 08:58:17 am »

Seems nice.

Though the cheap, expensive, very expensive system seems a bit simplistic. I mean, how do you deal with anything that isn't an infantry weapon.
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TopHat

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Re: Arms Race, OOC Thread
« Reply #2 on: July 21, 2015, 10:18:05 am »

Sounds interesting.
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Sensei

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Re: Arms Race, OOC Thread
« Reply #3 on: July 21, 2015, 09:08:31 pm »

Bump, I've amended the cost explanation with a bit for vehicles. Should be commencing tonight, and then I might make revisions to the rules during the first few turns.

Edit: I originally wrote this July 21. Man, this is funny in retrospect because I rewrote most of the rules over the course of most of the game.
« Last Edit: September 16, 2015, 07:47:16 am by Sensei »
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Andres

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Re: Arms Race, OOC Thread
« Reply #4 on: July 22, 2015, 04:43:36 am »

I'm just watching for now but the link to the OOC on the Arstotzka thread is broken.

Metric system best system. Glory to Arstotzka.
« Last Edit: July 22, 2015, 04:59:02 am by Andres »
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10ebbor10

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Re: Arms Race, OOC Thread
« Reply #5 on: July 22, 2015, 05:06:06 am »

Anyway, just for confirmation, does Moksburg start without the capability to produce anything?
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Andres

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Re: Arms Race, OOC Thread
« Reply #6 on: July 22, 2015, 05:10:40 am »

From what I can tell, it's better to think of it as Factory Level 1. At Factory 1, things with a complexity of 2 or more are automatically Expensive. At Factory 0 (Moksburg), things with a complexity of 1 or more are automatically Expensive.

Same goes for Ore and Oil.
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Aseaheru

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Re: Arms Race, OOC Thread
« Reply #7 on: July 22, 2015, 02:22:56 pm »

Well, I think theres a typo somewhere, naming glorious Arstotzkans to be dirty Moskurgians. All glory to Arstotzka!
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Sensei

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Re: Arms Race, OOC Thread
« Reply #8 on: July 22, 2015, 03:31:13 pm »

Anyway, just for confirmation, does Moksburg start without the capability to produce anything?
No, I actually meant to remove the factory from both Arstotzka's entry and Moskurg's entry, but I only removed it from Moskurg. I'm dropping that system of complexity in favor of one where individual technologies used are expensive, and can be made cheaper by revising them. I might also try making technologies become less expensive once you've been using them for 3-5 years. I'm also amending the tech list to include that.

I'm just watching for now but the link to the OOC on the Arstotzka thread is broken.
Fixed this.
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Andres

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Re: Arms Race, OOC Thread
« Reply #9 on: July 22, 2015, 05:58:01 pm »

Factory as a resource is still present in the Arstotzka thread.
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Knave

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Re: Arms Race, OOC Thread
« Reply #10 on: July 22, 2015, 10:46:26 pm »

Aaaand I just realized that there are 2 competing threads *facepalm*
This is really cool btw!
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Andres

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Re: Arms Race, OOC Thread
« Reply #11 on: July 22, 2015, 11:11:06 pm »

From what I understand we're an arms designer, meaning we design weapons. Do we only do that or do we basically control all military technology, including armour?
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Taricus

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Re: Arms Race, OOC Thread
« Reply #12 on: July 23, 2015, 12:23:30 am »

Oh it's going to be a /bad/ day for Arstotska :D
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evilcherry

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Re: Arms Race, OOC Thread
« Reply #13 on: July 23, 2015, 12:34:48 am »

MOSKURG STRONK. REMOVE arstotzka.

Andres

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Re: Arms Race, OOC Thread
« Reply #14 on: July 23, 2015, 12:39:27 am »

Hahaha you make me laugh you stink Moskurg. You just waiting next turn and we of destroying you with glorious Arstotzka engineering. Glory to Arstotzka!
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