Federation Commander

[Pinkfluffychicken]

Well, we all know that the main point of a campaign is to generate battles that have consequences: lose THIS battle and your opponent gains territory and you (probably) have fewer ships in the area with which to oppose him next turn. This is in contrast with one-off games where if you lose, well, shrug, there's always next time and you'll still play 300 points per side (or whatever).

But I've noticed that the campaigns I've been part of tend to turn into two alliances fighting eachother, and the players seem to derive a huge part of their enjoyment from combined planning sessions where the movement of the ships of allied races are co-ordinated for maximum effect, often leading to multiple-race-per-side battles.

Is this something that "campaigners" in general would agree with? What is it that makes campaigns special for you?
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Famous last words #11: "That's a very big fleet!"

[PallidaMors]

Yes and no, I have seen the same in my campaign, there have at times been 3 power blocks, the one differential in the current "empire" campaign is the use of the GM controlling the NPE element which is used as objectivley as possible and in many cases to generate storyline as well as the classic 'wargame' feel. this inclusion of the NPE's casuses there to be a steady element that may or may not be influenced by the pc empires, so there is is always a diverse feeling to the game that helps to prevent just two sides going against each other. Not that that is bad mind you it is just added spice to it.

PM
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Creator Empire campaign rules and Code of War (COW)Expansion.
review rules on the Federation Commander Campaign post, 123,000 views and growing

[SWO_Daddy]

Dale McKee's SFB campaign has evolved from a 10 empire free-for-all to a 1-vs-1, alliance vs. alliance war. There are still some small, GM controlled races and ships out there, but for the most part, we're there. It did take us a while, but I think it was unavoidable once the "Coalition" formed a five race alliance to crush the Romulans. Of the remaining four races, three formed their own alliance, and the fourth got crushed between superpowers.

As a guy with a political science degree, I can say that a lot of theory suggests bi-polar political orders are a natural evolution of relations between nations and it is regarded as one of the most stable international systems. So, it is likely to come up in a campaign that runs for a long time, and once it does, it can be hard to break up. I think GMs can do some things as GM to prevent that, but it will depend on how much a of "hand of god" the GM can exercise without irritating the players.

Big alliance 1-vs-1 wars can be fun, but I can imagine it could get dull if it happens quick and doesn't ever break up.

[Pinkfluffychicken]

Interesting replies. What I conclude from them is that in a "minimum referee input" campaign standard political processes take effect and lead to two powerblocs; but in a campaign with "greater referee input" the individual races stay more separate.

larator - was this something you had in mind when you designed the campaign? Did you make a conscious effort to avoid your campaign forming big powerblocs? Or was it a consequence of the greater roleplaying element your campaign seems to have?

Our previous campaign ran for something like eight years as two powerblocs, and only finally ended when the then referee couldn't cope with the admin. (I learned a lot from that!) Mind you, we all live in the same area, so meeting up for planning sessions wasn't difficult and was a major part of the fun.

Not to mention the puzzled looks you got in the pub when passers by overheard comments like, "Ok, you whack him there, I'll pile in here and we'll crush them like buuuugs. Bwahahahahahaaaaa!"
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Famous last words #11: "That's a very big fleet!"

[pinecone]

Dimplomacy is awsome (cleaning enemies up after diplomacy with the person you diplomated with is even awsomer!)

Boy ismy grammer getting bad !!!!

[Hod K'el]

Huh? What did he say? Yeoman, bring that universal translator over here!
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HoD K'el
IMV Black Dagger
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Life is not victory;
Death is not defeat!

[pinecone]

Yes sir, loosley translated, he likes diplomacy, he likes getting his freinds to do the dirtywork, his grammer is bad, 4 + 4 = 8, and Garfield the Cat plays Kzintis the most (When he's not on his comic strip).

I think the translator needs tweaking sir, it is adding to each translation.

[PallidaMors]