Talk:2023 AB

100thlurker's Rules Proposals

Economy, Industry, and Bayonets

The rules for industry and warfare are simple. At any one time, a player nation can maintain a certain number of brigades, air wings, and naval squadrons or capital ships divided into Categories A, B, and C. Category A units are your elites with the highest unit readiness, the best training, and the choicest pick of recruits and the latest weapons. Category B units are your bread and butter. Category C units are the worst off units, often being driven around by soft skinned trucks or even going entirely on foot, but they are not necessarily poorly motivated cannon fodder, and do include such things as (admittedly somewhat dated) armored and mechanized brigades. Even the mighty German Heer in WWII was a conscript army whose logistics were draft horses and mules, after all. They are simply sharply limited in their roles and cannot be expected to seize the initiative or hold the line when circumstances place them outside their comfort zone. The number and proportion of these units a player nation can maintain is determined by its population, or rather, its ability to maintain war footing.

How many brigades, airwings, or naval squadrons are actually maintained, and in what proportion, are entirely up to the player, so long as they never have more than the maximum. At player discretion, one can also raise a number of lower category units in place of one higher category unit at a ratio of Three Cat B units for one Cat A, and Five Cat C units for one Cat B. Units who are damaged in fighting have to be cycled to the rear for rest and refit: they will be available again at the start of the next quarter. Units that are so damaged they are totally destroyed will continue to take up a slot and cannot be replaced until the start of the second quarter after they were destroyed.

Forces are generated at the start of every quarter, however many the player pleases.

Small Population

Small populations can maintain a disproportionate number of Category A and B units compared to nations with Normal and Large populations. What they may not have in raw numbers, they have in the demographics of skilled professionals needed to operate fully modern brigades. However, the limits of the manpower pool means a small population gains little benefit from war footing.

Standing (Base) Military

Maximum

War Footing

Maximum

Normal Population

Normal populations, being minimally damaged by the meteor storm and well educated, can maintain a fair number of Category A and B units as well as commit large numbers of

Standing (Base) Military

Maximum

War Footing

Maximum

Large Population

Large populations actually suffer in comparison to Normal and Small ones in terms of the number of Cat A and B units they can sustain normally. While numerically not at a disadvantage, a far smaller proportion of their forces are Cat A and B.

Standing (Base) Military

Maximum

War Footing

Maximum

War Footing

Regardless of when in a quarter War footing is declared, it does not fully come into effect until the start of the second quarter after it is declared. War footing has no benefit in the turn it is declared, the start of the next quarter gives the player half the benefit of war footing, and the start of the quarter after that gives the full benefit.

Industrial Advancement

Industrial advancement can allow you to promote some of your brigades, air wings, or task groups up one category or add more Category C units to your maximum. One can also trade Industrial Advancement for Super or Reputation points at a 1:2 ratio.

Superprojects and Weapons

One of the indelible marks the meteor swarm left on Ground was the very array of planetary defense systems meant to protect against it and clean up the debris. Standing as testament to the stupendous skills and technologies of mankind. A side effect of the race to defend against the asteroid swarm has been a number of smaller, but no less outlandish, military prototypes.

Superprojects are divided into two categories, Civilian and Military. All players start with a base 5 points of Super that they are free to assign as they please, and gain one each quarter. Even if a player nation does not directly possess a "Superweapon", all player nations have had some stake in the creation of at least one planetary defense system. This could be anything from lending technical expertise, organizing funds and resources, or housing the project on their soil. As such, players must spend a minimum of one point in one of the Civilian superprojects.

Civilian Superprojects are not necessarily actually civilian, or even intended for use against the asteroid swarm, but in general, most of them started life as such. A Civilian Superproject is basically a strategic weapon or defense without any of the nasty diplomatic connotations of using a weapon of mass destruction. A nation with Defensible terrain houses a Large Superweapon it must pay an additional point, while those with Forgiving get a discount of one. Small populations also have a difficulty constructing a Superweapon within the boundaries of their own nation and must pay an additional point like nations with Defensible. On the other hand, a small nation contributing to a project built on someone else's soil gets twice the effect from a single point. All Large Superweapons must start with a single weakness.

Military Superweapons are far more limited in scope, often being a handful of secret prototypes for a highly advanced new fighter or tank design or a flying aircraft carrier. As such, they do not start with a weakness. However, unlike Civilian Superweapons which can be used at any moment, deploying a Military Superweapon requires spending another Super point to activate it.

Naturally, the more players pitch in to establishing a single project, the more ambitious and powerful the weapon can be while still leaving points left over for more exclusive projects. e.g. SOLG

Every point of Super invested in a superweapon project buys a [tag]. A tag is a few words or a phrase describing an ability or strength of the project. Super projects also must also take a weakness for every fourth tag that is added. A point of Super invested in a project may also be used to aid efforts to sabotage, capture, or outright destroy it. Superweapons are described with the following format:

[Superproject Name]

[Nations responsible for its development]

[Current Owner]

[Type]

[Tags]

[Weaknesses]

[Project Description]

Points that have been stockpiled can be used to upgrade a Superweapon, activate a Military Superweapon, or saved up to unveil a hitherto secret project or weapon at a later date.

Possession of a Superproject is determined entirely by the players. Superprojects created by the cooperation of multiple nations are likely to be in the hands of an international body, but they may entirely be under the sole control of whomever the story justifies. Superweapons don't have any defenses. Those must be provided for by your military, tying down units to the task of keeping it safe.

Examples

Stonehenge

Erusia, San Salvacion, and others

The Erusian Dynasty

Civilian

[Eight Mass Drivers] [Intercontinental Range] [Highly Accurate]

[Direct fire: Cannot damage targets 2,000 feet below Sea Level]

X-02 Wyvern

Erusia

The Erusian Dynasty

Military

[High Performance Fighter-Bombers]

Legendary Units

In every military there are famous ships, crack teams of operators operating operationally, tank and fighter aces whose simple presence can tip the tide of battle.

The rules for Legendary Units are very similar to those for Superweapons. Unlike Superweapons however, all nations start with and accrue the exact same number of Reputation points, regardless of environmental or population modifiers. Legendary units are anything from entire formations, an elite platoon of tanks, or even a single unbeatable Ace fighter pilot. All nations start with 5 Reputation points and gain one every quarter. The more Reputation a Legendary unit has, the more dangerous - or lucky - it is. However, the larger or more powerful the formation is before the application of Legendary status, the more diluted Reputation becomes.

Legendary units have a tendency to be the natural predators of Superweapons.

[Legendary Unit Name]

[Nation]

[Unit]

[Reputation]

Example
The Yellow Squadron

The Erusian Dynasty

Fighter Squadron

Reputation: 3

The Invincible Fleet

The Erusian Dynasty

Carrier Battlegroup

Reputation: 2