The Alpha Quadrant Conflict

[thunderfoot]

This is an idea I have had for quite some time. I made my gaming bones with the classic titles produced by the now defunct Avalon Hill Game Comapny out of Baltimore MD. My personal favorites were Battle of the Bulge, Panzer Leader, and The Russian Campaign. Great games which had a lot of elegant concepts and were easy to learn, fast to play and always nail bitingly close. Cardboard counters moved through a heaxgonal grid printed on a map mounted on cardboard. Unit values printed on the counters themselves. And just enough 'chrome' extra realism rules and 'what if?' scenarios. to make replay value very high. The Amarillo Design Bureau, makers of Star Fleet Battles, also did a PnP game called Federation and Empire. Ships moved as parts of fleets and all the combat was resolved via die rolls and the specials were really special. Ah, memories! Takes me back to a time when I had both a waistline and all my hair, lol.

There is a FTP game called TripleA which is based on Milton Bradley's Gamemaster series Axis and Allies. It plays in WIN7 and is really enjoyable. It has a Play by Email system which works as well. No live online component, though. The AI is vicious and quick and will cheerfully hand you your head. The idea I have is to make a silicon clone of Federation and Empire using TripleA as the game engine. It has already been adapted to Napoleonic battles, as well as the wars of the Shogunate in Japan and the American Civil War. So making it into an operational level space combat game should not be too hard.

Would anyone be interested in such a game? Is there something like I want to do already available? Is anyone willing to help out with the research and play testing such a game would take?

 

[CABAL]

Sounds interesting and I'd love to help out. I'll have to get back to you tomorrow about whether or not I can get it running on any of our computers. It looks like it just needs Java so I think I'll be fine.

 

[Terra_Inc]

Sounds awesome! I've played TripleA before, but stopped to do so because the AI totally devastated me.

 

[CABAL]

I couldn't get the Linux version working, but the Windows version runs just fine in Wine. I still haven't checked to see if internet play works but my grandma is coming over for the weekend so I won't check that out until Monday or Tuesday.

 

[thunderfoot]

Thanks for the help, CABAL. Much appreciated! I've only just begun exploring whether or not this is even possible. I've not begun looking into the coding. Unfortunately, I'll be in Dallas next week on business and I may not have time to get online when I'd like to. Teaching class all week and training a new instructor at the same time. Plus the school in Dallas is shorthanded and has lots of students to boot. Lucky for me CDI is letting me drive out instead of fly. Means I'll not get all those odd looks from the TSA people when they open my 'puter up and turn it on, lol.

 

[Terra_Inc]

Lucky for me CDI is letting me drive out instead of fly. Means I'll not get all those odd looks from the TSA people when they open my 'puter up and turn it on, lol.

"We've caught this man with a laptop full of top secret plans for alien spaceships and weaponry far more powerful than the nuclear bomb. We must instantly find out how we can produce these 'quantum torpedoes' and 'Rihannsu battleships'!"

 

[thunderfoot]

All of the TSA inspectors I've ever had dealings with act exactly like schoolyard bullies of the worst sort. But what can one do? One more reason for me to really dislike the Taliban and Al-Queda, I suppose.

 

[thunderfoot]

Just got done browsing the TripleA folder in my HDD. Lots of helpful stuff and links to pages which are clear enough even I can do this. I'd prefer not to go solo, however. The place it will bog down will be in the coding. One comma or quote one space too far left or right and the whole thing will crash. The map will be involved as well and it could take several weeks to get something which is playable as well as looks good. Making the units will be easy as well. They are all 55 x 55 pixel .png formats with alpha channels enabled. Coding them will be a matter of copy/paste and adjusting the values for the newly created unit. Max number of units per faction is set at 35, more than enough to cover anything one can imagine.

Although I really wanted this to be TMP/TLE based, I am afraid it will have to be mostly TNG based with a smattering of TMP/TLE units. The reasons for this are I am most familiar with the TNG stuff now and the units in A2 and Legacy will easily convert over to the format I want. Anyone who has ever played Axis and Allies will be able to figure out quickly how to play this. I do intend to add some "chrome" and some specials but they will be add ons and not an essential part of the game. The player will be the Admiral Commanding and his primary job will be resource utilization and traffic management, as in Triple A.

Factions: Since this will be TNG based, the factions are as follows: UFP, Klingon Empire, Romulan Empire, Cardassian Union, Tholians(neutrals), Dominion. Alliances will be fxed initially. If I can figure out the coding for FFA, this will be an addon further downstream. Be kinda neat to have the Rihannsu sit out a few turns and then either backstab the Feds or pile on the Domnion with the rest of the Alpha Quadrant powers.

Units: Starbases will serve the same function as Factories in TripleA. This is where units will be produced. It may be possible to code in more than one type of Starbase, but for now I'd rather have something which works than try for something which create problems and makes the game unstable.

The ship categories will be pretty general and correspond to roughly the types we are familiar with. There will be fighters and carriers but not bombers. Although the Paratroops option available does lend itself to some sort of Commando Raid idea. Here's the list.

Carriers w/Fighters. Can't help myself, I suppose. Carriers will be able to attack on their own, but they will not be able to do so often or for very long.
Battleships. Ships of the Line which are the backbone of the fleet.
Battlecruisers. The power of a battleship with the range and armor of a cruiser. Should cause all sorts of problems for their owners. Expensive and potent, yet brittle.
Cruisers. General purpose ship. Jack of all trades yet master of none. But operated in groups should be able to defend territory from attack.
Light cruisers. Smaller, cheaper cruisers. Garrison units.
Destroyers. Light units. Garrison units or able to round out a task force with one or two extra shots when needed.
Transports. Used for ferrying ground forces to attack and conquer enemy planets.
Fighters. Small, disposable, cheap, mass produced quick strike units with no staying power. They zip in, attack, and then return to base.

A few more things:

1) Anyone who pulls out the, "It Ain't Canon!" statement will be sent to the Weapons Labs immediately for employment as a target. No, I'm not kidding. TripleA is something which is enjoyable and challenging and yet can be played completely through in a couple of hours without trying to break someone's brain by making them remember, "...that scene from the third episode of the second season where Geordie _____..." You wanna tell me how screwed up I am and how I am doing it all wrong, fine. I ask you do so via PM or email, please. I will ask Staff to delete any posts in this thread or others related to this project which seem to be headed down the road towards argument without resolution and capable of degenerating into useless name calling and flaming. I will ask until they either delete the post or I can get them to perma ban the both of us from MSFC. Only warning on this I am giving. Wrote it, Meant it.

2) The more ideas which get contributed to this, the better. The only idea which seems foolish or silly is one which is not offered. The only dumb questions are the unasked ones.

3) I am considering this a very long term project. It is not something I am in a hurry to finish or work on constantly until completion. To me, the making has become more enjoyable than the playing. I intend to fully enjoy myself on this and I strongly encourage anyone else who wants to help to enjoy the creative process as well. Here at MSFC, we have some of the most knowledgable and smart people I know about both Star Trek and gaming. Be a real shame not to take advantage of these for as long as possible.


Think I'll stop here, since this has turned into a W.O.T. post. lol

 

[CABAL]

So, how big are you planning on the map being? Something like the default map or significantly larger or smaller? Also, are you planning on having just the Alpha and Beta quadrants or the whole galaxy? I should be able to dig up the maps I made from around the time I joined if you would like them as a reference.

Also, do you think having certain vessels capable of orbital bombardment would be possible? I haven't played the game much yet so I'm not sure how that would work. Still, it could be nice to have some of the heavier ships able to do that.

 

[kjc733]

This sounds interesting, will have to look into this. Not just because of the Trek mod but because it may open the door to something I've wanted to try for a while (just very difficult to build from scratch in vb6 which is what my code experience is in). Need to build that time machine first though!!!