Command Center

[Googlie]

................. and Captain Zeiter is clearly in the Gaian camp, having sent that welcoming message for them to pick up at the Embassy

Lietenant Snoddasmannen is prolly in the Morgan camp (certainly not in the Gaians!!), possibly veering towards the Hive.

It'd actually be neat to run a poll of the Junta just asking which "camp" they want to be identified with (except that we don't even know if Lt Colonel Maniac is willing to ghost the leadership of the "Gaians' camp"

(btw, he's secluded with staff officers planning the invasion of Zakland, otherwise described as "assigned temporarily to special duties"

I'll have a go at running the poll

G.

[Googlie]

Poll's here

(Of course we'll have to be careful in what we say "in front of the Gaians" as we're maintaining the fiction that we haven't yet met Morgan)

But in the roleplaying, it's actually working out well that we didn't wait for Zeiter and Maniac to approve the gunfoil screenies. It can be regarded maybe as a bit of a "flexing of muscles" by the Morgan camp in the Junta, with a decison being taken while the Lt Colonel and the Captain were perhaps "on manoevers" prepping for the invasion

[Googlie]

But the Lt Colonel has commlinked in from the field, demanding an explanation of what is being offered to Morgan (see link)

Stay tuned ...........................

[Maniac]

[KrysiasKrusader]

Two leutenant colonels fits in with how ancient Sparta operated with two monarchs.

[Kassiopeia]

Excellent point. And they operated it pretty darn well.

[Googlie]

Some thoughts on what constitutes "Junta Approval"

As mentioned elsewhere, the most active members seem to be (in alpha order):

Googlie
Kassiopeia
KrysiasKrusader
Maniac
Snoddasmannen
Zeiter

with less frequent postings by Primus Pilus

I haven't seen anything of Andemagne, ChairmanSlick, Dissident, Master Zen or Zero in quite a while

So I suggest that a quorum be any five of the first seven names (Googlie thru Primus Pilus), and that in any event 4 affirmative votes be needed to carry a motion (whether 4 out of 5, or 4 out of 7, depending on however many are forming the quorum)

I further suggest that either Maniac or Googlie's vote must be secured for a motion to pass (so I could be outvoted 4 - 3 (or 4 - 1) so long as Maniac was in the "4" group, and vice versa, but a 4 - 3 vote would be ruled ineligible if both Maniac and I were in the "no" camp

But to allow for the possibility of coups, if the vote is 4 (or more) - 2, with both Maniac and I forming the "2" group, then a coup will have taken place and we will ge deposed as Lieutenant Colonels

This will aloow some decisions being made in the absence of a few regulars (such as with the Morgan Observer status, or the Gaian trade embargo doublecross - thankfully now being disclosed - in part at least - to the Gaians)

Thoughts?

[Kassiopeia]

Interesting system. But can we be sure that those you listed as "most active" will be able to join in on a possible vote when we are tight on time? Do we allow people with specific areas of tasks (such as me in diplomacy) to have onus in their respective fields to streamline decision-making?

We could also establish that a majority of the Junta *present* within the time needed to make a decision is needed to carry a motion, if a quorum of four is not achieved. Albeit I find that unlikely, with me, Krysia and Googlie here practically full-time and a fourth one popping in often enough.

[KrysiasKrusader]

I dunno...

That will all depend on who is on-line at the time (and to a lesser extant; who can type the fastest while reloading the screens to the different threads).

I don't feel that the way we've been operating is that bad.

You have individual commanders for units already - so that's a no brainer.

Individual officers responsible for the turn being played, and interaction with the other factions.

If we had to vote on everything, we'd never get anything done, nor diplomacy (it's already slow), nor the turn being processed.

Also. there will be days when I won't be available, just like what happens to the rest of you sometimes.

Attempting to stick to a rigid system will fail. In my opinion.

From the six people you have listed, Googlie, there should be no problem for people not comming to some sort of consensus. Besides Snoddasmannen, who is relatively new to MP play, the rest of us have enough experience not to bungle things irrevocably should a major decision need be taken in a short amount of time (I hope).


Edit: I'm not talking down about Snoddasmannen. Just stating a fact. There are quite a different bunch of things in MP versus SP playing. That's all.

[Googlie]

Hmm - these are good points you make, Kassi and KK

I was just trying to have some limited structure so as to avoid the situation of a day or so ago when Maniac opened the private forums and thought we had done an end run around him. I was trying to quantify "How many of the regulars need to be on board before a decison is deemed to have had an adequate airing"

I don't mean that we need a vote on everything ("What will this former build,....... where does the Hunter go now ..... etc") and maybe not even re those having some substance (such as "Roads versus Sensor Arrays versus farms/forests/mines" or - (a la Hunter - coast exploration versus finding the Angels versus podpopping) - there's not a great downside to making an unpopular choice if I'm the turnplayer and just get, say, one other player saying to an idea - maybe the loss of a credit or two or a missed opportunity to accelerate a mineral or energy gain.

But for the medium - to - large decisions - and till now they've mainly been in the realm of diplomacy or build orders (do we accept this trade saw-off ..... do we play 'hard to get'?" or "do we build up our garrisons, or get more colony pods on the go ... or probe defenses?) poor decisions can have major repercussions.

It's been working OK so far, as we've been pretty linear in our play, but I remember the last game - especially with the Hive as it blossomed under Kody's administration - he virtually had to become a dictator in order to get the turns out in time. Their structure called for a poll on nearly everything, and it almost fell apart under the beaurocracy.

But we can run with what we've got for now, until we really meet some roadblocks, I guess.

G.

[KrysiasKrusader]

I hear what your sayin', Googlie. And a valid point of discussion this is indeed.

I don't know how things went on different teams in past games. This is my first DG. But I look at it like a regular MP-PBEM, with all of you being the little voices in my head, when I'm playing the turn of the game (laugh!).

I invariably always forget to do (or forget about) something. Especially when I have 40+ bases and 400+ units to move around (roll eyes).

So the extra eyes and minds will help there.

What I would really like, and I think someone (besides me) has already pointed that out somewhere else; is to try and get a general overall game strategy going. Within such a framework, or guide, then we'd have something to fall back on.

Note: I reserve the right to edit this post in the next 20 minutes...


Edit: Found the diplo thread concerning this. Now looking for the game strategy thread...

Edit#2: Make that 40 minutes...

Edit #3: Foreign Office thread also bumped...

[KrysiasKrusader]

Come to think of it Googlie...

You may as well as edit out some names on the Spartan recruitment poster, thread, whatyoumacallit in the: "For new members. The Alpha Centauri Democracy Game, an introduction" thread.

[Googlie]

I had a go at putting my thoughts re a Strategy towards Morgan down on paper in the "Future Speculation thread"

I'll work on my thoughts about the Gaians, then the Angels (perhaps the latter needs to wait till we've met in-game and get a sense of where they're at and where they think they're going)

And you make a good point re the recruitment thread in the ACDG Public forum. I haven't visited that for some time to update it

[Snoddasmannen]

Originally posted by KrysiasKrusader

From the six people you have listed, Googlie, there should be no problem for people not comming to some sort of consensus. Besides Snoddasmannen, who is relatively new to MP play, the rest of us have enough experience not to bungle things irrevocably should a major decision need be taken in a short amount of time (I hope).


Edit: I'm not talking down about Snoddasmannen. Just stating a fact. There are quite a different bunch of things in MP versus SP playing. That's all.

What a shame you added that disclaimer
Oh I know I'm a newbie. If I were head of this faction, we'd be at war with everyone, but our third colony pod would be well on the way to sneak-build a base inside Hive territory, escorted by a "DethKiller"-class empath 2-2-2 rover.

[Snoddasmannen]

Originally posted by Googlie
Some thoughts on what constitutes "Junta Approval"

Thoughts?

I belive your system will work fine when it comes to long term decisions or at least decisions where there is plenty of time.

However, there should also be an emergency decision which can be invoked for instance by the turnplayer when he is in a hurry or by diplomats who need to agree to a deal quickly on behalf of another team. Basically, you can only call an emergency vote over that which you have authority. These might (for instance) only need the approval of one other Junta member, but the minimum decision time should be 3 hours and any Junta member can during that time veto the decision and call for a proper vote. Emergency decisions can of course be used to stage a coup, which is why I like them