Ringworld scenario creation thread

[Travathian]

Well, I've decided to go ahead with this.

I'd like some input for the 7 factions.

I know I'm going to include the Humans, Kzin, Puppeteers, Pak, and Ghouls.

I need two more. Preferably other Ringworld natives. I've just started reading the trilogy again, so I'm trying to choose the next two most significant from the whole series. Any ideas?

Also any ideas on rules changes.

Lastly, what modifiers for the factions?

Travathian

ps Does anyone know where I can find explanations of some of the faction bonuses that can be found in the SMAX faction editor that comes with the game.

[Enigma]

Make protectors a bonus in unity pods if you have unity pods. They should be more or less like Battle Ogres.

I already posted my ideas for factions

[Enigma]

double post

[This message has been edited by Enigma (edited March 01, 2000).]

[Travathian]

No pods, no fungus.

I like the idea some else posted about the magtubs around the edges. Not exactly what the real Ringworld has, but a nice substitute.

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

Damn, there actually was some interest in this idea after all. (Teaches me not to check the threads in awhile.) Would that I knew the least about programming.
Anyway a couple of ideas here.

Kzin definitely a must have as a faction. the Kzin were present on ring world in Ringworld Engineers (I beleive?). They were the ones in the huge ocean that actually ended up attacking the native ring world humans.

Anyway Kzin factional bonus's

+25% combat (at least)
+1 morale
-2 growth (tests of manhood cause only the dominant males to survive & constant tribal warfare)
-1 research
-1 econ (or maybe -2 efficiency instead)

Aversions :Can not use Free market

Agenda: Power


Modified terrain feature/units:

Sunflowers: equal to Demon Boil fungal towers Anyway to be able to make these things attack rather than simply defend?)

Landmarks: Eye Storm (units automatically destroyed as they are sucked out into space)

3000 Mile high mountain (How would one simulate this????)

Floating City (With 2 artifacts and enables world map)

Minerals are scarce on ring world but I think the world size should take into account costs of tech and the like.

[Enigma]

Yes the kzin WERE on ringworld on an ocean the size of several earths. They had an absolutely massive ship.
sunflowers etc are great ideas but i don't think that they can be modified without going into source code.

[ChrisShaffer]

That Kzinti faction looks pretty weak to me. They should probably get at least +1 police (reasonably strict societal controls). And perhaps the growth should be -1. As I recall, Kzin keep harems, so a lack of males doesn't necessarily reduce the population by all that much.

Definitely Kzinti should be a faction on Ringworld.

[Travathian]

As far as Ringworld lacking minerals, I couldn't agree more, but short of continually reseeding the map until I get a lower number of mineral bonus squares, I think I'll impose a penalty to industry, somewhere between 1 and 3 for all factions. That and the fact that the world will have high erosion and average rain, should stunt building plenty enough.

I'm thinking the industry penalty will be based on how accesible metals are to the individual factions from them series.

[Afterburner]

I know I'm going to include the Humans, Kzin, Puppeteers, Pak, and Ghouls.

Hrm. You sure you want the Pak? (I'm assuming you mean the Protectors here.) They were tough mo-fos, as I recall.

As for possible factions, here are some you could have:

Kdatlyno
Trinoc
Cetacean
City Builders

I actually have a copy of the Ringworld RPG. This was put out by Chaosium nearly 20 years ago. It was a great system, and as a resource for Known Space info and Ringworld info it really can't be beat. And it's chock-a-block filled with races for Ringworld (all of the ones from the books, plus many created specifically for the RPG). I'll be happy to help you with this if you want.


Anyway Kzin factional bonus's

+25% combat (at least)
+1 morale
-2 growth (tests of manhood cause only the dominant males to survive & constant tribal warfare)
-1 research
-1 econ (or maybe -2 efficiency instead)

Aversions :Can not use Free market

Agenda: Power

From some of the other known space books, two things of interest are revealed about the Kzinti which could have an impact on gameplay:

1) Although longevity drugs were common among humans and although the Kzinti had equivalent drugs, Kzinti rarely used these drugs because repeated use of the drugs caused the fading of scars won in battle. Not sure how you could reflect this in the faction adjustments, though.

2) Psi-capable Kzinti were rare and were held in extreme contempt by regular Kzinti society. This is because Kzinti with the capacity for psi required drugs to fully develop their psi talent, and this drug had powerful narcotic properties. As a consequence, psi-capable Kzinti were physically frail and had exceptionally poor hygeine (imagine how clean you'd be if you stayed stoned 100% of the time). This could be reflected in a higher cost for psi-capable units (if that's possible to do with the editor -- haven't messed with it much).

Another interesting factoid, although not really related to gameplay, is that Kzinti females are non-sentient.


For puppeteers, I'd say give 'em a BIG penalty for offense and a bonus for defense (again, dunno if this is possible). They were notorious cowards. But they were also brilliant businessmen and manipulators, so a bonus to econ and covert ops would be in order for them.

There would be a definite morale penalty, though, because according to puppeteer philosophy, the safest place in the universe is somewhere on the Puppeteer homeworld at a hidden place in the universe. And if a puppeteer isn't on that homeworld, then according to Puppeteer culture, they're insane.


If you wanted to do a City Builder faction (i.e. the race of humanoids who built the floating cities of Ringworld, created the sziltang brone which allowed them to penetrate the shieldwall and actually leave Ringworld, etc), this would be a race that belongs to a once-mighty but now-fallen technological empire. I'd impose a -2 Growth penalty because they're in decline and the ones that are left are more interested in living in the gloried past than developing a new future. To simulate the fact that their culture is built on the decaying remnants of an ancient technological empire, I'd start 'em off with 3 or 4 bonus Science advances (again, haven't played much with the editor, so I don't know if you can start a faction off with more than one bonus tech). But again, to simulate the fact that they're in decline, I'd give 'em a -1 to Research.

For benefits to balance the negatives, I'd suggest one of the following options (both designed to simulate the concept that new City Builder cities aren't really new cities so much as they are rediscovered cities from ancient times:

Option 1: Colony Pods really aren't settler units, but instead are specialized "contact" units designed to find other cities left by the city builders. These "contact" units discover ancient cities, which are then assimilated into the new, burgeoning City Builder empire. To reflect this, all newly formed City Builder cities begin with a population of 3. (And once more my ignorance of the faction editor rears its ugly head, but if possible, make it so where the Planetary Transit System Secret Project stacks with this, so that new cities start off with a population of 5 if you build the PTS project. Probably not doable, though.)

Option 2: Colony pods are, indeed, settler units, but rather than building cities from scratch, the new cities are actually ancient and abandoned cities from the glory days of the City Builder empire. To reflect this, all new City Builder cities start off with one (or more) pre-existing structures. (If there's some way to make it random, that would be great (as long as the choices were limited so that you wouldn't get really advanced structures early in the game). I suspect that there isn't, so probably just start each new city with a Network Node or Recycling Tanks or something along those lines.)

Option 1 above is more faithful to the original books and the RPG, in that it simulates the concept that each City Builder city is now an autonomous city-state with little (if any) awareness of any of the other surviving cities.

Option 2 simulates the concept that all of the cities have died out except one.

Hope this helps.

[Travathian]

Well, I didn't want to say it, but I have to . . .

I hate you, I hate you, I hate you, I hate you I hate you, I hate you, I hate you,
I hate you, I hate you, I hate you, I hate you, I hate you, I hate you, I hate you, I hate you, I hate you!!!!! ARGGGGG

I've been looking for that game since I read Ringworld and never been able to find it locally! Guard it well, I may try and hunt you down for it! lol

"I actually have a copy of the Ringworld RPG. This was put out by Chaosium nearly 20 years ago. It was a great system, and as a resource for Known Space info and Ringworld info it really can't be beat. And it's chock-a-block
filled with races for Ringworld (all of the ones from the books, plus many created specifically for the RPG). I'll be happy to help you with this if you want."

[Enigma]

^
Dont let this thread die!