Multi-faction multi-system game

[Ogamaga (OP)]

Has anybody tried it, and does anybody have any advice? This is assuming each faction has it's own home system.

[Father Tim]

Yes, several people, including four or five of Steve's write-ups in the fiction section.

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Strongly roleplay the different factions.  Use faction-specific names for everything.  Use different map layouts, and even different layout styles.  Make the factions feel as different as possible.  Different tech priorities, different weapon systems, different design philosophies.

Ancient Greeks versus Vikings versus Zulus works much better than modern U.S. wet navy vs modern British wet navy versus modern Chinese wet navy, all using the same size engines, sensors, missiles & ships designs.

[Garfunkel]

Yes, Father Tim is correct. The key is to make your factions as different and as alive as possible. Otherwise you'll get bored of them and the game will fizzle out.

[Ogamaga (OP)]

Thanks for the advice.  Any tips for setting up such a game? I'm especially interested in anything I should make sure to do, or not do, during the setup phase.  And do you have and fictions in particular with such a starting point to recommend?

[Garfunkel]

Multi system fictions are rare because it can be a PITA to set them up. Multiple factions inside a single system are far more common. For example, Kurt's Twin Moons campaign here: http://aurora2.pentarch.org/index.php?board=39.0
and of course Steve's Trans-Newtonian campaign here: http://aurora2.pentarch.org/index.php?board=16.0
as well as Steve's Solarian Empires campaign here: http://aurora2.pentarch.org/index.php?board=198.0
I'm sure there are others, those are off the top of my head.

For multi system, it's easier if you have one faction start in Sol and then use SM to create other systems until you find a suitable one and then create a new race empire in that one. But the problem is that you cannot guarantee a JP connection between the two. So if you create both at game start, they might not get into contact for decades. Or they might be right next door to each other. And there is no way around this. So a better idea might be to just play one faction in Sol, and then when that faction finds a nice looking system at a suitable distance from Earth, you manually create a New Race in there and THEN start running a multi faction game.

In fact, that's how I'm planning to run my C# multi-faction games: having multiple factions in Sol and then introducing new alien factions as they explore the galaxy, in addition to NPRs and spoilers.

[Steve Walmsley]

Colonial Wars is probably the most complex game I have setup and played - it was the campaign that finally drove me to build C# Aurora

There are fourteen player races, most of which are in Sol. However, each one has several colonies as well and the game starts with 50 systems already explored and developed.

http://aurora2.pentarch.org/index.php?board=222.0

[Titanian]

But the problem is that you cannot guarantee a JP connection between the two. So if you create both at game start, they might not get into contact for decades. Or they might be right next door to each other. And there is no way around this.

You can always pregenerate a few systems in advance, and then place your races. That does take away the surprise though. So maybe get somebody else to do this for you.

[YABG]

I'd also recommend Haji's 'From the Ashes' campaign: it's a multi-faction, multi-system campaign which does a great job of showing how role play can really make different factions distinct. 

[vorpal+5]

I'm not too clear on the difference between a NPR and an 'alien race', is the latter a race created by the player, controlled by the player, but not human? Sorry, probably a stupid question.

[Father Tim]

There's no official definition.  Most folks probably use them interchangeably.

[Steve Walmsley]

NPR = Non Player Race. A term that has originated in the board game Starfire. Interchangeable with alien race.

[Garfunkel]

Note that most players seem to use NPR exclusive when talking about an AI controlled faction that generally is an alien race but could, in some cases, be another human empire. You can't see what an NPR is doing via SM mode, only in Designer mode. Whereas "alien race" could mean any non-human race/power/faction possibly RP'd by the human player.