I'm trying to think of a scenario setup that would make a good multiplayer game.

Ideas so Far:

Ruins in the Middle
Essentially, King of The Hill. Players start in opposite corners of a premade galaxy, with ruins on one planet of the center star system. First player to hold the ruins for say, 10 construction brigade years (5 years with 2 construction units, 0.5 years with 20 construction units, etc) gains the uber advanced ancient technology and wins the scenario.

Escape Sol
The players either all start on Earth, or on Earth/Venus/Mars. First player to establish a 25-million population outside of the Sol-system complete with industry/labs/shipyards wins.

Inherit the Stars
Same as Escape Sol, but to achieve victory you also must destroy/capture all enemy shipyards so they can't follow you off planet.

Monster in the Middle
An asymmetric twist on standard conquest, an advanced empire must find a way to defeat two lower tech populations each with equal population/industry. No technology trading.


Thoughts anyone?
Any ideas on what would be the most fun to play in, the most fun to observe, and/or the most fun to SM?

Anyone have any other scenario ideas?

or THANCS for short.

I presume this is the right forum for err.. promoting other games?

THANCS is an game/engine that Nick has been developing over the last little while.

it's a turn based tactical (space) ship game.

you can design your ships, create a game against other players and fight each other
newton movement is simulated, so adding more mass will decrease your acceleration, till you add more engines to your design.
during battle components can be shot off if the hull they are attached to gets destroyed.
more advanced scenarios allow you to capture this loot and either weld it back to other component to form new ships, or simply scrap it for credits, and buy new components (or whole designs if you've got the credit)

here's a couple of pics to pique your interest:
This is a 'carrier' design for a 4 player game that we're currently playing:


an older pic of the game proper, in this you can see the main map on the left, next is SJ's big ship SJS-Vorcha which he slowly built during the game, the other two panels are my smaller ships attempting to make a dent in the Vorcha's shields - unfortunately they were not terribly successful, Fezzik and Hodor were designed as multi role ships which could drop their weapons pods and go collect scrap, whereas the Vorcha was designed purely for battle.  


the graphics is not terribly pretty as you can see, and when you start getting down to the little details the game does have a few nuances you need to learn, but considering I'm speaking to the Aurora crowd here I guess that shouldn't  count against it too much.

you can get the game client here:
http://imagemodserver.dyndns.org/nick/GreenEggsAndHam/THANCS/
you'll need:
THANCS.rar
Graphics.rar
Mods.rar

to get in on a game you'll need to sign up at http://beta.pbw.spaceempires.net/
we use PBW to distribute the turn files after the host server has processed them.

if I've interested you enough to do that, you should then join us in IRC at #spaceempires on freenode and ask about getting in on a game. talk to SJ, ekolis or myself. it *does* have a learning curve so feel free to just pop in and ask questions.

There is currently no single player.
The game is still in development.  

Id say some exceptions are allowed.

I will try to run with the following self imposed rules to simulate peacetime civilization:
- Maximum 10% of my labs on weapons/active sensors/engine power mod or other "war" systems such as stealth/shields.
- Maximum 10% of military grav survey ship tonnage can be devoted to weaponry.
- All Military PDCs or Military Patrol ships (3000ton or below) allowed up too maximum 200% of Civilian Protection needed in a given system.
- Only one single emergency coiler/oiler allowed since Military is for defense only.
- Military shipyard expansion forbidden beyond 10% of Civilian shipyard max size and beyond civilian shipyard total amount of slipways.

I really like this idea but wouldn't that lead to extreme casualties during the first years of war? What if there was no conflict for decades, the gap then would be extreme.  Therefore I like the idea of minimized but still existing research.
Humans are mostly drawn to protect themselves and if there is enemy who has weapons they will try to have more weapons. 
The same now even when there are only humans vs.  humans.

[ooc]Here is a nice but relatively short I'd think battle that has a twist to it.[/ooc]

After a diplomatic incident by the Uruloki of Udunn's contact team the Cervii Republic declares war.  They follow the retreating Uruloki corvettes to their entrance warp point and then very shortly stage a fast assault hoping to gain ground against an unprepared opponent.

At the Warp Point:

Joint Expeditionary Force 4 (Cpt. Jomminnii -grade: Avg)
Banalis 019 (Banalis III class)
Naraithsol 023 (Narathsol IV class)
Naraithsol 024 (Narathsol IV class)
Glamatus 025 (Glamatus III class)
Glamatus 026 (Glamatus III class)

Survey Fleet (Col Keicher -grade: Crack)
X Gomalus 001 to 016 (X Gomalus II class)

Survey Fleet 2 (Col Jillar -grade: Crack)
X Gomalus 017 to 032 (X Gomalus: Crack)

Skywatch: Elvorfilas (Cpt Hartfyr -grade: Avg)
Augfarthing 028 (BS Augfarthing II class)
Augcating 058 (BS Augcating III class)
Augcating 059 (BS Augcating III class)

Automatic weapons:  60 paterns of nuclear mines, 30 DSB-L (deployed as the player wishes)
Crew grade:  all Drake ships are elite except the Augfarthing 28 which is Crack.  The bases were only finished their shakedown last month.
XO racks: normal loads are shown below but the player may change them based on what is in the forces magazines
Ships may start anywhere on the map and the bases must be set up within weapon range of the warp point.
All boatbays carry ast.

WP8 is a Type 11 Warp Point on this end, but a Type 12 Warp Point on the other side.  A fact the Cervii republic is not aware of, though they know the location of the warp point to Elvorfilas.

====Designs====

BANALIS III class CA     AM    12 XO Racks    60 Hull    TL 6
[2] ZH(II)(II)Q(II)(BbS)(II)(II)WaWaDWaWaDcMgWaWa!1M4XrMgWa!1LhQD?1WaMgDc(II) [6]
60 RCP  40 MCP       Trg:5  Bmp +2  Tem -1        Cost =  1412/ 211.8
HTK 38   Dcx2  Dx2  Wax8  Mgx3 
XO Racks: 2 EDM, 3 CM

NARAITHSOL IV class DD     AM    6 XO Racks    30 Hull    TL 6
[2] ZHT(I)(I)(I)Qs(I)(I)D(I)Wa!1M2WaWaMgDcQs?1(I) [7]
30 RCP  20 MCP       Trg:3  Bmp +2  Tem -1        Cost =  649/ 97.4
HTK 21   Dcx1  Dx1  Wax3  Tx1  Mgx1 
150x SM, 6x CM, 3x CAM (Mg), 4x EDM (Mg), 2x ADM (Mg)
XO Racks: 3 CM

GLAMATUS III class CT     AM    3 XO Racks    16 Hull    TL 6
[1] ZH(I)(I)(I)DcM1FXrQs(I) [8]
16 RCP  9 MCP       Trg:2        Cost =  300/ 45
HTK 11   Dcx1  Fx1 
XO Racks: 1 ADM

X GOMALUS II class CT        3 XO Racks    16 Hull    TL 3
[2] SAHXi(I)(I)D(I)QsL(I) [8]
16 RCP  9 MCP       Trg:1        Cost =  266/ 39.9
HTK 11   Sx1  Ax1  Dx1  Lx1 
XO Racks: 3 SM

BS(C) AUGFARTHING II class BS2        10 XO Racks    50 Hull    TL 6
[1] S0x11Aix10ZHsTDQsM3F!1Xr(MCS)(DCS)D(CIC)(BbS)DcQsF

50 RCP       Trg:4  Tem -1        Cost =  932/ 46.6
HTK 38   S0x11  Aix10  Dcx1  Dx2  Fx2  Tx1 
480x SM, 18x CM, 12x EDM (Mg)

BS AUGCATING III class BS2        10 XO Racks    50 Hull    TL 6
[1] S0x11Aix10ZHs(BbS)QsWaWaMgDWaWa!1XrWaWa!1DM3CDcQsWaMg

50 RCP       Trg:4  Tem -1        Cost =  1037/ 51.9
HTK 43   S0x11  Aix10  Dcx1  Dx2  Wax7  Mgx2 
322x SM, 5x CM LT1, 5x CAM (Mg), 4x EDM (Mg), 3x ADM (Mg)
XO Racks all bases:  1 EDM, 1 ADM, 2 CAM