TRUST
What would that look like though?
Full fleet movements? Unit locations? BASE LOCATIONS? Facility locations?
Details like that preserve the "Fog of War" that is critical for this game to operate. But if we lifted the "Fog of War" and converted GCW into a Conquest-style game (as opposed to the Real Time Strategy-esque nature of it now) where everybody knows where everybody is, so it's just a matter of who and how they attack -- then that's something I can't in all fairness I can't decide as the Administrator.
Unfortunately, there wasn't a contigency plan set in place for this situation. Greg and I made GCW knowing full well we were probably going to have 4~6 people total. Which is fine, because we do. It's just now that number of people aren't even active.
The other downside of GCW right now is that "Ashes of the Alliance" plays off the post-Hoth timeline, and so if we converted GCW into a normal GR/AE Conquest-style game, what exactly would that look like? I think it would turn into a Free For All, with every player (and/or faction) out for itself.
Granted, we could turn this into an FFA/Conquest, as I could make rules to create Neutral Planet PDFs for players to attack and such and give some more freeformness the the uni overall by letting every player be their own GM in a manner of speaking (like: why have
another player manage neutral PDF when you can do that yourself? if you can play chess with yourself, then you can battle your own fleet with a neutral PDF, the only rule would be: no surrenders. you'd have to kill everything.)
The other thing about the "Fog of War" too -- Hero Units now become less Heroic. Now that I know where your Rebel Leader Unit is, I can send my Operative to kill it. Done. +100 VPs for me. Bount Hunters would become obsolete. Smugglers on Smuggling Runs would get ambushed. All sorts of stuff.
If we lifted the Fog of War, then personally I would feel more comfortable removing all Hero units and Missions. Everything you do is what your player character is doing, nothing extra.
Granted, we can simply say "let's just trust each other"... but when you're making hundreds off of smuggling runs every month, I'm going to do something about it. Who knows, a Bounty Hunter might just show up where your Smuggler is and Track the shit out of him, and then I send my fleet to destroy him. Because right now, my character has no clue that you're doing smuggling ops... so why would I SL going to Tatooine or wherever to get a bounty hunter? And what would that be based on...? ..some gut feeling or actual intelligence leads?
That's why if we converted GCW into FFA/Con, then I would remove Hero Units & Missions, simply because they would get abused.
But when it's all said and done, we'd arrive exactly where we are now: the Summer Slump of Inactivity. Though perhaps this is all my fault. Maybe Greg and I made a uni too complicated, and as such is too intimidating. GCW really began as a Two-Faction Conquest game. We made specs, and kept it very simple as you can see, and made some great combat mechanics to balance things out (UCR). Facilities and such are a natural part of any uni, so that was a given. But now what? We wanted to give GCW that
edge by making it Episodic and Story/Timeline-based as opposed to a glorified boxing match between Imperial and Rebel units that was Galactic Realms and After Endor. We wanted to give it an
edge by throwing in Victory Points, Missions, Heroes, (and now) Flashpoints.
Perhaps that was all too much? Maybe. I don't know. I think it's what makes GCW unique and even more exciting to play than a GR/AE Clone Uni.
Maybe it's not the uni at all and the SWSF itself. AE would've worked if everybody was active. It had fully functional rules and everything. It failed because activity slumped. The Lost Campaigns failed because not enough people were invested in it. I believe Syren was correct in saying one time (not a direct quote) "you boys talk about gaming, but don't game. get on with the gaming. enough talk."
So, maybe I'm all wrong. Maybe GCW isn't the problem at all. The facts that have presented themself are thus: this forum is dead. It's the same story over and over. Failed sim to failed sim, with every failure arising out of simmer inactivity.
So let's just call the SWSF what it really is: it's a place where we AOL'ers of old can come together to feel nostalgic, but not really live nostalgically. For the people who are active on this Forum, they will have something that never fails them: Storylines.
Where does that leave us now???
Should we go ahead and have the Battle of Endor Flashpoint, and then simply have a post-Endor Free For All Conquest game? I'm cool with that. We can do the Battle of Endor just for fun while I rework the rules and standby for a REBOOT (yeah, I said it).
What the Reboot would do:
> No more "OOC Fog of War" (Rebel Base locations would be revealed, scanning and things of that nature would work the same)
> No more Hero Units as they are now (players would instead get 1 "Custom" Hero Unit of their own design to do things, like if you wanted to split your fleet into two task forces, you could command one while your NPC Hero commanded the other. In essence, this Hero Unit is a manifestation of your player's will.)> Reduction in available Missions (only "Surveillance" and "Smuggling Runs" would remain)
> No more Primary Mission Taskings
> Reduction in NPC Worlds (Tatooine, Nar Shaddaa, Ord Mantell, Endor, Dathomir would become playable and up for grabs)
> Expansion of 3rd Party Options (neutral facilities, more neutral tech, etc)
> An indefinite "post-Endor" timeline would remain
> No more monthly Flashpoints (unless people think that's a cool idea)
