The Kushana Initiative - Play By Council
GalCiv2 Forums
Welcome to The Kushana Initiative, a play-by-council game. As I play, I'll be posting regular reports and leaving the direction of the game up to those who have chosen to join the council. The planning topic for all discussion leading up to this game and continuing out-of-character discussion can be found here: Play by committee? (Kushana Initiative Planning and Discussion)
Of particular interest is the post detailing the back story for the whole game: Back Story
A summary of gameplay:
- Regular council sessions to take place every game quarter. I'll be posting each quarterly report and any pertinent information, including the UP vote every year, at which time the council will decide the course of action. Essentially, I'll be playing in 12 turn blocks and coming back for direction.
- Between sessions councilors are free to request additional info and entertain any discussion. This includes calling votes and modifying directions.
- The council is comprised of those who took part in the planning discussion. Others may request to join the council, but please read the background material and post a request before joining in. Requests to join should be posted in the planning and discussion thread linked above.
- This topic is for quarterly reports and in-character discussion only. Off topic and out-of-character discussion should be posted in the planning and discussion thread.
The Current Council:
- qrtxian
- NikolaiOmega
- noctilucus
- Talonschild
Inactive Councilors
- LordCarlos
- TMS2224
- -__- (May be addressed as SarcFa)
- Mambaman
Rules of Voting:
1) The ballot should list the issues and have a place for councilors to sign either FOR or AGAINST a measure. (the council or balloteer can decide the exact terms)
2) Councilors should copy the ballot from the last person who voted and add their signatures. No need to rewrite the ballot and no chance for it to be changed in transcription.
3) Make your arguments in a separate space. Don't break up the ballot with comments after each item.
4) Once a vote is cast, it is cast. No changing votes or editing the ballot. Listen to arguments before voting and consider your decisions wisely.
5) To get an issue on the ballot, it should be proposed and seconded. The exact wording/nature of the issue should then be established.
6) Amendments/Addenda - I see these as separate sub-issues. Maybe list them under the main issue and vote separately?
Galaxy Conditions:
Our Competition:
A good mix of opponents. I purposely left out the Terrans and Altarians. Not only am I kinda sick of them, but they would mess up the story. I see the Tolmekians as more neutral, so theres 3 good, 3 evil, and 2 other neutrals. Also note the difficulty - the AI has a 20% economics bonus. Not only that, but I customized each opponent and made sensible ability and politics choices rather than let the computer randomize it. I expect some stiff competition.
Custom Race - The Kushana Initiative:
You'll see that I swapped the PQ bonus for 20% morale. Given the conditions, I want our people happy and making us money! I also did my best to spice up the ships, but that's pretty much it.
That should be it for the start. Now to get into it!
As head of the Election Commission, it is my honor to present the council with a suggested format for voting on research proposals. This format would do away with voting on various plans by listing each technology on its own. The ballot would list only the proposed technologies that could reasonably be researched that quarter. Councilors would then rank the technologies in the order they would like them to be researched. The technologies with the lowest scores will be researched first. If a councilor proposes a technology that would not be available that quarter, then the prerequisites will go on the ballot. After voting, councilors would sign the ballot. An example with 4 councilors follows.
Our patience has paid off, councilors. Not one week after the last session, the Kushana found a system on the edge of Thalan space with two high quality planets. A third planet of moderate quality was also discovered in the area, along with a valuable galactic resource. With two colony ships already en route, a command decision was made to produce a constructor to lay claim to the resource before the rapidly encroaching Thalans could seize the opportunity. You'll see on the display that we've made excellent progress. Royal Captain Helena Solon of the Kushana deserves credit for these discoveries, along with a list of beneficial anomalies investigated. (+1000bc, +1% defense, +25% to current tech, +1% influence)
I must commend the commander for prudent balancing of our economy to meet our needs. With the Navigation Center complete, I again recommend the establishment of an Economic Capital on Exterra to help offset the expenses of our new colonies. Now that we have mastered Xeno Economics, I also suggest the establishment of Trade Centers to bolster the economy on our new worlds. The windfall from Captain Solon's discovery should allow us at least a two to four month grace period at our projected deficit spending.
Here I agree with the Viceroy. With the Navigation Center up and running, we can focus on economic development to support future industry. Fortuna would be an excellent candidate for Councilor TMS2224's proposed shipyard, but we must establish the economic might to support it. To that end, I again recommend research into Xeno Biology and Xeno Medicine to promote population growth.
Greetings councilors, I am Elerya Sune, Minister of Foreign Intelligence. We have precious little data to work with, but we have been able to learn a few things about the races we've encountered so far. Importantly, we've been able to use what we've learned about their technology to help us get a count of their colonies.
