It has been almost a month since our last status update, and I wish I had more to report. I have been personally fighting a cold for most of the last month, which has cut into my development time. We are still waiting on the cover art to be completed, too, which is running similarly behind schedule. It is almost like the universe doesn’t want this book to be finished, or else this is just a very busy time of year for everyone (which is far more likely).

Here is a general overview of what has changed or been updated in the rules since our last status report:

• Technology: With the decision to change the technology rules, I have been working to find a good combination of about 60 micro technologies to add into the game, about 10 for each of the 6 macro technology fields (Structural, Propulsion, Electronics, Weapons, Basing, and Support). This has mostly meant moving some technologies that had been previously bumped to the Engineering Manual back to the core book. Having 60 individual technologies in the books should provide players with enough variety to keep things interesting and allow each empire to have a slightly different mix of available technologies.

  I will say that I have been strongly tempted to simplify the technology rules in the core book and return them to a form similar to the Tech Year system in the 1E VBAM Campaign Guide, but in the end I think the campaign rules will benefit from a more comprehensive approach to technology. Simplified tech rules can always be provided in future supplements, but I have a feeling that most players will want to be able to research specific technologies and not be locked into a handful of required technologies.

• System Generation: This is a chapter that I have been spending quite a bit of time working on over the last month. I think I am looking at a rewrite of the opening section of the chapter and have to finish integrated examples for the end of the chapter, but otherwise this chapter is getting nearer to completion. That is a dangerous thing to say, though, because each time I think I have it about finished I notice something that could be fixed, added, or removed.

  The biggest change to system generation during the month has been the formal establishment of system generation options. These options are outlined in Chapter 2: Campaign Setup, and each of the predefined system generation sets lists which system generation options they use. This structural realignment makes it easier for players and CMs to choose which options they want to use during system and planet generation.

  As part of this change I have added a fifth predefined campaign type, the Lieutenant Campaign, to the rules. Lieutenant Campaigns are the closest analog to the VBAM 1E rules, as they contain only Single-Planet Star Systems and no other system options at all.

  To allay fears of complexity and confusion, it is still the plan to offer special system and planet generation charts for each of the predefined campaign types either as part of the main book or as a web download. That way you can work through the provided list of rules and not be confused by which rules you should use and which you should ignore for your selected system generation option.

• Planet Generation: I decided last weekend to put the rules for ancient ruins, alien derelicts, and splinter colonies back into the Campaign Guide despite the extra space that they require in the book. These rules are very useful for adding flavor to a campaign, and in their simpler form only require a page each at most to fully convey their special rules. More advanced rules for handling these special encounters, similar to those found in the optional alien derelict rules in the 1E Companion, will appear in a future book to provide a more involved experience.

  Beyond finishing the reintegration of the special encounter rules, the planet generation rules are finished.

• Campaign Resources: After thumbing back and forth through the book I’ve decided that it makes the most sense to move the introduction and explanation of each of the campaign resources (economic points, production points, intel points, etc.) to Chapter 3: Campaign Play so that they can be discussed together all in one place. This makes it easier for find these rules and, from a new player’s perspective, introduces the concepts early in the book so that the reader will have any clue what we are talking about.
• Force Organization: The rules for space and ground unit organization are being moved to Chapter 3: Campaign Play for similar reasons. After some review of the CSCR2 Alpha, the decision has been made to revert to having task forces exist between scenarios with a player’s squadrons then being assigned to task forces. Ground combat units will follow a similar scheme, but with corps replacing squadrons and armies replacing task forces. Strikegroups will be removed from the game in preference to a new launch/land mechanism that utilizes Launch equipment to place or remove Flights from a squadron.

I can’t promise any specific dates for completion or release, but I will strive to be a bit more active on these blog updates to keep people up to date on what is going on. As I get chapters more or less finished, I will be posting PDF versions here to the blog for review and comment. You can probably expect to see the first of these sometime this weekend, likely late Sunday evening.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 7th, 2010 at 4:32 pm and is filed under News & Events. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.