J. L. Brown
Emperor Mongoose
I'm not happy with 'System Attitude' and 'Standing' and 'Pirate Response Index' and 'Reputation' and 'Infamy' and 'Faction / Asset value' and all the rest all being separate things -- I feel like there ought to be a single tool to track attitudes towards 'Drinaxi Unification / Establishing the New Kingdom' and other people, groups, and agendas. Instead there is a hodge-podge, and if a referee wants to keep another half-dozen balls in the air then they can add as many of these different, contradictory systems as they want.
I like the granularity of 'Standing', but the way it is actually described (especially the implied instantaneous omniscience of the Imperial Powers) seems poorly executed.
My inclination is to start with 'spider' plots, or something similar. Each individual, or group, or system, or Aslan Clan, or great imperial power has a spider plot reflecting how it feels about certain issues or entities -- or maybe two, one for 'attitude towards others' and another for 'attitude of others toward'. The players are trying to undercut other powers while increasing the opinion/influence of The New Kingdom. It would be a nice bonus if the new system also incorporated or aligned with the three-digit 'political stance of potential members systems' from 'Finale'.
[Edit:] Maybe each system or entity has a unique basic spider plot of 'things that matter to me' -- security, trade, technological progress, population or economic growth, 'respects our traditions', etc. Every other entity that it is aware of / cares about fills out a copy of this spider plot -- or charts their own data on the same spider plot as others but in a unique color. As a general rule, the area of the filled in portion of the spider plot is a 'strength of positive sentiment towards' -- so NaHu systems have a plot where the Imperium has a smaller area filled in, whereas a CsIm system has the Imperium filling in a somewhat larger (representing a stronger positive feeling or relationship) area.
Part of diplomacy is figuring out what each system has as axes on their unique spider plot; and potentially shaping the regime to add to, delete, or redefine those axes.
[Edit of the Edit:] Perhaps the axes should not be expressed as an absolute value, but as 'percentage of agreement on topic X'. Two different regimes which strongly value 'destroy all post-1600 AD technology and live in harmony with nature' might have a negative attitude about technology, but since they both have a high degree of agreement, their 'technology' axis towards each other is quite positive. [/Edit of the Edit]
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I like the granularity of 'Standing', but the way it is actually described (especially the implied instantaneous omniscience of the Imperial Powers) seems poorly executed.
My inclination is to start with 'spider' plots, or something similar. Each individual, or group, or system, or Aslan Clan, or great imperial power has a spider plot reflecting how it feels about certain issues or entities -- or maybe two, one for 'attitude towards others' and another for 'attitude of others toward'. The players are trying to undercut other powers while increasing the opinion/influence of The New Kingdom. It would be a nice bonus if the new system also incorporated or aligned with the three-digit 'political stance of potential members systems' from 'Finale'.
[Edit:] Maybe each system or entity has a unique basic spider plot of 'things that matter to me' -- security, trade, technological progress, population or economic growth, 'respects our traditions', etc. Every other entity that it is aware of / cares about fills out a copy of this spider plot -- or charts their own data on the same spider plot as others but in a unique color. As a general rule, the area of the filled in portion of the spider plot is a 'strength of positive sentiment towards' -- so NaHu systems have a plot where the Imperium has a smaller area filled in, whereas a CsIm system has the Imperium filling in a somewhat larger (representing a stronger positive feeling or relationship) area.
Part of diplomacy is figuring out what each system has as axes on their unique spider plot; and potentially shaping the regime to add to, delete, or redefine those axes.
[Edit of the Edit:] Perhaps the axes should not be expressed as an absolute value, but as 'percentage of agreement on topic X'. Two different regimes which strongly value 'destroy all post-1600 AD technology and live in harmony with nature' might have a negative attitude about technology, but since they both have a high degree of agreement, their 'technology' axis towards each other is quite positive. [/Edit of the Edit]
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