Re: Making a Minor Power, was Re: First Order of Business

At 07:37 PM 2/9/99 -0500, you wrote:
>This from the GZGPedia List:
>
>The Brain said:
>>> One problem with homebrew nations is the 'ubernation' trap: Someone
>>> invents a nation and says, "We have supertech that nobody else does
yet,
>>> not even the big powers"
>>
>>Agree. HiTech in small doses, quite OK, but anything other than
>>Homeopathic doses would be poisonous. Case in point: OU Grav Bikes.
The
>>OU technological superiority (if it exists at all) in grav unit
>>miniaturisation isn't exactly world-shaking. It provides colour and
>>flavour, that's all. (snippage)
>>The OU stuff I generated had some of this in mind. Given that the OU
>>claims vast numbers of worthless or nearly worthless (and a few real
>>valuable...) Class M worlds, it has to have a patrol fleet big enough
to
>>police them, and a Navy big enough to stop anyone other than the big 4
>>from taking them without unacceptable losses.
>
>>This means a comparitively small ground force. So that has to be Hi
Tech
>>indeed, with many force multipliers. Which fits in with then Light
Horse
>>Models...
>>
>>Still not enough though. So add a large number of economic or
political
>>treaties, so it's in the interests of every one of the big 4 to not
>>allow anyone else to extinguish them. Or even snatch a system (at
least,
>>not very often, and not unless it's extremely valuable, and 2 or more
of
>>them can share the cake..).
>>
>>To offset the treaties, make sure there are enough hotheads within and
>>without the OU to have a grudge against one or more of the major
powers,
>>preferrably over something really minor. Otherwise evrything is too
>>"sweetness and Light" and the OUDF never gets an innings.
>>
>>Finally, to stop any delusions of grandeur, make the off-world
>>population a reasonable size, about 10% of the Earth total, but the
>>Earth total is relatively small, comparable to the USA + Canada today.
>>After all, apart from Oz and Kiwiland, we're talking about atolls,
>>islands, and sub-oceanic settlements (probably at least 40% of the
>>population). The latter provide ready-made colonists for inhospitable
>>worlds too, so have only a few permament settlements that are large,
and
>>many small mining or scientific camps. Which gives us the multiple
>>M-types again...
>
>
>   Similarly the Alarishi Empire.  [SNIP]

The ONLY human power that has the endorsement of the Illuminati, I might
add.  The Illuminati themselves don't have delusions of grandeur--they
KNOW
that they are superior to the rest of the universe.  Technologically,
they
have a small edge on the rest of humanity...but not in any areas that
are
going to have an effect on the gaming table.  Scenarios are another
thing
entirely, of course.  The one innovation that I want to include is a
self-destruct mechanism: Any Illuminati tank that is Disabled in combat
(mobility or firing systems lost) is treated as though it had just been
hit
with a "boom" counter.	And no, the crew don't know about this.  The
Illuminati wants its secrets to remain secrets....

John X Crimmins
johncrim@voicenet.com
  "...is one of the secret masters of the world: a librarian.
They control information.  Don't ever piss one off."
  --Spider Robinson, The Callahan Touch.