Re: [FT] Operational game

>> Standard maintenance & logistics problems:
>
> applies to both sides--however, it might well cost *more* maintenance
> as you get deeper into formerly enemy territory.  Okay, that's a good
> one.

This could be dealt with coarse-grained by assigning "% available" for 
a given fleet/force that is dependent on the distance from the nearest 
secure supply station. Say a cruiser group is 80% available in "home 
territory (so you'd need to assign 5 ships if you regularly want 4 
available), 60% available just across the border of disputed space 
(need 6 or 7 ships assigned to have 4 available), and 50% or below for 
a deep, sustained incursion. % available would increase or decrease as 
the status of the nearest planets changed (another mechanic to figure 
out).

>> civil unrest, morale issues etc.
>
> "Your political leadership requires that the planet Voteria not be
> left undefended"--okay, that's another one.  Similar is the "defending
> convoys" that Edward mentioned.

Random assignment, or something you "pay to maintain or reap the 
consequences"?

> The cost of FTL ships might be a lot higher than that of System
> Defense ships--that would also be a factor.

Can't be too lopsided, or there will be no way to mount an effective 
attack. This balance point would be absolutely critical. Lots of people 
will be looking for the "perfect distribution" and what we would want 
is as large a spectrum as possible of equally viable options.

> Anything else?

FTL mechanics limitations (pick one or more):

- Fixed jump points make for defendable/assaultable bottlenecks.

- Fixed but randomly active jump points will cut off some systems from 
some directions part of the time, requiring forces to maintain some 
larger-than minimum presence on border territories. For example, Border 
system A has 2 Jump Nexi - one heads into Empire 1, the other into the 
outermost system of Empire 2. Jump Nexus passability is a random factor 
in this system (every nexus has a different rule, some are regular as 
pulsars, some entirely random with different average rates), and it is 
not impossible for the Empire1 nexus to be closed for weeks at a time 
while the Empire 2 nexus is open for a few of those days.

- Jump emergence broadcasts an FTL signal that can be quickly locked on 
and intercepted, _and_ Jump  sickness is debilitating on the scale of 
many hours - say 10% of a force is capable of fighting for every 2 
hours - or each ship in a force has a 1% cumulative chance of 
activation every turn after emergence. An intercepting force 2x the 
size of an inbound attacker could still meet with even power since 
they'd have fewer able ships after a given elapsed time, plus the 
entire encounter would take both attacking and defending fleets out of 
other equations for a few days.

In Ephemeral Garbanzo	 (the medium of Noam Raphael Izenberg's latest 
temporary sculpture installation)