We play on a LAN network a lot and run a campaign but not through the LAN.
As old SFB gamers we run the campaign on a seperate independant computer, which basically keeps the records, does the planetary troop battles results calculations and coordinates, etc.
The system is a lot more complicated than the simple online campaign system. We run a complete war, so blatting an F-FTL away costs the Feds a great deal strategically. Those troops were needed somewhere!!
We have hidden fleet movements, which means that scouts, survey vessels, cruiser scouts and anything else with special sensors have a tactical value.
If a patrol is within a certain distance of an enemy fleet, it will detect it. Scouts, etc. have twice the sensor range or more.
We don't have war production, however, just repair and return to battle times. Tenders, shipyards, etc. are vital commodities.
Also we make use of the old SFB campaign tool, the Mobile Base (BLM) to act as resupply in open space and to cover sensor blind spots.
When the War Management Computer works out that oposing sides have entered the same space, then it says who's ships/fleet/base/object are involved.
We then fight the battle, record the results and enter them into the WMC for updating the record. This is how we can run a campaign with approximately several hundred units per side.
Troops are moved via a batallion system so they can either be on a transport or on a planet. If a transport is lost they are wiped out. If the battalion is on a planet and they loose a ground battle, they are wiped out.
Also when invading a planet calculations are modified according to the attack method, whether orbital bombardment (magnatude, etc.) is available, whether air support is available and level (SCS, CV, CVA, etc.) to determine the outcome.
After the invasion the battalion's effectiveness factor is modified to account for casuties. If it is returned to home base or resupplied by a troop ship then it will return to full strength.
We have a maximum points limit set on each side which allows for several hundred vessels of all kinds. Having a lot of big DNs means that a side will be stretched thinly with lots of holes in their lines. If they have a lot of FFs and DDs then sneaking through without running into a lot of trouble will be hard for an opponent.
The points cost of equipment is taken from SFC 1 for the ships and SFB for the troops, etc.
So with a budget of 2,000,000 points a side has to make a lot of chices based on how they want to fight a war.
In our current campaign (Klingons versus Lyrans) the Lyran side went for a lot of Puma and Cougar fleet tugs with various useful pods (we think based on numbers encountered!!) We've also been caught napping by sneak commando attacks on systems by the odd Survey Cruiser carrying a Troop Lander Pod. L-CSs can use their special sensors to spot where our patrols leave gaps and exploit them. This is a real pain for us as we didn't budget for the sneaky felines doing this and our troop garrisons are being worn down.
We're still not to sure if the Lyran's tactic is to (A) weaken garrisons ready for proper invasion or (B) make us pull ships off the front to intercept these raids.
However, we Klingons are doing better!! At the moment we have a Distant Action Battlegroup so far into their lines, and still undetected (only Kahless Know's how??!!) heading for a juicy strategic target. The Puddy Cats are going to be so surprised when we declare the invasion!!
We don't fight only K-CA versus L-CA, etc. battles, we can have L-FF versus K-FTS or L-DD, L-CL, L-DN versus K-AuxCV, etc. We can end up with unbalanced and realistic battle situations.
Occasionally well planned (hopefully) major fleet punch ups occur and everybody plays in these. No one "owns" a ship in the campaign, they operate it for the duration of the battle. We alocate who controls what before the scenario starts so, say we have 5 Klingon ships in the scenario, then I might control one or two and the other two players the others between them. We sort it out between us, as do the Lyran players.
It is a complicated system but allows us to run a realistic war where the Klingon and Lyran war machines can be pitted against each other, in thetruw spirit of SFB wargaming.
Topic: Help - I want to run a campaign on a LAN. (Read 1892 times)