Villains of the Aturi Cluster.

It has a symmetry with 'Heroes of the Aturi Cluster'. It's very clear how it ties in with the original work. And besides, it's fun to be the villains.

Villains of the Aturi Cluster.

It has a symmetry with 'Heroes of the Aturi Cluster'. It's very clear how it ties in with the original work. And besides, it's fun to be the villains.

True.

Sold.

May I also point you to my Gozanti campaign? Maybe you'll find some ideas there. Feedback's always welcome.

boardgamegeek.com/filepage/132284

Anything with "Enforcers" in the title might do it :-)

Hey guys,

Hopefully i've got some of my own constructive thoughts. Been lurking this thread for a bit after being inspired to make my own imperial campaign. I love the ideas you have presented already and thought id share some of my own.

One thing i want to weigh in on... Liberators of the Aturi Cluster. (Trust the imperials to justify killing the rebels by calling it liberation)

As far as I'm concerned im considering moving away from the Aturi cluster. Dunno just feels right to move to another small piece of the galaxy. Aturi cluster was an rebel victory, imps can claim victory somewhere else. I again agree that an imperial campaign should feel different to a rebel one. An imperial campaign (i believe) should have a lot more focus on resource management. While the rebels was about going against the odds, being the underdog. The imperials is about keeping control.

As far as story goes I'm considering setting it following the battle of endor as imperial recourses were diminishing. You are a recent graduate from flight school and assigned to an old star destroyer in a relatively quiet star cluster. Following the battle of endor things have been quiet as the highest ranking officers try to keep the empire from falling apart. You wonder why you have been sent to such a backwater piece of the outer rim but you follow orders. You find the star destroyer is also another flight academy and you have been asked to help train the other cadets on board. While on this ship you are attacked by a local criminal syndicate and after being overwhelmed the star destroyer is taken out but you and a bunch of pilots manage to escape on an imperial raider.

Its you trying to maintain control of a system of both rebels and scum. You play as a young and talented pilot who must train and raise a group of young pilots. Every successful missions gives you credits you can spend on buying new ships, buying upgrades or even better training for your students. Every mission you fly, you (and your fellow players) get to build a support squadron made of these inexperienced pilots to support your missions. At first they will be lowly ps1 tie pilots but the more you care and train them the higher level and better ships they can use.

Basically its like xcom 2. You travel in a mobile base and must manage recourses between buying new upgrades or ships or training support pilots. You will face strong opposition so you need to be smart. Train your support pilots. Level up your own pilot and even buy support ships (lambda, deci or gozanti) to assist on your most difficult missions).

Sorry for the essay but hopefully this gives you some ideas or thoughts of your own. Feel free to offer any suggestions or criticism. I plan to improve it from here but you gotta start somewhere.

Please keep up the good work. This thread inspired me to work towards my own campaign and i love what you guys have suggested so far!!

Thanks

Anything with "Enforcers" in the title might do it :-)

Save that for the Scum campaign.

"Regiments of the Aturi Cluster"

It should be "Squadrons" or "Fleet" since regiments is a land based military organizational term.

You're right.

But a modern regiment can have a airborne contingent and it's a occupational force. It works for the Empire IMHO.

And I was using the reference of a Sci-fi book called "The Regiments of the Night", from Brian N Ball.

good book. But as for the airborne idea working for the Empire and calling it regiments doesnt work...they have Squadron on mulitple cards in this game. Not to mention Armada and the movies refrence the Empire as fleet or armada or squadron (Death Squadron for the SDs even) constantly. Now if the campaign was an AT-AT or Stormtrooper one then regiments or Legions would be fitting, but wth the navy its "squadrons " or "fleet". also multiple old EU soruces from novels to comics to 3 editions of rpgs all refer to TIES as always being in Squadrons of 12, and Wings of 72. So again Squadrons would be more fitting...we could further break it down to "flight" (4 fighers) but I dont see that as a cool name for the campaign, plus if players are using more than 1 tie each, then it would be Squadron sized at least at 6 players (more if they get more than 2 fighters each).

But you have to give it a fitting name for the Empire, and although Villains of the Aturi Cluster is very suitable for the theme, it doesn't completely suit the Empire as a whole entity (IMHO).

Masters of the Aturi Cluster

Rulers of the Aturi Cluster

The Fist of the Aturi Cluster

Lords of the Aturi Cluster

The Order of the Aturi Cluster

I think Enforcers of the Aturi Cluster was also suggested earlier.

What about Guardians of the Aturi Cluster?

I think Enforcers of the Aturi Cluster was also suggested earlier.

What about Guardians of the Aturi Cluster?

Guardians has a positive meaning into it. The Empire is not a nice guardian, is it?

I think Enforcers of the Aturi Cluster was also suggested earlier.

What about Guardians of the Aturi Cluster?

Guardians has a positive meaning into it. The Empire is not a nice guardian, is it?

Depends who you ask, from their point of view heck yes they are guardians. Rebels are criminals and the Empire polices the galaxy for all races (but mainly humans). Might be a ****** but sounds like a guardian to me

I think Enforcers of the Aturi Cluster was also suggested earlier.

What about Guardians of the Aturi Cluster?

Guardians has a positive meaning into it. The Empire is not a nice guardian, is it?

Depends who you ask, from their point of view heck yes they are guardians. Rebels are criminals and the Empire polices the galaxy for all races (but mainly humans). Might be a ****** but sounds like a guardian to me

Yes, but though the Empire sees it that way, it prefers to enforce the use of a heavy fist instead of a soft glove to control the galaxy. Is it not?

I think "Defenders of th Aturi Cluster" or "The Imperials of the Aturi Cluster" are the best suggested.

Also while on the topic, the Cluster s located in the Sarin Sector. And Tomax Bren was one of the Empire's heroes in the cluster so there should be several missions having to do with escorting or supporting his bomber squadron.

And by the way, the Wookiepedia site has a little map and some info onf the area: http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Sarin_sector and http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Hook_Nebula

How about "Defenders of the Aturi Cluster"?

I don't know I kind of like this one.

Heros and Defenders.

Both fit, 'from a certain point of view'.

I'm not sure if this has been mentioned already as an idea for the Imperial side, there's a chunk of this post in the middle I haven't read yet. so I apologies if this has already been covered.

the players could manage a large pool of pilots, like 15 or 20. Before each scenario, a number of missions are put down and all of them need pilots allocated to them, but only a couple (or maybe just one) will have rebels show up. One is randomly (or not so randomly) selected as the rebel's target and played with the pilots assigned.

This has the flavor I might expect.. but it has some problems with a group of players who each want to build up a pilot, it's not the same in that way as the "Heroes" version.

I think it would also be neat if the rebel ships stats were tracked.. and you would see the same ships over and over until they were destroyed. As the imps, you would have a few of your pilots become aces, but you would be spreading them out over the different missions you had to do along with lots or rookies.. but the rebel ships could be getting grizzled as you faced the same ones over and over..(until you killed them)

A lot more book keeping.. less pick up and play as the Heroes version.

I'm not sure if this has been mentioned already as an idea for the Imperial side, there's a chunk of this post in the middle I haven't read yet. so I apologies if this has already been covered.

the players could manage a large pool of pilots, like 15 or 20. Before each scenario, a number of missions are put down and all of them need pilots allocated to them, but only a couple (or maybe just one) will have rebels show up. One is randomly (or not so randomly) selected as the rebel's target and played with the pilots assigned.

This has the flavor I might expect.. but it has some problems with a group of players who each want to build up a pilot, it's not the same in that way as the "Heroes" version.

I think it would also be neat if the rebel ships stats were tracked.. and you would see the same ships over and over until they were destroyed. As the imps, you would have a few of your pilots become aces, but you would be spreading them out over the different missions you had to do along with lots or rookies.. but the rebel ships could be getting grizzled as you faced the same ones over and over..(until you killed them)

A lot more book keeping.. less pick up and play as the Heroes version.

This sounds really cool. But what I have found about tabletop or PnP game design is that you do not have an unrestricted amount of processing power as if you were computer game designing and mechanics cannot be executed instantly. Someone has to to do the record keeping, it would take significantly more time to set up missions and get the deployment correct, that time isnt fun for the players. The depth it adds is really cool in concept but the actual fun that gets added to the campaign by including that mechanic will not outweigh the effort and downtime it will create. If you made an app that does the heavy lifting though, you have something.

I imagined it being less complicated than maybe I implied. From your deck of missions ( like the "heroes" versoin) you put down 4 or 5 of them. Then you put your 15 or 20 pilot cards you have onto those missions (say 4 to each mission are put down).. you do whatever mechanic is done to determine where the rebels go (roll a die?). The chosen mission gets setup, the rest of the missions and their pilots aren't used this time. The book keeping I was referring to was for tracking the progress of the rebels. Which could also be streamlined a lot I think. True an app would be great. But it would be great for the "Heroes" version as well. I think the actual duty of the book keeping I'm thinking of could be kept reasonable.

Heroes of the Atauri Cluster.

Defenders of the Atauri Cluster.

Scoundrels of the Atauri Cluster.

Everyone likes to think of themselves as the 'good guy', after all.

I like the idea with assigning ships to missions. I'd also argue that you can keep it easier: have enough ships around for two missions, which take place simultaneously, but are flown after one another.

Yeah, simple is good. So here's a more complex idea!

The units you assigned to the other missions become your new waves in the mission that is chosen. Each of the other missions are assigned a distance to the current mission. Those wings can be called in at the cost of mission XP and they will arrive in a number of turns after they are called. Basically.. put chips in a hat that are 1,2,3.. one for each extra mission. Draw one for each of the unused missions. So one wave will be 1 turn a way, another will be 2 turns away.. etc.

You've got your flight of 4 ties up against 3 X-wings and a Y-wing. You figure more stuff will be coming as well, so it's going to be pretty tough. You call in the Ties from the mission 1 turn away, they will get there next turn, but now everyone will be at -1 XP. Half way through the game, you've had some bad luck. Lost 4 ties and only took down one X-wing.. Time to call in the wing from mission number 2. 2 turns away. Now everyone is at -2 xp.

That's the idea anyway.. the exact numbers aren't solid.

I kinda like the idea of a backup or extra wave but i agree it may just be too difficult to manage. Even if it is just deisgning a support squadron that you can deploy at will during the mission.

I think its a matter of deciding what angle you want to approach it from.

- a heroic perspective (similar to hotac) where you role play as a pilot and focus on your individual pilot. Less about squads and support but rather focus on your roll. Maybe you are placed into a hand picked squad to preform missions for imperial intellegance or later in the story get given hand picked mission by a moff?

- a squad or recourse perspective where you are handling lots of ships maybe assigning them missions or creating squads to take into battle and managing leveling up those pilots till they are elite pilots of their own right (you basically nurture certain pliots to become a unique ace). Story wise you could be placed in charge of a sector or stranded in unfriendly territory.

While it is possible to have both, you will need to have both very basic or risk it being too complex. So do you focus on 1 of the aspects or attempt to seemlessly blend both. Id love to have both blended together but i worry about losing the experience of either aspect

I think if the Imperial players go to predesignate a turn that the back up wave would have to come in on then it wouldnt be too difficult.

Also its just like if the players had extra shipshell in a real game an Imperial player has between 3 and 8 ships, so each player running 2- should not be hard!!!!

As I see it, there are distinct advantages to both approaches:

1) If we do "Defenders", then you have pilots that level up, aided by nameless (but also levelling) wingmen. This focuses on indivual units for players, which preserves the HotAC feeling.

2) If we do "Squadrons", then you have a more strategic element to it and the tactics are more important, but you lose the HotAC feeling.

None of those two is better than the other, but I feel we should reach a consensus about the direction at some point and start working specifics. I have a preference for option 1), and I'd argue to combine it with a mobile base that can also be upgraded (Gozanti). Totally selflessly, of course.

I agree, i think the magic of HotAC should be kept alive and to do that the focus on individual pilots is essential.

but i also like the strategic element which is where i believe the empires campaign begins to set itself apart from the rebels. i feel like i want to be asking questions like how much do i commit to this attack? maybe rebel/scum unit quantity is random and you need to spend resources (xp or currency) to gather intelligence on what you will be facing. apart from that i also feel that while the rebels will spend xp to change ships, the empire will buy new ships that can be used by all. for example maybe i spend the resourses to buy 2 TIE defenders but i want to fly a phantom for this mission. maybe i can let my wing men fly those 2 defenders (probably a bit over kill but you get the idea) and then i can customise them further down the line by giving them a particular title and swapping between them based on mission. if you lose the ship then you need to downgrade until you can afford to buy another.

hope that makes sense. i personally thought it would be cool if your home base was an imperial raider and you use the gozanti as a support ship maybe to drop reinforcements or provide a heavy option (should be customisable). i dunno for me personally i just get the feeling that the imperial campaign needs to have that feeling of financial control, managing your recources to face all that oppose you.

hey either way i say we should allow you to bring in supports or build squadrons to accompany you in battle BUT let the AI control them as they are their own pilots, they live and die on their own choices . lets you be a single pilot but still have other ships to manage (to a point). maybe you can take an action to give them a direct order (attack this, retreat ect.)