1960 Playtest

[MrPotatoTed]

There is a chance that we might start an additional playtest that begins with the 1960 elections. This will be in addition to our current playtest, which will continue.

@Vols21 (who is doing a lot of the heavy legwork in setting up the playtest) and I will both be players, @Calwill run the test. We'll still have two CPU players, so that would leave six seats open.

If you're interested in joining the playtest, please let us (especially @Cal) know -- Cal will make the final decision on who joins. Be aware that being a playtester is a HEAVY lift. I'll defer to Cal on what his rules are. I can tell with my own playtest, I expect people to be making their moves at LEAST once a day, and those who don't are replaced by those who will.
The software is still actively being coded and is not beta-ready yet, so just like the current playthrough, this playthrough would be run on the Politics Lounge Forum, utilizing the Google Sheets files and the rules which are literally about 100 pages long. (We do not expect anyone to memorize the rules -- but we do expect playtesters to read the portion of the rules relevant to whatever phase the game is currently in (military, elections, etc).

If you're interested in joining, please let @Cal know.

NOTE: I'd like for our current playtesters to NOT join the new playtest. Partially so your attention isn't split between the two games, but also so we can get some additional perspectives. Thank you!

[vcczar]

Just now, MrPotatoTed said:

NOTE: I'd like for our current playtesters to NOT join the new playtest. Partially so your attention isn't split between the two games, but also so we can get some additional perspectives. Thank you

Good idea.

[ConservativeElector2]

I'd be willing to help.

[MrPotatoTed]

2 minutes ago, ConservativeElector2 said:

I'd be willing to help.

Thanks!  But hoping to fill the slots with people not in the current play test.

[Vicx]

I have been waiting to get into a playtest for a while. I would like to join.

[Mark_W]

I wouldn't mind giving it another go if the bulk of the spreadsheet stuff is automated now and it's largely a case of reading the rules/selecting politicians/laws etc. how time intensive is playtesting now? (but totally understand if my dropping out previously rules me out).

[Flipped]

I’ve always been waiting for an opportunity to get into a playtest, I’m interested.

[ConservativeElector2]

58 minutes ago, MrPotatoTed said:

Thanks!  But hoping to fill the slots with people not in the current play test.

Yeah sure! However, I don't know how many people are waiting, so just leaving here my message of further interest 😉 

[OrangeP47]

This is John P from Twitter.  I can help if you need me, but put me at the end of the sign up list, cause I don't feel right butting in (I made an account on here a few weeks ago if I ever had something relevant to say, though).  I don't think you'll have trouble finding the necessary playtesters though, but if you need that last slot filled, hit me up.

[MrPotatoTed]

3 minutes ago, ConservativeElector2 said:

Yeah sure! However, I don't know how many people are waiting, so just leaving here my message of further interest 😉 

Great!  If you ever get a hankering to run a 2024 play test, let me know.  That’s my next play test goal, but want to get 1960 off the ground first.

[Rodja]

1 hour ago, MrPotatoTed said:

There is a chance that we might start an additional playtest that begins with the 1960 elections. This will be in addition to our current playtest, which will continue.

@Vols21 (who is doing a lot of the heavy legwork in setting up the playtest) and I will both be players, @Calwill run the test. We'll still have two CPU players, so that would leave six seats open.

If you're interested in joining the playtest, please let us (especially @Cal) know -- Cal will make the final decision on who joins. Be aware that being a playtester is a HEAVY lift. I'll defer to Cal on what his rules are. I can tell with my own playtest, I expect people to be making their moves at LEAST once a day, and those who don't are replaced by those who will.
The software is still actively being coded and is not beta-ready yet, so just like the current playthrough, this playthrough would be run on the Politics Lounge Forum, utilizing the Google Sheets files and the rules which are literally about 100 pages long. (We do not expect anyone to memorize the rules -- but we do expect playtesters to read the portion of the rules relevant to whatever phase the game is currently in (military, elections, etc).

If you're interested in joining, please let @Cal know.

NOTE: I'd like for our current playtesters to NOT join the new playtest. Partially so your attention isn't split between the two games, but also so we can get some additional perspectives. Thank you!

 

If we can double playtest,count me in!

[bradleyg223]

Sent a pm on Discord, but figured I’d double up on here. Really excited to see this game taken to the 1960s!

[MrPotatoTed]

My play test goal:

 

1) 1772 start (ongoing for almost a year now)

2) 1960 start (hopefully starting within a month or so)

3) 2022/2024 start

4) lead up to civil war start (if we haven’t gotten there by then in the 1772 game)

Those are very long term plans, and ideally the game might be ready for actual beta testing so I can test it out within the software.  But that’s at least a roadmap of where I Hope to go with it to test out various functions.

[vcczar]

Just FYI, if any of you are new to this forum, I'll have to "interview" you for the playtesting. This is just because I need to make sure all the files and such are in safe hands. Purely precautionary. For instance, if I find you on the Kickstarter Donor list, you're almost certainly good to go. This is because I doubt a donor would have bad intentions with the files. 

[OrangeP47]

1 minute ago, vcczar said:

Just FYI, if any of you are new to this forum, I'll have to "interview" you for the playtesting. This is just because I need to make sure all the files and such are in safe hands. Purely precautionary. For instance, if I find you on the Kickstarter Donor list, you're almost certainly good to go. This is because I doubt a donor would have bad intentions with the files. 

Ah, yeah, on that list. BTW when you sent out the emails the other day there was a typo in which you attributed a higher reward tier to me than I had actually donated, but I didn't mention it because the actual rewards you mentioned aligned with what I had donated with my actual contribution so I figure you just copy-pasted wrong and it's not a clerical error somewhere.

[Vicx]

4 minutes ago, vcczar said:

Just FYI, if any of you are new to this forum, I'll have to "interview" you for the playtesting. This is just because I need to make sure all the files and such are in safe hands. Purely precautionary. For instance, if I find you on the Kickstarter Donor list, you're almost certainly good to go. This is because I doubt a donor would have bad intentions with the files. 

Okay that's cool

[vcczar]

1 minute ago, MrPotatoTed said:

My play test goal:

 

1) 1772 start (ongoing for almost a year now)

2) 1960 start (hopefully starting within a month or so)

3) 2022/2024 start

4) lead up to civil war start (if we haven’t gotten there by then in the 1772 game)

Those are very long term plans, and ideally the game might be ready for actual beta testing so I can test it out within the software.  But that’s at least a roadmap of where I Hope to go with it to test out various functions.

Awesome but finishing the rules with me is the priority since I think Anthony will need those soon. I know once he creates something in the architecture it's difficult for him to modify it (or so he told me). He's going to need the rules relatively soon. We may get to point where he says, "Okay, I need to input the elections now." At this point, I'll probably have to say, give me 24 to 48 hours to finalize the rules. Much of this is probably just me getting anxious that we are behind. It's totally possible he won't need the rules for a month. I have no real clue about the order that he's doing things. I do know that the times I've had to write up 8 page documents and send them to him have been with me only having about 24-48 hours notice before he needed them. As such, I expect we will run into instance in which he may call for rules at the end of a day and expect them when he starts the next day. I doubt he'll need all the rules at once. 

[vcczar]

5 minutes ago, OrangeP47 said:

Ah, yeah, on that list. BTW when you sent out the emails the other day there was a typo in which you attributed a higher reward tier to me than I had actually donated, but I didn't mention it because the actual rewards you mentioned aligned with what I had donated with my actual contribution so I figure you just copy-pasted wrong and it's not a clerical error somewhere.

Yeah, I used a version of that email for every donor class. Everything was correct on that email for you, except I forgot to change the name of the reward tier.

[A man from Colorado]

Ah yes, the 1960s, the era of civil rights movement, the new deal coalition was still around, and the Vietnam war. While I will likely focus on the other playtest, I will keep an eye on this one.

Edited March 12, 2022 by A man from Colorado

[ConservativeElector2]

39 minutes ago, MrPotatoTed said:

Great!  If you ever get a hankering to run a 2024 play test, let me know.  That’s my next play test goal, but want to get 1960 off the ground first.

I would love to, but I do not think I would a good GM haha especially due to being extremely busy most of the time.

[pman]

I've been quietly following this for about a month since I pre-purchased the game. I am definitely interested in the playtest, especially if the spreadsheet is automated. PM any questions you have for me!

[MrPotatoTed]

A solid amount of the excel sheet is automated (I’m self taught, but surprised myself with how much I could do).  The rest would mostly be on Cal to do.  
 

Player responsibilities are mostly reading the rules, reviewing their options on the excel sheet; and saying what they’ll do.  Some phases are harder than others.  In my opinion, figuring out which laws to propose and which to vote for/against is maybe the most time intensive — but that’s only maybe once a week depending on pace, and maybe only takes an hour.  Less time if you don’t actually care and just propose what sounds good, maybe a little more time if you’re actually strategizing to try to win. 

[pman]

I think I can handle that. I spend a good amount of time reading everything daily on this form anyway. I just assumed that I'd lurk until the beta version comes out but I'd be happy to help with the playtest. 

[Cal]

Hi everyone! This is Cal, your potential new GM. I'm stoked to see the enthusiasm for the game -- believe it or not, we had a lot of trouble filling seats for the original playthrough! For context on me, I've been playing and helping with AMPU since it began back in (I think) 2018. I have loved every minute of it, Professor V has really done some great work. The game has changed so much and will continue to do so as time goes on. I'm also a player in @MrPotatoTed's current playthrough where I made Benedict Arnold our first President of the United States! 

Now, for what I expect out of you 😉 

AMPU is a time commitment, even in the very automated spreadsheet version of it. Here are some things that I will be expecting you to be able to do: 

1. Respond in a 24 hour turn cycle. If you cannot, just let me know and that's alright. You will have to designate someone to make moves for you at the beginning of the game if you go inactive for more than 24 hours. If you go inactive for more than 48 hours, I will let it slide the first time. However, given the interest in the game and need for speedy playtesting, if you go inactive for more than 48 hours you may be replaced in the playtest. 

2. Input data into the spreadsheet. This includes...
Updating the office of your statesmen on the History Tab, on your Faction Tab, House of Representatives Tab, House Leadership Tab, Senate Tab, Senate Leadership Tab, Executive Tab, etc. In general if you make a move I do not want to have to do it for you on the sheet. Just saying it on the forum will not be enough, unfortunately. With there being 50 House elections, presidential elections, senate elections, etc there is TONS more rolling to do than in our current playthrough and I will not be able to update your changes for you. It might take two-three minutes for you, but for 10 players overall that's 20-30 for me 😛 

3. Strategize in the war room. Doing well in AMPU requires coordination -- the rules strongly encourage working together with your party to overcome certain penalties during certain eras and you'll need to be willing to figure out just HOW you're going to set yourself up for success and your opponents up for failure. It's important to have an open line of communication between your fellow players to discuss where someone may bow out of one primary in exchange for someone else bowing out of another to let two strong statesmen reach the Senate, for example. 

4. Have fun with it. The best memories we've had of AMPU so far have been from the ridiculousness we've created from abusing rules, fixating on certain statesmen, and generally just messing around where possible. It's great to strategize and minmax, but it's also REALLY rewarding to get someone crazy elected President 😜 

I will be sending a list of questions to those who have expressed interest in the potential upcoming playtest. As a general rule, only Kickstarter backers will be allowed to participate in the playtest unless you've been a long-term forum participant. Participating and commenting on the current playtest between now and when we begin goes a long way towards showing genuine interest too. The only guaranteed spots are currently going to @MrPotatoTed and @Vols21 who will have their pick of what party and ideology they'll be playing. Other than that, I'll try to stick you with your preference based on the aforementioned questions. 

Thank you all for the interest and I hope to begin laying the groundwork for this soon. Vols has done much of what it takes to get the spreadsheet ready so my part will be mostly getting the actual faction tabs ready. I'm excited just as much as you guys are for this to begin!  

[Vols21]

I’m working on committee history and chairmen right now (to help populate our future Congressional leaders).    Working as fast as I can to get us off the ground asap