Summer 2021 AMPU Playtest

[vcczar]

Here's the official AMPU Playtest thread! 

@MrPotatoTed is the GM and will operate one CPU faction for both parties. 

Players are @jvikings1 @SilentLiberty @Cal @Rezi @WVProgressive @ConservativeElector2 @DakotaHale @themiddlepolitical @Rodja and @Hestia

Remember what you all agreed to do when signing up for this (abiding by the 24 hour rule at a minimum, helping with some light GM duties if called to do so, etc). 

The Active Draft of 1774 has been concluded! These are the politicians that have reached the age of 25 and are completely tuned in to recent events between Great Britain and their American colonies. At this point, leaders among the various colonies are considering forming a Continental Congress to address their many grievances:

• A significant increase in all kinds of taxation (many of it new taxation) since the end of the French & Indian War in the 1760s without any representation to support or oppose this taxation. 
• The quartering of British soldiers without consent of their colonists without any representation to support or oppose this quartering.
• The Boston Massacre in 1770 in reaction to protests in Boston. 
• Just last year, in 1773, the Boston Tea Party inspired protest across the colonies, fueling a growing desire of Independence from Great Britain, especially among the more populist factions. However, business leaders and bankers urge caution. 

The Boston Tea Party at the end of 1773 is likely to see a strong response from King George III and his Parliament. Our colonial leaders will soon gather to make our responses. If Great Britain cannot treat us as equals, perhaps we will form A More Perfect Union! 

Up next: Faction Personalities! 

[MrPotatoTed]

First thing I’m going to try when I become an actual player of the computer game:  Preventing independence and reconciling with England. Haha.  This is what my ancestors did in real life and I’d enjoy trying to delay or stop independence in the game if it’s possible to do so.  Of course, I understand the game won’t be designed for you to remain a colony through 2020. Ha

[vcczar]

Faction Personalities for the 1774-1776 Election Cycle

@WVProgressive (Blue) has the following cards: Progressive, Populist, LW Media

@Hestia(Blue) has the following cards: Conservative, Traditionalists, Big Agriculture, Free Trade

@MrPotatoTed (Blue CPU) has the following cards: Traditionalists, Expansionists

@Rezi (Blue) has the following cards: Free Trade

@themiddlepolitical (Blue) has the following cards: Expansionists

@Rodja (Blue) has the following cards: Reformist

 

@jvikings1 (Red) has the following cards: Liberal, Military-Industrial

@Cal (Red) has the following cards: Moderate, Traditionalists, Big Agriculture

@MrPotatoTed (Red CPU) has the following cards: Moderate

@ConservativeElector2 (Red) has the following cards: Conservative, Law & Order

@SilentLiberty (Red) has the following cards: Conservative, Nationalists

@DakotaHale (Red) has the following cards: Nationalists, Big Corporations, Protectionist

*Note: Cal and Red CPU have more nationalists, but that interest cannot join a moderate faction. RedCPU has the only Pacifist, but as a moderate faction, he cannot get the card. WVProgressive would get both the LW Media and RW Media card, but as she has Progressive and Liberal, she can only hold the LW Media card. 

Very interesting set up! Having cards is a double-edged sword. The more cards you have, the more points you can gain/lose on legislation, actions, events. Having no cards means you don't gain many points outside of elections but you also don't lose many points outside of elections. For instance, if Red crushes Blue until the 1776 draft, every player on the Blue Team could have negative points and @Rezi could have positive points if Red was mostly crushing Blue legislatively, for instance. **UPDATE: Rezi Does have a Card forgot to calculate Free Trade**

It's important to make sure you don't have the lowest scoring faction, even if your party is winning. I'll be frank, it's very hard being the player with the Traditionalist card. People generally want to pass laws and expand the government, rather than repeal laws and decrease the government. A good team player with a Traditionalist teammate is going to give that Traditionalist teammate a lot of points in other ways, such as appointing them to the Supreme Court, to the cabinet, to the chairs of committees, etc, to make up points they might lose legislatively. This also goes for parties with Progressive and Populist teammates, but to a lesser degree. It also depends on how the players play. If a lot of conservative players are playing this game, then the traditionalist faction will fare better than if a lot of liberal players are playing this game as players tend to play with their 21st century mindsets. 

Some of you have drafted women, Native Americans, and black politicians. They still help you earn cards, but they cannot hold any office (elected or appointed) until they achieve suffrage. @SilentLiberty has the most of these. As such, once the US Constitutional Convention occurs, he's going to have to encourage suffrage at that time or later via legislation. Until then, they only help him by having an ideology, expertise, interest in order to help gain cards. 

We will start the next step in the playthrough after @MrPotatoTed finishes his draft of the rules, and then I go over that draft. My part should only take a day or part of a day as I'm likely to approve any recommendation or change in language. The biggest part for me is creating how the CPU will operate in elections. It shouldn't take that long. After that, I can work on the spreadsheets probably while the game is going on. Nevertheless the spreadsheet part should only take one full-day. Assuming @MrPotatoTed can find time in his busy schedule, we could start as soon as the middle of next week. For the time being, get to know your faction, and look at the Rules thread again, even though there might be some very slight changes. 

I look forward to starting this!

 

Edited July 17, 2021 by vcczar
Forgot to calculate Free Trade and Protection

[Rodja]

39 minutes ago, vcczar said:

Faction Personalities for the 1774-1776 Election Cycle

@WVProgressive (Blue) has the following cards: Progressive, Populist, LW Media

@Hestia(Blue) has the following cards: Conservative, Traditionalists, Big Agriculture, Free Trade

@MrPotatoTed (Blue CPU) has the following cards: Traditionalists, Expansionists

@Rezi (Blue) has the following cards: Free Trade

@themiddlepolitical (Blue) has the following cards: Expansionists

@Rodja (Blue) has the following cards: Reformist

 

@jvikings1 (Red) has the following cards: Liberal, Military-Industrial

@Cal (Red) has the following cards: Moderate, Traditionalists, Big Agriculture

@MrPotatoTed (Red CPU) has the following cards: Moderate

@ConservativeElector2 (Red) has the following cards: Conservative, Law & Order

@SilentLiberty (Red) has the following cards: Conservative, Nationalists

@DakotaHale (Red) has the following cards: Nationalists, Big Corporations, Protectionist

*Note: Cal and Red CPU have more nationalists, but that interest cannot join a moderate faction. RedCPU has the only Pacifist, but as a moderate faction, he cannot get the card. WVProgressive would get both the LW Media and RW Media card, but as she has Progressive and Liberal, she can only hold the LW Media card. 

Very interesting set up! Having cards is a double-edged sword. The more cards you have, the more points you can gain/lose on legislation, actions, events. Having no cards means you don't gain many points outside of elections but you also don't lose many points outside of elections. For instance, if Red crushes Blue until the 1776 draft, every player on the Blue Team could have negative points and @Rezi could have positive points if Red was mostly crushing Blue legislatively, for instance. **UPDATE: Rezi Does have a Card forgot to calculate Free Trade**

It's important to make sure you don't have the lowest scoring faction, even if your party is winning. I'll be frank, it's very hard being the player with the Traditionalist card. People generally want to pass laws and expand the government, rather than repeal laws and decrease the government. A good team player with a Traditionalist teammate is going to give that Traditionalist teammate a lot of points in other ways, such as appointing them to the Supreme Court, to the cabinet, to the chairs of committees, etc, to make up points they might lose legislatively. This also goes for parties with Progressive and Populist teammates, but to a lesser degree. It also depends on how the players play. If a lot of conservative players are playing this game, then the traditionalist faction will fare better than if a lot of liberal players are playing this game as players tend to play with their 21st century mindsets. 

Some of you have drafted women, Native Americans, and black politicians. They still help you earn cards, but they cannot hold any office (elected or appointed) until they achieve suffrage. @SilentLiberty has the most of these. As such, once the US Constitutional Convention occurs, he's going to have to encourage suffrage at that time or later via legislation. Until then, they only help him by having an ideology, expertise, interest in order to help gain cards. 

We will start the next step in the playthrough after @MrPotatoTed finishes his draft of the rules, and then I go over that draft. My part should only take a day or part of a day as I'm likely to approve any recommendation or change in language. The biggest part for me is creating how the CPU will operate in elections. It shouldn't take that long. After that, I can work on the spreadsheets probably while the game is going on. Nevertheless the spreadsheet part should only take one full-day. Assuming @MrPotatoTed can find time in his busy schedule, we could start as soon as the middle of next week. For the time being, get to know your faction, and look at the Rules thread again, even though there might be some very slight changes. 

I look forward to starting this!

 

I am so excited to start!

[DakotaHale]

Still surprised how I managed to snag Ben Franklin. 

Also how does future draft order work? Is it like sports where the worst performing players get higher draft picks? I may have missed this. 

[vcczar]

10 minutes ago, DakotaHale said:

Still surprised how I managed to snag Ben Franklin. 

Also how does future draft order work? Is it like sports where the worst performing players get higher draft picks? I may have missed this. 

Yeah, it's in reverse score order. So worst player gets first pick. 

[vcczar]

AMPU Meters for 1774

Note: All Meters are on a 1-9 scale with 1 being the worst and 9 being the best. I'm omitting meters that are not active yet (such as Climate, Quality of Life, other foreign relations, etc.) 

• Revenue-Budget: 4
• Economic Stability: 5
• UK Foreign Relations: 1
• French Foreign Relations: 7
• Spanish Foreign Relations: 5
• Military Preparedness: 2
• Domestic Stability: 4
• Honest Government: 6

The meter is now up to date on the spreadsheet, which was using an older version of the meter. Check the Meter tab in the playtest spreadsheet to see the effects. 

Basically, what you can see is that the Continental Congress needs to increase their Revenue-Budget, will likely see war right away with the UK, have an alliance with France within reach, are not prepared to deal with a war, and have domestic issues at home. Since the UK Foreign Relations is at 1, Military Preparedness at 2 is probably the most frightening part of the meter. 

@MrPotatoTed @jvikings1 @DakotaHale @Hestia @Rezi @Rodja @WVProgressive @Cal @ConservativeElector2 @SilentLiberty @themiddlepolitical

[vcczar]

Check out the updated Historical Era tab: @MrPotatoTed @jvikings1 @DakotaHale @Hestia @Rezi @Rodja @WVProgressive @Cal @ConservativeElector2 @SilentLiberty @themiddlepolitical

This isn't essential info for players but it's helpful for people really determined to win. As it is a tab with a dense amount of info, I have a table of contents at the top. Here are the categories, although I'll probably add some more once the rules are "done.":

• Multiple Card Allowance -- lets the GM know how many of each kind of card is given out each era
• Era Military Innovations -- this determines how up-to-date the military is. One should seek out these innovations as quickly as possible to gain maximum military strenght.
• LingerDecay -- for meter effects. For instance, quality of life will decay quickly once industrialization is in full force, so you more frequently have to pass laws or actions that help improve or stabilize quality of life. This is less important early in the game. 
• Ideological Modifiers -- This shows which ideologies are preferred in each state. A conservative might get a +1 in a state. That's enough to be helpful, but not enough to guarantee victory, for instance. 
• Demographic modifiers -- +/- for running a woman, black, hispanic, Mormon candidate etc. 
• Party modifiers -- whether or not a party gets a slight bonus in a state
• Popular/Unpopular legislation -- this is to make things more historical -- passing something popular by today's standards might be extremely unpopular in the time of Jefferson. As such, granting women the right to vote too soon is extremely risky. It can be done, but at political cost. 
• Least preferred ideology -- Some ideologies are extremely unpopular in some states. This is to make it harder for a Progressive to run in Alabama in the 2016 election, for instance.

There will be more categories once the rules are done. I'm hoping to figure out a way to click the table of contents and bring you to the right part in the tab so you won't have to scroll. But first, I need to figure out everything that will go in this tab. 

Here's important stuff for the ERA OF INDEPENDENCE!!!

• The Continental Congress will want to pass these military innovations/laws ASAP: Continental Army, Continental Navy, Money Requested from States (colonies), Alliance with France. 
• Avoid Progressive-Era, New Deal, Green Deal, Civil Rights, Suffrage legislation unless you are willing to take a big political hit. Also, it might not be the priority right now considering you might all be hanged as traitors. 
• You are relatively free of ideological preferences/penalties in this era, although some places do have bonuses for Red Party and Blue Party, but not many. 

 

[vcczar]

CAREER TRACK

The next phase for the special Era of Independence Rules is the Career Track. There's nothing stopping us for being able to do this phase since the rules are basically finalized and I have the tab ready.  @MrPotatoTed @jvikings1 @DakotaHale @Hestia @Rezi @Rodja @WVProgressive @Cal @ConservativeElector2 @SilentLiberty @themiddlepolitical

• Look at your player tabs and find any politicians with a Draft Year of 1772. These politicians are eligible for a Career Track. 
• Understand that by placing them on the career track, you won't be able to run them for the Continental Congress or governorship until after you remove them from the career track when this phase occurs again. Basically, you want to be comfortable letting this person sit in the career track for up to 20 years of history. 
• Make sure the "expertise" and "abilities" of the politician allow for you placing the politician on the career track. You can only place one politician per type of career track. 
• As this is a large post, please don't quote the entire post when responding. 
• Please abide by the 24 hour rule. 

(sorry for the bold below, it won't let me unbold it without losing the boxes)

 

Career Track Game Charts

The career tracks include the Private Sector, the Military, State Administration, State Government, State Judicial,State Legislative and Backroom Politics. Most tracks have an initial requirement to be placed on the track.

 

Time Spots in the Private Sector Track  (No expertise requirement)	Bonuses
Less than 4 years.	If politician is removed before the 4 year period has been reach (i.e. before the next Career Track phase) then they receive zero bonus.
4 years to less than 8 years	+1 admin and one random expertise.
8 years to less than 12 years	+1 admin, and 75% chance of another +1 admin. Gain one random expertise. 25% chance each of gaining “Egghead” and/or “Efficient.”
12 years to less than 16 years	80% chance of gaining 2 command (if fails, then 0). Add +1 Business expertise. +1 random expertise. +1 random personality trait.
16 years to to less than 20 years	Add +1 command, and 75% chance of another +1 command. Add Business expertise. +1 random expertise. +1 random personality trait. Remove “Easily overwhelmed” trait, if it exists.
20 years (max spot; they must be removed)	Add +2 command. Add +1 Admin. 25% chance +1 governing ability. 50% chance gains “Leadership”. Add 1 random personality trait. Add Business expertise and +1 random expertise. Remove “Easily overwhelmed” trait, if it exists.

 

Time Spots in the Military Track  (Military or Naval expertise requirement and 1 Mil ability)	Bonuses
Less than 4 years.	If politician is removed before the 4 year period has been reach (i.e. before the next Career Track phase) then they receive zero bonus.
4 years to less than 8 years	25% chance +1 Mil ability
8 years to less than 12 years	50% chance +1 Mil ability and a 25% chance of another +1 Mil ability.
12 years to less than 16 years	75% chance of +1 Mil ability and a 25% chance of another +1 Mil ability. 25% chance add “Military Leader” trait.
16 years to to less than 20 years	Add +1 Mil ability and a 25% chance of another +1 Mil ability. 50% chance add “Military Leader” trait. Add 25% chance of “Leadership” trait.
20 years (max spot; they must be removed)	Add +1 Mil ability and a 25% chance of another +1 Mil ability. Add “Military Leader” trait. Add 25% chance of both “Leadership” trait and +1 Governing ability at once.

 

Time Spots in the State Admin Track  (1 Admin Ability requirement)	Bonuses
Less than 4 years.	If politician is removed before the 4 year period has been reach (i.e. before the next Career Track phase) then they receive zero bonus.
4 years to less than 8 years	25% chance +1 Admin ability
8 years to less than 12 years	25% chance +1 Admin ability and 25% chance of new random expertise.
12 years to less than 16 years	50% chance +1 Admin ability, 25% chance of new random expertise. 25% chance +1 Legis ability. 25% chance +1 Governing ability.
16 years to to less than 20 years	Add +1 admin. 25% chance of new random expertise. 25% chance of +1 Legis ability. 25% chance of +1 Gov ability.
20 years (max spot; they must be removed)	Add +1 admin, and 25% chance of gaining +1 more. 25% chance of new random expertise. 25% chance of +1 Legis ability. 25% chance of +1 Gov ability. 25% chance of gaining “Efficient,” 50% chance of gaining “Egghead.”

 

Time Spots in the State Judicial Track  (1 Judicial Ability and Justice expertise requirement)	Bonuses
Less than 4 years.	If politician is removed before the 4 year period has been reach (i.e. before the next Career Track phase) then they receive zero bonus.
4 years to less than 8 years	25% chance +1 Judicial ability
8 years to less than 12 years	50% chance +1 Judicial ability
12 years to less than 16 years	75% chance +1 Judicial ability
16 years to to less than 20 years	Add +1 judicial ability, and 25% chance of +1 more.
20 years (max spot; they must be removed)	Add +1 judicial ability, and 50% chance of +1 more. 25% chance of gaining “integrity” if the politician is not controversial.

 

Time Spots in the State Governing Track  (1 Judicial Ability and Justice expertise requirement)	Bonuses
Less than 4 years.	If politician is removed before the 4 year period has been reach (i.e. before the next Career Track phase) then they receive zero bonus.
4 years to less than 8 years	25% chance +1 Gov ability
8 years to less than 12 years	50% chance +1 Gov ability and 25% chance +1 Command
12 years to less than 16 years	+1 Gov ability and 25% chance of +1 more. 25% chance +1 Command
16 years to to less than 20 years	+1 Gov ability and 25% chance of +1 more. 50% chance +1 Command
20 years (max spot; they must be removed)	+1 Gov ability and 25% chance of +1 more. 50% chance +1 Command. 25% chance of gaining “Iron Fist” and “Leadership”

 

Time Spots in the State Legislature Track  (1 Legis Ability requirement)	Bonuses
Less than 4 years.	If politician is removed before the 4 year period has been reach (i.e. before the next Career Track phase) then they receive zero bonus.
4 years to less than 8 years	25% chance +1 Legis ability
8 years to less than 12 years	50% chance +1 Legis ability. +1 random expertise.
12 years to less than 16 years	75% chance +1 Legis ability. +1 random expertise.
16 years to to less than 20 years	+1 Legis ability, and 25% chance of +1 more. +1 random expertise.
20 years (max spot; they must be removed)	+1 Legis ability, and 25% chance of +1 more. +2 random expertise. 25% chance of gaining Manipulative.

 

Time Spots in the Backroom Politics Track  (No Requirement)	Bonuses
Less than 4 years.	If politician is removed before the 4 year period has been reach (i.e. before the next Career Track phase) then they receive zero bonus.
4 years to less than 8 years	25% chance gains “Kingmaker”
8 years to less than 12 years	25% chance gains “Kingmaker”; 25% chance gains “Manipulative”
12 years to less than 16 years	50% chance gains “Kingmaker”; 25% chance gains Manipulative
16 years to to less than 20 years	50% chance gains “Kingmaker”; 50% chance gains Manipulative; chance gains “Controversial” (Loses integrity)
20 years (max spot; they must be removed)	75% chance gains “Kingmaker”; 50% chance gains Manipulative; 25% chance gains “Controversial” (Loses Integrity)

 

[Rodja]

@vcczar @MrPotatoTed

I will proceed with following actions:

1.Place Tadeusz Kociuszko in Military Career Track 

2.Place John Hiester in State Legislature Career Track

3.Place John Matthews in Backroom Politics Career Tracl 

[Cal]

1. Pierce Butler will pursue his fortune in the Private Sector. 

2. Edward Hand will enlist with his local state militia (Military Sector)

3. Jonathan Freeman will enter the Backroom Politics of the state of New Hampshire. 

[DakotaHale]

1. Benjamin Stoddert will join the State. Admin

2. Charles Biddle will join the Military track

[ConservativeElector2]

1. Casimir Pulaski to the Military career track

2. Samuel Osgood to the State legislative track

[Rezi]

1. James Clinton, state legislature track

2.  Nathaniel Niles, state judicial track

3. John Collins, state governing track

[jvikings1]

Private Sector: Oliver Elsworth

Military: Richard Taylor

State Governing: Caleb Strong

State Legislature: Theodore Sedgwick

[MrPotatoTed]

RED CPU:
Thomas Mifflin: State Governing
Robert H Harrison: State Admin
John Houstoun: State Judicial 
Richard Peters: Military
David Brearley: Private Sector
James Lloyd: Backroom Politics
 

[MrPotatoTed]

BLUE CPU:
John Sevier: Backroom Politics 
Gunning Bedford Jr: State Legislative
Thomas Heyward: Private Sector
Jonathan Ingersoll: State Governing

[SilentLiberty]

@vcczar should State Exec/State Gov be 1 Governing Ability rather than 1 Judicial Ability and Justice Expertise? (Which is also the requirement for the more fitting State Judicial Sector.)

[SilentLiberty]

Private sector Abigail Adams
Military sector Mihsihkinaahkwa Little Turtle
Stat exec sector Joshua Clayton(if Gov ability rather than Judicial, if Judicial no one)
State admin sector Benjamin Rush
State legis sector Jonathan Elmer
State judicial sector No One
Backroom politics sector Timothy Pickering

[MrPotatoTed]

19 minutes ago, SilentLiberty said:

@vcczar should State Exec/State Gov be 1 Governing Ability rather than 1 Judicial Ability and Justice Expertise? (Which is also the requirement for the more fitting State Judicial Sector.)

Yep, thanks!  I'll fix it in the master document.

[MrPotatoTed]

Just now, MrPotatoTed said:

Yep, thanks!  I'll fix it in the master document.

Actually, I don't have whatever document he pulled that from.  So tagging @vcczar to fix it.  Thanks!

[WVProgressive]

I'll put Melancton Smith on the State Legislature Track
 

[Hestia]

Private Sector: John Tyler Sr.
Military Track: Francis Willis
State Legislature: Squire Boone
Backroom Politics Track: Henry Southard

Edited July 20, 2021 by Hestia

[vcczar]

50 minutes ago, MrPotatoTed said:

Actually, I don't have whatever document he pulled that from.  So tagging @vcczar to fix it.  Thanks!

Ok I’ll find it tomorrow (Tuesday). Thanks. 

[vcczar]

I think we just need @themiddlepolitical . If he fails to meet the 24 hour deadline, then we will assume he puts no one on the career track.