Additional Events Brainstorming

[noshurviverse]

While I'm certain the topic has been brought up in various other threads, I think it would be a decent idea to have a thread dedicated to collecting ideas for the events that happen on the strategic map. In addition, I feel that this is a topic that benefits highly from community input, since adding these is likely much easier than many other aspects of the game such as design feature balancing and whatnot. In RtW, most of the events are based upon actual occurrences in history, so I feel that looking to more recent ones seems logical. While the event itself is out of the time frame, I recently began reading about the Kursk submarine disaster, as well as the more time-period appropriate USS Sailfish sinking. These led to me coming up with the following:

•"One of our submarines, [SUBMARINE NAME] _, has sunken during a training exercise. There is hope that some of the crew may have survived the sinking and could be rescued. The matter has leaked to the press and [AI NATION] has offered assistance in rescue operations, much to the ire of the Admiralty."

    •"We must put the lives of our men over our pride. Allow them to assist in any way they can". _{(-Prestige, -Tension, High chance of rescue succeeding)}

    •"We cannot risk exposing military secrets to potential enemies. All rescue operations will be conducted by [PLAYER NATION] ships." _{(Moderate chance of rescue, major prestige loss and unrest increase if rescue fails})

    •"It is clear that the loss of this submarine is the result of saboteurs from [AI NATION, SELECTED FROM DROPDOWN]! _{(++Tension, +Budget, sub-moderate chance of rescue succeeding)}

For the first and third options, the rescue succeeding or failing would mostly be for flavor, since the major impact would already come from the response itself. Alternatively, a successful rescue might give a small 'gift' of Submarine research, to represent lessons learned from the rescued crewmembers.

[gornik]

Copy of my old ideas for RTW:

Bronenosets Potyomkin"-like event:

{If [Nation] has high level of social unrest}
[shipclass][shipname] of [Nation] was captured by rebellious sailors and came to one of our ports. Government asked you how to deal with such enormous situation.

- Take this ship to our navy and give rebels refuge. (+ship -prestige ++ tension with [Nation] + tension with others)
- Return ship but free sailors. (+ tension with [Nation] +prestige)
- Return ship and extradite rebels for punishment (-tension with [Nation] +tension with others)
- Great opportunity for destroyer "target practice"! No ship, no problem. (ship sunk, ++ tension with [Nation] + tension with others)


One of minor nations wants to buy our unfinished ship XXX. They offer us YYY funds.

- Ok, we may build better one for this money (+tensions) + money -ship
- No, she should be ours! +prestige


Minor nation asked our government to sell them our obsolete ship XXX for YYY funds. Government ask your opinion.

- She isn't useful anyway. Sell her! +tension -prestige +money -ship
- She is our fleet's proud! We never sell her! +prestige
- It is hard times now, we should keep all ships despite their age. +tension +budget


{Allied great nation} asks your help for taking possessions from some minor powers. They want {Neutral possession 1}, while we can get {Neutral possession 2}. Your decision?

-Yes, we form half of united forces! (- sum of money, ++tension with other majors, + prestige + possession, risk of ultimatum)
-Yes, but we may send only quarter of united forces (- half sum of money, + budget, + tensions with all, (- prestige), 50%+ possession, small risk of ultimatum, risk that our ally get all alone)
-This should be discussed at next international conference (-prestige, -tensions, +tensions with ally, risk of breaking the alliance, 10% chance of taking possession, 10% chance our ally got his possession, 10% chance for any other power to get something)
-We should deny and reveal their secret plans to all! (--prestige, ++ tension with ally, - tensions with others, breaking alliance)

[gornik]

And new:

Enthusiastic young pilot proposed transatlantic (or North Polar) flight. It will increase our prestige, and give our scientists valuable information, but he need some money. Will Navy support him?
- Yes, take this money! - money, +prestige, +tensions, 90% chance of result
- We have no money for his dreams, he should find another sponsor for his plan! -prestige, 50% chance of result

After some months result may be either success (+prestige, +budget +air tech) technical failure (-prestige, +air tech) or...
Disaster
Plane is lost somewhere in North Atlantic! We should start rescue operation, though chances are low!
- Prepare rescue team! -money
- Assign all ships and planes for search! --money +prestige
- Ask for international help!  -prestige, -tensions

"Amelia Earhart.jpg"
Our famous aviator, his crew and their plane mysteriously disappeared during circumnavigational flight of the globe! Last message received, when plane was above the ocean near [possession] of  [Nation]. There are speculations in press, that they were captured and secretly imprisoned! Your actions?
- We should demand inspection of whole territory of their possession, including military bases, to reveal truth! +prestige, +budget, +++tensions, ultimatum effect
- Search them as usual, I can't believe in such story -prestige, -tensions

[cuirasspolisher]

Some ideas I had:

Gun Club

Prerequisite: Player has at least [CONSTANT * FLEET SIZE] aircraft carriers in commission or building and no nation has researched level [THRESHOLD] naval aviation technology

"The [NATION LEADER] is aghast at your heavy investment in aircraft carriers. He insists that relying on this immature, unproven technology will bring ruin to our navy in battle! He wants you to build [CONSTANT * FLEET SIZE] additional battleships to restore the navy's surface warfare capabilities."

• "Yes, sir!"
• • If [CONSTANT * FLEET SIZE] battleships building by DEADLINE months ("The [NATION LEADER] is pleased that you are building the requested battleships." Budget ++, Prestige ++)
    
  • Else ("The [NATION_LEADER] is angered by your failure to build the requested battleships." Budget --, Prestige --)
    
  
  
  
• "We could certainly build half that number of battleships."
  
• • If [CONSTANT * FLEET SIZE]/2 battleships building by DEADLINE months ("The [NATION LEADER] is pleased that you are building the requested battleships." Budget +, Prestige +)
  • Else ("The [NATION_LEADER] is angered by your failure to build the requested battleships." Budget -, Prestige -)
    
  
  
  
• "With all due respect, the age of the battleship is ending. Aircraft carriers are the future of naval combat." (Budget --, Prestige--, no further obligations)

Double Agent

Prerequisite: At war with nation, high espionage spending with nation

"One of our spies has infiltrated [ENEMY NATION]'s naval ministry! What intelligence should we order him to obtain?"

• "Their radio codebook." (Increases speed and accuracy of signal intercept reports during missions for duration of war.)
  
• "Their operational plans." (Increases accuracy of pre-battle strength assessment for duration of war)
• "Schematics for their newest technology." (Obtain random enemy technology)

Shell Game

Prerequisite: At war, player rolled hidden defective shell modifier

"The armaments ministry has discovered that our heavy shells are scandalously defective! Due to poor manufacturing techniques, they are unable to reliably penetrate enemy armor. Unfortunately, redressing these flaws will anger influential politicians and admirals with ties to the munitions industry. What should we do?"

• "I will not send our sailors into battle with substandard weaponry. Thoroughly investigate the matter and enact aggressive reforms, even if it causes a national scandal." (Prestige --, Unrest +, defective shell modifier removed)
  
• "Have the inspector general quietly warn offending manufacturers to mend their ways." (Prestige-, chance of defective shell modifier removed)
  
• "We cannot afford to cripple the navy's morale with an armaments scandal. Suppress the reports and publicly vouch for the shells' quality." (Prestige+, defective shell modifier continues)
  

[britishball]

Reposted from Pre Release Discussion Thread pg.21:

Will legacy war be a thing? My proposal is given a 1900 start the UK should be deep into the Second Boer War, whilst a largely Army action the Navy were present carrying troops and supplies, commitment was so minimal that it makes sense it is largely abstracted from RtW1, however perhaps a historical increase in tonnage on foreign stations for the duration of it would be a fun little addition? Equally the USA was involved in the Philippine-American War, in which the USN was a bit more involved, and of course a "Who's who list of countries not to f*** with in 1900AD" are at war with China during the Boxer Rebellion, all of these should result (in my opinion) in a small amount of flavour text event popup with a demand for increased Naval presence in their respective areas.


Event for Example GB/UK: Text "Jan 1900, the 2nd Boer War has been in full force for a few months, whilst the Boers lack any Navy and most fighting happens far in land the Navy is required to ferry supplies and reinforcements." Criteria: Add 3X destroyers and X Light Cruisers to sea zone "Cape Colony" or sea zone "Indian Ocean" on Foreign Stations. Rewards: Success (very minor prestige award you are meant to do this so you don't get much) Failure (prestige -- tension + as it shows we are weak)

Obviously each Legacy war would have its own little event like this, with a little flavour text and picture, some with bigger effects like if USA doesn't commit enough ships to Philippine-American war event it gets "Budget -- Prestige --" to symbolise the Navy having its budget partially diverted to the Army for not helping. 



Assuming the idea of smaller legacy wars is or becomes a thing in RtW2, what about random style event wars, small independent nations, formally taken quickly by the "dispatch a Battleship" style events, against countries are like the Rebel nations in Total War, they don't operate in the game until the event spawns them a small, insignificant fleet for you to turn up and destroy. Just like Rebels in the golden age of Total War (Rome 1 and Medieval 2) they would be a way of training units and alleviating mid game monotony with a nice quick war. We all know about the "Crisis in the Balkans" event, but how about a little something to actually do with your task force when it gets there. In my opinion I don't want every war I fight to be a large WW2 style pitched battle, sometimes I'd like something a little closer to the Anglo-Zanzibar war, where you turn up and show the locals exactly why you possess a Battleship and what it can do to their village. My proposal is, rather than "event in Balkans click send BB and inherit new land" you get "event war in X country, send small task force to country, fight one battle where you overwhelm some generic small spawned (independent X country) Navy and then one or two turns later, inherit new land" sometimes I think it would be nice to go into a battle or a war where you completely outnumber and outgun the enemy just so you can see what your Iron Behemoths are capable of, and if for some reason, somehow, over confidence, bad luck, you did lose (or otherwise lost a sizeable contingent so that the war was a tactical loss) then what a compelling, organic moment of storytelling it would be!

Event for Example GB/UK: Text "Aug 1905, the nation of (Balkan nation or Caribbean nation or African nation etc. etc.) has declared independence/had a Fascist or Communist coup, the Government (A wants to align with them if you are same Ideology, B wants to declare war if you are opposite, C wants your opinion on if it would be beneficial to work with or occupy them) assuming you get an event where you can go to war: "Minor Nation X spawns" it would have a small Navy, based off an ideological ally <10 years previous designs, 1 BB or B, 2 CA, 4CL, 8DD, 16MS or something for balance, you send a large task force and win battle, blockade 2 months, Total victory. (Nation gained as territory, budget +, prestige +, tension +++) You send task force and lose battle/ fail to blockade "Minor nation gets help from Y (always nation with highest tension against you) great Power, either desist from war (tension -, prestige --, budget -) or continue (War with Y Great Power, budget ++, tension +++)


Just a few ideas! 

[aeson]

Jul 28, 2018 10:54:24 GMT -6 britishball said:

Reposted from Pre Release Discussion Thread pg.21:

Will legacy war be a thing? My proposal is given a 1900 start the UK should be deep into the Second Boer War, whilst a largely Army action the Navy were present carrying troops and supplies, commitment was so minimal that it makes sense it is largely abstracted from RtW1, however perhaps a historical increase in tonnage on foreign stations for the duration of it would be a fun little addition? Equally the USA was involved in the Philippine-American War, in which the USN was a bit more involved, and of course a "Who's who list of countries not to f*** with in 1900AD" are at war with China during the Boxer Rebellion, all of these should result (in my opinion) in a small amount of flavour text event popup with a demand for increased Naval presence in their respective areas.


Event for Example GB/UK: Text "Jan 1900, the 2nd Boer War has been in full force for a few months, whilst the Boers lack any Navy and most fighting happens far in land the Navy is required to ferry supplies and reinforcements." Criteria: Add 3X destroyers and X Light Cruisers to sea zone "Cape Colony" or sea zone "Indian Ocean" on Foreign Stations. Rewards: Success (very minor prestige award you are meant to do this so you don't get much) Failure (prestige -- tension + as it shows we are weak)

Obviously each Legacy war would have its own little event like this, with a little flavour text and picture, some with bigger effects like if USA doesn't commit enough ships to Philippine-American war event it gets "Budget -- Prestige --" to symbolise the Navy having its budget partially diverted to the Army for not helping.

The Second Boer and Philippine-American Wars would be represented as colonial rebellions in Rule the Waves, not as wars. What you're asking for would require a more detailed system for interacting with and resolving colonial rebellions.

Early-game events with significant prestige or budget penalties are probably a bad thing. You get fired (lose) if your prestige drops much below maybe 15, and budgetary issues in the early game can have serious repercussions in the midgame even if the budget problems are resolved reasonably quickly. Moreover, events which place specific demands on fleet composition and deployment and carry significant penalties for failure to meet those demands would tend to limit the range of viable starting fleet compositions and initial deployments, especially if it's very likely for the events to occur, and I don't think that that is a good thing for the game.

Ships on Foreign Station can't really be assigned to a sea zone; you can order them to move to a specific area, but they're likely to eventually wander off on their own initiative.

[britishball]

Jul 28, 2018 12:49:46 GMT -6 aeson said:

Jul 28, 2018 10:54:24 GMT -6 britishball said:

Reposted from Pre Release Discussion Thread pg.21:

Will legacy war be a thing? My proposal is given a 1900 start the UK should be deep into the Second Boer War, whilst a largely Army action the Navy were present carrying troops and supplies, commitment was so minimal that it makes sense it is largely abstracted from RtW1, however perhaps a historical increase in tonnage on foreign stations for the duration of it would be a fun little addition? Equally the USA was involved in the Philippine-American War, in which the USN was a bit more involved, and of course a "Who's who list of countries not to f*** with in 1900AD" are at war with China during the Boxer Rebellion, all of these should result (in my opinion) in a small amount of flavour text event popup with a demand for increased Naval presence in their respective areas.


Event for Example GB/UK: Text "Jan 1900, the 2nd Boer War has been in full force for a few months, whilst the Boers lack any Navy and most fighting happens far in land the Navy is required to ferry supplies and reinforcements." Criteria: Add 3X destroyers and X Light Cruisers to sea zone "Cape Colony" or sea zone "Indian Ocean" on Foreign Stations. Rewards: Success (very minor prestige award you are meant to do this so you don't get much) Failure (prestige -- tension + as it shows we are weak)

Obviously each Legacy war would have its own little event like this, with a little flavour text and picture, some with bigger effects like if USA doesn't commit enough ships to Philippine-American war event it gets "Budget -- Prestige --" to symbolise the Navy having its budget partially diverted to the Army for not helping.

The Second Boer and Philippine-American Wars would be represented as colonial rebellions in Rule the Waves, not as wars. What you're asking for would require a more detailed system for interacting with and resolving colonial rebellions.

Early-game events with significant prestige or budget penalties are probably a bad thing. You get fired (lose) if your prestige drops much below maybe 15, and budgetary issues in the early game can have serious repercussions in the midgame even if the budget problems are resolved reasonably quickly. Moreover, events which place specific demands on fleet composition and deployment and carry significant penalties for failure to meet those demands would tend to limit the range of viable starting fleet compositions and initial deployments, especially if it's very likely for the events to occur, and I don't think that that is a good thing for the game.

Ships on Foreign Station can't really be assigned to a sea zone; you can order them to move to a specific area, but they're likely to eventually wander off on their own initiative.

Quite right the 2nd Boer War and such further wars would be represented as Colonial Rebellions, I just think there should be something a little more to them than a popup and a dice roll on whether they succeed or fail, you should at least be able to influence in some way. IMO. As for the penalties and rewards and how it would impact early game and fleet composition; obviously someone with a lot of time and experience could better balance something than me guessing, what I put as a "Prestige -- Budget ---" may be better suited as "Prestige - Budget -" I don't know. For me Prestige was always the dump trait, I was more than happy to trade prestige in every single event I got, whether that was to increase budget or lower tensions, or even raise tensions. IMO, this could be better managed by having it not always be such an easy choice to dump if it was more at risk from other events, or harder to come by, again IMO the constraints this would put on player choice would be minimal, most nations have a couple Destroyers and a Cruiser to spare at the start, I'm not asking for anything completely game changing just a little more flavour here and there.

I'm always banging on about context, I feel very strongly it's important that a game provides context to the actions emulated within, without context it amounts to nothing more than a flashing light show, Rule The Waves did this well, but sometimes felt a little too random for my taste, even though I could get behind the "X country has internal strife send Battleship?" event I wouldn't mind a little extra flavour to it, so as that it has more impact, per chance even a small battle with the connected country's Navy which as I said would be out dated and smaller than yours. Sometimes its fun to kick puppies, sometimes we just want to see what our Big guns can do to ships that don't even stand a chance. I'd argue that as a simulation this would be much more realistic than constantly fighting major European wars. From 1900-1950 there are plenty of examples of little countries getting hammered by the Great Nations.

[buttons]

Jul 29, 2018 0:53:22 GMT -6 britishball said:

For me Prestige was always the dump trait, I was more than happy to trade prestige in every single event I got, whether that was to increase budget or lower tensions, or even raise tensions.

I have to agree, but I feel like the more elegant solution is to make prestige matter more outside of outright losing. For example with high prestige budget decreases from refusing to do what you are asked to are less significant. eg.

"Build 4 battleships"

If you have a high prestige you might receive next to no punishment in terms of budget and no penalty for prestige if you only build half and only a small punishment if you refuse to build any, while if you have a low prestige the budget and prestige penalty will be bigger. Essentially you are respected in the political sphere so if you say "we can't build 4 battleships" politicians are more likely to trust that you are right. After all with a high prestige you are likely good at toeing the political line or are likely a recent war hero who won a major war. Meanwhile if you constantly jump into politics in inappropriate ways and refuse to listen to your bosses they will get angered by your obstinance and punish you more severely for constantly refusing their orders.

[archelaos]

Aug 4, 2018 11:39:48 GMT -6 buttons said:

Jul 29, 2018 0:53:22 GMT -6 britishball said:

For me Prestige was always the dump trait, I was more than happy to trade prestige in every single event I got, whether that was to increase budget or lower tensions, or even raise tensions.

I have to agree, but I feel like the more elegant solution is to make prestige matter more outside of outright losing. For example with high prestige budget decreases from refusing to do what you are asked to are less significant. eg.

"Build 4 battleships"

If you have a high prestige you might receive next to no punishment in terms of budget and no penalty for prestige if you only build half and only a small punishment if you refuse to build any, while if you have a low prestige the budget and prestige penalty will be bigger. Essentially you are respected in the political sphere so if you say "we can't build 4 battleships" politicians are more likely to trust that you are right. After all with a high prestige you are likely good at toeing the political line or are likely a recent war hero who won a major war. Meanwhile if you constantly jump into politics in inappropriate ways and refuse to listen to your bosses they will get angered by your obstinance and punish you more severely for constantly refusing their orders.

Actually, prestige is NOT a dump trait - the budget is proportional to prestige, when you trade prestige for something, you also reduce your budget.

[britishball]

Aug 4, 2018 14:29:33 GMT -6 archelaos said:

Aug 4, 2018 11:39:48 GMT -6 buttons said:

I have to agree, but I feel like the more elegant solution is to make prestige matter more outside of outright losing. For example with high prestige budget decreases from refusing to do what you are asked to are less significant. eg.

"Build 4 battleships"

If you have a high prestige you might receive next to no punishment in terms of budget and no penalty for prestige if you only build half and only a small punishment if you refuse to build any, while if you have a low prestige the budget and prestige penalty will be bigger. Essentially you are respected in the political sphere so if you say "we can't build 4 battleships" politicians are more likely to trust that you are right. After all with a high prestige you are likely good at toeing the political line or are likely a recent war hero who won a major war. Meanwhile if you constantly jump into politics in inappropriate ways and refuse to listen to your bosses they will get angered by your obstinance and punish you more severely for constantly refusing their orders.

Actually, prestige is NOT a dump trait - the budget is proportional to prestige, when you trade prestige for something, you also reduce your budget.

Well I never noticed any difference, especially as its usually -1 prestige out of 30-50, can't make that much difference. Seeing as you can even get budget up events to dump prestige I'd imagine it probably ends up being far more beneficial in the long run.

[noshurviverse]

Perhaps when scrapping a ship, a minor unnamed nation might offer to buy it off of you. This could possibly lead to an event such as:

The Navy of a small nation has expressed interest in purchasing [SHIP NAME]. The matter has leaked to the press and several other nations have protested the idea, claiming that the sale could upset the regional politics and potentially spark a small arms race.
•"It was never our intent to sell our ships to belligerent nations, no sale was ever seriously considered." (No effect, ship scrapped)
•"After reviewing the situation, the Admiralty has decided against the sale." (-Prestige, -Tension, ship scrapped)

•"[PLAYER NATION] will do with it's ships what it pleases." (+Tension, additional money made from the "scrapping")

Approving the sale could potentially lead to another event, wherein the sold ship is sunken by another power (of perhaps just poor stewardship), potentially leading to either a tension spark as the nation feels slighted for another power sinking "their" ship, or prestige loss for consigning a proud ship of the player's nation to a sad fate.

[rob06waves2018]

One of my ideas from another thread concerning directed research:

The Admiralty R&D team has come up with 3 proposals for your consideration. The [Nation Leader] is very interested in this project. However, they only have the personel to develop one.


Naval gun - We think that our x inch gun can be improved by [one level]. This is currently being fitted to our [ship class] ships and could be exchanged now. (Adds 2 months to building times +Improved gun +Prestige)

Aeroplane - A new bomber can be built for catapult launch and flat deck recovery. It can be integrated into our new carriers. (+Improved bomber)

Ship design - We can develop a new type of triple turret but no ships are equipped with them at the moment so we can't carry out experiments. We will therefore need more money. (+Improved turret -Budget)

Money worries - "Nope! Can't afford it. Go back to your day jobs!" (+Budget --Prestige 30% chance of anger from government)

[jeb94]

Your base in the Caribbean has been hit by a hurricane! Base capacity reduced by x point/points

The follwing ship/ships were damaged:
DD X
CA x
CV x
etc...

The following ship/ships were lost:
KV X
CL X
CVL X
etc...

[jeb94]

During training exercises a ship/squadron ran aground in poor visibility!


CV X
etc...
Damaged
and or
DD Delphy
DD Young
etc...
lost

[mycophobia]

“A book titled March of _____(insert tech group)” is released, leading to world wide development for the named technology.