The empire, too large?
- Thread starter jackleg
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The Hinterworlds Rambler
SOC-14 5K
I had campaign idea called "Bradbury Colony" to be set in the Bradbury Subsector of the Storr Sector. It would involve the establishment of a colony in that distant place by a Government/Coalition of Governments, and would involve a lot of exploration as well as many first contact situations with new Aliens. A lot of the fun of course would be in the getting ther part.. it's a Looong trip!
The Hinterworlds Rambler
SOC-14 5K
I had campaign idea called "Bradbury Colony" to be set in the Bradbury Subsector of the Storr Sector. It would involve the establishment of a colony in that distant place by a Government/Coalition of Governments, and would involve a lot of exploration as well as many first contact situations with new Aliens. A lot of the fun of course would be in the getting ther part.. it's a Looong trip!
daryen
SOC-14 1K
The Spinward Marches give a wonderful setup for a smaller Imperium. Actually, you can use any setup like:
- Just use the Sword World and Darrian Confederations. Let them intrigue and duke it out.
- Use the rim/spinward quadrant, but make the Five Sisters an independent empire based on Iderati. Now you have three small empires that can duke it out.
- Use the whole Marches, but make things self-contained. Now the Zhodani are based on Chronor and the half-sector Empire is based at Mora. In this case, the two Confederations become more relevant and can actually directly influence the local politics.
In the last case, you are not even really changing anything. You are just ignoring anything outside the Marches.
daryen
SOC-14 1K
The Spinward Marches give a wonderful setup for a smaller Imperium. Actually, you can use any setup like:
- Just use the Sword World and Darrian Confederations. Let them intrigue and duke it out.
- Use the rim/spinward quadrant, but make the Five Sisters an independent empire based on Iderati. Now you have three small empires that can duke it out.
- Use the whole Marches, but make things self-contained. Now the Zhodani are based on Chronor and the half-sector Empire is based at Mora. In this case, the two Confederations become more relevant and can actually directly influence the local politics.
In the last case, you are not even really changing anything. You are just ignoring anything outside the Marches.
RobertFisher
SOC-12
There's no doubt that if I were creating my own TU that I would start with only a sector & that none of the interstellar states would be bigger than a sector.
(There's no doubt, because that is exactly what I had just starting doing when the group decided it was finally time to try CT. I wasn't ready to use MTU yet, so I choose OTU.)
That said, I don't know that the 3I is too big. I think both situations can work just fine. Indeed, when I look at the 3I map, I think it could be a lot of fun to be able to cross several sectors without leaving the Imperium. There's certainly plenty of interesting borders, non-Imperium areas, &c. to use if you want. Arguably just about any advantage a smaller Imperium would have could be found on the fringes of the OTU's 3I.
FWIW, my group has visited three subsectors in about six months of game time. (Hmm...it's been about six months of real time as well...) At the moment, it looks like things could go either way. Either they'll stick around the same three or four subsectors or they'll end up visiting three or four more.
They've definately followed the spirit of the game's name. Much more than I remember being the case in my old CT games. (Though, that may have something to do with differences between my old referee & myself.)
(There's no doubt, because that is exactly what I had just starting doing when the group decided it was finally time to try CT. I wasn't ready to use MTU yet, so I choose OTU.)
That said, I don't know that the 3I is too big. I think both situations can work just fine. Indeed, when I look at the 3I map, I think it could be a lot of fun to be able to cross several sectors without leaving the Imperium. There's certainly plenty of interesting borders, non-Imperium areas, &c. to use if you want. Arguably just about any advantage a smaller Imperium would have could be found on the fringes of the OTU's 3I.
FWIW, my group has visited three subsectors in about six months of game time. (Hmm...it's been about six months of real time as well...) At the moment, it looks like things could go either way. Either they'll stick around the same three or four subsectors or they'll end up visiting three or four more.
They've definately followed the spirit of the game's name. Much more than I remember being the case in my old CT games. (Though, that may have something to do with differences between my old referee & myself.)
RobertFisher
SOC-12
There's no doubt that if I were creating my own TU that I would start with only a sector & that none of the interstellar states would be bigger than a sector.
(There's no doubt, because that is exactly what I had just starting doing when the group decided it was finally time to try CT. I wasn't ready to use MTU yet, so I choose OTU.)
That said, I don't know that the 3I is too big. I think both situations can work just fine. Indeed, when I look at the 3I map, I think it could be a lot of fun to be able to cross several sectors without leaving the Imperium. There's certainly plenty of interesting borders, non-Imperium areas, &c. to use if you want. Arguably just about any advantage a smaller Imperium would have could be found on the fringes of the OTU's 3I.
FWIW, my group has visited three subsectors in about six months of game time. (Hmm...it's been about six months of real time as well...) At the moment, it looks like things could go either way. Either they'll stick around the same three or four subsectors or they'll end up visiting three or four more.
They've definately followed the spirit of the game's name. Much more than I remember being the case in my old CT games. (Though, that may have something to do with differences between my old referee & myself.)
(There's no doubt, because that is exactly what I had just starting doing when the group decided it was finally time to try CT. I wasn't ready to use MTU yet, so I choose OTU.)
That said, I don't know that the 3I is too big. I think both situations can work just fine. Indeed, when I look at the 3I map, I think it could be a lot of fun to be able to cross several sectors without leaving the Imperium. There's certainly plenty of interesting borders, non-Imperium areas, &c. to use if you want. Arguably just about any advantage a smaller Imperium would have could be found on the fringes of the OTU's 3I.
FWIW, my group has visited three subsectors in about six months of game time. (Hmm...it's been about six months of real time as well...) At the moment, it looks like things could go either way. Either they'll stick around the same three or four subsectors or they'll end up visiting three or four more.
They've definately followed the spirit of the game's name. Much more than I remember being the case in my old CT games. (Though, that may have something to do with differences between my old referee & myself.)
Fritz_Brown
Super Moderator
I don't mind the big Imperium, except that it takes so bloody long to cross. That, IMO, is the only real problem with it - you can't get from problems on the Aslan front to problems on the Julian side with any kind of speed.
It's not really a problem, but it makes it harder to switch gears if your players are looking that way. It also makes it harder to insert non-canonical stuff that you need close, but not too close. Close, but out of the way, is difficult if the only place you can find is 3 sectors away....
It's not really a problem, but it makes it harder to switch gears if your players are looking that way. It also makes it harder to insert non-canonical stuff that you need close, but not too close. Close, but out of the way, is difficult if the only place you can find is 3 sectors away....
Fritz_Brown
Super Moderator
I don't mind the big Imperium, except that it takes so bloody long to cross. That, IMO, is the only real problem with it - you can't get from problems on the Aslan front to problems on the Julian side with any kind of speed.
It's not really a problem, but it makes it harder to switch gears if your players are looking that way. It also makes it harder to insert non-canonical stuff that you need close, but not too close. Close, but out of the way, is difficult if the only place you can find is 3 sectors away....
It's not really a problem, but it makes it harder to switch gears if your players are looking that way. It also makes it harder to insert non-canonical stuff that you need close, but not too close. Close, but out of the way, is difficult if the only place you can find is 3 sectors away....
I always thought the 3I was way too big for them to control, especially with communications limited to the best jump drive. Maybe I was projecting the Roman empire on the 3I. The Roman empire got so big they had to split it to rule it effectively.
Now of course a gm could limit his adventures to one area and not be worried about the big picture of the 3I. Even in MT, there were sections of the empire that did not hear of the assassination until 6 monthes afterward.
Now of course a gm could limit his adventures to one area and not be worried about the big picture of the 3I. Even in MT, there were sections of the empire that did not hear of the assassination until 6 monthes afterward.
I always thought the 3I was way too big for them to control, especially with communications limited to the best jump drive. Maybe I was projecting the Roman empire on the 3I. The Roman empire got so big they had to split it to rule it effectively.
Now of course a gm could limit his adventures to one area and not be worried about the big picture of the 3I. Even in MT, there were sections of the empire that did not hear of the assassination until 6 monthes afterward.
Now of course a gm could limit his adventures to one area and not be worried about the big picture of the 3I. Even in MT, there were sections of the empire that did not hear of the assassination until 6 monthes afterward.
run two different games, with two different sets of characters. alternate between the two.
can it be done any other way? sure doesn't seem like it.
one is reminded of mediaeval peasants who in their entire lives never went more than a few miles from home. most people including nobles will never go more than a few subsectors from home.
far-trader
SOC-14 10K
IMO it's not the physical size of the Imperium that makes it too "big" but the whole mess of the IN that came following High Guard.
Before that horrid* book the Imperium could be physically huge and you still had PCs count for something in their tiny 200ton starship, boosting trade and even helping discourage pirates. After HG gave us an Imperial Navy of gargantuan ships in the millions there was no place left for the PCs tiny ship, and all the pirates made zero sense.
* Horrid for the results of unlimited production of the massive ships that followed, don't get me wrong, I loved the design system, I just wished there'd been some kind of reasonable limitation on both the upper hull sizes and the number of ships that could be produced and maintained
Before that horrid* book the Imperium could be physically huge and you still had PCs count for something in their tiny 200ton starship, boosting trade and even helping discourage pirates. After HG gave us an Imperial Navy of gargantuan ships in the millions there was no place left for the PCs tiny ship, and all the pirates made zero sense.
* Horrid for the results of unlimited production of the massive ships that followed, don't get me wrong, I loved the design system, I just wished there'd been some kind of reasonable limitation on both the upper hull sizes and the number of ships that could be produced and maintained
run two different games, with two different sets of characters. alternate between the two.
can it be done any other way? sure doesn't seem like it.
one is reminded of mediaeval peasants who in their entire lives never went more than a few miles from home. most people including nobles will never go more than a few subsectors from home.
far-trader
SOC-14 10K
IMO it's not the physical size of the Imperium that makes it too "big" but the whole mess of the IN that came following High Guard.
Before that horrid* book the Imperium could be physically huge and you still had PCs count for something in their tiny 200ton starship, boosting trade and even helping discourage pirates. After HG gave us an Imperial Navy of gargantuan ships in the millions there was no place left for the PCs tiny ship, and all the pirates made zero sense.
* Horrid for the results of unlimited production of the massive ships that followed, don't get me wrong, I loved the design system, I just wished there'd been some kind of reasonable limitation on both the upper hull sizes and the number of ships that could be produced and maintained
Before that horrid* book the Imperium could be physically huge and you still had PCs count for something in their tiny 200ton starship, boosting trade and even helping discourage pirates. After HG gave us an Imperial Navy of gargantuan ships in the millions there was no place left for the PCs tiny ship, and all the pirates made zero sense.
* Horrid for the results of unlimited production of the massive ships that followed, don't get me wrong, I loved the design system, I just wished there'd been some kind of reasonable limitation on both the upper hull sizes and the number of ships that could be produced and maintained
I agree!
This is what changed the face of MTY and whatever we did as charactors grew meaningles; it was a drop in the ocean.
Only by gaining control of a megacorporation, world or Navy could we influence the Sector we played in.
With TNE we felt our actions were once again meaningful; had concequences and could be turned toward the greater good of the space we operated in (for a profit of course)
I agree!
This is what changed the face of MTY and whatever we did as charactors grew meaningles; it was a drop in the ocean.
Only by gaining control of a megacorporation, world or Navy could we influence the Sector we played in.
With TNE we felt our actions were once again meaningful; had concequences and could be turned toward the greater good of the space we operated in (for a profit of course)
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