We kick off this informative series with information on how the Imperial Omega Campaign will work out from the perspective of your characters participating in it.  Then I will touch upon how we are actually doing the IOC from the out-of-character writing viewpoint, and then how the two viewpoints are meshed.  Don't worry, it just sounds confusing and likely won't affect you much at all.  The information just needs to be there to have later things make sense.

In short, the IOC is a large-scale wargame simulation into which the Vast Empire is putting many of its troops as preparation for its coreward push (occurring in Chapter 9).  Many systems will be conquered en route to the Vast Empire’s objective of Coruscant, and the Imperial High Command deems it necessary to ensure troops are properly trained in not only taking these systems, but holding them against assaults.

Although the simulator’s artificial intelligence is certainly high end (and powered by a BRT supercomputer), it still has its limitations and thus the creation of two teams to fight it out in the invented system which was created by meshing the variables and parameters of many systems predicted to hold strategic significance on the current planned route.

To further the training aim, the elite members will be spread out and not within their own respective squads, squadrons, or other posts.  Instead they will be assigned to many of the standard units that make up a majority of the Vast Empire.  So, your Stormtrooper will likely be attached to a Platoon of standard ground troops, while your Elite TIE Pilots will be flying with a few lesser TIE Pilots.

Now, although this is a simulator from the character standpoint when it comes to referencing it during future stories, we will be writing as if it were real mission.  Why?  Because quite frankly, it comes more naturally to most of us; plus it even allows the writing of character development in a much easier fashion.

In a short and simple enough phrase: The Imperial Omega Campaign is written much like any “real” mission, but when it is referenced by anything in the continuity of the Vast Empire canon, it is simply a massive simulated wargame.

Now, that aside, there are some tricky things that do need to be meshed.  It is quite possible your character could “die” during these missions.  If this is the case, he or she is booted out of the simulator and will later be placed back in as a full reboot, usually in an entirely different location.  The events leading to his or her death will be referenced to as a different character having died (which is easy enough since entire units go with the PCs typically), then some reason is made up to whichever point before then he or she is transferred to the current location.

Complex?  Eh, it’s actually simpler than it sounds, and probably won’t come into play for more than two or three people in a week, if even that many.  So don’t worry too much, unless you’re really reckless

Of course if you have one, you’re welcome to swap to your other division alt in these cases, if you feel it is much simpler.  Or just take over writing as some NPCs.

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Now, for some questions that were asked, and I think deserve a public answer (that won’t be covered shortly in another post of the series):

Quote:For reference/clarification, will there be some (easily accessible) compact way of viewing progress. Not just which team is generally doing better, but also the known intelligence and state of both teams. I wouldn't want, personally, to submit a graphic for intelligence when we know anything useful, or play a game to damage supplies when the other team is already starving.

You will have near full knowledge of your team’s own status, and a varying level of knowledge on the other team’s status.  Each time will have a separate private comnet actually for storage of the information, Kadann has been kind enough let us set that up later on when we have the teams worked out.

A map will of course be constantly updated with the status of both teams; we assume intelligence is always good enough at all times to track where entire armies of both sides virtually are, it’s not easy to hide a whole Corps of soldiers after all, let alone perhaps several.

Quote:what are the parameters for a victory? total posts, quality...etc, and whom will be doing the judging?

Parameters for victory will be outlined in detail later on, since I still need to talk to your division leaders about the specifics once the teams are set.  However, in short, "victory" largely stem from control of regions/territory/sectors/etc.  Think of each "battle" as a mini-competition in which I will tally up your points and award a victory to one side, more posts may assist your victory, but quality plays a heavier factor.

Keep in mind I rarely use the word "Competition" but "Campaign." This is meant largely to be a time for both divisions to get together and shatter some of this "iron curtain" stuff that seems to exist.  Yes, I expect this to be competitive, but as long as there's fun all around, everyone wins!

Judging currently sits at just myself, but others will be brought on later as soon as it's worked out who is participating and who isn't.

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Stay tuned for tomorrow, as I will be posting Part II of the IOC Series.  This one will start to introduce you to one of the gaming options for the IOC.  It’s a great free (and legal) game that should run on most machines I believe, so I think it will see a good bit of use.

If you wish to ask another question on anything IOC related for me to answer, just submit it via the following form.  You’ll either get a message from me, or see your answer in tomorrow’s addition to the series!

(I prefer to keep this topic as free from clutter as possible, so no posting on it, kthx! )