Skirmish threads leading into Invasions?

[LT-137]

This is more of a discussion piece than a suggestion, as I’d like to see where the Community’s stance would be on the following idea. Having spoken with a few people already, I do see the double-edged nature of this idea. As it’ll be great for the story that’ll eventually lead into something greater, or be a colossal waste of time for almost all parties involved. But, those folks aren’t you - the Community of Chaos - in their entirety.

So, what are your thoughts on having Skirmish threads being thrown up in advance of Invasions?

While the opening post is at the discretion of the writer initiating the thread, I believe it offers a chance to weave together a story that could culminate during an Invasion thread. Essentially, in my mind, I’d view it as a reconnaissance and sabotage themed thread. Where an “elite” team of folks attempt to infiltrate an enemy world to soften up the planet’s defences, while the garrison tries to stop that team in whatever manner they deem necessary.

It’d be a neat pre-text for an Invasion thread and would allow the defenders to flesh out their planet’s defences In Character. A fact that’s rarely done, outside of particular circumstances and massive planetary asset lists, lol.

Should that team succeed in sowing the discord needed to soften up the PDF network; then the story would and could carry over into the Invasion proper. With their allied forces fighting through what remains of the enemy to recover their Vanguard assets as one of the listed objectives. If they fail? Then the Invasion force would be facing a well-prepared garrison, and likely see the arrival of reinforcements from nearby sectors.

Just to be clear - I’m not wanting to see a mandatory shift in how Invasions are done, nor bring about more uses of the Skirmish tag. I’m in this for the epic stories detailing some bad-ass conflict. So, I wanna hear what you - the Community - thinks. Would you like to see this become a thing, or are you content with everything being shoved into an Invasion thread?

Gimme them deets below, and let’s see where this goes.

 

[Kahlil Noble]

Done right, this sounds awesome.

 

[Eris Volcata]

It will of course depend on the parties, but generally speaking giving some context to the invasion thread can only enhance the narrative of both sides. The best invasions/rebellions I've participated in and read have had some sort of lead-up to them, whether that be skirmishes, dominions, or other historical context. Nothing happens in a vacuum. That being said, sometimes the element of surprise necessitates dropping an invasion out of the blue.

 

[Joycelyn Zambrano]

I remember we did this on Thyferra, and it was excellent! It didn't bind together quite as well as we wanted, due to the multiple invasions and subsequent burnout. I think it takes a bit of experimenting to get the timing right, but I would encourage making skirmishes and invasions tie together. Recon and infiltration is a good way of doing it.

In general, I think we should also return skirmishes with skirmishes more often! Skirmishing is a fun PvP event with less pressure than invasions.

 

[Darth Athora]

It's happened before on multiple occasions.

 

[LT-137]

[member="Darth Athora"] - Aye that's true, but it's become a rare occurrence these days. So, my secret hope with this is to not only see where we collectively stand, but to bring this idea back into the limelight.

 

[Romi Jade]

Skirmish--

Yes.

 

[Captain Larraq]

[member="Khonsu Amon"]

One of the most enjoyable events I participated in involved this sort of thing. Kinda. The Republic was going through this faction campaign / story that involved the government suddenly nationalizing huge swaths of private industry within their territory. And this was back when company owners had to put enormous effort into building themselves up.

Corporate owners throughout the board reacted to this thread by launching their own thread where they discussed things IC, and I think some Republic writers held an emergency Senate meeting IC to discuss the matter as well.

During this time, I started an Alor'e Council meeting over at Mandalore where Larraq convinced the clan leaders that we couldn't afford any more economic losses due to the recent decline of our factions fringe territories and the loss of a planet with major mineral wealth. Having convinced enough of the clan leaders to support moving to secure the Republic planet (technically an asteroid field) that Larraq (personally) had mining rights at, I had Larraq pick up his corporate navy and go to Roche to figure out what was going on and secure his corporate interests, knowing full well that the rest of the Mandalorians Navy would be coming to join him once they had rallied for an attack and he had finished making a beachhead.

Lots of craziness happened in the invasion, and after the invasion. The thread involved 20km vs 20km of ships, everyone behaved reasonable and took measured hits. Technically, Larraq won the naval aspect of the invasion with a credit card and a bribe. Also, technically, it was Mandal Hypernautics that beat the Republic Navy (and support fleets), not the Mandalorians Navy itself.

All in all, it was a lot of fun. And for all practical, IC effects... It was the only time that a Tier 6 Company launched an invasion (and won).

 

[Zef Halo]

[member="Khonsu Amon"]

I dig this. Having a lead-up similar how the Mandalorian Wars culminated from a few smaller battles into the Malachor V Battle. These lead ups could always be more specialized i.e some political, some recon-only, some dogfighting, some intelligence vs. intelligence stuff and all other little pieces which all come together in the Invasion.

Adds much more flavor and actual story to an Invasion to be fair. The least it does is, forges IC relationships with other chars, both allied and not, that culminate in an invasion.

 

[Kalic Daws]

[member="Khonsu Amon"] As a person who loves the story side of RP, I really love this idea!

 

[LT-137]

[member="Amon Vizsla"] - Exactly my line of thinking, mate. It makes Invasions, in my mind at least, have less of an episodic feel. lol

 

[Runi Verin]

On a site I was on previously, this was actually the norm. Although that is primarily because it involved a mechanic that allowed both sides to work up what were essentially 'concession points'. More troops, more defenses, better positioning when you invaded, etc etc

Not sure if we want to go down that route, but I definitely always enjoyed the preparation and storylines that came from this sorta thing. Gives invasions a lot more depth and allows characters that would normally be overlooked in a full-swing battle to shine as well.

 

[Eris Volcata]

[member="Khonsu Amon"]

One of the most enjoyable events I participated in involved this sort of thing. Kinda. The Republic was going through this faction campaign / story that involved the government suddenly nationalizing huge swaths of private industry within their territory. And this was back when company owners had to put enormous effort into building themselves up.

Corporate owners throughout the board reacted to this thread by launching their own thread where they discussed things IC, and I think some Republic writers held an emergency Senate meeting IC to discuss the matter as well.

F A C T S​

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DEAL WITH THEM​

 

[Fiolette Fortan]

I can definitely get behind this, I love the build up - definitely way more episodic.

My only expierence that comes even close was the speed dominion for Kaeshana and the build up to that - because when we were in it. It was glorious it had the build up it had the feelings moving into it and I loved that. Would definitely like to see us do something in the way [member="Runi Verin"] mentioned and I feel that it will overall help us develop better stories with that classical Star Wars episodic feel.

 

[EllieEx]

I mean, I've seen at least one skirmish lead to a series of invasions since i got here. H'ratth, biggest political mistake of 2019, love it.


Jokes aside, actual skirmishes to flesh out the story of a target planet pre-invasion? sign me up.

 

[Ilias Nytrau]

I've seen sites where taking over a planet was mandated by the rules to be set up in stages. I'm not gonna advocate that, but actually building a story is generally what we should be here for, right? The thought of preamble being taken into consideration at the end judgement of the main event (Invasions) makes a good deal of sense. Even surprise attacks should have something IC causing the decision to launch that attack, but should only be an IC surprise, not an OOC one - talk to your 'adversaries', yeah?

 

[Imperator]

While I haven't been in many battle threads here, I love this idea from a historical/tactical standpoint.

Historically, skirmishes, border conflicts, etc. served as both pretexts to larger wars and battles. Particularly around the Napoleonic and Early Victorian Eras, skirmishes would result when advancing enemy scouting parties would come into contact with each other, typically symbolizing that the larger, main forces are advancing into the same areas. Likewise, skirmishes such as the Marco Polo Bridge Incident were used to instigate wider wars with the Japanese forces being repelled and a ceasefire being agreed upon, only for a much wider invasion to commence soon after. Likewise, in Star Wars lore, the Battle of the Rishi Moon can be seen as a (failed) skirmish battle that would have resulted in a wider invasion of Kamino if it succeded.

If used in an RP sense, a skirmish battle could also be used tactically to either distract/pin down an enemy's forces in one area, while a larger force invades at a different point. A skirmish could also set up an invasion to a larger larget, such as the Rishi Moon example above.

While I would be fully supportive of this idea, it should be a bonus option instead of a replacement, as not all wars were pretexted by skirmishes and not all skirmishes resulted in war (i.e. the Toledo "War" (I honestly love this story)). In other words, as long as it doesn't water down to a "fulfill skirmish stage to enter the invasion stage" I think that this addition would be great!

 

[LT-137]

I just want to make this clear.

I'm in no way saying that we should change Invasion rules to force people to go through skirmishes. I just wanted to start a discussion to see what people thought about using said threads that led into their map-changing cousins. If Major factions wanted to do a prelude to Invasion thread via a Skirmish - they're more than welcome to do so, and don't need a rule change to make that happen.

If anything? It's a change in perception that's needed.

 

[Tathra Khaeus]

​I'd really like this. Sounds like an excellent way to solidify storylines or opponents or a general tone for an invasion previous to said invasion.

 

[Darth Athora]

So basically what Khonsu wants is more of Season 1-6 of Game of Thrones and less of Season 8. We want some foreplay before we get to the boomstiggidy nastiness. Let's make this goldie boy happy, people.