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Thursday, March 28, 2013

Dead Scenario File

This is Steven Petrick posting.

As has been noted, the computer crash destroyed the file of submitted and formatted scenarios that were left from the previous Captain's Log. So far, there has been an absolute dearth of new submissions.

As it is, the only thing I can think of to do is try to take a week to create scenarios from scratch, but I would rather let other people exercise their creativity.

Yes, submitting a scenario is hard. Trying to get balance right and a background that makes sense is real work. We do not want to publish scenarios that are just this ship (or these ships) happened to run into that ship (or ships) and a battle occurred or (as so many have done) massive fleet battles that are just exercises in putting as many ships on the map as possible.

We want scenarios that have interest: maybe something more to accomplish, or some handicap to be overcome. And, yes, those are harder to come up with given all of the scenarios that have already been published using so many different ideas to date.

Scenarios with multiple sides can be submitted, but the backgrounds need to make sense for why it is happening.

Bear in mind that when you try to have different objectives and hidden objectives that everyone will have read your scenario, so it generally does  not work to say "side A was unaware that supporting force B was going to switch sides on Turn #X," because side A is fully aware and will do what ever is necessary to circumvent the negative effect you scenario calls for, so such things do not usually work.

So, sit down, look at the history, put some forces together and look for some interesting angles, keep balance in mind, and be creative and submit a scenario.