The World of The Gunny

Only two. One: Is everything already researched just not that good, and two: LEO rockets are minimum for launching satellites, I assume.

1.) No, that is what initiating a hardware program does. It begins the R&D for that HW. And the Research teams assigned are 'researching' that HW, and as an effect, raise the Safety Level as their research matures.

2.) Correct.



Cheers, Thor

Been reading the wikipedia. I will bend history to begin my space program some 20 years before it actually started. Anyways, it even gave me some logical first steps for my program:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_space_program

"PRC's space program has several goals. The China National Space Administration policy white paper lists short term goals as:
Build a long term earth observation system
Set up an independent satellite telecommunications network
Establish an independent satellite navigation and positioning system
Provide commercial launch services
Set up a remote sensing system
Study space science such as microgravity, space materials, life sciences, and astronomy
Plan for exploration of the moon
Among their stated longer term goals are:
Improve their standing in the world of space science
Establish a crewed space station
Crewed missions to the moon
Establish a crewed lunar base"

Yep, studying the history of the real space race and the real space programs will be very beneficial in this game. I like my games to teach, as well as entertain, the players.

Sounds like a very good plan bud! I look forward to beginning 1957 with you as a member of the team!



Cheers, Thor

43 years ago tonight Apollo 8, the first manned mission to the Moon, entered lunar orbit on December 24th, 1968. That evening, the astronauts; Commander Frank Borman, Command Module Pilot Jim Lovell, and Lunar Module Pilot William Anders did a live television broadcast from lunar orbit, in which they showed pictures of the Earth and Moon seen from Apollo 8.

Jim Lovell said, "The vast loneliness is awe-inspiring and it makes you realize just what you have back there on Earth." They ended the broadcast with the crew taking turns reading from the book of Genesis.

William Anders:

"For all the people on Earth the crew of Apollo 8 has a message we would like to send you".

"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.
And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness."


Jim Lovell:

"And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.
And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.
And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day."


Frank Borman:

"And God said, Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.
And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called the Seas: and God saw that it was good."


Borman then added, "And from the crew of Apollo 8, we close with good night, good luck, a Merry Christmas, and God bless all of you - all of you on the good Earth."

From me and my family I wish all of you a very Merry Christmas.



Cheers, Thor

Ok folks, all except for the USSR has been sent out. So Jan of 57 is live for tomorrow.

@Gav, as soon as you confirm you have time in this thread I will send out the USSR to you.

@Haegan, I sent yours to your Yahoo account. Only one I have on file until you send me some email.

Also, I hope you folks enjoy the lil' pics I added to your sheets. Hopefully it will help with the immersion.



Cheers, Thor

I sent out the Sheets yesterday, and so far only Haegan and Mav have sent theirs back. Whats the hold up with the rest?



Cheers, Thor

I was failing at trying to edit the doccument, sent it back now though.

MrAnderson, the only editing the player does to the sheet is to add their orders on the orders sheet. The rest of them are for informational purpose only. The GM does the rest.

As I said, this game is easy to play, for the players. Just check your data, think about what you want to do, and write the orders for them. Then the GM will process those orders.

I just checked your email, and you just have a link to the Microsoft webapp. Please do me a favor, remove that, and just attach your sheet to an email to me. Or if you cannot do that, attach it to a post here at WoTG.

It should be easy to use. Just open the sheet with your computers version of excel. You can then attach it to an email, as I sent it to you.

Having it publicly on the net like you have it now is bad. So please remove it.



Cheers, Thor

And resent. By "editing", excel 2007 is weird and didn't let me write unless I did functions.

Ah, Ok. I have heard bad things about excel 07 and above. Thats why I will never upgrade above 03.

Also, as an FYI you can open these sheets with Open Office, a free program out on the net. With that program you just have to make sure you save the file with the .xls extension.

As another FYI, I have not recieved another email from you, so I replied to your original one. Just attach your turn to that when you reply.



Cheers, Thor

Sorry, yesterday was the extended family's Christmas party. Took all day, was tired when I got home. Woke up tired, but gonna tackle my turn now.

NP bud. Just did not want you to fall too far behind.



Cheers, Thor

@MrAnderson, if you wish, please use these hints. If not, thats fine too.

1.) You have plenty of money and can assign any number of teams to a research project. Each team will only raise your safety level by 1% - 4% each.

2.) You need a comm package for satellite missions.

3.) You need a satellite facility to improve your safety level and photo recon levels.

4.) You need to enlarge your VAB to use LEO Rockets.

I will wait for you to respond before processing your turn.



Cheers, Thor

Well, add 4 more teams to each project. I'll do the comm package later, and I will upgrade the VAB once I have LEO rockets and sattelite facility before I launch.

Ok, sounds good.



Cheers, Thor

Turn submitted. Will hopefully all work out in the end.

...is that a U2 flying overhead?

Ya never know...



Cheers, Thor

My Outlaws leave Tomorrow so I'll be right to continue .... thank god, they are driving me insane!

Lol, I heard that! I will send out your turn tomorrow with the rest!

Everybody else, all Jan turns processed and Feb's turn sent out. If you can get your turns in tonight I can have them processed by Noon CDT (-5 GMT) tomorrow.



Cheers, Thor

With research, do we need to mention what we're researching every turn, or just when we start or stop a research project?

Also, thanks for the tip about the communications system. That might be a vital tip and should probably go in the manual somewhere. Though, I suppose I should've figured, but it's the kind of thing that's obvious in hindsight. I thought of interplanetary distances, not in orbit above the Earth.

'Course, I'm sure it doesn't need a communications system to beep.

If we don't spend our research budget by the end of the year, do we lose it?


EDIT: Also, where does the photo package fit in? Do you have to designate it each time? I think I read that it's free to put on satellites and probes, but do you have to research it? Mention including it each time? Or is it just assumed that if you launch a satellite or probe, that it's already included? Of course, there's no point if you don't have a communications system to go with it...just saying...

1.) Just mention it if you wish need to change the number of teams, beginning, or ending the research project.

2.) Yeah sometimes its the stuff that should be obvious that escapes our notice. I still have to add the mission descriptions to the Annex, and that's why it is missing right now. But I will definitely put that datum in the desc.

No, it doesn't, but without a comm package all you have is a steady beep in orbit, AKA Sputnik. The Russians did it for the propaganda. The US did it for propaganda AND science. Explorer 1 had a small sci package and comm package on it.

3.) If you do not spend it, it carries over. But not using it is actually detrimental. Since you are hurting your research program.

4.) The Photo Package works just like a comm package, or another science package. You research it the same way. When you wish to add one to the satellite just put that in the order and the GM will assemble the mission in the VAB for you. But ONLY if you have the hardware on hand. So make sure you have the items you want to launch into orbit on hand before the mission heads to the VAB.

If you do not have the HW available the mission will be auto-scrubbed.



Cheers, Thor

I have to say, even as disheartening as the failures Mav and I have had, especially for Mav, it makes me feel good as a designer. Since in the real life space race rockets were blowing up, and launches failed on a regular basis. So that tells me the design can recreate history. One important facet of any design attempting to simulate a specific period in time.

So, even with the blow ups, and power failures, we have learned something good!



Cheers, Thor

Thanks for the clarification. I couldn't find the entry for the Photography Package. I'll just tell my peeps to develop it, then.

Also, my condolences on the realistic failures of your rockets...even though it won't happen to me. Schadenfreude!

As for the Photo package, due to an uneasy feeling... I checked the rules, and guess what!? You found something that I forgot to add! Good catch! I will add it in and send it with your turn tomorrow.

As for no failures, uh huh, wanna make a bet on that?



Cheers, Thor