Board Game Designers Forum

This blog is meant to be a collection of ideas for a game I am trying to "design." I do not intend to turn this into a money-making product, and will probably make it print and play. Comments and suggestions would be helpful.

THE IDEA:
So, in order of importance, here are the criteria and constraints I need this game to fill

A) Audience (COD fanactics/small kids)

The audience for this game (AKA my gaming group) is split into 2 parts, those that play COD, and those who are too little to play COD. For those who do not know COD, COD is not a fish, but rather a very popular [sarcasm]"tactical"[/sarcasm] RTS. Thus, many board games I create must either replace cod (which has never been accomplished by any game), or include it. (as a example, the game "COD risk" has become somewhat popular, and it plays just as it sounds.)

The second, vastly less important half, are small kids. A game can survive without their support, but only for a few sessions. When a kid says "can I play?", we must comply. Else, the parents get involved, and game night is over. We have times where we can play without such interference, but such times are few and far in between (as well as being filled with COD.)

B) Theme

Something Si-fi-ish. The idea came from a very warped star wars. The backstory goes like thus:

The rebel fleet has failed in destroying the death star. With one massive blow, the rebel alliance folds. The galactic empire has taken over the empire

or so they thought. . .

You see, the rebels missed the. . . hole thing (forget what it's called), but they did hit something else, the computer mainframe. Now, the Death Star computer is on a rampage, taking the station by storm. It has killed the emperor, as well as Darth Vadar, and is now hell bent on destroying the galaxy. The empire hackers have attempted to shut it down, but fail. However, they have found a way to influence it. The death star has enough energy to destroy every planet. . .save one.

Now, the remaining leaders have begun a free for all. Everyone is trying to take over planets for themselves, with the empire dissolved from the emperors death. These leaders attempt to hire the hackers, so that the death star blows up the other planets, not theirs. At the end, one planet will remain. Who will control it?

C) "Handy" War-like game

Now, let me say clearly, I do not want a wargame. I want a euro - like game, with a touch of warfare involved. Nothing complicated.
I have always been intrigued with the "handy" game, where each player is a part of multiple teams, of which one will win. This is the purpose of this game. The game is divided into a certain number of "factions", of which there will be multiple leaders (players). There would be 3 players per faction, and about 1.5 times as many factions as players (estimated numbers, I know the math won't work.) Only the last surviving faction can win. During the game, players will recieve resources, based on the status of all 3 of their factions. Therefore, one can't win by focusing on one faction alone.

D) Worker - Placement Mechanic
Each player would get a amount of workers, and would place one per turn. The current placements I'm thinking about are. . .

Per FACTION:
1) Attack Force: movement --> Controls which planet is to be assaulted. Also controls attack tactics.
2) Attack Force: Deployment --> Determines how big this attack force is to be
3) Defence Manuvers: Successful attacks leave the surviving attackers on the planet, to defend. This action allows these defenders to move around. Also controls defense tactics.
4) Fortification: Adds to defending units
5) Hyperspace jump: The galaxy is divided into a bunch of "universes." The hyperspace jump determines which galaxy the fleet will go to during the NEXT turn. This is important because every action, except for 3, can only be taken in the current universe.
6) Political: allows the player to score points depending on the success of the actions during the turn. Points on this track determine the winner. . .but are useless if the faction is eliminated.

on the death star (for everyone)
1) UNLIMITED PLACEMENT: hacker central: Where unused workers are placed once a player passes, the people you have here determine how much control you have over which planet the big beam of death passes over next.
2) Resource Collection: there will be numberous places where players can score "viceroy points" (or VP's), and each space will score a variable number of points (like number of planets, total units produced, total successful attacks this turn, ect.) VP's are used to give players more workers, allowing them to do more things.

3) Radar Jammer: Stops one faction from attacking (if the player wants to)
4) Hangar: Gives one faction more ships
5) Command Bridge: Controls Turn Order (a bit iffy. . .)
This is going to be a bit different, see below
x
xxxxxxxxx
x's represent spots. The first guy goes in the first row. After that, guys go in the second row.
The guy in the top determines direction of order -- from first to last, or last to first.

E) Generally Cut throat game in general, but especially the Resource system
My idea is that each "fleet" begins with 10 ships. Each planet produces one type of unit per turn. Units in fleets can be deployed for attacks once, and then become defenders. The result, a definite ability to sabotage. One that controls the attack force deployment and movement can literally send the whole fleet to one planet. . .and then blow it up :-)
Of course, with enough knowledge by the players, this can be avoided, by simply having 2 different people in the two places. However, with collusion, it can still be possible.
I want battles to be short and "sharp." Roll dice/draw cards, one unit dies. Repeat until someone decides to retreat. I want players to feel like every unit is precious, and make them think about retreating as a very viable option.
And then the big beam of death. The "voting" would be first for the universe, and then for the specific planet. However, one worker gives one vote for ONE of these. So, do you cast the vote early, to make sure to keep the beam away from your spots? Or, do you wait till round 2, where you can more accurately select a target, but run the risk of getting out voted, and seeing one of your planets get finished off?

So, in summary, I want a game where although players are in teams, there is a very good motive to backstab early and often. I want a worker placement game where every placement can be screwed up by someone else (ex. the politician can be screwed up by a bad attack/defence commander.) I want a euro-style combat system that rewards good timing, and yet still has the ability to change the game on one dice roll. I want a game that encourages fast and accurate play, and keeps the adreneline pumping.

THINGS I'M THINKING ABOUT:
Timer system (I want this game to feel like a RTS with a board, no AP here!)
Specific war system (probably a simple RockPaperScissors system, with a few twists)
How big is the galaxy (thinking 5x number of players)
VP-worker ratio?
Methods of getting VP's?
Method of getting political points?