BlizzForums Game Night: Nuclear War

Game: Nuclear War
Site: Game Table Online
Date/Time: Wednesday, April 15th @ 9:00 PM EST
Channel: Main Lobby
Rules:See Second Post

Game Introduction:


After last week's robotic disaster in the Robo Rally, naturally I have a bit of frustration that I would like to take out on some others in this week's board game. Indeed, just a little frustration. So naturally, for our next BF Game Night, we're going to play a board/card game called Nuclear War. In this game, each player represents a major world power and attempts to gain world domination through the strategic use of propaganda techniques or nuclear weapons. Which do you prefer? As in the real word, the results of strategic decisions are not predictable and such factors as the chance dispersion of deadly radioactive fallout particles may significantly alter the course of games.

So what's the object? Eliminate the other major powers through two ways. The first is through peaceful persuasion as you persuade the population of the opposing countries to join your superior form of government. The other is to simply destroy the enemy population by using nuclear weapons.

I can only imagine what the BlizzForums populace will do with this 2-6 player game. Should be a booming fun night.

Issues with Game Table Online:

Q. What are the system requirements to play games at GameTable Online on a Windows-based PC?

All of our games use Sun Microsystems' Java, so you will need a computer that has Java version 1.5, or later. As of this writing, Java-supported platforms include Windows, Macintosh, Linux, and Solaris. *Note: we do not provide technical support for Linux and Solaris platforms. To verify your installation of Java, go to: http://java.com/en/download/installed.jsp

The minimum system requirements for GameTable Online games in the Windows environment are:
Microsoft Windows 95, 98, 2000, Millennium, XP, and Vista
Pentium 166MHz processor
32 megabytes of RAM
20 megabytes of free hard drive space
An 1024x768 display
Internet Explorer 5.0 or higher, or Netscape 4.7 or higher
A 28.8Kbps Internet connection

Q. Why is my computer UNABLE TO LAUNCH THE SPECIFIED APPLICATION when I try to play?

This message generally comes up when your computer is not able to utilize Java. Here are some common places to look:

Check that your computer has Java 1.5 or later installed. Java 1.6 is recommend for Windows users and Macintosh users with OS X Leopard. Earlier Mac OS' should stick with 1.5. You can use this link to check.
Check that you don't have multiple versions of Java enabled on your computer. To do this click on the Start button, open your Control Panel, and click on Java. This will open up the Java Control Panel where you should click the Java tab, and then under Java Application Runtime Settings, click View. This will bring up a listing of all the Java Runtime Versions on your computer. You should have only one version enabled. Click Okay. We currently recommend version 1.6.0_07 (8/22/08)

Clear your Java cache. To do this click on the Start button, open your Control Panel, and click on Java. This will open up the Java Control Panel where you should click on the General tab, click Settings under Temporary Internet Files, and then Delete Files to clear their cache.

On Macintosh systems, find Java Preferences (not Java Web Start). On the General tab you should have sections of the page listed as Java Applet Settings and Java Application Runtime Settings. On Applet settings, make sure only one version is selected (usually the newest, but older Mac users may have better results with 1.5). On the Runtime settings you should see J2SE 5.0, J2SE 1.4.2, and the like. Make sure that the J2SE version you want to use is at the top of the list, as this is the preference order that your computer will use Java versions.

If using Internet Explorer as an Internet browser, check that it is accessing Java: From the Tools menu, select Internet Options, select the Advanced tab, scroll down to the Java section and ensure that the Use Java… box is selected.

If using Netscape or Mozilla as an Internet browser, check that it is accessing Java: From Edit menu, select Preferences, click on Helper Applications under the Navigator heading, make sure there is “application/x-jnlp-file” line listed in the File Types, and that it is set to “Open using these files using default application.” If the “application…” is absent, enter a “New Type” with MIME type set to “application/x-jnlp-file.” Description should be set to “jnlp,” Extension should be set to “jnlp,” and Open with default… button should be selected. If the application line is present but not using default, edit the file type and make it so.

How To Sign Up At Game Table Online:

It is a pretty simple process to get an account at Game Table Online. Just go to: https://gametableonline.com/secure/register.php and fill that out and it will send you an e-mail with your password.

When you are ready to join the actual room, just click on the Play Games! tab at the top of the Game Table Online site. It will take you to a main lobby area where you will just need to look for the game created by SpaceDominator.

If you have any questions, do NOT hesitate to ask.

Thanks a lot,
SpaceDominator
 

Rules: Nuclear War

Overview:

NUCLEAR WAR is a game for two to six players. Each player represents a major world power and attempts to gain world domination through the strategic use of propaganda techniques or nuclear weapons. A sound strategy, however, is not always a guarantee of success. As in the real world, the results of strategic decisions are not predictable and such factors as the chance dispersion of deadly radioactive fallout particles may significantly alter the course of events.

Object of the Game

Each player seeks to gain world domination by eliminating the other major powers. This can be accomplished in two ways. The peaceful way is to persuade the population of opposing countries to join your superior form of government. The warlike way is to destroy the enemy population by using nuclear weapons. Population is the measure of success or failure in the game and you withdraw from the game if you lose your entire population.

Components

Population Cards. There are forty population cards in the game in the following five denominations: 1 million, 2 million, 5 million, 10 million and 25 million.

Nuclear War Cards. There are 100 cards, each being either a warhead, delivery system, propaganda, anti-missile, secret or top secret card.

Dice. There are two ten-sided dice to use when making an attack.

Placements. Each player has a placemat which holds their cards in play. The placemat has locations for your face up card, first face down card, second face down card, two deterrent cards, and population cards. A germ symbol moves from placemat to placemat to indicate whose turn it is.

Setting up the Game

1) A random player is selected to go first.

2) Starting population is determined by a random deal of the population cards. Each player gets a set number of cards depending on how many people are playing the game:

2 Players -> 15 Cards
3 Players -> 10 Cards
4 Players -> 8 Cards
5 Players -> 7 Cards
6 Players -> 6 Cards

3) The remaining population cards are placed in the bank in the center of the table.

4) The Nuclear War deck is then shuffled and nine cards are dealt to each player. The remaining cards are placed face down in the center of the table, forming the draw pile.

Setup Phase

The first player begins by playing all secret and top secret cards in their hand. The cards are discarded after being played and the player is immediately given replacement cards from the draw pile and proceeds to play any more secret or top secret cards that are drawn. This process continues until their nine-card hand contains no secret or top secret cards. The next player clockwise then does the same, and so on around the table.

Next, each player places two cards face down on the table in the spaces provided on the placemats. Since these cards are turned over on succeeding turns, the player is now committed to a specific strategy for the first two turns.

Game Turn

Play starts with the first player and proceeds clockwise around the table. The turn order is as follows:

1) Draw Cards and Resolve Secrets
You are automatically given cards from the draw pile until your hand size totals ten (including cards on your placemat except those in the face up card location). The moment that you draw a secret or top secret card, you need to resolve it. Once it is resolved, you continue drawing until you reach ten cards without having any secrets or top secrets. At this time, the card in your first face down card location automatically moves to your face up location, with the card in the second face down location moving up to the first.

2) Modify Deterrents
If you?d like, you can move a card from your hand to one of the two deterrent locations on your placemat, or vice versa. These spaces are used to show all other players one or two cards in your hand ? normally with a hope that they?ll serve as a deterrent against being attacked.

3) Place a Card
You must now place a card in the second face down card location. This card can come from your hand or from a deterrent location. Once you do this, you cannot modify your deterrent cards until your next turn.

4) Resolve Face Up Card
The card that was just moved into your face up card location is turned over and it is resolved. See the next section for card resolutions

5) End Turn
Play proceeds to the next player clockwise, unless someone intercepted a missile. If so, then the last person to intercept during the turn becomes the next player (and play proceeds clockwise from them).

Card Resolutions

Follow these rules when your card is resolved on your turn:

Propaganda Card
As long as there is a state of peace (see below), this card is effective. You steal population from the enemy of your choice and the card is discarded. If there is a state of war, the card is discarded with no effect.

Delivery System (Missile or Bomber)
These cards are used to set up an attack on your next turn. The delivery system remains face up and is not discarded. If on the next turn you turn over a warhead card useable by that delivery system, then you are ready to attack. If the next card is not a usable warhead card, the delivery system is discarded. Each delivery system lists the maximum size warhead that it can carry; anything equal to or less than this number is useable.

Warhead
For a warhead card to be effective, it must be preceded on the turn before by a delivery system capable of carrying it. If it was, then you must launch an attack (see below). If not, the warhead is not launched and is discarded.

Anti-Missile Card
These cards are only effective in defending against an attack, if you have placed it on your placemat it is not useful and is simply discarded.

Attack!

When you launch a warhead you must choose a target for your attack. The target can intercept your warhead if they have and choose to play the appropriate anti-missile card. Each anti-missile card lists the delivery systems that it can shoot down. To keep you from knowing their cards, the target needs to signify that whether they are intercepting even if they have no anti-missile cards. If the target does intercept, the attack is a failure. If not, then you roll on the nuclear fallout chart to see what happens. The warhead does the damage listed on the card, then modified by the chart. Note that in the computer game version, a missile that explodes on launch damages the attacker.

Roll/Result/Effect

00-04/Missile booster explodes on launch
If attack was anything other than a bomber, attacker takes damage

00-04/Bomber runs out of fuel
If attack was with a bomber, then all cards in the face up cards location of the attacker are discarded ? no one is hit with a warhead

05-09/Dud warhead
Nothing happens

10-22/Bomb shelter saves 2 million
Target takes damage minus 2,000,000

23-35/Additional 1 million engulfed in fireball
Target takes damage plus 1,000,000

36-49/No appreciable radiation fallout
Target takes damage

50-63/Radioactive fallout kills another 2 million
Target takes damage plus 2,000,000

64-76/Radioactive beta rays kills another 5 million
Target takes damage plus 5,000,000

77-89/Lethal doses of gamma rays kill another 10 million
Target takes damage plus 10,000,000

90-94/Dirty Bomb! Double the Yield
Target takes damage times 2

95-99/Explodes a nuclear stockpile! Triple Yield!
Target takes damage times 3. If the attacking warhead is a 100 megaton variety, a Super Chain Reaction destroys the world!

If the delivery system was a missile, the missile and the warhead are discarded. If the delivery system was a bomber, check to see if the bomber?s payload is empty. The bomber can attack in multiple, successive turns until it has dropped warheads equal to its payload or until the next card turned up is either not a warhead or takes the payload over the limit ? at which point the bomber and its warheads are discarded.

State of Peace and State of War

Once the target of a warhead is selected, a state of war exists. This is true even if the delivery system is subsequently shot down, explodes on launch, or is a dud. Peace is not restored until a player has been forced from the game through annihilation of their population.

When peace is restored, each player may alter their strategy by replacing one or two face down cards with cards from their hand. You may not replace a card that has already been turned face up, but the face up cards remain in play, in case you wish to continue with your previous strategy.

Final Retaliation

If you have been eliminated through the use of secret or top secret cards or by a warhead you have the privilege of immediate final retaliation before retiring from the game (you do not have this privilege if you were beaten peacefully with propaganda cards). You:

1. Combine each acceptable delivery system and warhead card that you possess (multiple warheads are fine on a bomber as long as you follow the payload limit)
2. Announce a target for each separate delivery system
3. After all targets are selected, roll for the attacks in the order that you announced them.
4. Discard any remaining cards. You can continue to watch the game and chat with the other players.

Note that you do get final retaliation if you draw a secret or top secret card that destroys the last of your own population. Also, if final retaliation wipes out another player, that player also gets final retaliation, so it is possible to start a chain reaction that destroys all of the remaining players!

Victory

You win the game if you are the last player left with population. Thus, there may not be a winner in the Nuclear War game?

Computer Game Tips

* Your placemat is always centered at the bottom of the table.
* Your hand of cards juts into the playfield just above the chat interface
* You can click on any card to see a full version of it on the right of the screen---unless of course it is a face down card belonging to another player
* You can click on your population cards to see how many of each type that you have and hover the mouse over the stack to see your current total
* Hover your mouse over anyone's population stack to see how many cards are in it
* Target another player by clicking anywhere on their placemat.
* The message window let?s you know what game phase is underway and chat messages from the game system prompt you on game specifics
* The look of the timer, in the upper right of the interface, changes depending on whether it is peace or war
* Play cards by dragging them over the correct location or by clicking the place card button and then double-clicking on the card
* Unlike in the physical game, you can only play deterrent cards during a specific phase
 

I'll try and be there, but work may draw me away (which is usually the case of late)
 

My wednesdays til the end of the school year just got filled :-/ And I really wanted to play this game.


WOOOO 3 Stars!!!
 

Alright, we're 10 minutes from showtime. Start making your way to GTO.
-SpaceDominator
 

yeah that wasn't very much fun at all.
 

Did noone show up? Or did the game just suck? Or did Erwin just lose?
 

Erwin just doesn't like games that screw him over with bad luck. Kacaier, Bred and SuperKiller all showed up and we ended up playing a series of Robo Rally games after we played two of this Nuclear War game. It actually wasn't too bad once we figured out what was going on. I'm still not a fan of Robo Rally.
-SpaceDominator
 

RoboRally, RoboRally!
 

Translation: I lost all of the Robo Rally games
-NoobNoobinator

You know I <3 you space