Star Wars Fleet Composition Game

Offside Report on Evan D’Alessandro’s game by Jim Wallman.

In this game, the bulk of the players represented major ship manufacturers in the Star Wars Universe.  The hybrid players (and me) had a different role, in that we represented the Starwars equivalent of the Navy Board and were determining the future force structure of the Imperial Navy, posts the defeat of rebellion.  Our job was to deciding roughly how the fleet would be composed.  This was an entertaining debate between Admiral Nick (big Star Destroyers Are Best) Drage, Admiral Nick (Carriers and Starfighters Rule) Luft and Admiral Jim (Send A space-Gunboat) Wallman.

The other players had a load of tables and technical details (which mercifully we did not have to see).  They worked out some ship designs with capabilities and costs, then each contractor pitched their designs to the Admiralty.  While they worked, us Admirals had a lively discussion about the shape of the future navy and how many big ships, small ships and carriers we would need in a galaxy where there was no longer a threat from a major hostile fleet.

The game went through two iterations, the first was where the contractors pitched and we, the Admirals gave our reaction.  The contractors then went away and revised their products based on what they heard from us, and the Admiralty players revised their concepts based on the (limited) range of vessels on offer from commercial sources.

The second iteration was a re-pitch from the Contractors, and the Admiralty announcing how many ships of each type it was prepared to buy.  In the event we decided to purchase some ships from each of the four main contractors in order to have a diverse source of supply – we did not want to be dependent on a single supplier.

My thoughts on the game:

a.  There was too small a variance between the smallest type of ship and the largest – the smallest was about 60% the cost of the largest.  Greater variation would mean the Admiralty would have more decisions and compromises to make around fleet composition.

b.  The doctrinal debate in the Admiralty is really interesting and could easily be a game in its own right.  I would like to see a bit more on this – perhaps the Admirals could have some ‘evidence’ (from entirely partisan wargames) about the superiority of their preferred doctrinal approach, and perhaps some ‘existing relationships’ with defence contractors (“did you enjoy the tickets to the spaceball championships Admiral?”).

c.  In the game none of the contractor players considered forming a cartel (which frankly would have been my first thought as a contractor).  That might be something to consider as a potential problem (or opportunity),

d.  There might be some state-owned Imperial Shipyards (who wouldn’t join a cartel) but who are expensive and a bit inefficient (but produce what they’re told to) – so the dilemma becomes do we get the ‘perfect but expensive and late’ ship form the Imperial Shipyards or the ‘not perfect but cheap and on time’ ship from contractors.

The future force / force concept sort of game is something I personally find fascinating.  I really hope we see more of this!