How Do You Plan to Use 4th Edition?

[Ursus Maior]

I'm going to one-shot gamemaster the new edition on my 40th birthday, which is on July 18th. Since that's the date of the "death of a division" in 2000 we're going to play into by birthday, starting on July 17th. The one-shot will be largely setting agnostic, too much background is not good in one-shots. But the general setting will be as published by FL.

I would like to transition parts of my regular gaming group into a proper campaign later on. If that happens, I will adjust the setting a bit, but keep the general idea of a resurgent USSR after a successful coup in August 1991. Points I would like to change are things that militarily seem unjustifiable to me, e. g. sailing a CVN into the Baltic to attack Sweden and counter the Soviet Baltic Fleet.

I will also have to rebalance Soviet might and personnel-power. In my opinion FL are overdoing it a bit. I think it's more likely that the USSR cannot escape its death-spiral on its own, but communication with the West fails somewhere around 1996 and the goal is to plunder the Baltics and then Poland to avoid running bankrupt. Of course this gets covered up in the usual spiel (i. e. "protecting Soviet citizens abroad", "pre-emptive strike against revisionist-fascist Poland" etc.). Since the West will still have had a Peace Dividend, though toned down from the historical version, the ensuing war goes more or less like written by FL.

The difference will be that as the arsenals gradually deplete, older material shows up. While the West can go back to M48s or in some cases M47s, the Russians still have some quantities of T-34s, T-44s, IS-3s, SU-100s, and ASU-85s that can be reactivated, though likely only on a 1:10 ratio (i. e. ten tanks can be cobbled together into one working tank). These tanks can be sufficient against NATO forces, if used against the mostly under-equipped light infantry brigades that remain. So the charge NATO that was Operation Reset will have come as a surprise to the forces of the USSR, but once reserves had been mobilized from the hinterlands and the 5th ID had lost its momentum, the offensive stalled and finally broke down, before reaching Łódź. Scattered survivors and remaining elements got mopped up by WW2 era tanks, which in turn could not go into a counter-offensive due to lack of fuel and being vulnerable to remaining NATO forces.

The storyline will end up, where it usually does in T2K, but I will be avoiding (hopefully) to make the USSR look like a super-power it could not have been in the Nineties. Not even with deus ex machina economic power and a military junta in control.

[Silent Hunter UK]

If a game comes up on RPOL or Myth-Weavers, I am hoping to join it.

[Olefin]

Originally Posted by Ursus Maior

I'm going to one-shot gamemaster the new edition on my 40th birthday, which is on July 18th. Since that's the date of the "death of a division" in 2000 we're going to play into by birthday, starting on July 17th. The one-shot will be largely setting agnostic, too much background is not good in one-shots. But the general setting will be as published by FL.

I would like to transition parts of my regular gaming group into a proper campaign later on. If that happens, I will adjust the setting a bit, but keep the general idea of a resurgent USSR after a successful coup in August 1991. Points I would like to change are things that militarily seem unjustifiable to me, e. g. sailing a CVN into the Baltic to attack Sweden and counter the Soviet Baltic Fleet.

I will also have to rebalance Soviet might and personnel-power. In my opinion FL are overdoing it a bit. I think it's more likely that the USSR cannot escape its death-spiral on its own, but communication with the West fails somewhere around 1996 and the goal is to plunder the Baltics and then Poland to avoid running bankrupt. Of course this gets covered up in the usual spiel (i. e. "protecting Soviet citizens abroad", "pre-emptive strike against revisionist-fascist Poland" etc.). Since the West will still have had a Peace Dividend, though toned down from the historical version, the ensuing war goes more or less like written by FL.

The difference will be that as the arsenals gradually deplete, older material shows up. While the West can go back to M48s or in some cases M47s, the Russians still have some quantities of T-34s, T-44s, IS-3s, SU-100s, and ASU-85s that can be reactivated, though likely only on a 1:10 ratio (i. e. ten tanks can be cobbled together into one working tank). These tanks can be sufficient against NATO forces, if used against the mostly under-equipped light infantry brigades that remain. So the charge NATO that was Operation Reset will have come as a surprise to the forces of the USSR, but once reserves had been mobilized from the hinterlands and the 5th ID had lost its momentum, the offensive stalled and finally broke down, before reaching Łódź. Scattered survivors and remaining elements got mopped up by WW2 era tanks, which in turn could not go into a counter-offensive due to lack of fuel and being vulnerable to remaining NATO forces.

The storyline will end up, where it usually does in T2K, but I will be avoiding (hopefully) to make the USSR look like a super-power it could not have been in the Nineties. Not even with deus ex machina economic power and a military junta in control.

You and I have the same birthdays!

and I agree - FL went way overboard and made the Soviets too formidable - its more a case with how they set it up why the Soviets arent on the Rhine given what they have versus NATO by 2000

[Ursus Maior]

Originally Posted by Olefin

You and I have the same birthdays!

and I agree - FL went way overboard and made the Soviets too formidable - its more a case with how they set it up why the Soviets arent on the Rhine given what they have versus NATO by 2000

Well, what a coincidence! We share that day with Vin Diesel (1967), Paul Verhoven (1938) and Nelson Mandela (1918). So, here's to good company!

I hope they'll tone down that "Russia Stronk" theme a bit in upcoming publications or explaing, why NATO and the USA acted in such ways that made this strategic surprise possible. However, I am not yet convinced this line of publications will generate enough revenue for us to see many additions. It migh become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

[Cdnwolf]

The beta pdfs come with a conversion and solo rule section and I am trying out some of my old characters using the new format. I am eager to see what the table top systems they will be using.

[Olefin]

Given the fact that 2/3rd of the answers to the poll are basically ignore or mine it for bits but otherwise not use it that does not bode well for the V4 being in good shape as to its initial launch.

Keep in mind the long term FB T2K and discord groups are even more negative than that as to its reception as anyone who has been on them can attest. The FL FB group that is more positive but that is more the place for current Free League fans who have a different outlook than many of the other places the T2K community is online.

Personally, I don't see V4 having a long life unless those numbers change significantly if the polling and reactions that are being posted stay the same - which supports what you are posting that less than a third, at most, of the T2K community plan to seriously try to use it. For a successful sustained launch that has got to change or it will go the way of other attempted reboots that had similar receptions with other RPG/movies/TV franchises.

I have my final release pdf copy but at this point, given how its currently written and presented, I dont see much use for it and have voted accordingly.

Raellus - you did ask how you plan to use V4 on this thread so that is my answer. If some of my concerns are addressed (and yes I have written Marc and Tomas directly on them yesterday) then that may change. I will not discuss those concerns here.

[Rainbow Six]

Originally Posted by Olefin

Given the fact that 2/3rd of the answers to the poll are basically ignore or mine it for bits but otherwise not use it that does not bode well for the V4 being in good shape as to its initial launch.

According to the Kickstarter website Free League got 8,073 backers.

To date 45 people have voted in this poll. If my maths are right that's around 0.5% of the backers (if everyone voting backed it, which probably isn't the case). I'm not really sure ~0.5% counts as a representative sample. Personally I guess Free League are maybe holding out some hope that the other ~99.5% of their backers (most of whom I'm going to guess probably aren't going to vote in this poll) plus the God knows how many who didn't back it but might buy it are going to save them from your predictions of doom.

FWIW I voted as one of the ones that would be mining it. And I shall buy any follow up material to mine that as well. So mining it for info does NOT automatically equate to not buying any follow up material.

[Olefin]

I am talking about the poll data here which had enough responses to be scientific as well as the information I am gathering based on responses on FB and Discord. As a person who uses data for predictive purposes as part of my job what you need is a scientifically valid sample - which we have here and then see how it applies overall.

That’s why you don’t need to survey all the backers to find out what they think of it. Unless you reject how scientific predictive data is gathered and insist that only 100 percent polling of a population is valid for gathering information and making predictions.

FYI polling data and quality data evaluations are made with about that percentage of the overall population or less all the time and as long as they aren’t overly weighted one way or the other are scientifically valid. Your typical political poll for instance tries to gauge the feeling of the American people as a whole and does so with a very small overall sample compared to the population as a whole.

And since FL hasnt done polling of their own what we have to base responses on, to date, is this poll here - which given the number of people who actually post here on a regular basis, represents a rather decent sized percentage of that posting population.