Barbarossa Developer Notes #5: It Would Help If I Wasn’t Surrounded By Idiots

VR designs has been reinforced with designer Cameron Harris and the result is a revolutionary new operational war game 'Barbarossa' that plays like none other. It blends an advanced counter pushing engine with deep narrative, people management and in-depth semi-randomized decision systems.

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Vic
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Barbarossa Developer Notes #5: It Would Help If I Wasn’t Surrounded By Idiots

Post by Vic »


Previously published on the VR weblog.
Prior to release of our new game BARBAROSSA we are publishing a series of developer notes by designer Cameron Harris.
Be sure to visit www.vrdesigns.nl for the latest news, polls, screenshots and blogs


Delegation

Being in Command entails making a lot of decisions. A fundamental rule is that the higher up the Chain of Command you climb the more decisions there are to make. This applies equally to the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the CEO of a Fortune 500 company.

Typically the increase in decisions required escalates in an exponential manner with each step up the hierarchy. It doesn’t take long before anyone attempting to ‘do-it-all’ is overwhelmed by sheer volume. It’s not hard to find examples of people who have reached an evolutionary dead end as a micro manager.

Delegation steps in. Commanders have staff. They have subordinates. Their job is to take care of all the lower level decisions, freeing up the Commander for the important ones.

A model of Command would be very one dimensional if it didn’t incorporate delegation. You would be, once again, elevating the Player up to a God like status where Command is a mere wave of the hand.

Delegation implies tension. You’re busy, you’ve got a lot on your plate. There isn’t time to personally take care of everything, even if your staff have ensured you are only dealing with the important decisions.

Choosing which decisions to delegate is an interesting decision in itself. Having your Chief of Staff deal with a matter is likely to result in a less optimal outcome than if you tackled it yourself. His grasp of the bigger picture, his strategic understanding is at a lower level than your own. As it should be. He’s not in charge, you are.

In order to make this model work there needs to be a currency of Command. A finite resource that is accumulated and spent. Which would be Political Points (PP). These are an abstract concept that encompass your personal time and energy, your political goodwill and your available staff resources.

Political Points allow decisions to be quantified. Yes, you can choose that option but it will require ‘x’ amount of PP’s. Certain decision options require more PP’s than others. At times you aren’t going to have enough PP’s to cover all the decisions. Delegation becomes necessary.

Do you keep a reserve of PP’s against a rainy day when a really crucial decision might turn up or do you spend, spend, spend, moving forward on a wing and a prayer?

Cheers,
Cameron
Visit www.vrdesigns.net for the latest news, polls, screenshots and blogs on Shadow Empire, Decisive Campaigns and Advanced Tactics
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Meteor2
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RE: Barbarossa Developer Notes #5: It Would Help If I Wasn’t Surrounded By Idiots

Post by Meteor2 »

I am very exited about the planed concept. A new approach, which will probably change the experience we will get.
Best wishes for the developers and their plan.
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