Babylon 5

From DipWiki

RealWorld file

rw-Babylon.zip

The Starting Units

Each power starts the game in Spring 2260 with the following units:

Earth Alliances: Earth (Fleet), Mars (Army), Titan (Fleet), Babylon 5 (Army)

Minbari Federation: Minbari (Fleet), Chudomo (Army), Norsai (Fleet)

Centauri Republic: Centauri Prime (Fleet), Brakesh 9 (Army), Davo (Fleet)

Narn Regime: Narn (Fleet), D Grn (Army), Dross (Fleet)

Shadow Realm: Z Ha Dum (Fleet), Outer Rim (Army), Kepti (Fleet)

Drazi Freehold: Drazi (Fleet), Draxis (Army), Zagro 7 (Fleet)

Vorlon Empire: Vorlon (Fleet), Berdina (Army), Virana (Fleet)

The Rules

The standard rules of Diplomacy® apply except any power that is in control of Babylon 5 may use it for builds.

Note: All games years and seasons are in accordance with Earth Standard Time.

The Map

The total number of supply worlds is 74.

Some worlds permit armies to move between them without the need of a fleet convoy. These worlds are adjacent on the map.

There is only one no-go zones where units are not permitted to move. This area is called the Galactic Bulge.

Victory Conditions

To win, a single power must control 38 supply worlds one of which must be Babylon 5. Any declared draws must include the power that controls Babylon 5, even if that's the only center he holds.

Regions

Below is an alphabetical list of all the regions on the map and their respective three lettered name.
Abbai 4		Abb
Akdor		Akd
Antares Sector	Ant
Aris Colony	ACo
Arisia Colony	Ari
Babylon 5	Bab
Berdina		Ber
Beta Durani	Bet
Brakesh 9	Bra
Brakiri		Bri
Caliban Sector	Cal
Centauri Prime	Cen
Centauri Triangle CTR
Ceti 4		Cet
Chudomo		Chu
Coriana 6	Cor
Daltron 7	Dal
Davo		Dav
Deneb 4		Den
D Grn		Grn
Dilgar		Dil
Drakh		Dkh
Draxis		Drx
Drazi Home World Dra
Dross		Dro
D Tira		Tir
Dura 7		Dur
Earth		Ear
Enfili		Enf
Gaim		Gai
Gorash 7	Gor
Grid Epsilon	GEp
Hilak 7		Hil
Ikarra 7	Ika
Inner Centauri Space ICS
Inner Drazu	IDz
Inner Sol	ISo
Ipsha		Ips
Janos 7		Jan
Kazami III	Kaz
Kepti		Kep
Latig 4		Lat
L Gidor		Gid
L Gn Daort	Dao
Lorka 7		Lor
Lukantha	Luk
Malax		Mal
Markab		Mab
Mars		Mar
Minbar Inner Realm MIR
Minbar		Min
Minbar Outer Realm MOR
Mirata 7	Mit
Narn Home World	Nar
Narn Inner Space NIS
Narn Outer Space NOS
Nether Rim	Net
Norsai		Nor
Omega 7		Omg
Orion		Ori
Outer Centauri Space OCS
Outer Drazu	ODz
Outer Rim	OuR
Outer Sol	OSo
Pakmara		Pak
Praxis 9	Pra
Proxima 3	Pro
Quadrant 13	Q13
Quadrant 14	Q14
Quadrant 20	Q20
Quadrant 31	Q31
Quadrant 32	Q32
Quadrant 45	Q45
Quadrant 46	Q46
Quadrant 48	Q48
Quadrant 54	Q54
Quadrant 55	Q55
Quadrant 68	Q68
Quadrant 72	Q72
Quadrant 73	Q73
Quadrant 90	Q90
Quadrant 91	Q91
Ragesh 3	Rag
Ralga		Ral
Regula 4	Reg
Rim Space	Rim
Sector 01	S01
Sector 02	S02
Sector 03	S03
Sector 04	S04
Sector 08	S08
Sector 09	S09
Sector 11	S11
Sector 14	S14
Sector 17	S17
Sector 18	S18
Sector 20	S20
Sector 21	S21
Sector 27	S27
Sector 35	S35
Sector 38	S38
Sector 51	S51
Sector 58	S58
Sector 59	S59
Sector 67	S67
Sector 70	S70
Sector 71	S71
Sector 81	S81
Sector 84	S84
Sector 86	S86
Sector 88	S88
Sector 92	S92
Shi		Shi
Sigma 957	Sig
Thalitene	Tha
Theta 49	The
Tikar 		Tik
Titan		Tit
Tizino Prime 	TPr
Tokati		Tok
Tripani 7	Tri
Vega		Veg
Ventari 3	Ven
Virana		Vir
Volron Outer Space VOS
Vorlon		Vor
Vorlon Inner Space VIS
Vree		Vre
Yolu		Yol
Zafran 7	Zaf
Zagro 7		Zag
Zander Prime 	Zan
Z Ha Dum	ZhD

The Map w/Starting Positions

Babylon5.gif

Theo Kermanidis' Design Notes

In a word, this variant was designed to capture the rich tapestry of the Babylon 5 series. Yes I am a fan of the TV show that had spanned for 5 series each with around 22 well crafted episodes. In an attempt to capture the spirit of the Babylon 5 universe, I designed this variant to include the myriad of worlds and general place names mentioned in the series. It is anyone's guess as to what the intended Babylon 5 universe was ment to look like, but knowing the series and something about the sequence of events I placed my best foot forward in designing the map. For example, it is known that the Shadow Realm did use Narn as a base for their expansion so that I could only conclude that the Narn Home World is strategically located close to Z'Ha Dum and the domain of the Shadows. The Vorlons and the Minbari once worked together to stop Shadow aggression, and it was concluded that they were co-located on the map. The Drazi Freehold and other members of the League of Non-Aligned worlds were once cannon fodder for the Centauri Republic hence most of those worlds would share a corner of the map. And so on. It was tough going to get a map that looks playable with a general balance. It remains to be seen how successful those decisions were. There will always be an argument against the use of armies in a fleet dominated game, so why do the powers begin with one useless army? A good question. The answer is that there are an abundance of connected worlds where armies may roam between without the use of fleets. It adds a dimension to the tactical question that requires consideration for the would be Napoleons amongst you. How can you use that army unit to a great effect? Naturally the winners would have an answer to that question. There are many worlds, and probably there will be many a stalemate line. In time those will be discovered and an assessment will be made to the general playability of the variant. Hopefully it will not require too many revisions to get the overall balance right between offensive and defensive play. Time is infinite, but we are finite. So get playing!

Gerald Todd's notes

Everywhere I went while researching my Star Trek Diplomacy variant, I also found Babylon 5 and Star Wars, and a little Battlestar Galactica. Well, The Variant Bank had a Babylon 5 variant, which looked pretty good, so I went about stuffing it into RealWorld, and here you have it. My changes, besides the text files RealWorld requires, were basically asthetic; Creating themed icons, moving the planet images and the space names so the icons wouldn't cover them, and adding a key on the left side of the map were pretty much it.

Players Guide to Babylon 5 Diplomacy

Players Guide to Babylon5 Diplomacy